News Library News Online
Vol. 23, No. 2/Winter 2001

Table of Contents
Regular Features

New This Month

News Library News
SLA News Division Home

 

Elections: Nominees for Division Board

 

CHAIR-ELECT

Michael JesseMichael Jesse

I started my career as a reporter at the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, after graduating from Kent State University with a BA in Journalism. After a few years as a reporter I moved to Indianapolis and took a job at the Indianapolis Star and News Library, and began work on my MLS at Indiana University.

In the days before electronic archiving, the Star and News Library had a wonderfully elaborate and detailed indexing system and my first job was writing abstracts of stories for the index. After we made the transition to the electronic archive I became the chief reference librarian. I completed my MLS in 1991, and in 1993, I left Indianapolis to become director of the library at the Dayton Daily News.

In Dayton in 1994, I used Mosaic to develop what was apparently one of the first newsroom intranets (we didn't use that term yet). Over the next few years I spent much of my time working with then-emerging web technology with the aim of blending a news archive database more seamlessly with live web pages.

Last year, after seven years in Dayton, I came back to The Indianapolis Star (The News folded in 1999) to replace my former boss, Sandy Fitzgerald, who had taken an early retirement. Although I had a fine crew in Dayton, my staff here at The Star is truly exceptional and the opportunity to work with them was a big part of my decision to come back. I showed them the work I had done in Dayton and they jumped in to help make it happen. The result is a new web site that we recently launched at www.starnews.com/library/factfiles/.



TREASURER

Catherine KitchellCatherine Kitchell

I am currently Senior Reference Librarian/Corporate Archivist, Bureau of National Affairs. I have been with BNA for 10 years.

Prior to my position with BNA, I was Head Librarian from 1989-90 at the Marin Independent Journal, and Reference Librarian from 1983-1989 at USA TODAY/Gannett Co.

I received my MLS from the University of Maryland in 1986. I received my BA in Art History from the University of Virginia in 1982.

My involvement with SLA activities iincludes: being a News Division member since 1991; being Managing Editor of News Library News, 1996-1998; and being Treasurer, Washington, DC Chapter, April 1999 - present.

Publications: BNA's Directory of State and Federal Courts, Judges, and Clerks, 2001 edition.

 

Sandy LevySandy Levy

I have been library director at The Baltimore Sun since 1997. I had been the library's deputy director for three years. Current library projects I have been involved with include the text, photo and graphic archive; serving as webmaster for the corporate intranet; the conversion of paper clips to electronic format; training and orientation; and broadening the reach of the library to everyone at the Sun.

I have been active in the Special Libraries Association Baltimore (now Maryland) Chapter since 1988, serving as director, membership chair, and currently corresponding secretary. Prior to coming to news libraries, I was an information specialist at the University of Maryland Health Sciences Libraries for five years, a member of the Medical Library Association and served as treasurer for the Maryland Health Sciences Librarians.


DIRECTOR–EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CHAIR

Denise JonesDenise Jones

I have been a news librarian since 1988. Prior to that I was a school librarian. I came to The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina in the fall of 1991 to manage a public research service and create products to market to the public. I have been research manager at The News & Observer since 1998.

I have a BA in English and an MLS. I have taught junior high and high school English, and also taught teachers how to use the Internet. Last year I taught a class to our reporters and editors on how to get background information on candidates.

I have been a member of SLA since 1988 and have spoken about public research and marketing at several annual conferences. I am also currently a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals. I have been a past associate member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals. I also served as scholarship chairman and board member for the local chapter of Executive Women International in 1996 and 1997.

While studying for my MLS I worked as an intern in a special library at a pharmaceutical company. Until that time I thought I wanted to be school librarian. In fact, I was already employed as a school librarian. During that internship I fell in love with the demands and fast pace of that company’s special library. Because of that experience my focus in library school then changed to special libraries. I consider myself very lucky that I found my way into news libraries where the demands and fast pace are even better!

 

Jennifer Small EvertJennifer Small Evert

I am currently working as an Information Professional Consultant for Lexis-Nexis. In this capacity I have the opportunity to work with librarians in various corporate environments including newspapers. On a day to day basis, I help librarians market their services, train their end users and become more proficient users of Lexis-Nexis. I also am responsible for putting together educational seminars throughout the year for the librarian communities in various parts of Texas. Before taking my job with Lexis-Nexis, I was the Assistant Editor for Information Services at the San Antonio Express-News. In that role, I was in charge of research, training and computer-assisted reporting in the newsroom.

I am active in the Texas Chapter of SLA. I currently serve as the Chair of the Public Relations Committee. I have also spoken at the national SLA conference as well as the regional Society of Professional Journalists conferences on topics ranging from training end-users to manipulating data for computer-assisted stories. I won a fellowship from the Freedom Forum in 1999 and traveled to Hong Kong and Bangkok to train journalists and librarians how to write HTML and use the Internet effectively for research. I also served as the Managing Editor of the News Division’s quarterly newsletter News Library News from 1997-1999. I am also a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).

I received my BA from the College of William & Mary, my MA in History from Ohio State University and my MLS from the University of Texas at Austin.