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
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
IN MEMORIAM
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) KEYWORDS: OBITUARY;ROSE VORMELKER
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
ELECTIONS
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!
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.
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
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
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
EPW6
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
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
EPW6
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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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
1995 CONFERENCE SNEAK PREVIEW
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!
SATURDAY, JUNE 10 SUNDAY, JUNE 11 MONDAY, JUNE 12 TUESDAY, JUNE 13 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14 THURSDAY, JUNE 15 END OF DOCUMENT.
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
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.
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.
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.
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
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DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
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.
CONFERENCE EXPENSES:
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.
END OF DOCUMENT.
To the top.
NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
NOTES FROM THE CHAIR
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.
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.
To the top.
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
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1. Rose Vormelker
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
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CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
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CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
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SOURCE: By Nora Paul, Library Director, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 15
SOURCE: By Janet Sammons, Library Director The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
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SOURCE: By Peggy Simmons, Photo Librarian, Raleigh News & Observer
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 10
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 10
SOURCE: By Charlie Campo, News Division Chair-elect
6:00 p.m.- Open House
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
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
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
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
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
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 08
SOURCE: By Barbara Hijek
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 07
SOURCE: Lu-Ann Farrar, Treasurer
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
PROGRAM EXPENSES (CE, A/V ETC.) 6,033 AWARDS 2,000 SUITE 2,127 REVENUE CLEARED AT CONFERENCE 13,618
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 06
SOURCE: By Mary Kate Leming, News Division Chair
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.
To the top.
NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
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.
To the top.
NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: FRIDAY June 9, 1995
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
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
News Library News
The page was reformatted on 05/04/03. The content, including URLs and contact information, on this page has not been updated to preserve the historical record.
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 02
SOURCE: By Linda Henderson
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1995 Vol. XVII No.2
EDITION:*WINTER*
PAGE: 01
SOURCE: By M.J. Crowley, Phildelphia Inquirer
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