Shirl has worked in academic, corporate, and public libraries; as webmaster for the City of Clearwater, FL; as Network Information Manager for the Tampa Bay Library Consortium; as Web Guide Manager for Time, Inc.'s Business 2.0 magazine; and, most recently, as a news researcher for the St. Petersburg Times.
Shirl is the senior editor of two weblogs, the author of two books, and writes a monthly editorial column for Information Today.