Wired has an interesting article on crowdsourcing.

Jeff Howe describes the term on his new crowdsourcing blog as:

Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers.

It seems to me that a lot of what a librarian does has already been crowdsourced, to some extent. Information is out there, and people everywhere are trying to organize it and index it and make it searchable. Will we go the way of the stock photographer? I’d wager that librarians do still and always will serve an important role in information management. The more information provided, the more is needed someone to help determine what is credible, what is biased, and most importantly what is relevant to a specific person’s goals.

Tricks of the Trade is a site that allows specialists to submit snippets of wisdom that would otherwise probably never be heard beyond their field. From mothering to bartending to fighting off viscious dogs (also known as traveling, evidently), there’s something here to interest everyone, and I quickly got sucked in and read them all.

I was gratified to see this trick from a “Researcher”, if a bit saddened that this is considered a trick of the trade and not common knowledge.

If you need an obscure, out-of-print, or otherwise difficult to locate book or article, check with your local public library. It’s a little-known fact that the vast majority of libraries belong to a resource-sharing program that will allow you to get a book mailed from across the country. It takes a little time and you often have a limited borrowing window, but it’s an amazing resource.