Kate Stanfield, Head of Knowledge Management, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP is this week's speaker. Kate is speaking on day two of the conference.

Day 2: Track 3 - Information professionals surviving and thriving in the new age

Kate comments here on her session
Hybrid professionals mean a thriving library; the experience of a European Law Firm

"All too often some members of the information profession feel that they are not given credit or are fully valued for their expertise, although this is a generalisation - this can result in a defensive attitude and at it's worst, a perception of that professional as a "cannot do" rather than "can do" person. They may do their job well, but will not "stretch" or step outside their comfort zone, and gradually the more interesting work is not brought to the information function. This vicious circle can sometimes be broken if new and complementary roles can be taken on, to demonstrate the skills and value of an information professional.

"I have been lucky in my career, in that I have been able to stretch the boundaries of my scope - I have had to include some boring tasks as part of that, but it has usually improved my credibility and increased my understanding of organisational needs, strategy and goals. The result has been a more fulfilling job, and a role valued by my organisation."

Q: Which are the most important topics, for you personally, due to be discussed at the Online Information Conference 2008 and why?
Kate: Collaborative working - we are finding web 2.0 technology can be applied to such good effect within so many communities of practice, but this is fraught with issues - policies, protocols, longevity and archive storage of knowledge. I hope to find out more about how other people are tackling this - and what to avoid!

Q: Besides your own, which tracks would you recommend to delegates attending the conference?
Kate: Track 2: Order out of chaos - creating structure in our information universe - so much in all of the tracks, but the semantic search is such a key thing for me going forwards - this could make such a difference to information retrieval.

Q: What are you looking forward to most about participating in Online Information 2008?
Kate: The discussions! Knowledge is all about the people, so to hear what such a great range of experts are doing will be most interesting.

Q: If you had to choose only one - which social network would you recommend to colleagues?
Kate: LinkedIn probably, it is becoming really well populated now.

Q: Finally, out of interest - where are you planning to spend Christmas this year?
Kate: At home - we are renovating an old house and with eight coming to Christmas dinner, I aspire to have a cooker by then, a whole kitchen would be nice too but....

About Kate Stanfield
Kate Stanfield is the Head of Knowledge Management at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP. Her background is that of an Information Manager, she joined the firm in 1990 having spent 7 years in public and business libraries. A Chartered Librarian with over 20 years experience she has implemented several knowledge systems, including electronic systems for sharing information. Kate received the Lexis Nexis Butterworths award for excellence in 2005.

Kate has helped several clients with knowledge and information services, ranging from carrying out knowledge sharing audits, helping to create a knowledge strategy, through to developing taxonomy for the business.

For more information, or to view the conference programme in full, please visit:
www.online-information.co.uk/conference