Librarian Certification and Information Research

Information is more than words.  Today's information that matters includes lists of people, statistics, graphics, and yes, lists of lists.  Information professionals use research tools and sources such as databases, directories, image libraries, survey results, and even projections. 

Job and career categories in the information industry include:

Librarian
Librarian certifications are offered to librarians with a Masters degree in library science.  Many of these certifications come from states as they certify people for either "public library" or "school library" careers.

Public Librarian Certification

• New York State Library
• Wisconsin
• Oklahoma
• North Carolina
• Wisconsin

Other Information Careers:

Information Broker
Information Architect
Information Graphics Designer

...and that doesn't even touch all the computer and information technology careers that gather, sort, prioritize and make information accessible.

Some of the career options for information professionals, as explained by AIIP -- Association of Independent Information Professionals 
 

AIIP members provide a diverse range of services:

• Business Research and Analysis - Business reports; competitor/company profiles and financials; scenario planning; financial, demographic and other projections; strategic and business analysis and planning.
• Market and Industry Research and Analysis - Industry profiles; media scans; clipping services or RSS feeds on industries or competitors; collection, organization and filtering of data; environmental scans; patent literature analysis; policy tracking and analysis; technology scouting; economic development support.
• Online Information Searching - News searches; commercial database literature searches.
• Information/Knowledge Management - Information and knowledge management analysis and planning; document management systems; archive organization; wiki development; oral histories; information audits.
• Writing, Editing and Document Creation - Writing customized reports, white papers, and proposals; editing documents; textbook fact checking; defining requirements.
• Training and Consulting - Presentations or workshops on research techniques; consulting on information sources.
• Library Setup and Maintenance - Assessing an organization's needs for a public or corporate library; space planning; collection development; cataloging; maintenance of the library's in-house collection.

Here are a few of the major organizations and directories for the information profession.  
 
• Association of Independent Information Professionals 
www.aiip.org 

• Library Administration and Management Association
www.ala.org/ala/lama/lama.htm

• Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
www.scip.org

• Special Libraries Association, CONSULT Online Directory 
www.sla.org/consultonline 

• Special Libraries Association, Leadership and Management Division, Consulting Section
 www.sla.org/division/dlmd/aboutconsulting.html
 
 
Selected Periodicals
• Connections (AIIP member newsletter)
www.aiip.org
 
• Searcher
www.infotoday.com/searcher
 
• ONLINE 
www.infotoday.com/online