Coping with Information Overload

At the start of every semester, I definitely suffer from a bit of information overload, helpfully defined by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (!) as the "provision of information in excess of the cognitive and emotional ability of an individual to process that information."  Admittedly, it's not as severe as the information overload that I experienced as a lawyer, when it was not unusual to receive over 500 emails in one day, and now that I'm an "information professional," I've found some helpful tips that keep me sane, organized, and feeling on top of things.  Sarah Houghton-Jan has compiled an indispensable list of things that you can do to stay on top of the information avalanche.  Here are a few of my favorite snippets from her article:

• "Treat physical data the same way you would treat digital data: if you do not absolutely need it, throw it out." Having a tidy workspace helps to keep your working day sane -- I recently discovered this after I misplaced my lecture notes just 15 minutes before my class was about to begin.  Because I don't have that much paper in my office and I'm really obsessive about keepings things neat, I wasn't that worried about finding the lost notes.  I found them in a couple of minutes, stapled to the back of another set of papers. If my office was more paper-strewn, I would have panicked.
• "Before using RSS, IM, email or any other tool to deliver information to someone else, think about whether or not it would be better or easier to talk in person or via the phone." We've all experienced those email exchanges where a group of people will debate a course of action endlessly over email.  Next time you're in the middle of one of these epic exchanges, step away from the keyboard, walk out of your office, and go resolve the issue in person.  Or pick up the phone if the participants are not in the same building.   
• Keep one central calendar to manage both your professional and personal commitments (Google Calendar works great). 
• Allot yourself a set amount of time to deal with your social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.).