EDITOR'S NOTE:
Professional Edge
by Barbara Brynko
During these days of being caught in the quagmire of information overload, more professional communities are turning to content and solutions created solely for their needs. After all, who has the time to wade through thousands of results looking for the most relevant ones and then worrying about the ones you may have missed?
Getting to the heart of how a professional community works and what its work force needs takes not only time but also plenty of pain s taking research. “We’re trying not to just polish what is already good,” says Mike Dahn, chief marketing and product development officer for West law U.S. at Thomson Reuters. “We’re trying to find ways in which we can significantly improve the outcome of the user.” One of the greatest fears for legal researchers was missing key information. Sure, they would eventually find the right answer most of the time, but why not make the research process easier, more targeted, and more accurate?
Legal research is just one of the industry sectors highlighted in the feature “Professional Workflows: The Heart of Content,” beginning on page 1.
Then, in our ongoing CEO series, we chat with Blaise Simqu, president and CEO of SAGE Publishing, about his mission and goals in today’s publishing environment, starting on page 1. And in “Social Media in Librar ies: Keys to Deeper Engagement,” we take a closer look at what social media work the best according to librarians across the country who have experimented with it. That’s just for starters. Last but not least, hats off to Dr. K. Matthew Dames, our Intellectual Property columnist who, after “5 grueling years,” completed his Ph.D. You’ll find more about his thoughts and his dissertation beginning on page 24. Congratulations, Dr. Dames.
— Barbara Brynko |
