Informavores all

Information Outlook, Nov, 1998 by L. Susan Hayes

You are all either herbivores or carnivores (plant eaters or meat eaters). Did you know you are also informavores - information eaters? This is the current stage of our cultural biosphere according to Dr. Matti Kamppinen of the University of Turku Finland Futures Research Centre. His look into the future was one of the keynote addresses at a September conference called Nordic Information and Documentation (Nord98). After describing the history of theories of change in world cultures and their parallels in the history of computer and information science, he offered a peek into the future. He noted that most science fiction and futurist predictions of both humans and other-planet aliens feature beings with large brains and large eyes, the better to deal with an increasing quantity and complexity of information. But he thought a future world with beings who have smaller brains and smaller eyes would yield beings who had simplified their world and had only happy, stress-free thoughts. Don't we wish this could be true?

At first, I thought this speech with its cute title and fanciful ending was just a nice way to kick off a conference. But after some reflection, I decided "informavores" is actually a pretty good way to describe not only our profession, but those who use our services. Whether providers or consumers of information, we are all hunting for it during some portions of both our work and personal lives. Informavore is a term you are likely to find me continuing to use.

One of my reasons for attending this Nordic conference and also the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) conference was to support one of my goals for the year, namely, to gain a better understanding of what it takes for SLA to better function on a global scale. From my desk in Florida, I now have a new view of how the library information profession looks to fellow practitioners from many different points of view. I certainly didn't get to meet everyone from the 120 countries represented at IFLA, nor from the eight or nine countries represented at Nord98, but I made an effort to speak to many of them. In spite of the differences in Sweden, Iceland, Malaysia, and Ethiopia, there are many cultural, economic, and technological similarities in the way our jobs, parent organizations, and professional associations function. We will work to build upon those similarities and also to take advantages of the differences when appropriate.

From the association point of view, one of the most universal themes has to do with recruiting and retaining volunteers to do the work of the organization. In some countries, the association has no paid staff of any kind and must function entirely with volunteers. That is quite a different scenario from SLA with its diverse and competent headquarters staff who takes care of much of our top level work, leaving the volunteer positions at the unit (chapter, division, and committee) level. It certainly encourages us to appreciate the wealth of talent we enjoy from the staff. This is an area not often mentioned when describing the benefits SLA provides to its members, but one we should not overlook.

There are times when we can't support SLA with our time. An alternative is to provide financial support by contributing to the SLA Annual Fund or one of the special funds such as scholarships. As you are doing your year end tax planning and holiday giving, please think about including SLA on your list. Your support, whether via money or time, is what makes SLA successful. Thank you for all your contributions.