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Information Professionals - The Rambos of Research

The Internet has made us all researchers. And although it's easy to search on Google and sift through the results, there's a huge difference between casual queries and professional research. This past week, I attended a conference sponsored by the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP). Information Professionals are folks who specialize in research (often research in a specific field - such as legal or medical). They assist individuals, corporations, and academic institutions with research projects (both big and small).

I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about on-line research, but after spending 4 days with the pros, I realize how much more there is to learn.

Whether an amateur or pro, we all have similar challenges when we gather information:

Ÿ     Where do we find the information we need?

     What are the best places on the Web to search for information? I'm good at finding some types of information, but in other areas, I'm in the dark. Knowing the best resources for a specific type of information is vital. Having access to the best information is also crucial. Not all information is available for free on the Web (an obvious fact that, at times, slips my mind). Information sources like Lexis-Nexis, Dialog, and Factiva are often the best (or only) places to find information. I don't have access to these services... Information Professionals do.

Ÿ     How do I analyze and organize the information I find?

     Finding information is great, but if your search brings back hundreds or thousands of relevant documents, how will you organize these? How will you make sure you can easily find the important bits of information in these documents? (I'm hoping that everyone reading this answers these question by using askSam.)  For me organizing information is not a problem (in fact I was speaking at the AIIP conference about ways to organize information), but analyzing the information can be more complex. Reading, understanding, and interpreting the results of a patent search makes my brain ache. A search through medical information may suggest a particular drug or treatment, I wouldn't have enough field specific knowledge to know that I should run a search on another drug or treatment that is often used as an alternative for the treatment turned up in my search.

Ÿ     How will I use and manage this information in my company?

     If the information you gather needs to be shared, updated, and modified by others in your company, how will this be done? For example, if you've done research on competitive products, who needs access to this information? Marketing will want to see how the other companies present their products, sales will want to know how your product is better, engineering/development will want to look at features and how they are implemented in other products.

Information Professional are trained in the skills I mention above. In addition, they often have specific areas of expertise including:

Ÿ Business and Industry - competitive product analysis, market research and statistics, ...

Ÿ Legal Research - searches of cases, statutes, and other sources of law, law library management, ...

Ÿ Healthcare  - information on diseases and treatments, research for pharmaceutical companies, information on FDA guidelines, ...

Ÿ Public Records - information about individuals, corporations, and property...

Ÿ Science and Technology - patent searches, standards information, analysis of existing technologies...

If you're considering a career as an independent researcher, check out the AIIP Web site. This is an organization that will be a valuable resource for you.

For the rest of us, Information Professionals can help us find information and answers. The AIIP Web site has a directory where you can search for specialists in specific fields. Whether you're researching a business plan, looking for medical information, or searching for public records, this is the place to go for professional assistance.

Phil

Related Links:

Association of Independent Information Professionals

http://www.aiip.org

Searchable Directory of Information Professionals

http://www.aiip.org/Directory.asp

What is an Independent Information Professional (White Paper)

http://www.aiip.org/IIPWhitePaper.PDF

Specialized medical research empowering patients

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/14/LV3089.DTL