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Vol. 22, No.2/Winter 2000

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News Librarians Getting The Story
By Jalyn Kelley

1999 was a year many newspapers marked by running extensive coverage on the previous century or millennium. News researchers around the country were asked to go above and beyond in this effort. For the first edition of News Library News in the year 2000, I thought it fitting to highlight some of these efforts.

The Florida Times-Union
At the Times-Union, Laura Soto-Barra and her library staff produced a 128-page paperback that chronicles the growth of Jacksonville from 1900 to 1999. In addition to the book, the library also produced a CD with more than 250 photos.

El Paso Times
Judy Soles McMillie had a daily column called Today in History which highlighted local events throughout the century. Judy and her staff also worked on a 24-page special section highlighting families that have influenced El Paso's image. Cumulatively, they devoted more than 300 hours to millennium coverage this year.

The Plain-Dealer
The news research staff at The Plain-Dealer helped reporters with a weekly feature that profiled each year this century. This feature included timelines and highlights of major events and people. The staff also did research, gathered photos and helped compile lists of the top people in Eastern Ohio.

The Sporting News
Archivist Steve Gietschier was coordinating editor on The Sporting News’ "100 Most Powerful Sports People of the Century" package. He managed the nominating process which resulted in more than 180 nominees, organized the 14-member in-house voting panel, tabulated all the votes, worked with a senior writer on the profile of number one, and wrote most of the capsules on the other 99 members of the list.

Providence Journal
The Providence Journal library staff worked on the paper’s decade-by-decade series, The Rhode Island Century, which has run each month since January. For this, the staff pulled hundreds of old photos and clips. In addition, each of the bureaus did a monthly special section on the Monday following the Sunday stories. For this, the library staff also found clips and photos of significant events for some of the small surrounding towns. They also worked on a project to reprint historic front pages from the century for a special commemorative package.

San Francisco Examiner
The library staff at the Examiner began last winter helping with the prototype of a special section which came out in December. They went through microfilm issues of the paper and searched their photo files to get accompanying graphics. The library performed all of the graphics research, while an editor was placed in the library to go through 100 years of microfilm reels. Librarian Mel Patterson, who has been at the Examiner for over 50 years, helped with story ideas, fact checking and leads.

The Christian Science Monitor
The library staff at The Christian Science Monitor worked on a special pullout section about Scientific Achievement over the past millennium. The section was illustrated with art intended to serve as a metaphor for human scientific achievement. In addition to fact checking and providing research, the Library played a significant role in selecting and obtaining the art for the section. This included obtaining an illustration from a Time/Life book called 'The Scientist'; tracking down artwork from the Addison Gallery of American Art and the National Gallery of Art; and locating photographer Jerry Uelsmann in order to get permission to use one of his photographs on the cover.

The Dallas Morning News
News Researcher Julie Wilson worked on a yearlong project called Through the Eyes of Texas: The 20th Century. The series chronicled the stories of six families in the Dallas area over the last 100 years with overlappings of historic events over the century. It was produced as a tab and written in chapters like a novel. Julie also fact checked a weekly timeline of one or two years that appeared in the paper along with a topic.

The Baltimore Sun  
At The Baltimore Sun the library worked on numerous millennium projects. Their historic photos, clips, and research time and expertise were used in the "Century in the Sun," a coffee-table book highlighting the history of Maryland in the twentieth century; "Marylanders of the Century," a collection of 21 essays on the most influential Marylanders of the century; and a 20th century retrospective photo exhibit series at the University of Maryland.

San Antonio Express-News
I know the incredible amount of work that went into each of these projects because here at the Express-News, my boss Kathy Foley was one of two millennium editors in charge of overseeing our weekly features and monthly special sections commemorating the end of the century. In addition to providing research to reporters, the research staff produced a weekly Tuesday offering which included a timeline of 2-3 years compiled by Stacy Gilbert, a graphic highlighting the differences between now and 1900 by Jennifer Small Evert and an item I wrote highlighting an invention or medical advancement. In addition, Photo Researcher Kelly Guckian tracked down dozens of historical photos each week and gathered photos for a historic photo special section. The intranet, ENsite, was especially effective in helping us organize all of the millennium coverage.

Jalyn Kelley is the Assistant Editor of Information Services at the San Antonio Express-News. You can email her at jkelley@express-news.net.


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