News Library News Online
Vol. 17, No.2/Winter 1995

In Memoriam: Rose Vormelker
Nominations Committee Presents Slate Of Candidates
Poynter on the 'Net
Poynter Institute: News Research and the Newsroom at the Poynter Institute
EPW6: The Photo Archiving Seminar
Working with the AP Photo Archiving Team
For Freshmen Conference Attendees Only
Preliminary Conference Schedule
People
Good News from the Treasurer
Notes from the Chair: 1995, A Year for Living Dangerously. . .?
News Division Continues to Grow
Aside Bar
Life in EPW6-Land

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 20

GRAPHICS: PHOTO

IN MEMORIAM

ROSE VORMELKER

Rose Vormelker, former librarian of the Cleveland Plain Dealer died at the age of 99 on November 3, 1994.

A legendary figure of diminutive size, Rose created and managed the Business Information Center of the Cleveland Public Library from 1928 to 1955. Miss Vormelker work for the U.S Information Service during W.W.II. establishing over 4,000 defense and war information centers. In 1956 she became the Librarian for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland News, a position she held until 1962. Rose continued to work long after most people retired, teaching Library Science at Kent State University, creating the first newspaper library course along with workshops for news librarians, remaining an adjunct professor of Library Science until her death.

Her many civic and professional accomplishments and memberships include the Zonta club of Cleveland (61 years), Ohio Library Association, American Library Association and Special Libraries Association from 1928.

Rose was Secretary of SLA in 1928 and President in 1949. She was elected to the SLA Hall of Fame in 1963.

David Bender, Executive Director of SLA spoke at a memorial service for Rose in Cleveland. Bender praised Rose's achievements and contributions as a professional librarian to special libraries and as a friend.

To have known Rose for merely the past quarter century we remember especially her friendship, and her quick blue eyes that sparkled with amusement or indignation. Rose was a friend and mentor to many news librarians and she was especially pleased with the Vormelker/Thomas Student Stipend award and the Rose Vormelker Scholarship at Kent Sate University.

GRAPHICS: PHOTO (1)
1. Rose Vormelker

KEYWORDS: OBITUARY;ROSE VORMELKER

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 18

GRAPHICS: PHOTO

ELECTIONS

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE PRESENTS SLATE OF CANDIDATES

CHAIR-ELECT

THERESA LEONARD

Teresa Leonard is director of the News Research Department at The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC. She inherited this position from Lany McDonald in 1993 after five years as a research librarian there. At The N&O, Leonard oversees research as well as computer assisted reporting and the building of a fulltext WAIS archive of the newspaper and its subsidiaries.

Leonard has had a long and colorful association with the news division, attending her first conference (as the student stipend recipient before it was called Vormelker/Thomas) after only two weeks on the job. She went on to serve on the Vormelker/Thomas student award committee and chair the Membership Committee in 1990. As Director of Education, she planned the 1992 Continuing Education program on Computer Assisted Reporting and the 1993 "renegade" CE on Marketing Information Products and Services.

Service to the North Carolina chapter includes the job of secretary from 1990 to 1991 and second vice president (in charge of the annual day-long professional development workshops) from 1992 to 1993. She is currently winding up a year as president-elect and program chair and will take on the job of chapter president in 1995. Says Teresa, "Are you starting to get the picture of someone who can't say no?"

Leonard has been on the program at the IRE Computer Conference in 1993 and the IRE Annual Conference in 1994. As she embarks on the division-chair-track her greatest fear is the prospect of writing those Notes from the Chair columns!

TREASURER

JODY HABAYEB

Jody Habayeb began her news library career in 1982, working for The News- Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She became library director in 1985, a position she held until 1993, when she moved across the hall to become the news research director at the The Journal Gazette, the joint operating agreement partner of The News-Sentinel. Although a short move physically, it was light years away in terms of staff, budget and commitment to a seven-day a week operation.

Jody was advertising manager for News Library News for 2 years. She currently is managing the News Division's Information Clearinghouse.

She was an executive on the board of directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Fort Wayne for 6 years. She is currently on the board of directors of Family and Children's Services Inc. Jody chairs Fort Wayne Newspapers F.R.E.S.H. Approach committee, which tries to improve the quality of life at home and at work for employees. She is a student in the Leadership Fort Wayne class of '95.

GINNY HAUSWALD

Ginny Hauswald has been the news library manager at the Winston-Salem Journal since 1992. She joined the Journal as a part-time librarian in 1988.

Ginny has been a member of the News Division since 1992 and has served on the Public Relations Committee. She was also a panelist for the Small Libraries Workshop in Atlanta.

She is currently a committee chair of the North Carolina Chapter of SLA.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

CAROL CAMPBELL

Carol Campbell, library manager at The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, has been with the paper since 1968. She started as a typesetter in the composing room and has held such diverse positions as advertising layout, proofreader, general news desk editor, assistant librarian, women's section feature writer, copy editor and electronic paginator.

Carol was also responsible for computer training of the staff when the newsroom converted to personal computers. She has been in her current position since March, 1992 and is involved in the newspaper's ongoing computer-assisted reporting projects.

Carol is a member of FOI Oklahoma Inc. and the Oklahoma chapter of SLA. She currently serves on the News Division Technology Committee.

RON LARSON

Ron Larson has been library director at the Wisconsin State Journal and Capital Times in Madison since 1987. Prior to that, he had been head librarian at the State Journal since 1978. Ron has been a member of the News Division for 17 years.

Ron has been a member of several Division committees, including Automation, Small Libraries and Education. In 1988, he coordinated and hosted a regional news library workshop in Madison and has contributed several articles to News Library News. Ron was also a speaker at the Small News Libraries session during the 1993 SLA conference in Cincinnati.

Ron received his MLA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and BA from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

GRAPHICS: PHOTO (5) 1.-5. Leonard, Habayeb, Hauswald, Campbell, Larson

KEYWORDS: LIST; CANDIDATES;

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 17

POYNTER ON THE 'NET

The Poynter Institute now has its own website. The address is http:// www.nando.net/prof/poynter/home.html. It has lots of basic catalog information and a bibliography feature, among other useful stuff.

Everyone at Poynter is now on e-mail, as well, with an @poynter.org address. For more information, contact Nora Paul at npaul@poynter.org.

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 16
SOURCE: By Nora Paul, Library Director, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies

POYNTER INSTITUTE

NEWS RESEARCH AND THE NEWSROOM AT THE POYNTER INSTITUTE

For years, the WED (Writing, Editing and Design) concept, has been a cornerstone of the teaching at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. The WED idea recognizes the need for cooperation and understanding between those responsible for the writing, editing and design of news stories. The goal of WED is to provide the reading and viewing public with clear, readable, relevant and understandable news reports.

Over the past several years, the need for research to be included in this concept has been embraced. Sessions on news research are included in most of the writing, editing, and information graphics seminars at the Institute. The sessions are intended to make reporters, editors and graphic artists aware of the bounty of resources available, and how to use these resources to improve and enhance the content, credibility and depth of their reports. These sessions help create an appetite for research in their newsrooms, but do little to teach them how to feed this growing hunger.

That is the goal of the Poynter's News Research and the Newsroom seminar. Now in its third year, this seminar (held in December) brings together teams consisting of a reporter, editor and researcher from news organizations. They meet here for a week to talk about the role of news research and the need to make the resources (and the skills to use them) available to their newsrooms. Most importantly, they work on action plans for their own newsrooms. These plans consist of a look at their current situation, a listing of their needs (resources, access, training, equipment), and a detailing of the action steps necessary to get where they need to go.

The good news about these seminars is that the teams that go back to their newsrooms have a concrete plan to present to their management. Sometimes, that is all the newsroom was needing to get it goosed up to a new level of support for research, resources and equipment. As Mary Dodge, editor at the Stuart News said after reporting on success with their action plan, "It seems like they were waiting for a sensible, well-though-out proposal..."

The seminars also have helped heighten the newsroom's awareness of the contribution news libraries can make in the area of information access and use. The bad news is that many of the newsroom teams didn't feel their libraries were able to make those contributions.

Their perceptions of the library:

The library is too busy putting stuff away: Research has a lower priority than database building or clip filing. Too often, research is seen as goofing off by the library director - not doing REAL work.

The library doesn't have access to the new resources, or even to know about them:

Especially in the expansive world of the Internet, the gurus seem to be coming from the newsroom, not the library. The early adapter in the newsroom is the one who has taken leadership in showing and telling his colleagues about the wealth of resources available.

The library has access to commercial databases, but isn't good about letting us know what's available:

We all know that frustration. We send out memos about the great new database available, and get little or no response or interest. Then you'll see a news story that would have been improved with information from a file you have. Stupid newsroom, why didn't they ask for our help. Wrong. Stupid process. If we were more central to the newsgathering, rather than a detour (oh, let's check with the library), our knowledge of where the information exists would be a constant contribution to the process.

We have some great resources available, but nobody knows how to use them: Though it seems logical for the library to be in charge of training, often the perception of the newsroom is that the library is just too busy (usually putting stuff away carefully) to help. So they are looking to newsroom gurus, and the library ends up even more as a waystation - not a key destination for information.

Bottomline - information access is hot. Reporters and editors want the resources, and they are becoming the advocates in their newsrooms for making sure the resources are available. They would be happy to do it with librarians, but they are ready (and able) to go around you if you don't move quickly enough.

This has led to a sense of guilt by some of the librarians who have been through these seminars. We had a "reunion" of four of the teams that attended the News Research and the Newsroom seminar in 1993. We wanted to see what actually happened to the action plans they left with once they had returned to the newsroom. In each case, there had been some big changes in the newsroom (networking, Internet access, acquistion of computers and modems, training and awareness). But in each case, it was usually the reporter or editor who had been responsible for steering through the changes.

This led to a soul-searching session with the news librarians. Sitting together, we talked about the barriers to success they had encountered.

"Myself, I'm the barrier," was the unanimous comment. Why?

Why this is happening is obvious. The universal complaint in newsroom is there's not enough time, not enough resources, not enough training opportunities. How do we turn it around? First, we have to sell ourselves, and what we can provide to the newsroom. We asked the librarians to state just what they wish their role was in the newsroom. Then we asked them to inventory the library's unique contributions to the newsgathering effort:

Goal: To be a partner in a collaborative process where our expertise as information consultants is valued and used. WHAT WE KNOW:

There is clearly a contribution to be made, and a clear lack of understanding and recognition of that contribution by the newsroom.

What can we do about it?:

PRIORITIZE: There is more to do than there is time to do it. That is not unique to the news library, everyone feels that pressure. Learn how to prioritize effort, but make sure your priorities and the priorities set for the library match with the newsroom, and the whole organization's needs.

ASSESS NEWSROOM'S NEEDS: How can you make sure there is a match of priorities? Survey the newsroom, or a few key people, to make sure you understand what they are expecting of the library, where they have unmet needs the library could help realize.

BE THERE: Make sure you are at the key meetings where you can contribute your knowledge about inforrmation resources available. And make sure you contribute. Choose your meetings carefully - the afternoon budget meeting may not be the one to attend, too far along in the process. Find out when the weekly projects meetings are, get in early. Another approach to being there is to physically be in the newsroom. A number of libraries are placing researchers in newsroom outposts. Have researchers part of the team of people involved in building the story right from the beginning. The unique contributions the researcher can make will quickly be clear to reporters and editors.

Don't wait to be invited: Assume you are welcome, know that you have a contribution to make, and attend the meetings. If you are the head of the library, and you are not attending department head meetings, you need to find out why.

FIND ALLIES: You must locate, and collaborate with, people in the newsroom who are poised to take on the role of information advocate. There is at least one in every newsroom. They "get it", they have a sense of the vast resources out there, and they want to spread the word. Find them, plot strategy with them.

MAKE YOUR KNOWLEDGE USABLE: The information intermediary concept (the researcher laying hands on the keyboard) must be modified with the idea of end-user access to information. Instead of decreasing the librarian's role, this magnifies our responsibility to select the best sources, ensure acccess to most reliable information, and to design methods to allow end-users to make efficient and reliable use of the information. Search interfaces, a database of database sources and user tutorials are all information tools that should be developed in the library.

MAKE SURE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE ACKNOWLEDGED: If your research has made a substantial contribution to the news story, insist on a credit. This will show the newsroom, and the news audience, the role of research is an important part of the process.

Our role as gatekeeper and information custodian is changing. The newsroom needs our leadership in managing the vast information resources now available. The new role as active partner in the newsgathering process, and our contribution to the product by assuring quality information, promises a future of professional challenge. Show your newsroom you are up to the challenge. The future is going to happen with us, or without us. We all know it will be better with us - make sure your newsroom knows that, too.

KEYWORDS: INFORMATION RESEARCH; NEWSROOMS; NEWS LIBRARIES; ROLES; TIPS & ADVICE

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 15
SOURCE: By Janet Sammons, Library Director The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC

EPW6

THE PHOTO ARCHIVING SEMINAR

My participation in the photo archiving seminar at the Electronic Photojournalism Workshop proved to be a valuable learning experience. Although it was only a two-day event, much information was covered and provided.

Along with the tour of the bustling "newsroom", we received information in an informal lecture set-up given by some of the expert workshop participants. In addition, we participated in a hands-on archiving demonstration from several vendors.

Starting with a much-needed introduction given by the Chairman John Cranfill and Co-chairman Lon Cooper, we discovered the answer to the burning question, what is EPW? They explained that the EPW, sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association, is in its sixth year. It is a pressure-cooker week of utilizing the very latest technology to produce an excellent, full- size newspaper featuring photographs and stories. This year, the final product reflected the multi-dimensional character of the people of the host state of North Carolina.

One of the reasons a workshop environment is so critical to the purpose of EPW, according to Cranfill, is because of the lack of training available or opportunity to use cutting-edge technology. He explained that you can go to vendors' shows and conventions and never learn whether or not their products are truly capable of filling a need. The products must be seen in action, doing the job they are made to do, to evaluate weaknesses and strong points. He also said that critical reviews (i.e. complaints) of the products in a hands-on, workshop environment has led to important information that leads to product modifications and improvements.

We were given a detailed notebook that gave background information on the team participants consisting of photo, presentation, design, leadership, imaging, writing and systems staff. These people made up 30 teams consisting of photographer, editor-designer and observer roles. Information on the floorplan, workflow, operations and trainer roles also were provided.

Along with the bonus information on high-tech workflow, we learned some basics on photo archiving technology and terminology. For example, file data fields and format standards recommended by the NAA/IPTC (Newspaper Association of America/International Press Telecommunications) were discussed. These standards include TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), which is a compression protocol. Software that allows images to be tagged with crucial information about ownership, use restrictions and caption follow the above-mentioned standards, allowing the files to be stored and shared.

The state of archiving photos is in such flux that no particular type of system was recommended. However, one speaker warned against simplified "starter" databases that do not save changes made to an object. He also emphasized that file standards should be followed so that IPTC header information will be converted automatically.

Karl Kuntz, Imaging Director of the Columbus Dispatch, said that he would ultimately like to see full pages saved with individual elements in their native resolution so that they could be reused.

The problems associated with converting from a darkroom method to a digital method of producing photographs was briefly discussed. From what I could gather, such a change will have quite an impact on photo archiving. I would like to have heard more on this issue.

Although the archiving seminar was quite informative, I was left with the impression that it started somewhere in the middle of the subject, possible due to the fact that the speakers were truly industry pioneers. But the hands- on session with the archiving vendors (appropriately at the end of the seminar) was very helpful in pulling together the speaker information. Even though there is much left for me to learn about archiving photos electronically, I was very glad to have had the opportunity of getting my feet wet.

KEYWORDS: REPORT;IMAGE ARCHIVING; SEMINAR

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 14
SOURCE: By Peggy Simmons, Photo Librarian, Raleigh News & Observer

EPW6

WORKING WITH THE AP PHOTO ARCHIVING TEAM

When Rande Anmuth of the Associated Press called and asked if I'd be interested in archiving photos during this year's Electronic Photojournaism Workshop, I jumped at the chance. I had seen demonstrations of several photo archiving systems, but obviously the greatest demonstration in the world can't come close to a week of hands-on experience.

I met Rande for my training session Saturday morning in the ballroom of the Omni Europa. The ballroom had been transformed into a newsroom. I had never seen so many Macs in one room. Because the workshop had not yet started, we used a photo CD for training purposes. My attendance was sponsored by AP, so naturally the archiving system that we were to use was the AP Preserver. I found the Preserver easy to use, mainly because I was already used to the Leafdesk. Many tasks are performed the same way on the Preserver that they are on the Leafdesk and the familiar-looking screen was a help.

The photographers attending the workshop began going out on assignments on Sunday. So Monday morning was when the real work began for me. Rande and I decided to start work bright and early. (A little too early it turned out. When we got to the "newsroom" the doors were still locked!)

As photos were scanned at different stations, a copy was compressed and sent to folder for that day's date. We had decided to archive photos the day after they were scanned since that's when archiving is generally done in real life.

However, not everything worked just like in real life. Instead of bringing the archiving hardware to Chapel Hill, the decision had been made to use an ISDN link to connect us to a Preserver at the AP's technical center in Cranbury, NJ. Unfortunately, Monday morning the phone line kept going down, leading to much frustration and eating up valuable time.

After several calls to the phone companies the problem was resolved and we were back in business. But by then, the traffic on the Ethernet had really picked up and everything was moving slowly. We did, finally, get the all of the photos archived and indexed. Actually, once the photos were in the archive, indexing took no time at all. Most of the photographers had filled in the caption and some other fields when they scanned their photos. Also, we decided that if a photo did not have a caption, it didn't get archived. (No, I don't think that would fly in the real world. Although maybe it should!)

Since there had not been many assignments shot on Sunday, we expected that the workload the rest of the week would be much heavier than it had been on Monday morning. So later that afternoon we decided to take a look to see how many photos had already been scanned from that day's assignment. What a good idea that turned out to be!

It was immediately apparent that we weren't going to be able to archive every photo. We suspected that there would be duplicates (there were), and because of the slow traffic on the network there simply was not enough time to archive everything. We used the photogrid feature in the Iron Mike scanning software to view the photos and make our selections. Making some selections ahead of time was a great help the next morning.

In addition to the practical experience, I was fortunate to be able to attend portions of the seminar for photo librarians that M.J. Crowley organized as part of the EPW. I was surprised to to learn that this year was the first time that news librarians had been invited to this workshop. It was in one of the sessions in the seminar that I heard a speaker refer to photojournalists as "picture people" and reporters and editors as "word people". I thought to myself that as a photo librarian I must be a picture person. Not true. Photo librarians must be picture people AND word people.

I had a wonderful week at EPW. I hope that next year other vendors will try to do the same thing that the AP did for me this year. It makes sense to invite a photo librarian to use the system instead of just having a sales representative archive photos.

All week I had a feeling of deja vu. Finally it dawned on me that it was like summer camp. There were counselors, there were campers. Work starts early and everyone works together with lots of enthusiasm to get the job done. And everyone learns a lot and has fun in the process.

But just as summer camp always came to an end, so did my week at EPW. That real world that I referred to earlier? I knew I was back in it when on my first stop in the newsroom on my first day back, I picked up a stack of old- fashioned black and white prints on the photo editor's desk.

KEYWORDS: REPORT;IMAGE ARCHIVING;SEMINAR

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 10

FOR FRESHMEN CONFERENCE ATTENDEES ONLY
If you're new to the News Division and don't think you can contribute, think again! If SLA Conference programming isn't giving you what you want, DO something about it!!! If you've been to *fewer* than *four* conferences, you're invited to come see what we're talking about at the "Freshmen Conference Planning Committee" dinner on Wednesday, June 14th at 5:30 p.m. But, this is only for NEW conference attendees! (Don't trust anyone who's been to more than three conferences!) This is an easy way to shape SLA Conference and to become involved in your organization. It's your exclusive opportunity to make SLA Conference your own personal learning tool. Don't miss this chance to make a difference. Please e-mail or call Sperry Krueger (sperryo@nando.net or 919-956-2421) for more information. More details will be available in the next issue of News Library News and at the conference.

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 10
SOURCE: By Charlie Campo, News Division Chair-elect

1995 CONFERENCE SNEAK PREVIEW

PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

As I sit here staring out across the frozen vastness of a real Maine winter (N.B.: My library has no windows, but, on occasion, I can glimpse the newsroom), thoughts have turned to the early summer gardens of Montreal.

Soon hordes of news librarians will be descending on that unsuspecting Paris of North America. I think it will probably do the Vieux Montreal good to have such a raucous band invade this year, for the venerable Canadiens have, at this writing, not yet strapped on their skates and cross-checked their way into the local fans' hearts. (editor's note: The Canadiens are skating again after the strike settlement) Remember, this is the city where fans routinely burn, pillage, and otherwise riot when their hockey team WINS the Stanley Cup. I think the usual News Division conference antics MAY pale in comparison. (Surgeon General's Warning: This is not intended to be a challenge to potential miscreants!)

Get those budgets in order, watch the mail for your preliminary Conference Program, and get those travel vouchers approved. I am definitely going to be taking attendance, and the door to the penalty box is already open!

NEWS DIVISION CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, JUNE 10
6:00 p.m.- Open House

SUNDAY, JUNE 11
9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. CE COURSE - Leaders in an Electronic Age
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. News Division board meeting
6:00 p.m.- Open house

MONDAY, JUNE 12
9:00 a.m.-10:15 a.m. SLA General Session I
10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. The Wired City
Noon-1:15 p.m. 7th Annual NEWS Division Luncheon
1:30 p.m.-2:45 p.m. Annual Business Meeting
3:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m. East/West Library Cooperation
6:00 p.m. (reception) Annual Awards Banquet
7:00 p.m. (banquet)
9:00 p.m.- Open House

TUESDAY, JUNE 13
9:00 a.m.-10:15 a.m. SLA General Session II
10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. GIS in News Libraries
1:30 p.m.-4:15 p.m. News Libraries from the ground up
5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. SLA Division Cabinet
6:00 p.m.- Open House

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14
7:30 a.m.-8:45 a.m. NewsBank Breakfast
9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. SLA Annual Business Meeting
11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Getting most value for research dollar
1:00 p.m.-2:15 p.m. Dealing with the "not enoughs"
2:30-3:45 p.m. Designing/implementing effective newsroom training
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. News Division board meeting
6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. SLA Awards Reception Banquet
6:00- Open house

THURSDAY, JUNE 15
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m News Division Brunch
1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Guided walking tours of Old Montreal

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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 08

GRAPHICS: PHOTO
SOURCE: By Barbara Hijek

PEOPLE

New jobs, new responsibilities

Ginny Everett, former Director of the Library at Memphis Commercial Appeal is the new Deputy Director of News Research Services at the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Ginny, who is the News Division Membership Chair, is orginally from Macon and is looking forward to being closer to home for many holidays to come.

Replacing Ginny at the Commercial Appeal is Rosemary Nelms. Rosemary has an MLS from Peabody at Vanderbilt and worked at the Memphis Public Library. For the last five years Rosemary has been Assistant Director at the Commercial Appeal.

Ft. Myers News-Press has a new new Director of Info Servics- he's Peter Ford from Rochester, NY. He'll start on Jan. 16th.

In January, Virginia Wheeler was appointed the new Library Manager for the Gannett Rochester newspapers (Democrat and Chronicle and the Times-Union). Virginia has been with the papers since 1976. Virginia began her career at the papers as a library clerk then was promoted to Photo Librarian.

CNN's DC Bureau Library has a new Library Manager. Elizabeth Sullivan began her new position on January 9th. Elizabeth is a familar face in the News Division. She is Chair of the DC SLA News Group and had worked at National Public Radio since 1988.

Victoria A. Boylan is the new Research manager at the Editorial Information Center at the Chicago Tribune. Vickie was the Director of Library and Information Services for Winston & Strawn (a Chicago law firm) for four years and was Head Librarian at Jenner & Block (Chicago law firm) for six years before that. She most recently worked for NOTIS, a library service firm now owned by Ameritech, in Evanston. Vickie got her MLS from Indiana University.

UPDATE ON THE NEW YORK POST

After a strike in Oct. 1993 there was an organizational overhaul: The Post, the oldest newspaper in the U.S. hired a librarian from the oldest financial biweekly in the U.S. The new Head Librarian is Laura Harris. Laura received her MLS degree from Pratt Institute. She is a former business consultant and author of a book on Real Estate Information Sources. Previously, Laura set up a new real estate library for New York University in Manhattan and also worked as a researcher/info specialist for FINANCIAL WORLD. Her initiatives include online availability of the Post. Laura recently hired Nicola Pullen, Librarian, who is finishing her MLS degree at Rutgers.

LIBRARIAN AS REGULAR COLUMNIST

Margot Williams, Manager of Research at the Washington Post's News Research Center, is blazing a new trail for news librarians. She is now writing a regular column about the Internet for the Post called NETWORKINGS, which is featured in WashTECH, a section in the Post's Monday Business tab. Margot shares the billing with the Post's business editor and science editor - each writes once every three weeks. Margot does the column on a freelance basis. How does she feel about her new role? "Scary!" says she.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Bridget Janus, Library Director at Cedar Rapids Gazette, was recently one of 44 Cedar Rapids women honored in a Tribute to Women of Achievement, an annual award that acknowledges women in management, supervisory, professional and voluntary positions for their achievements and contributions. Bridget was nominated by her employer, the Gazette Co.

GRAPHICS: PHOTO (1) 1. Briget Janus

KEYWORDS: BIOGRAPHY

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 07
SOURCE: Lu-Ann Farrar, Treasurer

GOOD NEWS FROM THE TREASURER

THE REPORT FROM THE DIVISION TREASURY IS QUITE GOOD. I'LL START WITH THE MOST DRAMATIC NEWS: WE PRESENTLY HAVE $9,955 IN OUR ACCOUNT. THAT IS SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN THE $1,760 WITH WHICH WE BEGAN 1994. THE REASON FOR THE SOUND STATE OF FISCAL AFFAIRS IS BASED, PRIMARILY, ON HOW THE CONFERENCE WAS MANAGED (CERTAINLY INCLUDING THE CE AND MANY SPONSORSHIPS); THE HEALTHY ADVERTISING REVENUE FOR NEWS LIBRARY NEWS; THE ADDED INCOME FROM THE SILENT AUCTION; AND THE PUBLICATION ROYALTIES. IN SHORT, DUE TO THE EFFORTS OF MANY MEMBERS, WE ARE DOING FINE.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY FOR 1994

CONFERENCE INCOME:
CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSE (95 TICKETS SOLD) $14,305
UMI (STUDENT STIPEND) 1,000
SUITE SPONSORSHIPS 4,500
ROYALTIES FROM "INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF NEWS LIBRARIES" 1,273
SILENT AUCTION 1,250
SUITE FEES 1,450

CONFERENCE EXPENSES:
PROGRAM EXPENSES (CE, A/V ETC.) 6,033
AWARDS 2,000
SUITE 2,127
REVENUE CLEARED AT CONFERENCE 13,618

OUR EXPENSES ARE PRIMARILY THE NEWSLETTER. TO OFFSET THE COST OF PUBLISHING, THE DIVISION COLLECTED $3,680 IN ADVERTISING. THE TOTAL EXPENSE FOR PRODUCING THE NEWSLETTER IN 1994 WAS $9,902.

THE DIVISION'S ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT TO SLA IS DUE AT THE END OF JANUARY.

FOR ANY INTERESTED MEMBERS, I WILL BE GLAD TO MAIL YOU A COPY OF THE FULL REPORT (CALL ME AT 606-231-3335).

BUDGETING FOR 1995 IS UNDERWAY. ALL COMMITTEE CHAIRS HAVE BEEN ASKED TO

REQUEST FUNDS (FROM THE DIVISION) BY THE END OF FEBRUARY. ALSO IN PROGRESS ARE PLANS FOR THE 1995 CONFERENCE, WITH EVERYONE INVOLVED MINDFUL OF OUR FINANCIAL HEALTH. THERE IS EVERY REASON TO EXPECT THE 1995 CONFERENCE TO GENERATE AS MUCH REVENUE AS THE 1994 CONFERENCE. THE HAPPY STATE OF AFFAIRS SUGGESTS THAT THE BOARD NEEDS TO DECIDE ABOUT INVESTING IN A GREATER INTEREST-BEARING FUND OR ACCOUNT. PRESENTLY, OUR FUNDS ARE IN A CHECKING ACCOUNT, BUT IF THE BALANCE IS DOUBLED NEXT YEAR, WE SHOULD INVESTIGATE OTHER POSSIBILITIES.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME.

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 06
SOURCE: By Mary Kate Leming, News Division Chair

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

1995, A YEAR FOR LIVING DANGEROUSLY. . .?

Good riddance to 1994.

For 1995 resolutions, I've adapted one of Christopher Locke's columns from Information Week to our special needs as information specialists. Locke's Seven Principles of Highly Effective Networking ran in the June 20, 1994 issue. You can find this column and more of his writing at URL -http:// canmot.org/locke/locke-index.html.

Not only should we adopt these principles for the News Division, we should also look closely to see how we might use these in our own professional situations.

To quote Locke: "networking is primarily social. If it doesn't enable people to work together more effectively, it isn't worth the investment -- no matter how fast, secure, or efficient the physical infrastructure." Amen.

Much of what follows radically challenges conventional wisdom. But if we as information specialists haven't learned to challenge the status quo, we are destined to mire ourselves right back into the morgue.

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE NETWORKING

1. Talk to anyone about anything

CL - Participate in other people's thinking whenever possible. Being too important or too busy will seem thin excuses when your more attentive competitor snags a chunk of your market share. Aloof executive-style one- liners --"Ms. Webster will be addressing your concerns on our behalf" -- are a curt invitation to take a flying leap. Valuable colleagues and customers are all too likely to take you up on it.

MKL - Talk to the systems editors. Talk to the metro clerks. Talk to the Sports producer. Talk to the network administrator. Talk to the New Media director. Talk to the Security Guards. Subscribe to listservs on topics related to your own, and see what other people are talking about. Contribute. It's called sharing information.

2. Develop a high tolerance for ambiguity

CL - Being too attached to "the right answer" can be a serious character flaw these days. In an environment of continual and dynamic change, yesterday's right answer can easily precipitate tomorrow's fatal misstep. Listen to everybody's point of view without deciding too quickly which is correct. This is difficult for managers schooled in the value of crisp precision and unwavering certainty. Like beauty, chaos is in the eye of the beholder -- learn to surf it. Consider, ponder, delay judgment. When you do decide, notice how much smarter you've suddenly become.

MKL - Boy, this will be going out on a limb in most newsrooms! How many news editors/producers have you met who don't just love making on-the-spot definitive gospel decisions. Not many I bet. It's a little scary to consider, ponder, and delay judgment in an environment that promotes and supports bravado. But, personally, I'd rather "surf chaos" than to be hard-headed about a potentially disastrous decision. Learn to tolerate ambiguity.

3. Be willing to look stupid

CL - People in management positions seldom ask questions that might belie their ignorance. Where knowledge is power and nothing more, the desire to understand can become a dangerous indicator of weakness. Expose this attitude for what it is: counterproductive to your organization's mental and financial health. The more senior you are, the more people you should be asking for help. Nobody believes you know it all anyway -- starting with yourself. But a lot of smart folks together probably know more than you do alone. Appearing stupid always beats true ignorance.

MKL - Ask questions! Just because we are librarians doesn't mean that we know everything. That's impossible. We just need to know where to find information, whether that means picking up a book, surfing the net, or asking the cashier. Besides, we only think that we might look stupid. No one really expects us to know it all.

4. Give more than you take

CL - Reserving knowledge for personal advantage runs counter to the real demands on business today. Offering useful information builds robust relationships and powerful teams -- which need not be physically co-located anymore. They don't even need to be limited to your own company or focused on it's direct objectives. "What can I do for you?" can be a truly unfriendly question. Don't ask; just do it. Then watch how your professional life changes overnight.

MKL - This has been my personal motto for years. Nothing makes me more steamed than "information specialists" who reserve knowledge for personal advantage. It always backfires. We live in a networked world so that we can share knowledge. Look at the internet! It is a perfect example of what can happen when a network of individuals work together to push the envelope every single day. Remember, it is usually easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission.

5. Cultivate fearlessness

CL - Get comfortable with risk. The Not Invented Here syndrome has buried a lot of companies. If you're afraid of losing your job for taking action, be prepared to move on. If you're in a company geared for survival and success, you probably won't have to. A company that would fire you for taking intelligent initiative doesn't have much of a half-life anyway. W. Edwards Deming said "Drive Out Fear!" Take this challenge personally.

MKL - We all want to work in a fear-free environment. Not only as employees, but as managers. If, as a manger you can't provide a fear-free environment, get out of management. If as an employee you are afraid of losing your job for taking intelligent risks, find another job.

6. Go on gut feel

CL - Hone your intuition and learn to trust it. Quantitative analysis should always be suspect. It works wonders when all the assumptions are accurate and the variable selected are the right ones. This happen approximately once every million years. You need to move faster than that. Genuine insight is seldom reflected in spreadsheets. Rather, it grows organically out of experience and imagination, neither of which can be applied as context-free rule sets.

MKL - As the keepers of integrity, this may feel strange. But, as librarians we are exposed to far more information than most people. This gives us an even broader base of knowledge on which to base a gut feeling. Trust your intuition.

7. Expand your sense of humor

CL - Delusions of self-importance are usually harbingers of early senility. Ditto nagging doubts. A prominent cardiologist once proposed a simple formula guaranteed to prevent heart failure: 1) Don't sweat the small stuff, and 2) It's *all* small stuff. Work less; play more; dream always. You'll be far more effective: no joke.

MKL - In the news business we see 37 year-olds drop dead of heart attacks. We have to work to change this environment. Humor is always a good option. Why do you think newspapers publish comics?

CL - None of these principles work in isolation from the rest. Taken together, they constitute the social bedrock on which high-performance organizations are built. Networking is not some isolated phenomenon that arrived with the advent of high technology. But networking technology may very well encourage and promote these invaluable human qualities at a critical moment in your company's evolution.

MKL - Chris is right on here, all of these 7 principles must be implemented together. Any alone, could be misunderstood. But, together they are the building blocks of progressive networking.

CL - And that's what all this Internet fuss is *really* all about.

MKL - And that's what the News Division of SLA is *really* all about as well.

Happy 1995!

KEYWORDS: NUTS & BOLTS; TIPS AND ADVICE; NETWORKING

END OF DOCUMENT.

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 04

MEMBERSHIP

NEWS DIVISION CONTINUES TO GROW

As of November 30, 1994 the News Division has 815 members, up from 802 at the end of October, when our membership first exceeded 800. With the November membership report, SLA also sent a list of e-mail addresses for all members who have provided that information. So far, 223 addresses have been reported, many as a result of the mailing sent to the membership earlier this year. Thank you for responding so quickly.

Our 1995 membership directory will be published during the first quarter of 1995, and thanks to your response, we will include all known e-mail addresses. If you have any change in your address (e-mail or snailmail), telephone, or employment, please let SLA know. The information for the upcoming directory has already been loaded into the directory database, but News Library News and other division mailings also depend on SLA records.

Mail changes or additional information to Special Libraries Association, 1700 Eighteenth St. NW, Washington, DC 20009-2508, Attn: Membership records. E-mail: SLA1@capcon.net. Fax: 202-265-9317. Telephone: 202-234-4700.

If possible, please give SLA your work address as well as home address, so that we may serve as resoures for each other at our news and other organizations, academic institutions and companies. The list below includes work addresses when known.

Thanks.

Ginny Everett, Membership Chair

Welcome to the News Division! News Division New Members 9/1/94 - 11/30/94
Kristin F. Anderson
166-A Josephine St.
Santa Cruz CA 95060
ph: 408-457-8976

Andrew T. Bailey
19 Woodcrest Blvd.
Kenmore, NY 14223

Stuart D. Bempster
Express Newspapers
Picture Library
245 Blackfriars Rd.
London, UK SE1 9UX
ph: 44/71-9227779
fax: 44/71-9227791

Elena A. Bianco
7247 NW 170 St.
Bothell, WA 98011

Sara M. Bilhardt
218 Twin Oaks Rd. Apt. 8
Akron, OH 44313
ph: 216-836-1258

Patrizia M. Brasch
51 Kingsmount Park Rd.
Toronto ON Can M4L 3L3

Kathryn L. Brazee
5505 40 Ave NE #1
Seattle, WA 98105

Dawn A. Bussey
1237 Rita Ave.
St. Charles, IL 60174

Elisa K. Cho
370 W 30 St. Apt. #11A
New York, NY 10001

Lysbeth B. Chuck
Los Angeles Times
Editorial Library
Times-Mirror Square
Los Angeles, CA 90057
ph: 213-237-3347

Sandra M. Colby
1176 Kimbro Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
ph: 504-763-9337

Carmela Y. Copeland
9860 Scyene Rd. #1023
Dallas, TX 75227

Gail A. Culler
1557 Mary Ellen Ct.
McLean, VA 22101
ph: 202-955-2237

Nancy E. De Sa
250 N. Arcadia Ave. #920
Tucson, AZ 58711
ph: 602-745-8328

Linda M. Defendeifer
320 Corbett Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94114-1819

John F. Dittmann
1510 Centre St.
Boston, MA 02131

Charity A. Dorgan
21364 Sloan Dr.
Harper Woods, MI 48225

Richard Drezen
3401 38 St. NW Apt. #424
Washington, DC 20016
ph: 202-364-4066

Carolyn J. Edds
1236-C NW 14th Ave.
Gainesville, FL 32601

Christopher N. Fox
University of Washington
Library & Information Sco
133 Suzzallo Library FM-30
Seattle, WA 98195
ph: 206-543-1794

Judy L. Franke
Central Maine Power Co
Res Svcs
83 Edison Dr.
Augusta, ME 04336-1082
ph: 207-623-3521
fax: 207-623-9384 Jennifer S. Grant
University At Buffalo
University Archives
421 Capen Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260
ph: 716-645-2916
Eugenia Grigoris
11 Bates Rd.
Arlington, MA 02174
ph: 617-648-0593

Margaret M. Hartley
470 Cornell Ct.
Glen Burnie, MD 21061

Georgia L. Hasselbacher
4312 Woodvalley Pl
Augusta, GA 30906
ph: 706-771-0359

Patrick J. Hunt
RR #3 Hwy 105
Wakefield PQ Can J0X 3G0

Priva R. Kamat
305 N Frances St. #811C
Madison, WI 53703

Liane E. Lenski
620 Willow Ln.
Geneva, IL 60134

Linda C. McCormack
664A Sunrise Highway
West Babylon, NY 11704

Michael McKeen
Monitor Radio
E-20
One Norway St.
Boston, MA 02115
ph: 617-450-2973
fax: 617-450-7086

Karen P. Mattheis
2500 N. George Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22207

Padmini Pai
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Library (Editorial)
1111 W Bonanzo Rd.
Las Vegas, NV 89106
ph: 702-383-0269
fax: 702-383-0302

Leslie Parsley
Parsley Research Services
850 E. Radcliffe Ave.
Englewood, CO 80110
ph: 303-781-2186
fax: 303-781-0540

Nancy E. Phillips
510 W 123 St. #47
New York, NY 10027
ph: 212-875-5906

Sharon G. Rose
Lintas: Campbell-Ewald
Ref Ctr.
30400 Van Dyke
Warren, MI 448093
ph: 810-558-6107

Guy P. Seaberg
30 Wolf Neck Rd.
Freeport, ME 04032

Edna A. Sedeno
San Angelo Standard Times
Library
PO Box 5111
San Angelo, TX 76902
ph: 915-653-1221
fax: 915-658-7341

Patricia Stinehour
300 N Dithridge St. #106
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-1437

Richard T. Sznajder
126 Woodward Ave.
Thornhill ON Can L3T 1E9

Christine A. Watson
1534 Brazil La
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Connie B. White
45050 N Territorial
Plymouth, MI 48170

Paul A. Williams
Patriot Ledger
News Dept.
PO Box 9159
Quincy, MA 02345-9159
ph: 617-786-7078
fax: 617-786-7393

Alexander G. Wright
104 Inman St. #5
Cambridge, MA 02139

KEYWORDS: MEMBERSHIP; LIST

END OF DOCUMENT.

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 02
SOURCE: By Linda Henderson

ASIDE BAR

Happy 1995! I'm sitting here looking out on a balmy, sunny, snowless January wondering if we'll ever see winter in Rhode Island (I can't help it, I LIKE snow).

The big news here at the Journal is that we're finally an Internet node (note my new e-mail address below). I've been having a ball playing (uh, working) with our great Windows e-mail program and our still experimental Mosaic interface. I'm also busy breaking in a new staff member. I'm counting on her to drag me into the 21st century. As a bonus, she's originally from Montreal, so I may try to bring her up to conference with me as a tour guide.

This issue has lots of talk about working with our colleagues in the newsroom. M.J. Crowley and two of her compatriots at the 6th annual Electronic Photojournalism Workshop have written about their experiences and impressions. And Nora Paul shares some surprising results from the first two Poynter seminars on News research and the Newsroom.

Ginny Everett reports that the News Division membership is soaring. Lu-Ann Farrar has good news on the financial front and Charlie Campo gives us our first look at the Montreal conference schedule. So all in all, it's an auspicious start to the new year.

END OF DOCUMENT.

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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 01
SOURCE: By M.J. Crowley, Phildelphia Inquirer

Editor's note: M.J. Crowley was on the staff of the 6th annual Electronic Photojournalism Workshop. Here she shares her exhausting and rewarding experiences with us. She also asked Janet Sammons and Peggy Simmons, who both participated in EPW to give their impressions, which follow.

ELECTRONIC PHOTOJOURNALISM WORKSHOP

LIFE IN EPW6-LAND

Yes, it's another acronym...and with a numeral.... EPW6 or The 6th Electronic Photojournalism Workshop.

For photographers who are members of (another acronym) NPPA (National Press Photographers Association), there may be an understanding of what the EPW is all about. For a news librarian, I had a few warnings, a napkin-sketched floor plan and an invitation to participate in what sounded like a techy's dreamworld.

Briefly, the EPW is a weeklong workshop which takes place in September, alternating between locations on either the west or east coast of the U.S. During that week, a totally electronic newsroom is assembled in a hotel ballroom. About 100 photographers from all over come to use the latest computer software, digital cameras and typesetting equipment to shoot, assemble and produce a fully paginated newspaper...the only ANNUAL electronic newspaper in the country called "THE ELECTRONIC TIMES.

That said, what follows is a more detailed account of my experiences at this year's EPW in Chapel Hill. In my opinion, the EPW presents an extraordinarily valuable way to see new equipment in action, to understand the electronic publishing process in greater depth, and to build better bridges between the photo department and the news library.

It's Friday - my third day here at Chapel Hill, NC and opening night of the 6th annual Electronic PhotoJournalism Workshop. So far, I have:

...... heard countless "war" stories of past years' mis(or MISSED)- adventures

......have received an over-sized (read "nightshirt" size) staff T-Shirt which I MUST wear at least 2 days

.......have been continually warned about how zany things would be by next Friday

......AND have been pleasantly surprised at how well and smoothly such a major project, of building a newsroom in two days, can be undertaken,

Since Thursday morning, vendors and equipment have been moving into the ballroom here at the Omni Europa Hotel. A complete Ethernet network has been constructed including remote access to another room in the hotel. There are scanners, Super Macs, IBM PC's, file servers, Autologic and Scitext output devices, printers, phone lines, a photocopier and cables running everywhere.

Participating in the Electronic Times workshop IS exciting. It is also challenging, confusing, rewarding and just plain fun. And while I sometimes feel slightly like an alien (I am neither a photographer nor an NPPA member) I have been made to feel very welcomed and accepted by the other volunteer staff members of the EPW .

Since Wednesday, the EPW staff of 30 have been meeting, planning, helping with the equipment and network assembly. In these final meetings, it is clear that much preparation at each person's home location has preceded our gathering here in North Carolina .

I feel honored to have been invited to the EPW as the first staff photo archivist. My being here is an indication of the growing awareness among photo departments and photo libraries of the need for teamwork. Our two departments in our home companies share many commonalties. In addition, by drawing on each other's strengths and knowledge, we can effectively resolve issues of image work flow, image quality, archiving, storage and retrieval. In short, make publishing the digital newspaper easier and better.

SATURDAY, DAY 1 for participants (day 4 for EPW staff) - 1:30 a.m.

We have just finished a day of meetings with all the "campers". The participants will work in groups of 3: one person as photographer/reporter; one as editor/page designer; one as an observer.

Each group will be assigned a story which will result in a designed page with images and text. The "story budget" (with slugs) has been drawn up ahead of time. Many "campers" will be sent out on assignments across the state of North Carolina ( and even up to DC to a Washington Redskins game).

But back to the meetings. Simultaneous interview meetings conducted by 6-7 staff members were held all day today. Photographers displayed their portfolios. (If we librarians had to put together portfolios, what would be in them?? Photos we have retrieved and searches we have done??) "Campers" were asked to share their ideas along with their requests for various learning experiences from the workshop. Some were interested in remote transmission, some in using digital cameras, others in learning more about Photoshop, and still others were totally inexperienced with digital imaging.

Using the information gained in the interviews, the EPW staff held an evening "editorial meeting" in which stories were assigned, and sections and story placements determined. Meanwhile the participants were off to UNC at Chapel Hill for a seminar on ethics in digital imaging.

There would be four sections in this year's Electronic Times: News (national); Discovery (science and medicine); Tar Heel (local & features); At Play (a TAB section with sports and recreation.) Once story placement was accomplished, the 33 groups were divided into teams of eleven and assigned a color (quite logically, CYAN, MAGENTA or YELLOW) to designate each group. IT WAS A LONG DAY!

SUNDAY, DAY 2 for participants.

The staff's day begins at 9 a.m. with an editorial/production meeting dealing with last minute bugs, problems, loose ends and today's schedule.

The participants' day begins at 10 a.m. with a large- group update meeting followed by meetings in their Cyan, Magenta, Yellow teams. Each team has been assigned a writing coach, an imaging coach and a design coach from the EPW staff. These experienced staff members will work with the story groups to train and coach them through from shoot to final page output.

Meanwhile other staff are meeting with the vendors. Without the cooperation and support of hardware and software vendors, the EPW really couldn't happen. These vendors often end up providing training on their own systems as well as supplying equipment. They are able to use the EPW to release new software and subject it to the rigors of a production environment.

The EPW is usually done in cooperaton with a journalism school. This year it is the University of North Carolina. The school provides both volunteer help from students (who very quickly become essential and an important part of the staff) and educational support. Likewise the workshop is a showcase for visitors from the university and surrounding area.

This year a "virtual" assignment is part of the workshop. Journalism schools around the world are taking part by supplying stories, images and designed pages via the Internet.

MONDAY, DAY 3

Today begins even earlier with an 8:30 a.m. education forum on Copyright and Emerging Technologies .

The usual round of meetings follows: editorial, vendor, teams.

By noon in the newsroom, the first photo shoots are in, with scanning going on, story writing underway and the first pages being designed.

As a news librarian, I am now involved in providing background research support. MeadData is here, so we can search Lexis/Nexis and I have set up "Microphone scripts" on my SuperMAC to dial DataTimes, Dialog and my Vu/ text computer back in Philadelphia (isn't technology grand?). Those photographers who had time to prepare by doing background research on their subject, found the shoot went much more smoothly. In some cases the additional knowledge was the key to winning over the trust of the individual being photographed.

A primary area of my responsibilites at EPW is image archiving. So when I am not doing research, I am spending time with one of the five archiving systems. We have set up a work flow which will include capturing the photos after they are scanned. In this way, we will have both "published and unpublished" images archived for reuse.

As at any paper, work flow is an issue. Here, because we are accommodating so many different systems, the issues are even more complex. It quickly becomes clear, that we have not provided enough coaching on work flow for scanned images. "Campers" , assuming they have entered data for their photos, are rescanning and overwriting the original records, resulting in images with no data. Oops!

TUESDAY, Day 4 ( I think....?)

For me, "work " at EPW has also encompassed involvement with the three new two-day seminars being offered. On Sunday, I gave a presentation on archiving to the seminar for Systems Editors. Today and tomorrow are seminars for photo librarians and production managers, respectively.

The photo librarians actually arrived last night and most of us enjoyed a "southern cooked meal" together. We will spend the morning in the newsroom with archiving vendors. In the afternoon, we will listen to great presentations from Mike Evans (Iron Mike) on the future of digital image technology; from Karl Kuntz on archiving full pages and from Jeff Adams on multi-media archiving. Tomorrow we will have more hands-on demos from additional vendors who are not taking part in the Electronic Times production.

By the end of today, I am even more convinced of the value of seeing archiving solutions in a "real" production environment as opposed to the "canned" demos we usually see.

WEDNESDAY, Day 5

8:30 a.m. finds both archive seminar participants and EPW participants listening to a panel discussion between 3 "users" (a photo librarian, a photo editor, a photo manager) and 3 online remote image vendors (PressLink, Weick Photo Database, Photo Network International). It is a useful discussion and hopefully a forerunner for future panels. Meanwhile, back in the newsroom, photos are streaming in and pages are shaping up left and right.

As part of this year's workshop, AP is sponsoring a photo librarian, Peggy Simmons, from the Raleigh News and Observer. Peggy is involved in the daily archiving of the photos being shot at the workshop. She is using AP's Preserver archive. As photos are scanned at different scanning stations, a copy is compressed and sent to a folder with that day's date. The various archiving vendors can then copy those photos and process them into their archives.

You can read more of Peggy's comments in a companion article.

DAY WHICH????

Folks were right about sleep deprivation at EPW...but they failed to warn me about confusion and complete loss of time orientation. And I thought I put in long days in Philadelphia........

With the librarian's archiving seminar over, I can now return my attention to the newsroom. There is much last minute fact checking to do. Also page re- design and re-output going on. The deadline for all final pages is supposed to be noon. RIGHT!

It's now 4:00 p.m. and I think we're done? Now "real" archiving begins. We've set up a path to get the text to Newsview, but naturally some stories are missing. Same goes for photos going to Photoview. Oops, didn't realize that when Photoview takes the photos...it really takes them (not a copy)... need to make sure we can still output the images.

We're also trying to get the pages compressed and converted to PDF files to be sent to the Internet HOMEPAGE for NPPA at Sunsite. We're trying to make sure we have all the final pages, because we didn't plan the workflow well enough to archive our WHOLE PRODUCT.....guess we'll do better next year on that part.

FRIDAY ( its got to be 'cause this is the last day)

Newsroom tear down will be complete (at least half the room) by noon, since we will have a final banquet in here tonight. It certainly is confusing having things unplugged and being boxed up while we're still trying to make sure we've got the final version of all the pages and all the stories and photos. There's a certain sadness to half a newsroom and the realization that the workshop is nearly over.

The staff has seen the final product...the 6th Electronic Times ....and it looks wonderful. It was graciously printed by the Durham Herald-Sun. The "campers" will get their copies tonight.

The TECH TIMES (the other printed product from the workshop which has stories ABOUT the workshop and advertising for the vendors) will be printed at a later date at the Dayton Daily News.

The Internet versions are whisking around the world.

Meanwhile, I am busily trying to make all the notes I can, learn what's left to learn, make copies of things to take home and spend time with all these new friends.

The banquet is wonderful! And the best news is we (librarians) have been invited back next year. So plan on Concord, Cailfornia the week of September 9-16, 1995 for EPW7.

KEYWORDS: REPORT;IMAGE ARCHIVING;SEMINAR

END OF DOCUMENT.


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