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Vol. 22, No.2/Winter 2000

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FNLA participants watch a presentation of the Sun-Sentinel's intranetSun-Sentinel hosts Florida News Librarians’ Association meeting and program

By Lisa Peterson

On Friday, October 29, 1999 the Sun-Sentinel was the proud host of the annual Florida News Librarians’ Association (FNLA) meeting and program. This meeting marked the 15th anniversary of the first FNLA meeting co-founded by Bob Isaacs of the Sun-Sentinel and Louise Legette of the Tampa Tribune. News librarians throughout Florida attended this all day event and had the chance to network with colleagues, talk with vendors, and attend programs. FNLA is a great chance for Florida news librarians to get together and discuss issues relevant to Florida news. This opportunity is especially useful for the Florida news librarians who are unable to attend the annual SLA conference.

Sammy Alzofon of the Palm Beach Post opened the program with the annual business meeting. The main item on the agenda was to arrange a site and a program for next year’s meeting. Jody Habayeb of the Daytona News-Journal generously volunteered to host the next meeting.

The first session of the day focused on public records and was a recap of the CE course offered at the SLA conference in Minneapolis. John Martin of the St. Petersburg Times began with a discussion of what public records are available and how to obtain them. John’s handouts were very thorough and he did an excellent job of comparing and contrasting the quality and pricing structures of major public records online services such as CDB Infotek, Database Technologies, KnowX and LEXIS-NEXIS. Dorothy Shea of the Palm Beach Post then took over with a detailed presentation of finding public records through various Internet sites. Dorothy also outlined different strategies for finding people and tracking down relevant public records.

Liz Donovan of The Miami Herald led the second morning session with a discussion of what it takes to research a Pulitzer Prize winning series. Having played a role in 4 different Pulitzer Prize winners, Liz was the perfect speaker for this exciting topic. Liz outlined the investigative process of obtaining pertinent databases and comparing information across databases to uncover the various facts and discrepancies that form the basis of investigative work. Liz also stressed the importance of training reporters in using these skills so they can take advantage of the increasing number of databases that are becoming available.

Vendors LEXIS-NEXIS, NewsBank, and Database Technologies, generously sponsored FNLA this year. During the lunch break, Laura Cash and Keith Mobley of LEXIS-NEXIS and Deborah Harmer and Ellie Taylor of NewsBank were available to demonstrate their products and answer any questions. This leisurely lunch also allowed attendees to mingle, network and tour the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Research Center.

Following lunch, Lisa Peterson of the Sun-Sentinel gave a demonstration of SunSpot, the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Division Intranet. After the demo, Lisa Peterson, John Hurst, John Maines, Anita Smith, and Harold Coqmard, all of the Sun-Sentinel, participated in a panel discussion on Intranet maintenance issues. Active audience participation and an informative panel made this a lively session.

Gail Bulfin of the Sun-Sentinel gave the final presentation of the day. It was a recap of the presentation she gave at SLA on ‘Life after Libraries’. Gail discussed various career ladders available to news librarians as well as important skills librarians possess that make them marketable in a variety of different settings. Gail also encouraged participants to take initiative, increase the visibility of the news library and be assertive about getting credit for their work.

Barbara Hijek, Sun-Sentinel Editorial Research Center Manager, wrapped up the program by thanking the attendees who made the trip to Fort Lauderdale from locations around the state, the presenters who made the program informative and the vendors who sponsored the event. It was a successful program, from which participants took away valuable information, new contacts, and useful handouts. We look forward to continuing this annual tradition in the years to come for the benefit of all Florida news librarians.

Lisa Peterson is a researcher at the Sun-Sentinel. Her email address is lpeterson@sun-sentinel.com.


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