My Favourite Tipples from a news aggregator topic specialist
Jinfo Blog

By Clare Brown

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Clare Brown, an experienced library and information professional and topic specialist in law at current awareness platform provider Vable. She shares some of her most-used resources in areas from project management to CPD and ship identification.

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After being a solo law librarian for many years, I now assist information professionals with current awareness consulting and set up. Advanced searching, product refinement and development, and the remote/agile working environment means acquiring new skills. This is all part of the evolution of the information role; we change or face obsolescence. I've included some services I can't do without, as well as a podcast for essential listening.

• Trello: Tech companies have been working agile for years, and law firms and other corporate environments are now increasingly adopting this philosophy. In order to ease into this goal-orientated, practical way of working, easy-to-use Trello is on-hand. It assists with workflow so you can see at a glance what all team members are working on. It gives meetings an instant, relevant agenda and keeps your projects moving forwards.
  
  
• Zoom: There are many telephone conference systems around but, after extensive testing, we settled on Zoom. It is reliable, secure and, most importantly, corporate and legal clients seem to find it easy to use. It has recording functionality for training purposes. Connect it with your email system and instantly schedule face-to-face meetings with people hundreds of miles away - instantly.
  
  
• Librarians with Lives: Continuing professional development (CPD) when you are constantly on the move can be a challenge. Though I value Twitter's monthly #UKLibchat, Jo Wood's regular podcast is a real treat. No sectors are neglected, and the conversations she has with information people are informative, entertaining and inspirational. They are perfect for commutes and long journeys, or any time when you want company.
  
  
• Vable: This may seem like bias, but strict professional ethics mean I couldn't work with a product that I didn't think would benefit information workers. Our ultimate clients, whether they are in the legal, financial, business or healthcare professions, rely on information teams to filter out unnecessary noise. They want fewer emails containing higher quality information. If I can help make that happen, I am happy. 

For fun: 

• Ship Finder: Developed by pinkfroot, this is a trainspotting app for ships! I spend a lot of time by the sea, and as I sit on harbour walls, I watch vessels coming and going. This app allows me to differentiate between cruisers, ferries, cargo vessels, and smaller ships and boats. I can identify where the ship or vessel is registered, its port of departure, and where it is going. In reality, life is hard at sea, but it doesn't prevent me romanticising about exotic locations or long voyages. It's available for Apple and Android devices.

An article in Jinfo I found particularly interesting:

• The practical report "Jinfo research - rethinking the role of information teams" resonated with me after BIALL 2018, which was centred around "designing our future". Without a wholesale review of "how we've always done things" in conjunction with key organisational stakeholders, we will be doing ourselves and our employers a great disservice. We can add immense value by acquiring skills which enable us as information professionals to "see [...] research results through the eyes of [the] customer". Ultimately, we should strive to be a creative, passionate, open-minded and ambitious problem-solving force in our organisation.

Contribute your "My Favourite Tipples"

Would you like to share your "My Favourite Tipples" with the Jinfo audience? For contributor guidelines email catherine.dhanjal@jinfo.com or visit the Publish with Jinfo page.

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