Quickscribe - B.C. Legislation service evaluated in White Paper by Crosby Group

One of my first efforts as Crosby Group has been evaluating the B.C. legislation tracking/research service Quickscribe. An excerpt of the press release is below. I hope you find this report useful, and would love to hear your comments! Feel free to post feedback here or email me at conniecosby@gmail.com.

Quickscribe: A Comparison and Evaluation Report (White Paper) Released

[June 26, 2008] A new white paper comparing British Columbia legislative tracking services was released today by Crosby Group Consulting. The report titled, Quickscribe: A Comparison and Evaluation Report, was commissioned by Stem Legal Web Enterprises Inc. to objectively identify key differences between Quickscribe Services Inc. and the BC government offering QP LegalEze. Key findings from the Crosby Group report identified a number of advantages for Quickscribe Services, including:

• faster system updates than QP LegalEze;
• more competitive pricing;
• easier navigation for users;
• superior ‘alert’ technology for updates; and
• more accessible customer assistance

The report is being released today, with permission from Quickscribe Services, at the request of Steve Matthews, Stem’s Founder and President.

Downloading the report:

* A full copy of the report is available (39 pgs) at: http://www.crosbygroup.ca/pdf/whitepaperquickscribe.pdf
* An executive summary (12 pgs) of the findings are available at: http://www.crosbygroup.ca/pdf/executivesummaryquickscribe.pdf

Crosby Group Website Up!

I am pleased to announce my new business website for Crosby Group Consulting, http://www.crosbygroup.ca, is now up and running! I also have a new blog called "Connection" at http://www.crosbygroup.ca/blog which will focus on community, social networking tools, and management strategy. This won't take the place of this personal blog http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com which I definitely could not give up! (I know it has been a little sparse lately but I'll soon be updating it).

I look forward to answering any questions you have about the new business. Easiest way to contact me is still conniecrosby@gmail.com until I get the new business email addresses working (my next personal little challenge).

Cheers,
Connie

Sabrina Pacifici Wins SLA Innovations in Technology Award

I am currently in Seattle at the SLA conference. SLA awards were handed out last night, and as I reported over at Slaw, my colleague, mentor and good friend Sabrina Pacifici was honoured with the J.J. Kellar Innovations in Technology Award for her long-standing work as creator, founder and sole editor of law and technology blog beSpacific and e-zine LLRX.com. Very well deserved.

Congratulations, Sabrina!

Response to Wendy Reynolds on Slaw: Why Librarianship?

If you haven't already seen it, you should read Wendy Reynolds' article on Slaw, Why Librarianship? I am delighted Wendy has joined us on Slaw. You may recall she had a short-lived but brilliant blog on knowledge management a couple years ago.

In this recent article, she questions whether librarianship is still a viable career option for those just starting out, whether she would recommend her niece to pursue this avenue. I personally don't hesitate to recommend librarianship to smart, inquisitive people who are interested in information, research, people and technology. Certainly our society is now based so much on information and technology, I believe talented students graduating from library school--especially if they have business savvy--will be in demand. They may need to sell their skills in areas that are not traditional library arenas, but they do have skills that are needed in many industries.

For me the question is more along the lines of whether law librarianship in Canada specifically is still a viable career option for someone just starting out. Academic law libraries are generally looking for a law degree combined with the library degree. In Toronto law firms we are also seeing what may be a trend away from librarians managing the libraries and instead having KM directors with law degrees overseeing the libraries directly. If one is interested in spending a career doing legal reference and research, there is still plenty of demand. But I wonder if there is enough demand now for those at the management level? As more law firm managers and directors retire, will we see those currently at the intermediate level moved up?

I am not judging the current trends, but am closely watching to see what happens. What is your take?

What's on the Agenda

Howdy! I just recuperated from the CALL conference in Saskatoon, and am now in Ottawa to teach my Social Networking Tools class on Monday. After this I will be gearing up for the SLA conference. I have some content planned including notes and follow-up from the CALL conference which I will be posting in the next few days. I did take notes during the KM SIG program at CALL which I have promised to post, and a few others. Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Connie