News Library News Online
Vol. 16, No.3/Spring 1994

Photo Archiving: Image Archiving Update On Monday
Internet! A Whole New Node
What Can You Find on the Internet. . . ? What Are You Looking for. . . ?
Light Shines on Three Stars Tuesday Night
Finance Committee Presents Guidelines for News Division Spending
The Electronic Landscape: New Products, Methods, and Responsibilities
News Division Outline of Programs - Atlanta, 1994
Networking News Librarians
Ssssh! It's a Silent Auction . . . Making Money Talk for the News Division
Notes from the Chair
News Libraries: Management for the Year 2000: A Poynter Institute for Media Studies Seminar
Speaking Up: The USA Today Library Authors Series
The Aside Bar
No Longer the Boob Tube
The CRTC, The FCC and their Libraries

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 15
SOURCE: By M.J.Crowley

PHOTO ARCHIVING

IMAGE ARCHIVING UPDATE ON MONDAY

IS SOMETHING BETTER THAN NOTHING? -- the Image Archiving Update Session planned for Monday June 13 will try to provide as much opportunity for you as possible - opportunity for hands-on training and opportunity for hearing first hand experiences.

We will accomplish this in two ways: a one and one-half hour session from 10:30-noon will be held as small group discussions in our large presentation room. This will be your opportunity to meet with and listen to those news librarians currently using Leaf Preserver, Aldus Fetch (MacArchive), PhotoView, Merlin or AXS. You'll be able to ask questions and hear about what works and what doesn't. (If anyone is using a system I haven't mentioned, please call me so we can add it to the list of groups).

The objective is to have informal but informative meetings going on simultaneously. You should be able to move among the meetings as you wish.

Meanwhile - from 9am to 5pm on Monday, in a room nearby, we will offer hands on training sessions in 1/2 hours segments. With the exception of AXS, training will be available on the above-mentioned systems, SAVE/Harris and some additional systems.

Please sign up for these sessions by calling me at 215-854-4665 or message me on PressLink: PAPNI25. Sessions will be limited to 3 people per vendor.

IF THIS ISN'T ENOUGH...on Image Archiving: NPPA (the National Press Photographers Association) is offering a two day seminar on image archiving for news librarians as part of the ELECTRONIC PHOTOJOURNALISM WORKSHOP. The workshop will be held the week of September 24 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the Omni Europa Hotel. The ''Archiving for Librarians'' sub-seminar will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, September 27 & 28. Cost is $300 for the seminar and $68 per night at the hotel. The EPW, as it is known, is an annual gathering of photographer-editor teams that tests the latest electronic tools in a simulated newspaper setting . . . producing a total color 32-page printed newspaper with additional electronic output. Brochures with registration forms will be available in the suite at SLA. If you want information now or are interested in registering, please contact John Cornell (co-chairman) 516-698-5782. Registration will be limited to 20.

KEYWORDS: CONFERENCE 1994

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 13
SOURCE: By Jim Hunter

jhunter@cd.columbus.oh.us == Jim Hunter

Columbus Dispatch Editorial Library (614) 461-5039

THE INTERNET

Editor's NOTE: A ''node'' connection is the most powerful and flexible access you can establish to the Internet. We asked Jim Hunter to share his first-hand experience in planning and establishing an the node at his paper, the Columbus Post- Dispatch.

INTERNET! A WHOLE NEW NODE

In February 1993, we thought Internet was like CompuServe --you just signed up for it. We knew absolutely nothing about the Internet or what we could do with it if we had it -- not a good starting point in persuading our newspaper management that the Internet was something we ought to have.

Now, the Columbus Dispatch has its own Internet node. Every reporter, librarian and editor has an Internet address. We receive a daily news feed from 2,500 news groups, explore world- wide electronic mail, Gopher, Archie and Veronica. The applications are coming, and we know the value is there.

How we reached this point was a matter of enterprise, luck, and careful planning. The Internet project was accomplished by a group of dedicated people working from the bottom up.

Early on, we made a lucky contact with an Atex production systems editor who knew about and had an interest in the Internet. He suggested that we investigate putting in our own Internet node, which we didn't know was possible.

Realizing this was a large scale project, we quickly put together an informal working group of librarians, Atex Systems people, the metro editor, a business copy editor and one or two others. We called in an Internet provider, checked out others by phone and developed a proposal.

We then began ''touching base'' with the managing editors, the director of data processing and others and finally made a presentation to the editor, who approved the project although it was not in the budget.

Our proposal used PSI Net, an Internet provider based in Reston, VA. Equipment included a Sun 360, 1.2 gigabyte disk drive and a device called a nethopper, sort of a black box modem. This also bought us a Class C license with 255 addresses. Through the miracle of networks we were able to connect over 100 existing workstations to the Internet: 40 PC Writer terminals, 10 workstations on the MacIntosh network, and all of the PCs on the Banyan network.

Estimated cost for one year including equipment was about $6,000. Annual operating cost is in the neighborhood of $3,000, although we already are looking at more expensive, higher ''bandwidth.'' The slowest point in our Internet setup is the 14.4- bps modem that connects us to PSI.

Another cost: be aware the UNIX-based Internet node requires a full time system administrator. In our case, this service is provided by our Internet wizard Atex systems editor.

The immediate use of the Internet was electronic mail, news groups and listservs.

The greatest challenges still are learning to navigate the Internet, and finding the time to train reporters and maintain their interest. The training role of the library may be the most pressing issue we face. Fortunately the newsroom assigned a computer-savvy reporter the task of building applications on the projects Mac (the Internet is much easier to use in our Mac environment), and showing reporters how to use the Internet.

At this point many reporters are way ahead of the Library in using the Internet. However, I also have had two male journalists in their forties flatly refuse to learn anything about the Internet, and other opposition of a lesser degree.

What else have we done with Internet?

We have discovered numerous image sources on the Internet, from NASA to the Dallas Museum of Art. We have tested downloading images, although none have been added to our electronic archive or published. We expect the Internet to become a major source of images at some point, once the very troublesome copyright issues are resolved.

An even more oddball application of the Internet software has been transferring Mac-based Quark display pages from the Mac network to the Library Vu/Text system, something we didn't think was possible with our existing hardware and software setup. This will greatly improve the library operation and has opened the door to acquiring pages from Ohio Magazine (which we own) as well as providing library service to the magazine.

Very recently we developed the ability to connect to the Internet node from the Library Vax, which allows us to provide Internet to all of our 12 bureaus. At some point we may be able to offer home-based Internet services to everyone on staff, by providing dial-up access via the Library computer.

Our approach to the Internet is workaday applications. Our hope for the reporting staff is greater awareness and sophistication in the use of information technology. An Internet reporting coup would be terrific but having them routinely use 100 new sources is even better.

The Columbus Dispatch has considered additional Internet applications such as Letters to the Editor, Op-Ed via Internet and providing some services via Internet. We have no plans to do any of these things in the near future; but then, 12 months ago we didn't even know what the Internet was.

KEYWORDS: INTERNET; NEWS LIBRARIES; RESEARCH

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 12
SOURCE: By Ellie Briscoe THE INTERNET

NOTE: Ellie Briscoe National Geographic Society Library natgeo1@capcon.net

WHAT CAN YOU FIND ON THE INTERNET. . . ?
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR. . . ?

Just about every day now, someone at work asks me, ''what is the Internet? Is it something I should have?''

I know they think it's simply a software package to put on their PCs to unlock all kinds of neat free information. So I tell them:

The Internet is a network of networks. It's a communications tool that gives you a way to communicate with other people and other computers. It's like a telephone system with no telephone books or directory assistance, although that is changing somewhat.

It's inexpensive but it's not free. All you need is a computer, a modem, some kind of telecommunications software, like Procomm, a subscription through an Internet provider and the time to learn to use it (that's the hard part!). The National Geographic Society buys access over the telephone and uses the provider's software to access e-mail, ftp, telnet, Archie, and the rest.

Here are short definitions of those Internet buzzwords:

- E-mail: send a message to someone's computer address, with no stamps or delay. The recipient doesn't have to be there or have his computer turned on. Information exchanges that take weeks by regular mail can take minutes.

- Telnet: turns your PC into a terminal for a computer somewhere else. You sit at your desk and search that elusive quote from a Shakespeare play stored on a computer at Dartmouth. Other examples from news libraries are given below. In each case, you must learn to use the commands specific to the remote computer's software.

- FTP: transfers files, including graphics, that are housed on other computers to your computer, and vice versa.

- Archie, Veronica, Gopher: finding tools that have been developed to help locate those neat things you can telnet or ftp.

- The cost: Varies depending on the provider. We buy access from our local library consortium, CAPCON, for roughly $20 per month for 20 hours of access per password, using a local telephone number. We pay for an all-day hands-on introductory class from CAPCON for new users. The catalogs, databases, and services we access via the Internet are themselves basically free.

The most expensive part of using the Internet is the time to explore and find the nuggets. Janet Dombrowski and Lynn Kumaraswamy of the NGS Library search staff explore when they can, and teach the rest of us to find things like the full text of the King James Bible, Journal Graphics transcripts index, Census information, the U.S. Budget, earthquake reports, UN climate factsheets, a movie credits database.

We use the Internet daily for access to DIALOG and FirstSearch, for about $1 an hour instead of the usual Dialnet or Sprintnet charges. I used it to send this article to the News Library News editor. We use it to reach ''UnCover,'' a free table-of-contents database maintained by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL). UnCover posts the table of contents of each of the 12,000-odd magazines received in the CARL library system. We find articles, or experts, or browse by journal title, for free; then pay with a credit card to get the articles faxed within 24 hours. It's allowed us to cancel some of our subscriptions, and stop sending a messenger to local libraries for individual articles.

Internet mailing lists, or listservs, are ''mail reflectors:'' the software redirects any e-mail sent to it to everyone on the list, so every subscriber receives every message. There are hundreds of listservs, usually focussed on a specific topic.

To give readers a taste of how other news librarians are using the Internet, I posed the question ''what's your favorite Internet goodie?'' to the NewsLib listserv set up for news librarians by Barbara Semonche at the University of North Carolina Journalism School.

The responses below were collected in less than 24 hours:

- Kathleen M. Flynn, Coordinator of Editorial User Data Services, U.S. News & World Report: ''We use the Internet to find speeches and statements that&127; don't come across our transcript service. Two items we found ... on deadline: a ''white paper'' on the National Information Infrastructure that Gore mentioned in a speech, and the official statement that NATO put out at its last meeting. While we might have been able to get the first from the White House, it wasn't practical to call NATO (in the middle of their night) to get the latter.''

- Liisa Tuominen, Ottawa Citizen Library: ''I'm at a fairly large Canadian daily paper. Although we've only been using the Internet a few months, the reporters seem to have got the most benefit out of Profnet. One reporter today found two experts on a topic she was researching - both were writing books on her topic.''

- Jim Hunter, Columbus Dispatch: ''I nominate Spacelink, when you can get into it. . . images of planets, star charts, software, lots of propaganda from NASA. This is a very fun place designed for schools and kids to learn about space. . . very well done.''

- Barbara Ellenbogen, USA TODAY: ''We have been using the Internet to search the Library of Congress card catalog, and send out questions to get answers for reporters' stories, or for sources. We find the LC files very helpful.''

- Sperry Olsen, News Researcher, The News & Observer, Durham, NC: ''A features writer was writing about the Woolworth's in downtown Durham closing down and wanted to know of songs that mention ''five and dime''. I found some songs out of the University of Iowa's service. Yesterday, an editorial writer wanted the lyrics to Petula Clark's ''DownTown'' and I found it. One day we were trying to get in touch with someone at a university in the midwest and couldn't find her phone number. I went to the university's faculty directory on its Gopher and did a search by the person's last name - but didn't find it. Then (just to see if it would work), I did a search by the person's first name. It worked. . . we had a wrong spelling of her last name.''

Michelle Quigley, The Palm Beach Post: ''My favorite Internet find so far (I haven't had as much time to explore as I wish I did!) is the searchable song lyrics database. I had two requests for song lyrics in one day a couple of weeks ago, and it was after the public library closed, so we weren't able to call them. Only one of the songs requested was in the database though.''

- Sacramento Bee: ''The most useful thing on the Internet for our reporters is Profnet. We've made about a dozen requests, and every time Profnet has produced at least one good expert.''

Mona Hatfield, Baton Rouge Morning Advocate: ''My favorite goodie on Internet is the Fatty listserv done by Cornell University Law School -- it e- mails you summaries of Supreme Court decisions and then you can telnet or e-mail request the actual decisions ... pretty nice.''

Barbara Gellis Shapiro, Chief News Librarian, Associated Press: ''I really like the Wiretap Gopher for full text documents of an amazing variety. Edgar will be good once all SEC documents are required to be filed electronically, but now it is only a sampling. Medical information ... is excellent on the NIH service and the United Nations/World Health Organization Gopher turned out to have some very unexpected items. . .

''The song lyric database is nice, but quirky. I downloaded the Twelve Days of Christmas, only to find it was a parody of the song I expected.''

Shapiro's point is good. There are no standards; some of the databases are ''quirky'' and not commercial, maintained by volunteers. The Gutenberg Project maintains full-text files of classics like the Wizard of Oz, with data entry by volunteers. Other sources, like the Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics database at the University of Michigan, are government-mounted information.

There are oodles of books about the Internet reviewed in the library literature, and crowding the shelves at your local bookstore. Try The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog, by Ed Krol; Crossing the Internet Threshold: an Instructional Handbook, by Roy Tennant; The Internet Companion: a Beginners Guide to Global Networking, by Tracy LaQuey; Zen and the Art of the Internet, by Brendan Kehoe.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 10

CONFERENCE PREVIEW

LIGHT SHINES ON THREE STARS TUESDAY NIGHT

What: News Division Awards Dinner
When: Tuesday, June 14, 6 pm
Where: The Buckhead Club, a private dining club in the Atlanta
Financial Center, 3343 Peachtree Road, NE
Why: To recognize the outstanding contributions of our peers
How (much): $55, must include this in your conference registration

BEN LIGHTMAN HONORED WITH THE KWAPIL MEMORIAL AWARD

Lightman will receive the Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award. He worked in the Time magazine for 40 years, serving as chief librarian from 1973 to his retirement last year.

The Kwapil Award is given for major achievement in the field of news librarianship and for outstanding service to the News Division member to a member who has actively participated in the Division's programs and projects for a continuous period of ten years or more.

GEIGER AND PAUL TO RECEIVE HENEBRY ROLL OF HONOR AWARD

Richard Geiger, San Francisco Chronicle Library Director and Nora Paul, library director at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies will receive the Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor Award. This award is given to a member or former member for service to the division and for participation in division programs and projects.

STUDENT STIPEND OFFERED

Linda Henderson, chair of the Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award committee, has offered the News Division's Student Stipend to Glenn Johnson- Grau, a student at the UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Henderson will make the formal presentation at the annual awards dinner.

KEYWORDS: BIOGRAPHY; AWARD

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 10
SOURCE: By Lu-Ann Farrar, News Division Treasurer

CONFERENCE PREVIEW

FINANCE COMMITTEE PRESENTS GUIDELINES FOR NEWS DIVISION SPENDING

At the 1993 Annual Conference, Chair Donna Scheeder appointed a finance committee to assist in ''straightening-out'' the fiscal affairs of the division. Our charge was to plan a budget and offer guidelines for spending. Included here are broad guidelines to be passed from administration to administration.

A fundamental operating principle for the News Division is that all funds must be used to benefit the greatest number of members of the division. Though this may seem obvious, this principle affects many decisions the division officers must make. To offer guidance and continuity as division leadership changes, this committee proposes the following guidelines to be given to all incoming division officers.

I. ''News Library News,'' our division newsletter, is presently the only service provided to all members. This should be given priority when deciding and planning a division budget. The division allotment (from SLA) pays the expenses for about half of each issue. The remainder of the cost of NLN production needs to be offset by advertising revenue. Any future service of the division that is provided to every member should be given equal priority when developing the annual budget.

II. The annual conference (including the continuing education course) is an important aspect of this division for many members. It must never ''cost'' the division. All aspects of the conference must, at least, break even. Over the history of the division, the conference has, in fact, generated extra revenue. A fiscal goal for the conference needs to be that it make a profit. Presently, this is the division's biggest opportunity for building our treasury. The conference planners (including the CE) must seek sponsors whenever possible, for expenses that may be incurred. To the extent possible, registration fees should be a source of revenue for the division.

III. The division needs to rebuild its treasury, with a view to acquiring sufficient funds to cover operating expenses and to participate in a modest investment program.

IV. The division treasurer should provide a statement summarizing the current financial status of the division. This should be published in News Library News, and always be available to the membership.

V. Division members (or their employers), including officers, are expected to pay their own expenses, including transportation, meals and lodging, at meetings and conferences.

VI. Whenever feasible, division bills should be submitted to the treasurer to be paid directly to the vendor. All expenses that the division must pay must have appropriate documentation, invoices or receipts. The treasurer has the authority to withhold payment without sufficient documentation.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 09

CONFERENCE PREVIEW

A Rhydwen Continuing Education course sponsored by the News Division of the Special Libraries Association, Sunday, June 12, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

THE ELECTRONIC LANDSCAPE: NEW PRODUCTS, METHODS, AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The electronic landscape in which we work demands that news organizations quickly adopt new methods of providing information including packaging it i ways which reflect the needs and interests of individual readers or viewers. It also brings new stresses and questions to the corporate structure and its employees -- how will the work environment and our jobs change as communication and technology change -- how might a company's leaders respond most effectively and creatively to those changes? A team of professionals will&127; examine these issues and look at changing legal responsibilities for both information providers and users in the electronic era.

The Electronic Landscape will examine: . Specific developments in the news industry: television, print, online services, telecommunications, the superhighway. . Changes in the workplace occuring as a result of these developments and our interaction with new information systems. . New legal concerns and responsibilities for those in the news industry who may be both information providers and users. . What the electronic landscape means to us and how we can successfully navigate the sea of information.

Our speakers will include: David Scott from Access Atlanta at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Earl Casey, CNN Vice President, Domestic News; Ken Tiven, CNN Vice President, Television Systems; Shari Steele from the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Roger Fidler from the Knight-Ridder Information Design Laboratory.

Continuing Education Credits available: 1.0 Registration: $150.00

We hope you will join us for this session - watch for registration information in the Preliminary Program for the SLA 1994 Conference. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CORRECT PRICE FOR THE CE IS $150 -- SLA HAS INCORRECTLY LISTED THE PRICE IN THE PRELIMINARY PROGRAM AS $160 -- JUST IGNORE THIS AND SUBMIT $150 WHEN YOU REGISTER. ANYONE WHO MISSES THIS WHEN REGISTERING WILL RECEIVE A REBATE FROM SLA HEADQUARTERS.

If you have questions or need further information please contact the program planner: Debra K. Bade, CNN - Library, One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30348. (404)827-5833.

KEYWORDS: CONTINUING EDUCATION; CONFERENCE 1994

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 09

CONFERENCE PREVIEW

NEWS DIVISION OUTLINE OF PROGRAMS - ATLANTA, 1994

Please NOTE: NWS division suite will be the Vice-Presidential Suite at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Off-site event locations will be detailed in your conference program. All other News Division sessions are tentatively scheduled to be held in the Atlanta Hilton and Towers. Please check the final conference program for room numbers.

SATURDAY, JUNE 11

4pm-? - News Division tour of Atlanta Journal-Constitution News Research and Electronic Information Services Departments (includes 511 and Prodigy).

6pm - A reception hosted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will follow the AJC tour in the NWS division Hospitality Suite

SUNDAY, JUNE 12

9am-4pm - NWS CE Course - The Electronic Landscape: New Products, Methods & Responsibilities ($150). (Hilton)

4-5pm - NWS Division Board Meeting (Suite)

6pm-? - Tour of CNN library and Suite reception sponsored by CNN. 8pm - A reception hosted by CNN in the Division Suite. MONDAY JUNE 13 10:30am-11:45/9-5 - Is Something Better Than Nothing? Update on Image Archive Solutions. (Hilton)

Noon - 1:15 - Lunch sponsored by Congressional Quarterly (Hilton).

1:30-2:45pm - Environmental Information in the News (co- sponsored with ERM division) (Hilton)

3-4:30pm - NWS Business Meeting (Hilton)

4:30-6pm - Developing a Net for News (Hilton)

6pm-? - NWS Open House - Sponsored by DataTimes (Suite)

TUESDAY, JUNE 14

7:30-8:45am - NWS Breakfast - Sponsored by Newsbank (Hilton)

10:30am-Noon/9-5 - Next Wave in Text Retrieval - Panel discussion on new trends in electronic text retrieval of information (Hilton)

Noon-1:15pm - Promoting the News Library in Your Organization! (Hilton)

1:30-4:30pm - News Libraries Year 2000: News Research and the Newsroom (Hilton)

4:30-6pm - NWS Division Board Meeting (Suite)

6-9pm - NWS Division Awards Reception and Banquet (Off-site) Cocktail reception hosted by UMI.

9pm-? - NWS Open House - Tour of NandOLand courtesy of George Schlukbier/ News & Observer (Suite)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

11:30am-1pm - Core Competencies for Information Professionals in the Nineties (Hilton)

1-2:15 pm - Pathways to Involvement: International Special Libraries. Sponsored by The Freedom Forum and SLA International Information Exchange Caucus (Hilton)

2:30-4pm - Making Technology Work for You in the Small Library (Hilton)

4-5:30pm - NWS Broadcast Committee Program (Hilton)

6pm-? - NWS Open House sponsored by Dialog-VuText (Suite)

THURSDAY, JUNE 16

10am-2pm - NWS Division 70th Anniversary brunch reception and tour sponsored by Mead Data Central (Off-Site)

KEYWORDS: CONFERENCE 1994

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 08
SOURCE: By Jody Habayeb

NETWORKING NEWS LIBRARIANS

Two issues ago, News Library News carried an article about the News Division's new Information Clearinghouse. You were asked to submit any information produced by your library that could benefit other news librarians. We all know it is much easier to use a road map to get somehwere rather than setting out in the blind. The clearinghouse materials will be tools used to reach your news library goals more quickly and creatively.

So far I have received contributions from six News Division members:

- From Shirley Jobe, The Boston Globe's guide to their library, its policies and procedures, a database profile and training manual.

- Elizabeth Haworth sent brochures on Complete Information Access from the State (Columbia, S.C.) newspaper, along with some examples of their monthly library-produced newsletter.

- Elyse Eisner sent a copy of the very professionally produced library handbook from the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA).

- Diane Sponsler sent The Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) library manual to their database as well as a very nice brochure that is given to new staffers in her newsroom to acclimate them to the Pantagraph library.

- From Laura Weston, The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN), came examples of their new Photo Request forms. Their new digital darkroom created new challenges for public requests of photos. The form also outlines conditions that the requester must agree to in writing before a print is made.

- Barbara Ellenbogen, of USA TODAY, sent a laminated guide to online searching, USA Today indexing procedures, a procedures manual, a library position guide and many other useful tools.

So what do you say out there? Let's make this a successful project and everyone contribute something. Someone will need your materials, no matter how&127; basic they may be.

The Public Relations committee is encouraged by this response and wants to see the Clearinghouse collection built quickly, so I am offering a painless way for you to send materials or request information.

If you are going to Atlanta for the SLA conference, please attend the Tuesday luncheon, ''Promoting the News Library in Your Organization!'' and bring your materials with you. I'll send them to the Clearinghouse. There also will be a notebook for you to request information. I'll send that out after conference.

Again, thank you to our first six contributors and I look forward to seeing your offerings in Atlanta.

To those unable to attend the conference, please fax your information requests to: Jody Habayeb, The Journal-Gazette, 219/461-8648 or mail your contributions to me at 600 W. Main St., Fort Wayne IN 46802.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 08

CONFERENCE PREVIEW

SSSH! IT'S A SILENT AUCTION . . .
MAKING MONEY TALK FOR THE NEWS DIVISION

The Public Relations and Publicity Committee is sponsoring a silent auction to be held in the Division Suite during conference week.

This is a fantastic opportunity to share some hometown flavor with other News Division members, increase our treasury, and have some fun.

Theresa Buehler (Newsday) is working on vendors and publishers to provide software and assorted goodies, but the bulk of the auctionable items must come from you.

This is every News Division member's opportunity to contribute to the success of the Division. Okay, so you haven't returned any of the surveys you've received, and you let your committee down, and you failed to vote, and you never got around to telling Lu- Ann Farrar your ideas for the treasury -- REDEEM YOURSELF!

The auction simply will not work without you. Here's what we need:

- Stuff from your news organization. Pillage the marketing department -- tee shirts, coffee mugs, caps, frisbees, posters, and assorted goodies. No key chains or directions on how to make a printer's cap, please!

- Stuff from your hometown. Donate something regional that another Division member might like -- Kentucky bourbon candy (Maker's Mark if you're classy), an I Love New York book bag, something from the City Lights bookstore, a tape or CD of a local music group. You have a brain, you can do it!

Once you get your goodies collected, contact Patti Graziano at the Cleveland Plain Dealer for instructions on where to send them (216/344-4195).

Lastly, don't forget to bring a few extra dollars so you can do some bidding yourself. We need you! Call Patti or Theresa for more information or for help getting your goodies to Atlanta.

KEYWORDS: FUND RAISING

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 06
SOURCE: By Donna Scheeder

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

As I begin to prepare for our business meeting in Atlanta, I am struck by the wide variety of activities that are undertaken and acomplished long distance by this division. Our 70th anniversary will be celebrated in Atlanta. At last year's Board meeting, many of our executive committee members feared that the division members would not have enough time to pull together a suitable celebration.

However, Elizabeth Haworth and the members of the Public Relations Committee have planned a 70th Anniversary Champagne Brunch and tour of the Carter Presidential Library that will indeed be a fitting setting to celebrate the division's history of accomplishments. In keeping with their charge, they also have begun the planning for the 75th anniversary that will take place in 1999 in Minnesota. The Board would like to hear your ideas for celebrating our 75th, but be prepared to volunteer to help make them a reality.

Congratulations to our award winners and especially to our awards committee who had a very difficult job singling out individuals for recognition from among so many dedicated members. Past Chair John Cronin lead the effort and was ably assisted by Rich Ploch, Charlie Campo, Brigid Janus, Linda Henderson and past chairs, Margaret Neu and Sharon Ostmann. I know we are all particularly looking forward to Ben Lightman's Kwapil award acceptance speech. Both Nora Paul and Richard Geiger, our Agnes Hennebry winners continue to serve their profession and the association in many noteworthy ways.

In addition, a News Division member is receiving the SLA Professional award as a result of the nomination cosponsored by News, the Washington, D.C. Chapter and the International Relations Committee. Chris Wells will receive this award at the SLA Awards Banquet for her work to establish journalism libraries in Eastern Europe. I hope that many of you will attend the Wednesday dinner to cheer loudly in support of Chris.

The Finance Committee will present its recommendations at the division business meeting. Lu-Ann Farrar, Cathy Jones, Kathy Trimble and Carolyn Hardnett have looked closely at our income, cash flow, expenditures and money- raising activities in order to develop policies to guide our financial decisions in the future.

I also am looking forward to a report from Judy Canter's committee that is looking at updating our long-range plan. This should provide a program focus to take us to our 75th anniversary.

Looking to the future, the SLA Board of Directors approved a Diversity Leadership Program at the winter meeting. The purpose of this program is to help accelerate the advancement of diverse memebers of the association. The program will be administreerd by the Affirmative Action Committee. Each person selected for the program will be assigned a mentor to aid in understanding the mechanics of how the association operates and the roles of SLA leaders. In addition, they will be awarded a complimentary rgistration to attend the SLA Annual Conference and an award of $1,000 to encourage continuing education or assist with conference expenses. The program is funded by EBSCO.

I urge you to help us identify division members who would qualify and encourage them to apply. To be eligible you must be a member of the association for at least two years and have between two and five years of professional library information experience. In addition, I am interested in hearing your ideas concerning what we should do at the division level to reflect the diversity of our members in our leadership.

Debra Bade, particularly as a resident of our host city, has made a major contribution not only by planning a stimulating CE course but also by providing us with invaluable contacts at CNN and the Carter Library particularly.

Thanks to Mary Kate Leming, John Cronin, Elizabeth Haworth and Debra Bade, Atlanta looks like a conference not to be missed.

So pack your bag and join us in Atlanta.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 05
SOURCE: By Nora Paul

SEMINAR NEWS

NEWS LIBRARIES: MANAGEMENT FOR THE YEAR 2000
A POYNTER INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA STUDIES SEMINAR

Sixteen news librarians and three visiting faculty (Mary Kate Leming, Alison Head, Steve Proulx) met at the Poynter Institute March 6-10 to work on their management issues and to look at the role and responsibilities of the news library. It was a diverse group of librarians: from one-person libraries to large libraries, from print, radio and tv organizations, librarians with decades of experience to just months of experience.

Alison Head explored with them the ''pockets of powerlessness'' that can be found in news organizations, and some techniques for getting visibility and buy-in for the changes you want to make in the library. She had examples of newsroom and staff surveys she conducted when she first arrived at her library two years ago.

Mary Kate Leming challenged the group to move from ''main frame'' thinking to ''client-server'' thinking and outlined a number of basic shifts in approach to the work and the service that would result with such a change.

Steve Proulx urged people to remember they are managers and, as such, they have a responsibility to their organization to understand and work toward the organization's goals. The role as manager may take you away from the traditional skills you are comfortable with as a librarian, but by embracing the needs of the organization, you will get support for those news skills.

At the end of the week, the group gave presentations of how they would pitch an ''action plan'' to their management to get support for a specific goal in the library.

As always, the biggest benefit of the week was the opportunity to brainstorm with colleagues on specific problems and seek advice on approaches to take to move the news library ever more into the news organization.

There will be a ''Poynter Afternoon'' Tuesday, June 14 at the SLA convention in Atlanta. Paul Pohlman and Nora Paul from the Poynter Institute will lead a discussion of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the news library and facilitate some small group work on the news library mission.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 04
SOURCE: By Bruce Rosenstein

REGIONAL NEWS

NOTE: Bruce Rosenstein is a reference librarian at USA TODAY.

SPEAKING UP: THE USA TODAY LIBRARY AUTHORS SERIES

At 12:55 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1994, in the 17th floor auditorium of the USA TODAY building, five minutes before the first USA TODAY Library Authors Series, there were four people in the room. One of them was the featured speaker, Dr. Marvin J. Cetron, and one was me.

I can only guess what he was thinking, but I was not happy.

All the work and planning I had put into starting the series looked as if it was for nothing. We decided to start five minutes late, no matter how many people were present.

Suddenly, at about a minute to one, people began working their way into the room. My sense of relief was profound. We ended up with 36 people, which the powers-that-be have assured me is an excellent turnout, especially for the first time. At 1:05, I introduced Dr. Cetron, author of Crystal Globe: The Haves and Have-Nots of the New World Order (St. Martin's Press, 1991).

His talk, ''Encountering The Future,'' was lively, informative and well- received. He made predictions about government, society, education and business, and told us why, based on his past predictions, we should pay attention to him. At 2:05, it was all over.

Setting up the first in what we project to be a monthly or bi- monthly authors series has been a considerable undertaking. It all started last September, when I made my first marketing recommendations to our library director, Barbara Ellenbogen. When she gave the go-ahead, I realized all I had was an idea, and no real starting point.

I knew I wanted authors who would be of interest to people who work for the company. (The series is only open to USA TODAY and Gannett employees). I wanted either local authors, or those on tour who would be available to speak here for an hour, and who would take that commitment seriously. I also knew that we couldn't offer payment; they would have to recognize the value of speaking to an audience of opinion-makers.

I got the proper in-house approvals, scheduled dates, times and rooms, but I still didn't have my first author.

I set up brainstorming sessions with some editors and others and started looking. One thing I learned quickly was that book publicists were not a particularly good source of help. They either didn't understand the concept, or doubted that authors would appear without a fee. A friend at a local bookstore who is involved with its author readings went almost out of her way to discourage me.

I decided to call authors directly to make my case. One hung up on me. The assistant for another said the author usually got a fee, had a car sent for him, etc., but I could send a fax to make my request. I thanked her but never sent the fax, and have no plans to do so.

I could afford that attitude because Dr. Marvin J. Cetron, founder and president of Forecasting International, Ltd., based here in Arlington, Va. said yes. Without hesitation. The only thing he asked for was a parking space. Shortly after Dr. Cetron agreed to participate, and made the series a reality, several other authors came aboard:

. Jack Gillis, director of Public Affairs for the consumer Federation of America and author of The Car Book (HarperCollins, 1994); (April 13) . Kent Brunette, chief financial lobbyist for the American Association of Retired Persons and co-author of Money In The Bank: How To Get The Most For Your Banking Dollar (Putnam

erigee, 1993); (May 25) . Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., co-founder and executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, and author of Safe Food: Eating Wisely in a Risky World (Living Planet Press, 1991); (June 22)

The most crucial areas in making the series a success have been scheduling/ logistics, and promotion. I developed a checklist with about 25 items, including scheduling the room, arranging for taping, making sure the dates don't conflict with activities other departments' activities, and ordering food. People bring their own lunch, and we provide light refreshments.

To start a marketing campaign, I sent personal messages and invitations to dozens of people several weeks before the event. Barbara Ellenbogen notified the managing editors and department heads about ten days beforehand.

As the day got closer, an item about the series appeared in the library's monthly newsletter, Infoline. Flyers were placed in elevators and on bulletin boards in as many departments as possible. I also put notices on in-house electronic bulletin boards and sent a new round of personal messages the day before.

Everyone I've worked with in the company has been supportive and enthusiastic about our series. If nothing else, it has projected the library's name in a favorable context. So far, everybody is happy. Five minutes before the start of the first event, I didn't think I'd be able to say that.

KEYWORDS: NEWS LIBRARIES; TIPS AND ADVICE; PROMOTION

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 02
SOURCE: By Mona Hatfield, Managing Editor

THE ASIDE BAR

This issue has been a bear to put together. Deadlines busted, ads canceled, disks corrupted . . . and yet, we've pulled together a little something for everyone.

For those headed to Atlanta, we have some final program schedules outlined.&127; Even if you aren't attending conference there are many topics of interest covered, don't be shy about getting information from the program planner(s) involved!

And, speaking of shy, Bob Isaacs is in charge of arrangements for the News Division's first-time greeters program. If you want to volunteer your smiling face, please call Bob.

Our next issue will deliver as much of the eduational experience of the annual conference as possible, but I also want to hear from all of you about articles you would like to see in News Library News.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 01

NO LONGER THE BOOB TUBE

''The communications and entertainment industries hope to use new technologies to make TV as interactive as the computer and as friendly as the telephone,'' says Herb Brody, a senior editor of Technology Review.

We've invited him to share his vision of this interactive world with us in Atlanta Wednesday, June 15 at 4:00 p.m.

Plan to catch him at the Broadcast seminar.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: THURSDAY August 18, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.3
EDITION:*SPRING*
PAGE: 01
SOURCE: By Leone Earls and Carol Ashurst

CHANNELS

THE CRTC, THE FCC AND THEIR LIBRARIES

The acronyms FCC and CRTC don't mean a great deal to the average couch potato, but the organizations that they stand for can strike feelings of fear, anger, annoyance and joy in the hearts of American and Canadian broadcasters. These are the regulators of our airwaves. And, an important part of their regulatory process is information. A BIT OF HISTORY:

By the late '20s and early '30s, it was clear to both Canadian and American politicians that, as the number of radio broadcasters grew and the airwaves became increasingly crowded, regulation and agencies to create, supervise and enforce the rules were needed.

The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Act of 1932 placed broadcast regulation in the hands of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission. Since then, regulation has passed first to the Board of Governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (1936-1958), then to the Board of Broadcast Governors (1958-1968) and finally, as a result of The Broadcasting Act (1967-1968), to the Canadian Radio-Television Commission. From 1968 to 1975, the CRTC's sole function was to regulate broadcasting in Canada; in 1976, it also assumed jurisdiction over telecommunications and changed its name to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

In the U.S., the Radio Act of 1927 created the Federal Radio Commission to ''undo the chaos that prevailed on the radio band''. In 1934, it was superseded by the Federal Communications Commission which was created by the Communications Act of 1934 to unify within a single agency all telephone, telegraph and broadcast regulations. Over the years, amendments to the Act have given the FCC regulatory responsibility for cable TV, pay- television and communications satellites, as well.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES: Today, the FCC and CRTC are involved in regulatory rulings and decisions that could not have been imagined 70 years ago. A quick scan of the literature from both sides of the border over the last six months or so confirms this. In Canada, some of the CRTC activities that have made recent headlines include -- acceptance and support of a TV violence code, -- review and renewal of the licence of CTV, Canada's largest private network and an announcement of the principles governing access to a new Canadian production fund created as a result of changes to regulations governing cable companies and aimed at ''the creation of competitive Canadian programs''. And, as this is being written, the Commission is in the middle of hearings to consider the licensing of several new specialty cable channels (topics ranging from a women's channel and a news highlight channel to a space and science fiction channel) which to quote The Globe & Mail will ''take Canada about six channels closer to the 500- channel universe of the future''.

In the U.S., alongside positive comments (at least from within the FCC) over the recent appointment of Reed Hundt as the Commission's new chair, are stories about cable rate reductions, the allocation of spectrum for low earth orbit satellites, controversy over the FCC's pioneer's preference licences, the Commission's position on television violence and minority hiring and its upcoming auctioning of Personal Communications Service (PCS) licences (its September 1993 rulings on PCS being described in the periodical Telecommunications as ''among the most important events in telecommunications industry history'').

THE LIBRARIES:

And, providing information where it is needed are the libraries of the CRTC and FCC.

The CRTC library was founded shortly after the creation of the Commission in 1972 and is currently headed by Karla Weys. Located across the river from Canada's capital, Ottawa, in Hull, Quebec, the library has a staff of three full-time and two part- time people to serve CRTC personnel in Hull and four regional offices in Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver. It also serves members of the broadcasting and telecommunications communities as well as researchers, consultants and students working in the fields of broadcasting and telecommunications.

The library collects materials in the subject areas of broadcasting and telecommunications, mass media and advertising, and management and Canadian legislation. The collection itself includes over 350 periodicals, newsletters, CRTC Notices, Regulations and Decisions, government documents and annual reports. Staff also has access to the usual assortment of databases -- Dialog, Info Globe, Infomart and QL (the Canadian equivalent of Westlaw or Lexis).

Weys reports that most of the questions dealing with regulations, decisions etc. come from external callers. Internal information requests focus on policy development and the broader issues of broadcasting and communications including freedom of speech, industry trends, new delivery systems and company information.

The FCC library, located in Washington, D.C., has, according to its present head Gloria Thomas, been around for about as long as the FCC -- close to sixty years. A staff of three (''not enough'', says Thomas) handles queries from both FCC staff and the public. The subject range of questions is broad, but the focus is mainly communications law and technology and the collection reflects this. The library holds a complete set of FCC publications including the FCC Record and Agency Reporter. The online databases used most often are Westlaw and Lexis and the staff have access to some CD-Rom products including the index and abstracts of ABI/Inform.

Having come through some thin times financially in recent years, where reference collections were not updated and periodical collections were cut to the bare bones, there was a note of cautious optimism in Thomas' voice when talking about the changes that have occurred in the last few months since the arrival of the FCC's new chairman. Suddenly, she has fast computers, a network and direct access to the Internet and has visions of the virtual library lurking on the horizon.

Two regulators and their libraries -- great resources to remember -- when confronted with questions about the regulatory ins and outs of the electronic highway. Both libraries can be reached by phone or FAX. The FCC library's telephone number is (202) 632-7100 and the FAX (202) 634-7845. The CRTC's phone is (819) 997-4484 and the FAX (819) 994-0218.

KEYWORDS: BROADCAST LIBRARY; PROFILE; TELEVISION; RADIO

END OF DOCUMENT.


News Library News
SLA News Division Home

The page was reformatted on 12/07/2003. 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