Information professionals understand how to find, organize and make sense of the vast amount of information that inundates all of us daily. Libraries also make their resources available to their users and to the public via the Internet and their own home pages. Because of our expertise, we can critically appraise that information and identify the best resources for our users. Training - Libraries provide training on appropriate uses of the Internet to users who may not be familiar with the basics of information searching, and to those who want to learn more advanced skills. The World Wide Web is many things to many people, but a library it is not.
Libraries support and maintain the organized cataloguing, description and retrieval of information.
The WWW on the other hand, has become a chaotic repository of information that ranges from full-text books and journals to video clips, sound bytes, minutes of meetings, biographical information, recipes, images of any description and just about anything else imaginable. Information of passing interest is found alongside that of permanent value, and doing a search on any topic is just as likely to turn up gravel as well as gold. But it is here to stay. The librarian's indexing, classification and selection skills, in conjunction with the computer professional's knowledge of automation and networks will help to increase the accuracy, efficiency and overall viability of this new medium. For more information on her, or on the Roslin Institute, visit the library.