2008: Year of Information Overload?

Special Librarians take note:
2008: Year of Information Overload?
“Interruptions aren’t merely annoying; they’re also bad for productivity. And when you multiply the interruptions made possible by email, phone calls, text messages, and Twitters across the entire US, the result is lost productivity on a massive scale: $650 billion in a single year.
That’s according to research firm Basex, which chose “information overload” as its 2008 “Problem of the Year.” Failure to solve the problem will lead to “reduced productivity and throttled innovation.” The situation is dire enough that Intel’s Nathan Zeldes estimates “the impact of information overload on each knowledge worker at up to eight hours a week.” ”
Well, there now. There’s a nice Christmas / New Year’s gift.
Sounds like these companies need librarians! This isn’t the first of these studies that show the massive impact on productivity for knowledge workers of poor information strategies. If we are truly entering a knowledge-based economy (and I believe we have), we better speak up more clearly on the roles the variety of information professionals and librarians play in assuring success. Perhaps we should target investors, venture and equity capitalists? Don’t invest in firms that have horrible information practices and lack professional staff and software to manage knowledge assets.
Hmmmm.
Stephen