Who is the Information Professional (IP)?

We have noticed many people find it difficult to define the Information Profession, that is why we made a literature-study of it. Hope this helps!

The information profession seems to be constantly trying to define a role for itself in 21st century organizations. Many experts in the world of information have argued about the focus IPs should have, especially within the framework of defining university’s curriculum because of a decreasing interest in the information related studies. Much that is written on this topic is strongly influences by the author and background of the ‘articles’. Scientific papers and writing on this topic are mostly on a specific role or position of the IP and a complete definition or an overview of the information profession is lacking. Some experts say the information profession is something that is subjected to the employment situation, some say it is specially liable to the influences of the Information Technology. Over the last few years, experts have been defining the role of the IP as a gathering of competencies, whether or not broken down in clusters. Obviously the profession is multifaceted and in most cases asks for clarification.

Findings in a research taking place a few years ago point out that the IP would call itself experts in search and retrieval of information, interacting with the searcher and delivering tailor made information (Hendriks, 2003). The core competencies of the IP is making information resources accessible and organizing it. Next to that creating metadata, performing search and retrieval, and navigating the searchers to the right information (Van Dijk, 2003). This reflects the background of the profession, lying in the world of the librarian. But the modern IP is experiencing more challenges by the influences and the increasing expectations of their environment.

Particular circumstances have had influence on the information profession. Three aspects meddled in the environment of the profession: 1) ICT; 2) Individuality of information searchers; 3) Acknowledgement by the organization. 1) ICT: A practical example is the a large impact on the function of the library. ICT has made information accessible en changed the lifecycle of information (van de Pas, 2006). By increasing digital information becoming, libraries were finding themselves in a crush and because of that integrating the library with other information workspaces. The library and the traditional librarian see their work change rapidly. 2) The ‘user’ is becoming more individual by web search engines. Intervention by a professional helping the user to find the right information is often becoming superfluous. 3) Acknowledgement by the organization management. Not being noticeable and acknowledged in the business environment is something that is changing. The IP should not be separated by the management, but involved with taking business decisions. The importance of the IP has not always been recognized and IPs inside organization experience being underestimated when it comes to a contribution for the management. This seems to change since the awareness of the importance of information is growing.

From this point we would like to distinguish four major competencies, which are extracted out of earlier studies. Because one must take into consideration that the widespread employability of the IP does not make it easy to define competencies (Boom, 2002), we have chosen to distinguish the major competencies: 1) managing information organizations; 2) Managing Information Services; 3) Applying Information Tools and Technologies 4) Managing Information Resources; (Abel, 2003). We added a case of an IP working in a news organization to the last competence.

Managing Information Organizations
An information organization may be in any environment from corporate, education, public, government, to non-profit. These organizations have intangible offerings and is constantly changing markets. The IP aligns the organization with the strategic directions of the parent organizations and assesses the value of the organization, including information services, products and policies towards senior management (Abel, 2003). He/ she builds an effective information service team and is specially focused on marketing and competitive information. This IP is continuously gathering, interpreting and analyzing information, and distributing knowledge throughout the organization and towards the management to support in business decisions (Rodenberg, 2002). The IP is the person who works on a more abstract level and clearly demonstrates the value-add of the information organization to clients and key stakeholders, he/ she can also be called a business/ marketing/ competitive intelligence specialist, knowledge broker (Boom, 2002), information manager or chief information officer.

Managing Information Services
One of the important major competencies of an IP is controlling the information process. The IP may oversee this process by managing the entire life cycle of information services, from the concept stage through design, development, testing, packaging and delivery of information (Abel, 2003). This IP is specialized in Information Science and gathering information in a pro-active way, and can put information so that it fits the needs of the person that is searching for information (Van Dijk, 2003). The IP has the knowledge of information behavior and understands how information services can most effectively be utilized. He/ she is often doing research for other companies and analyzing information into accurate answers or actionable information for them to immediately apply. IPs specialized in these competencies could be called information analysts, reporters, advisor, information researchers.

Applying information tools and technologies
The IP knows their tools and is aware of the appropriate technologies. Not necessarily understanding the very technical side, but especially the logical design side. He/ she appears as a information architect, who knows how to carry out the business analyses and the accompanying information analyses (Van Dijk, 2003). The IP is prepared to advise all levels of the organization on how technology trends will affect the organization and the clients (Abel, 2003). He/ she uses appropriate technology to deliver the best services and to provide the most relevant and accessible recourses. Applying expertise in databases, indexing, metadata and information analyses are competencies as well. The IP maintains awareness the latest policy and legislative initiatives that will impact privacy accessibility and openness of information use (Abel, 2003). Because of these reasons the Information Officer often gets confused with a Technology Officer.

Managing Information Resources
The last major competence of the IP is the total management of information resources and includes identifying, selecting evaluating and providing access to the varied repositories (Abel, 2003). These core competencies of the IP go back to the roots of the profession: search & retrieval, metadata, analyzing, making repositories accessible, organizing information and helping the searcher find the right information by guide and navigation (Van Dijk, 2003). The IP has the ambition to work accurate, to conduct full desk research, and to manage the traditional (library) collections (Hendriks, 2003). We have found these competencies in the work of an IP at a news organization and included her story as a case to outline these competencies.

Information Professional in news organizations
The role of the IP in a news organization, like a newspaper or television network, is to deliver information to the members of the editorial office. The IPs primary ‘customer’ in a news organization are editors and journalists.
The main task of an IP in a news organization is to take care of the information that the editors and journalists need in order to write their article or to produce a news item. This information can be for example background information about any subject, or when a journalist wants to interview somebody, the IP can deliver information about this particular person. The IP also checks if a certain subject is real news or if there is anything written about the subject before. Other information that journalists might need can be business information about an institute or contact information of people in the news, like telephone numbers or addresses. IPs also seek experts and specialists who the journalist can contact to get more information about a specific topic.
Besides delivering information, the IP can help the editors to find news. By searching on the internet, local newspapers or regional television programs the IP can trace the news subjects. Also journalists with a specialism, like crime or environment, can get an update when there is an development on their field of specialization. These tasks of an IP are on a proactive base.
The research or documentation department in a news organization uses different resources. The resources which IPs generally use for information are digital resources, like databases and Internet resources. Non-digital resources, like handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias and International Who is Who are used less these days. This is mainly because a lot of the information is also digital available, which is usually faster. The internet can also be a useful source for the IP. He or she can assess the quality and reliability of the information from the internet. Social networks become increasingly important for the IP and the news organizations when they need information or photos about a person who is in the news. The IP needs to be able to do proper desk research. The professional needs to know how to find information, where to find it, and do this in a as fast and effective way as possible. It is important for the research or documentation section within a news organization to make sure they cannot be missed within the organization.

Our final definition is based on the ‘managing information resources’ competencies explained above:

The Information Professional takes care of the entire management of intern and extern information resources. He or she captures these resources and makes the information accessible. This professional has the expertise to gather information, to structure information and deliver and spread the information to the clients. He or she navigates and guide the information seekers to find the right and reliable information. The Information Professional is able to analyze search behavior and information.
REFERENCES

Hendriks, B. & Verbei, W. (2000) ‘Je hebt altijd systems en people he, maar het zijn mensen die het werk doen’: An interview met Evert Jagerman. Information Professional Vol. 4 Issue 10.
Hendriks, B. (2003) ‘De informationprofessional in het hart?’ Informatie Professional Vol. 7 Issue 3.
Van Dijk, J. (2003) ‘De IDM in een spagaat’: IDM – Keer terug naar het land van herkomst. Informatie Professional Vol. 7 Issue 5
Van der Pas, J. & De Vos, M. & Wiebinga, P. (2006) ‘Strategische verkenning in woelige tijden’: De informatiespecialist, de student en de IDM opleiding. Unpublished writing for ‘online conferentie Nederland’. Saxion Hogeschool, the Netherlands.
Boom, D. & Lekanne Deprez, F. & Tissen, R. (2002) ‘Angst en hoop voor de bibliothecaris’: De grond van bestaan van de IDM beroepsgroepen. Informatie Professional Vol. 6. Issue 4.
Abels, E & Jones, R & Latham, J & Magnoni, D, Gard Marshall, J. (2003). ‘Competenties of the Information Professionals of the 21st century’. Available at: http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003/index.cfm. Date: August 21 2008.
Rodenberg, J.H.AM. (2002) ‘Slagkracht van de Intelligence professional’ Informatie Professional Vol. 6. Issue 9