News Library News Online
Vol. 23, No.1/Fall 2000

Table of Contents
Regular Features

New This Month

News Library News
SLA News Division Home

 

KatePeople
By Kate Bird


Jody Habayeb, formerly Director of News Research at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, started a new position in September as the Archive & Research Manager with the Tampa Tribune. Jody was "thrilled at the opportunity to be part of the "convergence" that is going on there." The convergence Jody is referring to happened when Media General moved their three Tampa based properties, Tampa Bay Online, WFLA (the NBC affiliate) and the Tribune into a new building together. Their Archive and Research department now conducts research for all three.

Taking over for Jody as News Research Editor at the Daytona Beach News-Journal is Megan Gallup. Megan was News Research Coordinator at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for the past 5 1/2 years.

After ten years at Pacific Press, publishers of the Vancouver Sun and Province, Debbie Schachter is leaving the field of news librarianship. Debbie has accepted a management position with the British Columbia Courthouse Library Society, which is responsible for overseeing legal information services for the province's courthouse libraries. In addition to her new job, Debbie will be working towards an MBA in the Management of Technology.

Replacing Debbie at Pacific Press is Joel Minion. A confessed news junkie, Joel has extensive experience in developing web pages as research tools, including the Virtual Reference Desk, a co-operatively run Web subject directory maintained by public libraries in British Columbia. Joel has also developed and delivered Internet training programs for librarians and worked as the Web Librarian for the Legal Services Society in Vancouver.

Alyce Diamandis of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel has also decided to expand her professional horizons and try working in a new industry - one that promises to be both fun and challenging. In August, Alyce accepted the position of Resource Center Manager at Disney Attractions, a division of Disney's marketing arm in Orlando. Alyce says that she will very much miss her news library friends and she intends to stay in touch. Barbara Hijek, ERC Manager at the Sun-Sentinel, says "it is with mixed feelings that I congratulate Alyce. Alyce is an asset to any organization and I'll sure miss her in the News Division ... but at least she'll remain in Florida!"

At the San Antonio Express-News, Jalyn Kelley left in August to work as a researcher for Computer Services Corp. On Oct 30th, Michael Knoop, a news researcher from the Dallas Morning News and a summer intern at the Express-News in 1998 will return as Editor, News Research. Michael has a MLS from the University of Texas, Austin. Also joining the staff is Ellen Pietka, a recent graduate of the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Kathleen Cottay began her news librarianship career in June as Chief Photo Librarian for American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, the Star, the Globe, the National Examiner, the Sun and Weekly World News. Kathleen has a B.A. from Indiana University and in May received an MLIS from Louisiana State University. Internships at the Baton Rouge Advocate and in the program library at National Public Radio further encouraged interest in the profession originally fostered by journalist parents. The somewhat non-traditional setting is challenging but there is rarely a dull moment.

Chris Hardesty has been named a member of the search committee for the new executive director of SLA. Chris, a member of SLA since 1994, is with the San Jose Mercury News. Chris is active in the San Andreas Chapter and the News Division. He currently serves as treasurer of the News Division and is a member of the Innovations in Technology Awards Committee. Chris was also a recipient of the Freedom Forum fellowship to teach on-line searching in journalism libraries abroad.

The ASNE award winning team of reporters, news researchers and editors at the St. Petersburg Times is profiled in the Poynter Institute's annual Best Newspaper Writing 2000. John Martin, news researcher in the Tampa bureau of the St. Petersburg Times, is featured in this interview on how team coverage on deadline worked so well. (www.poynter.org/pub/bnw2000/bnw00int.htm)

Buddy Jaudon of the Tampa Tribune did an great job of researching the criminal background and driving record of Robert Bruno, who was charged with second-degree murder in what authorities called the ultimate form of 'road rage.' Buddy spent an entire Sunday digging through the Hillsborough County public records database, and was definitely deserving of his 1A byline!

Michael Keating of Penton Research in Cleveland took home a bronze award in the American Society of Business Press Editors Central Chapter Editorial Excellence competition. Michael won for his feature series, "Procurement Online," which appeared in the April 1999 issue of Government Procurement, a publication read by more than 20,000 purchasing executives worldwide. Michael, who worked as an editor before getting his MLS, is research manager for two magazines in addition to conducting research for over 300 editors of 50 business and technical magazines, dozens of Web sites, and 200+ sales executives.

Pam Eisenberg, Photo Librarian at the Orange County Register, performed CPR on the job when one of their advertising executives had a massive heart attack in the elevator. Pam was the first person on the scene to know CPR. The man wasn't breathing, had no pulse, and had been pulled from the elevator by two reporters on their floor of the building. She worked on him for about 10 minutes until the paramedics arrived. Pam reports that "It was an amazing experience. The man survived and will recover in time."

Richard Drezen, a research librarian for the Washington Post, reports about his transfer to New York City. "I worked for the W.P. in Washington for about six years before I decided to move to New York City with my partner. We bought a co-op apartment in Brooklyn and I was prepared to resign from the W.P. and look for employment in New York. But I decided to float a transfer proposal to my boss at the W.P. I figured in a "virtual" world, I really could work any place as long as I had the appropriate remote-access tools. So I prepared a memo outlining my request to be transferred from Washington up to the New York bureau of the Washington Post. My immediate boss approved it and passed it up the chain-of-command until it got to the Executive Editor for the paper. He accepted my transfer and I found myself in a new role. I would be continuing my job as full-time desk research librarian for the Financial Desk, but would be working out the New York City bureau. This represents a new transition for me, as well as an experiment for research librarians at the Washington Post."


Kate Bird is Graphics Librarian at the Vancouver Sun and The Province. You can contact her at kbird@pacpress.southam.ca.


News Library News
SLA News Division Home

The page was reformatted on 4/8/03. The content, including URLs and contact information, on this page has not been updated to preserve the historical record.

Comments about News Library News should go to the editor.
Comments about the Web site should go to the Webmaster: newsdivisionweb@yahoo.com