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I must admit my prejudice. Those in the profession are the epitome of neutral, technical, and boring. Or so I thought.

Boy was I wrong. Blame early childhood experiences.

Forget the cold lady with the glasses who goes Shhh! behind mouldy bookcases. Get a read beyond stereotypes. Find out about a radical new breed of freedom fighters who can bolster knowledge democracy and boost your overall effectiveness.

My preconceived biases about librarians were first shaken in a New Tactics notebook entitled Making Sense of the Information Wilderness: Library and Information Services for the Improvement of Human Rights Work, by Saša Madacki, head librarian at the Human Rights Centre in Sarajevo. I discovered documentalists, information specialists, and archivists — however you want to call them — can actually be of use to us in the movement. Some even describe themselves as activists! I was blown away.

Beyond help to organize reference materials, I found in the tactical notebook many other ways librarians can assist our work, our organizations, and indeed the world. Let me share seven.

1. From wasteful ignorance to faster, better decisions. Sometimes, key decisions are postponed or never made because critical information is missing. Worse, you make a decision based on incorrect information, or facts that weren't checked properly. As a knowledge worker, a librarian can hunt decision-making facts faster, and better. Your document specialist can also identify research carried out elsewhere, to avoid unnecessary duplication. Don't waste time in ignorance. Find out early. Ask a librarian.

2. One copy makes the rounds. Your librarian can make sure there are no duplicates of costly subscriptions or materials around the office, managing resources so they are shared efficiently. This saves time and money. Hugely.

3. Go for the find, not the search. Most of us whose work depends partly on research usually spend over half of our time looking for stuff, online or otherwise. A librarian can cherry-pick for you the best reference material on a given subject. You're in a crunch to write a major project proposal? Your librarian can gather the statistical highlights, the documented evidence, the testimonies, freeing you up to do the other productive things. Like writing the actual proposal, and getting it out the door.

4. From blunders to homers. Some of your colleagues may make errors of fact or judgement that end up costing money or credibility. Or, because they don't know enough about your organization's culture, history and accomplishments, volunteers can make erroneous assertions or embarrassing statements. Your librarian can take charge of verifying facts for all internal reports, public statements and external publications. That can save the day.

5. From organizational amnesia to historical ownership. Say this big anniversary is coming up... You scramble to put together bits and pieces of your past achievements. Wow, sure looks like someone purposefully tucked away your historical photos in every imaginable places! A librarian can package your organizational memory for wider use. When a journalist or a researcher comes calling, you can be ready with your neat little folder. Your legacy is important. Make sure your contemporaries, and future generations, can access it.

6. From information overload to easy up-to-dateness. Your specialist can monitor your individual interests and keep tabs on the field for you. When a new book or interesting paper appears, you get an alert based on current files under your responsibility and your profile of interests.

7. From dusty archives to knowledge democracy. You may be spending too much time looking for information, instead of using it, and disseminating it. “Disseminating materials is the librarian’s foremost responsibility”, says Saša Madacki. Your librarian also doubles as a computer specialist. They can evaluate and manage the best possible software solutions for you. They can create databases to improve access to your internal records and key contacts, like membership, donors, and the media. They can train staff on how to use organizational databases and manage their own documents.

— Okay. Librarians are cool. Question: Now how do I get one?

In my next post, I'll talk about how to find a librarian. Just for you.

Want more? Have questions, comments?

Join us over here, in the tactical discussion. We're all there!

Notebook author, Saša Madacki, is joined by three outstanding world experts in knowledge activism: Toni Samek, Bert Verstappen and Youk Chhang (see their short bios).

Of course, a whole bunch of us New Tacticians will also have a crack at how to manage documents, from an activist and human rights perspective.

Join us. It'll be more fun.

Bring your queries, your input, your ideas. We're open all week.

Philippe Duhamel