>Your Colleague - Martin

Martin - Information Specialist/Librarian

"I couldn't imagine finding work that's more challenging than this!"

"Many people in GCHQ work on classified information - our specialism is open source material. That's to say, information which is in the public domain. Which, when you think about it, can sometimes be even more challenging.

There's just so much of it! Sometimes information's needed in the next 15 minutes. In those circumstances, the skill is in knowing which source can generate results fastest. CD ROM? Internet? A database? And then when you've chosen the source, can you be sure the facts are right? You need to know when to organise a secondary search and when to go with what you've got.

Other times you've got days to get material together, to build up an in depth picture of what's happening. You do get very challenging enquiries sometimes. You could be asked about just about anything!

I started with 2 1/2 years on the enquiry desk, then I moved to another site, where I was in charge of the Technical Research Library. Finally I moved to become an Outbedded Information Specialist. It's the biggest challenge to date. There are two or three areas that have a particular need - so we second librarians to those section. And that's not a typical civil service thing!

As you're there with the Analysts, you're picking up what they're working on - it just seeps in! I'd go to the morning intelligence meetings and start to know when a story's fading down - or rising in importance. As you build your own background of knowledge you become more proactive. You can start feeding stuff out to people before they come to you.

How did I get here? Well, before this, I had a wide variety of jobs! I didn't want to be stuck in just one area. But then I saw Library/Information work as a way to keep up my broad subject interests without specialising. The sections I've now set up provides support to Intelligence Analysts who've had database training. We empower them to retrieve material whenever they need it. This is part of a fundamental change in the way they work and creates greater effectiveness. And as information handling moves on, so I can move with it.

I couldn't imagine finding work that's more challenging than this!

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