INFORMATION UPDATE  
   November 2007                        Number 88

Welcome to INFORMATION UPDATE, a monthly resource for
information seekers and users.

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IN THIS ISSUE
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   => Do It Yourself – Avoid the Endless Telephone Tree
   => Did You Know – Keeping Up is Hard to Do
   => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

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DO IT YOURSELF – Avoid the Endless Telephone Tree
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If you have ever tried to get a human to answer the telephone
at AOL, eBay, or AT&T Wireless, as I have, you will love
GetHuman http://gethuman.com/us  

This wonderful database lists 500 companies with their toll-
free number and the secret to getting human customer service.

For instance, at AOL dial 800-827-6364 and press 0 (zero) at
each prompt, ignoring messages.  The same strategy works for
eBay's 800 number.  Strategies vary, but GetHuman has the
secrets.

Note that some companies aren't satisfied with making their 
telephone tree impossible to navigate, they actually hide 
their phone numbers.  Amazon, PayPal, eBay, and Walmart are
known for this.  The GetHuman database has toll free numbers
for these companies and hundreds of others.

GetHuman recommends that once you are able to get through to
a human, ask for information on how to make direct contact in
the future.  Then once you have the information, contact
GetHuman so that they can add it to their list.

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DID YOU KNOW - Keeping Up is Hard to Do
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We expect our physicians and surgeons to apply the latest
knowledge and techniques to addressing our health care needs.
Furthermore, we assume that they undertake the necessary
continuing education (reading, conferences, lectures, etc.)
to stay current in their field.  We trust that our physicians 
stay on top of the best practices in medicine, so we don't 
have to.

We should expect the same from our information consultant.  
Skillful information management, retrieval, and delivery 
requires constant attention to new sources and effective 
search strategies.  Last month over 1,600 information pro-
fessionals gathered and spent three full days debating and 
discussing the latest knowledge and techniques for best 
practices in information services.  Personally, I came away 
with 12 pages of notes, countless new ideas to test, and 
dozens of tips and tricks for better information retrieval.

You can take advantage of this continuing education by
contacting your information professional or Shamel Information
Services for your research needs.

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Notes, News, and Announcements
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December 4-6 Online Information in London England
http://www.online-information.co.uk/online07/index.html

Information Seekers may now subscribe to Information Update
using the web form at http://shamelinfo.com.  If someone has
forwarded this newsletter to you, why not register for your
own free copy?  Use the form on the Shamel Information
Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com.

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Shamel Information Services Web Site 
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The Shamel Information Services web site at 
http://shamelinfo.com contains Information Update archives. 
Just click on "Newsletters" and check for any issues you 
might have missed.

Cynthia L. Shamel, editor

Shamel Information Services
  Decisions-Informed
Telephone: +1 858-673-4673

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SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
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Subscriptions to INFORMATION UPDATE are free.  To subscribe use
the form at http://shamelinfo.com.  To unsubscribe, please send 
your request to cshamel@shamelinfo.com.  All requests are 
handled promptly.

Copyright 2007 Shamel Information Services

Please feel free to forward this issue to colleagues, in its 
entirety. Other uses without permission may violate copyright.

Online archives at http://shamelinfo.com/newsletter.htm

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