Sure, it might have been more effective if the column received more space but on the other hand, "fast facts" and tips could be easier to remember and actually make use of.
We also like the idea of associating names and faces with the actual librarian. There are many professionals you know by name, face, and of course skills in your life. A librarian could be/should be one of them.
Five librarians are featured (with pictures) in a column that's organized into three sections about how a librarian can assist with tips about research questions, sources, and how best to use them.
They can help get you started, even if you don't understand your topic.
"And if you're not on campus chances are there's a chat reference."
--Barbara Fister at Gustavus Adolphus College
"We often work with students to either narrow the research topic or broaden it."
--Beth Mark, instruction coordinator at the Murray Library at Messiah College
They Are Google experts.
"Googling is not a cause for dismay," she says. "I don't know anyone who doesn't use Google; but in 2010, it's still the case that reference books and scholarly articles provide the most authoritative information on most topics."
--Priscilla Atkins, library head of reference and instruction at Hope College
"It's very easy to conduct awful information searches, yet be quite proficient with technology."
--Donna Miller, a librarian at Lebanon Valley College
They Have Access to Information You Didn't Even Know Existed
"Most college libraries give students access to online tutorials, online research guides, electronic databases and electronic journal subscriptions."
--Susan McClintock, Head of Reference at Meredith College
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
What if you had to sort through 3.5 million articles and social media posts a day and try to pull out the most relevant items for your organisation? What if you then had to cobble it all together into something readable for your top groups and executives in your organisation?
Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
