"Perspectives of a global delegate, by Marais Marietjie, Information Outlook, 5,1,36, Janvier 2001
... In the year 2000, competitive intelligence is used by most major companies in the world. In a competitive environment it is extremely important to supply the right information in the right format, at the right time, to the right user. The intelligence process is based first of all on finding and gaining access to the right sources. Mapping these sources results in faster and better search results. Gathering and analysing the information are equally important.
How should the librarian spend his/her time ? 1. In 80% of your time provide information on the strategic axis, strategy-oriented information, 2. in 20% of your time do and disseminate serendipity and watch the orphan themes, and 3. in between, manage your dynamic thesaurii by learning new words before the other guys ... ;
The librarian has a multiple role : 1. Preserve the "precious paper" 2. Access to databases 3. Organise bookmark sharing 4. Identify internal experts 5. Identify external industry experts 6. Identify talent in the industry 7. Network with other librarians
Monsieur Marti closed this very informative and practical presentation by telling the librarians present they are "not selling information, they are selling gateways to networks and to experts".