Tau Day

Today is apparently Tau day … 6.28 This provides for all sorts of amusement, but I prefer the concept of Pi, mostly because I get twice as many days to celebrate (3.14 and 22/7)

But what has me most thoughtful tonight is an article about business cards and how they 'say' a whole lot about the person they represent.

If a brand can describe its core values and philosophy on its business card without resorting to a detailed description, then the brand becomes a full representation of its vision. - Martin Lindstrom

This makes me wonder if the symbol I chose for my business card reflects on how I present as an information professional.

I've used an owl (in various forms) over the years on my personal business card. Owls have a reputation for either keeping secrets (appropriate for records management) or seeing through subterfuge to things that have been hidden (appropriate for librarianly research). Owls are also supposed to be wise, and I have often delighted at the wisdom of my fellow librarians. I wonder if it is due to the fact that we read/find all sorts of odd information that bubble up in other situations to illuminate them like lava lamps.

I rather like those attributes for two of the sides of the information dynamic. The bringing of information to light and the organising of it for later retrieval. How odd that something chosen because an owl lodged in the tree in my garden for a week when I decided that I would study librarianship at university, years later starts to inform me about how I am creating my own philosophy of being a librarian.

I need to take some of the ideas in this article and see how I can make my 'brand' as a librarian/information professional more explicit.

The quality of my business card will be the next thing I have to work on, I think. So long as I use inexpensive card stock, it makes it easy to dismiss the idea that employing me (or my fellow librarians) is an investment. Unless it can be demonstrated in a profit and loss statement that having a professional locator of information on staff makes a difference to how an organisation (or a society) operates, then the library side of the equation of information dynamic will be reduced even more than it is now. Managing records is an easier economic proposition than investing in someone to help find good information.

I'm still thinking, somethings will be easier to 'fix' than others, as they are perhaps more easily deciphered. Having a nice business card that is an accurate reflection of my 'brand' is one thing. Actually demonstrating that emplying a librarian as well as a records manager is a good investment?
When I've worked it out, I'll let you know.