News Library News Online
Vol. 18, No.4/Summer 1996

Aside Bar
Notes From The Chair
People
Conference Highlights: Reflections Of A First-Timer
Conference Highlights: Silent Auction Was A Huge Success
Conference Highlights: A Spectacular Setting For A Successful Awards Banquet
Conference Highlights: Computer Assisted Reporting, Two Days Of Discussion
Conference Highlights: A Look At How To Cope With Change For The Better (Or Worse)
Conference Highlights: Disaster War Stories From Those Who've Lived Through It
In Case You Missed It
Conference Highlights: Minutes Of The Annual Business Meeting: News Division Of Special Libraries Association
In Memoriam: Michael A. Marler

ASIDE BAR
Linda Henderson and Catherine Kitchell

Well, this is my last issue of News Library News and I'm both relieved and sad to give up the reins. Over the last two years I've told anyone who would listen that putting this baby out every quarter is not hard work. The hard part for me has been my sense of responsibility to almost 1,000 Division members and other subscribers to keep the quality high. I sweated every issue, praying that no one would call me and say "What garbage! There's no there there." That never happened, and, in fact I've had some nice compliments. The fact that I didn't mess up is all due to those of you who contributed copy, ideas and moral support.

I'm really happy to be turning NLN over to Catherine Kitchell. Those of you who were lucky enough to be in Boston saw that Catherine has taken her new job seriously, as she snapped pictures and took notes at almost every News Division event while cramming in her conference obligations to BNA (her employer). I know that you all will support Catherine in her effort to put out a first-class newsletter.

So, I'll turn it over to Catherine (the thin one in the picture) and sit back and enjoy NLN with a new appreciation. Its consistent quality covers all of us in the Division with glory. Cheers!

******

Special thanks to Pete Basofin and Linda Henderson for having confidence in me and asking me to be the new editor of NLN. From all reports, the first two issues are the hardest. So in the interests of advancing truthfulness, I am not looking forward to those issues but am looking forward to all the rest! I think it's a great publication and I will depend on all of you to help keep it that way. Please keep complaints, suggestions, and advice coming.

I also want to thank Theresa Kiely at Newsday for taking over the "People" column. I had fun doing it and hope she does too. In addition to her work at Newsday, she is working on a journalism degree. We can all make her life easier by sending her news at tkiely@newsday.com or by calling her at (516) 843-2338.

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NOTES FROM THE CHAIR
Teresa Leonard

One of the best things about coming together at annual conference is the reunion atmosphere. Friends who haven't seen each other for a year catch up with news, offer advice or a kind word, and inquire about those who couldn't make it.

I laugh every time I hear a reporter say, "All y'all librarians know each other, don't you?"

We sure do. And in a wonderful way across many miles, we support and guide each other throughout the year. Like an extended family, our news libraries have extended staff, willing to help where they can, and commiserate if they can't. Those phone lines can be our salvation.

But phone conversations can include only a couple of people, and they've become less frequent as we are able to access each other's files online. It's less common that a quick call to request an article can expand into a "hey, how ya doin," "what's new," or "by the way, how are you handling ....".

Coming together once a year, we get the chance to share our skills, experiences, and vision in congress. Through programmed sessions, certainly, but more often through late night chats in the suite or over dinner.

It can be a long dry spell between conferences, though, and so many of our group find themselves without funds to attend. I'm hoping that we'll learn to use the Internet capabilities available to many of us to bring the conference experience home and build on it throughout the year.

It was wonderful (albeit frustrating for a conference planner) to see issues come up, be discussed and even resolved through the listserv, without having to wait for a conference session to attend! What a wonderful forum for soliciting help and bouncing ideas.

The key to making this work, of course, is participation. I say this as a confessed lurker. I see topics introduced on the list and think, "That's pretty interesting. I wonder what others think," and never really get around to making my own contribution. Thankfully we have people like Carolyn Edds and Sperry Krueger and Barbara Semonche and Nora Paul and Tim Rozgonyi who provide their two cents and then some.

And when things get too quiet, we can always count on Mary Kate Leming to drum up some controversy or another.

During the past three years, list members have discussed keywords and whether to use them or not, copyright issues, our satisfaction or lack of such with our vendors, staffing concerns, the question of credit, and all the many, many facets of image archiving. And just like those hospitality suite confabs, it was also a place to share the joys and sorrows of professional colleagues who have come to be our good friends.

In the same way that the listserv amplifies the benefit of those personal conversations, our division web page gives the capability of instantaneous publishing and conferencing. I was tickled to be able to include on the list of officers reported to headquarters the division's first official webmaster.

Carolyn Edds has some terrific plans for the web page, beginning with a chance for everyone to benefit from the wonderful presentations made at the Boston conference. Everyone who was willing sent an electronic version of their talk or handout to be included on the page. So if you want to relive the conference, or were unable to attend, take a look at the offerings there.

As wonderful as all this is, it's still just a baby step. Pete Basofin, our publications director, has thoughts of including two-way video, simulcast, and whatever additional wonders might be invented between now and the Seattle conference.

In addition to providing standard organizational information about SLA and the division, the web pages can become a reservoir of resource material to supplement the topics we discuss on the list. Why not include the keywords used by every news library? They're easy enough to transmit, they don't take up too much disk space, and if I'm starting a new archive or reevaluating my own keywords, I'd like to browse through a few to determine what I want to use or pass by. How about job descriptions? How about job announcements? Many of us are developing intranet sites; why not add those as an example to others just getting started? No one can accuse us of reinventing the wheel.

Here again, don't put off participating. When Carolyn puts out a call for information, don't wait for someone else to do it. We need for all of us to do it!

What we don't want is for News Library News to lose its identity in all the excitement. It is still the primary communication tool for the division and reaches every member, not just the lucky with Internet connections. Something I'll ask the publications committee to consider, however, is what role NLN should play. Perhaps it should digest some of the online discussions or become a more research-oriented publication for the field of news research. Let the publications staff know what direction you think they should go.

Thanks again to all who made the Boston conference such a wonderful experience. The evaluations that came back (431 of them) were very informative and for the most part complimentary. According to the evaluation forms, 70 participants attended at least one session that was so useful that it paid for their trip to conference! Pass that along to your editors! I've forwarded suggestions to Tom Lutgen for use in planning the 1997 conference. Please don't hesitate to call him with your own ideas, and certainly take the opportunity to volunteer!

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PEOPLE
By Theresa Kiely

Ellie Briscoe of the National Geographic Sopciety Library was recently elected President-elect/1st Vice President of the News Division's DC Chapter.

Barbara Semonche gave a multi-media presentation to the Association of United Kingdom Media Librarians conference that was held July 5-7 in Durham, England. The AUKML was celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Congratulations

Michael Keating recently wrote an article for Government Procurement Magazine that won first place in the Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards 1996 competition.

National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" received the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club for reporting on the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin. NPR reference librarian Kee Malesky was included in a list of those who contributed to the coverage.

Kee was also the guest speaker at the Annual Meeting of SLA's Hudson Valley (NY) Chapter. They invited her after hearing Weekend Edition host Scott Simon refer to her as "the source of all himan knowledge."

On the homefront...

Julie Bolding, former Student Stpend Award winner, and her husband, Chet Brokaw, had a baby boy, Leland Nathaniel Brokaw, on March 5th.

Time Magazine Group Coordinator Angela Thornton and her husband, Rev. James Thornton, became the parents of a baby boy on April 9th. His name is Isaiah. Pat Clark, Manager of the Central Research group for Time, Inc., is one of his godparents.

Shauna Bergwall is leaving her job at the Gainesville Sun in Florida to move to Ohio where her husband has a new job. They will be living in Hilliard, just outside of Columbus.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

At press time there were three job openings being advertised:

The Washington Bureau of the Associated Press has a temporary position for a news librarian who will assist the bureau's head librarian. Contact: Chris Connell, Associated Press, 2021 K St. NW, Washington, DC 20006. Please no phone calls or e-mail.

MacNeil-Lehrer Productions has a position avialble in the NewsHour's Arlington, Virginia office for Video Librarian. The tape librarin will be responsible for overseeing a video library of over 10,000 tapes. Contact: Annette Miller, Director of Research & Information Services at 703-98-2112.

The Research Center at Time, Inc. in New York has an opening for a Research Librarian in their Database Management Group. Contact: Justin Scroggs, Database Manager, Time, Inc. by e-mail at jscroggs@info.timeinc.com or by phone at 212-522-2770.

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
REFLECTIONS OF A FIRST-TIMER

The best phrase to describe the SLA conference, to me, as a first-time attendee, would have to be: "informaiton overload!" There was so much to see and do! My only regret is that I didn't have more time to see more!

What stood out in my mind most was the open houses & networking with other news librarians. Very helpful! Meeting new acquaintences and discussing common concerns made you instantly feel like part of a team. I particularly enjoyed talking with those fellow librarians & informaiton specialists from broadcast news (C.B. Hayden-ABC, Debra Bade-CNN, and others), though the informal networking I experienced from everyone within the Division (both print and broadcast) proved as valuable, if not more so, than even some of the workshops. (Speaking of the workshops--greaty topics, but sometimes competing with other interesting SLA workshops! Ah, decisions, decisions!)

Overall, it was a terrific first conference. I look forward to next year's. (An idea of next year: could we have brief video documentaries profiling some of your libraries? It would be fantastic to "see" your sites as well as just hear about them. Break out those camcorders!)

John Hickok is the librarian at Channel One News in Los Angeles, the netowrk which broadcasts daily news segments into 12,000 schools nationwide. He joined Channel One in November following graduation form UCLA's graduate library school. He can be reached via e-mail at library@hacienda.com.

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
SILENT AUCTION WAS A HUGE SUCCESS

Chris Hardesty
Raleigh News & Observer

In its second year of infancy, this summer's News Division silent auction topped its $1,500 fundraising goal by more than one-third. Records from division treasurer Jody Habayeb show the total raised from the conference event is $2,045.01. That tally is 36 percent more than auction organizer Chris Hardesty hoped to collect.

In 1994, the auction in Atlanta raised $1,100 for the news division. The event was not held at the 1995 conference in Montreal.

The auctionblock was made up primarily of masthead- and logo-emblazoned promotional items from more than 60 news organizations. Shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads and ball caps made the bulk of the paraphernalia.

Some of the more uncommon items were press plates; an Elvis license plate; books; a backpack; golf balls; wine; clocks; a Rock City birdhouse; and books, caps and photos autographed by celebrities.

Although some of the bidding was quite heavy, most of the estimated 120 in attendance were civil in their quests to take home some loot from the event.

As efforts to out-bid each other on one popular item were ineffective, Anne LeVeque of the Catholic News Service and Sherry Adams of the Houston Chronicle matched wits instead of wallets.

When their bids for a New York Times crossword puzzle T-shirt had reached $60, the pair agreed that the first one to complete the puzzle printed on the shirt would take honors and make the purchase at the current bid. Anne finished the puzzle first and now owns the coveted shirt.

Plans are underway for a similar event at next year's conference.

Below is a partial list of organizations represented at the auction:

National Public Radio
The News & Observer
Southam New Media Centre
nando.net
Nashville Banner
The New York Times
St. Petersburg Times
Washingtion Post
Los Angeles Times
San Diego Union-Tribune
The Oregonian
Boston Herald
The Advocate
Freedom Forum
British Information Service
American Banker & Bond Buyer
Houston Chronicle
San Antonio Express News
Contra Costa Times
Congressional Quarterly
U.S. News & World Report
People Magazine
The Chattanooga Times
MediaStream
Palm Beach Post
Sports Illustrated
American Broadcasting Company
Providence Journal-Bulletin
Akron Beacon Journal
Datatimes
The Pantagraph
Detroit Free Press
Pacific Press
Dallas Morning News
Edmonton Sun
Star-Ledger
Arizona Daily Star
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Morning Call
National Library of Canada
Sun-Sentinel
Spartenburg Herald-Journal
Cedar Rapids Gazette
National Broadcasting Company
Commercial Appeal
Time Inc.
The Patriot Ledger
Daily Oklahoman
Cable News Network
Orange County Register
USA Today
San Fransisco Chronicle

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
A SPECTACULAR SETTING FOR A SUCCESSFUL AWARDS BANQUET

The Nineteenth Annual News Division Awards Dinner was held at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library overlooking Boston Harbor and the city skyline. After a self-guided tour of the presidential library, we found ourselves in a room with soaring windows on two sides. The banquet room was equally impressive as we watched the sky darken behind the award presenters and winners.

Elizabeth Larson was presented with her Vormelker-Thomas Student Award by Barbara Maxwell of USA Today. Elizabeth will receive her MLS from the University of Michigan in December, 1996.

Teresa Leonard presented Charlie Campo, outgoing chair, with the Ralph J. Schoemaker Award.

Frank Daniels III, formerly of the Raleigh News and Observer, introduced Agnes Henebry Award winner George Schlukbier, with whom Daniels is a partner in a new venture, by saying that he was perhaps even more arrogant than Daniels himself. Then George stepped up to prove it by giving a classic Schlukbier performance. He made some controversial comments about how to get ahead (including advice about urinals that some women in the audience found sexist) and finished his schtick by passing out cigars from his extensive collection (It should be noted that he offered cigars to both sexes.)

The most poignant part of the affair was saved for last, as Ben Lightman gave a touching and funny speech about the late Catherine Jones, who was awarded the Joseph F. Kwapil award posthumously. Ben's delicious sense of humor and fond remembrances of Cathy made the presentation a celebration which continued with the acceptance of the award by Daniel P. Mulhollan, who had been Cathy's boss at the Congressional Research Service. This ended the evening on a sad, but upbeat note.

Captions:
#1 Cronin of Boston kept the reception running like clock-work. #2 Carolyn Hardnett and Lois Doncevic. #3 C.B Hayden and Candace Stuart. #4 Elizabeth Larson accepts the Student Award. #5 Charlie Campo and Teresa Leonard. #6 George Schlukbier.

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
COMPUTER ASSISTED REPORTING, TWO DAYS OF DISCUSSION

It started on Wednesday of the SLA conference....

Where a full house of news librarians and reporters ate a boxed lunch and had a lively debate about the news librarian's role in computer assisted reporting.

Both George Landau of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Tom Boyer of the Seattle Times are reporters who are now overseeing the news libraries at their papers. George started the session by exhorting news librarians to "have the courage" to learn new stuff and to develop sharp computer skills. He said that we have to become as computer-literate as we can in order to continue to be relevent as information professionals. His suggestions included reading computer magazines and taking courses to develop computer skills. He also said that having a computer at home and spending lots of hours developing expertise is necessary to hone the skills that we need.

George also suggested that we insist on credit lines, so that everyone knows when computer-assisted reporting was used in a story. His emphasis was on developing computer skills and not on the management of the information. This provoked heated discussion.

Catherine Donaldson, who works for Tom in the news library, came forward to defend Tom and to describe their good working relationship. She said that Tom values and understands the expertise of the information professional. Much of the audience seemed to remain unconvinced, however, and the debate ended with no firm resolution.

...and continued the next day.

When a much smaller crowd gathered for a roundtable discussion at the IRE conference in Providence.

Moderated by Linda Henderson, the group debated the changing role of the news librarian and what the term "computer-assisted reporting" really meant. The discussion was much less contentious than it had been the day before and a consensus was reached that we must work together toward common goals.

Perhaps the concilliatory mood was enhanced by the fact that the librarians in the group, just by virtue of having chosen to come to IRE, had shown that they wanted to be part of the computer assisted reporting movement. Also involved in the discussion on this day were Nora Paul and Margot Williams, who are news librarians by training, but have taken on broader roles in their current positions.

The reporters in the group espoused the notion that the combination of expertises made a strong team and that an "us versus them" attitude weakened the computer assisted reporting effort. And the librarians agreed.

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
A LOOK AT HOW TO COPE WITH CHANGE FOR THE BETTER (OR WORSE)

Looking at change from several different perspectives, a panel moderated by Lany McDonald gave lots of sound advice.

Madeline Cohen talked about implementing change. Her advice was to first have a clear vision of the changes you want to make. The ability to communicate the vision to your staff and to those above you is very important. She emphasized that people issues are the most critical part of any change. Your staff has to be committed to helping implement the vision, even if those above you are not supportive. Once you have commitment, start the change process, even if you encounter obstacles.

Madeline said that you must live the vision and demonstrate where you think the change will take your library. She gave some specific examples of the types of small changes that she brought to her library. All were intended to promote the library and to build allies in the newsroom. She recommended, for example, developing symbols to identify where the information comes from that you deliver to your clients. Her message was be proactive.

Pam Brooks dealt with how to survive when you have change thrust upon you. In her case, the changes started when Lany McDonald took over as director of the Time Inc. library. Her advice was to make a habit out of change and practice it on a daily basis. She said that people who resist change or just don't recognize when change is occuring suffer the most from it.

Like Madeline, Pam said that people are the most important factor in any change. She said that for change to be a positive experience, people must feel personally empowered to help with the change. They must be encouraged to give their ideas and they must be kept informed about the process.

Mona Hatfield described how to cope with deciding to make a big change, both personally and professionally. She and her husband recently decided to leave Louisiana and take new jobs in California. Mona told of the fear involved, but said that at some level she was more afraid of not making the change. She said that they are still feeling the effects of the move, but that it has been a positive experience.

Alice Pepper is at the Detroit Free Press, which has been on strike for over a year. In her case, not only was change thrust upon her, but she had to make some difficult decisions about making change happen. Alice had to make the decision to cross the picket line and to deal with a reduced staff and replacement workers. Her advice was that even when change is not necessarily a positive experience, you have to accept it and try to turn it to your advantage.

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
DISASTER WAR STORIES FROM THOSE WHO'VE LIVED THROUGH IT

One of the most interesting panels on this year's schedule promised to tell us how to deal with the research needs of a news staff in the middle of a disaster. The panelists delivered as promised.

Carol Campbell of the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City started off with a moving account of the aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in April, 1995. In an emotional speech, Carol took us through the days immediately following the tragedy and gave us a clear picture of the toll covering a disaster can take. Her message was that in a situation like the bombing, which hits so close to home, staying focused on the job is the hardest part. But, she said, everyone pulled together and produced first-rate coverage.

As to the practical, Carol said that the first thing her staff did was to pull photos and do research on the building. They also called in favors of local officials who might have needed details. Her staff also built a database of all information as it became available.

Carol ended her portion of the program with a stunning slide presentation of images from the bombing aftermath.

Maloy Moore of the Los Angeles Times followed with her account of the Northridge earthquake. The biggest hurdle she and the LA Times staff had to face was the lack of telephone service. Because they had no access to on-line resoruces, she said they turned to CD-ROM databases, which were slower, but effective.

She also said that the USGS Internet site has very good seismic information, including maps. The sources that the library staff used to gather information about the Northridge area included property records, business records, court records and various experts. She cited the Sourcebooks of State and Publlic Records Providers as invaluable in finding out how to obtain the needed records.

Maloy also described the O.J. Simpson trial as a disaster situation, which provoked chuckles in the audience. But she said that the coverage of that story had all the same characteristics of the coverage of a natural disaster and proved her point. Like Carol, Maloy stressed the importance of teamwork in any disaster situation.

Gay Nemeti of the Miami Herald ended the session with her description of the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew. She talked about the logistics in just getting the paper printed and delivered. In the first few days after the storm, the Herald decided to use the paper as a guide to those affected by the storm, helping them find supplies and each other.

After the initial reporting, the Herald began and investigation into why this hurricane had caused so much destruction. Using public records, they found that the building codes were weak and enforcement was shoddy. This seemd to have caused houses built after 1980 to sustain the lion's share of the damage. Gay detailed the type of records that they used to produce a special section on the aftermath.

Copies of both Carol's and Gay's programs can be found at the News Division website.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Internet World, May '96 (pp. 40-52) has a useful article on Internet search engines.The author, Ron Conte jr., exhaustively investigated such search engines as Alta Vista, Excite, Lycos, Infoseek, Opentext, Inktomi, WWW Worm, and Webcrawler.

Presstime, April 1996 (pp. 35-40) offers a special report "Profiles in Journalism" about journalists using computer-assisted research and reporting methods.

The American Journalism Review (AJR), April 1996 (pp. 18-23) has a feature article about "The New Journalist" by Carl Sessions Stepp. The article describes the online era demanding added skills and innovative ways of looking at the profession.

The March 1996 issue of AJR (pp. 34-39) offers a feature on computer-assisted reporting titled "Baby You Should Drive This CAR." by Rose Ciotta.

In the April 1996 issue of Quill (pp. 23-25). Randy Reddick discusses the "Promises and Pitfalls for Journalists on the Information Highway."

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CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS:
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING
NEWS DIVISION OF SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

June 10, 1996
Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by president Charlie Campo.

Richard Geiger mad a motion to approve the minutes of the 1995 business metting. Donna Scheeder seconded, and the motion passed.

Charlie Campo discussed the state of the News Division, saying that the division is doing doing well, is financially healthy, is starting to do dynamic things, and is in the forefront of SLA in communicating with the members of the division.

Campo introduced Charlene Baldwin, proctor from the SLA Board of Directors; Donna Scheeder, parliamentarian; and Richard Geiger, then presented Teresa Leonard, chair-elect of the News Division.

Teresa pointed out the printed News Division schedule of evnts, with thanks to the people who put together the events listed in the program. She thanked Charles Shellabarger for putting the field trip together Saturday and George Labonte for arranging the field trip to the American Antiquarian Society on Thursday.

Leonard said that as of Friday, June 7, there were 267 News Division members registered for the SLA conference, a good mix of old and new members. She talked about the field trip Thursday for IRE and the Freedom Forum program.

Leonard thanked Pete Basofin for the virtual conference program. She discussed the silent auction in the Division suite Tuesday and said to give suite fees to Jody Habayeb, treasurer. She also said to be sure to fill out program evaluations, and suggested that new members attend the new members: meeting Tuesday.

Campo asked Tom Lutgen to discuss to discuss the 1997 conference in Seattle. Lutgen said that he is looking for ideas; that he is resiting SLA's attempt to get everything settled early; that he will be posting ideas in the next month or so on the NewsLib listserve.

Jody Habayeb gave the treasurer's report, copies of which had been handed out to everyone attending the business meeting and concluded that the Division is in good shape financially. Bridget Janus made a motion to approve the treasurer's report; the motion was seconded and passed.

Ron Larson, director of educaiton, gave his report. Larson said that the main focus this year was this year's CE course, "The Era of Digital News Libraries," which was planned mostly in July and August. He asked for suggestions for regional workshops for next year, and for next year's CE course. Chris Hardesty mad a motion to approve the education report; Sandy Vance seconded the motion; and it passed.

Mona Hatfield, director of publications, gave her report. Linda Henderson continued as managing editor for News Library News. Issues had good content but suffered on the advertising side. New managing editor Catherine Kitchell, of BNA, will start an agressive campaign to rejuvenate the revenue. On the membership directory: Ginny Everett struggled this year with SLA sending out the wrong set of mailing labels and DataTimes submitting an unacceptable first-draft. Instead of a March mailing, it had a June mailing. She suggests continuing the production with a June or July mailing to accommodate the News Division election cycle. That way the current board would be accurately reflected for the life of the Directory. On the News Division brochure: Finally! A brochure was put together and copies distributed to members of the Board. Requests for extra copies and suggestions for change should be directed to Hatfield. there were 500 copies produced at an expense of $238. Ongoing: A new "Guide for News Libraries" should be produced. This year did not see much action toward that, but Hatfield volunteered to Pete Basofin to work with a group on updating the information in our "Automating the Clip Library" and the "Guide," and hope we can report good progress at next year's business meeting. Diane Logsdon made a motion to accept the publications report: Ginny Everett seconded the motion; and it passed.

May Kate Leming gave the report on the Awards Committee. The winner of the Vormelker-Thomas Student Award is Elizabeth Larson; the winer of the Ralph J. Shoemaker Award of Merit is Charles Campo; the winners of the Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor Award are Mary Ann Skinner and George Schukbier; and the winner of the Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award is Catherine Jones. Barbara Maxwell was the coordinator of the Student Stpend award.

M.J. Crowley reported on the Archives. She said that hey are in two places, ready to be moved to Newark where she is. Crowley suggested that the archives need a permanent home, and suggested the Poynter Institute, and perhaps a new Archivist, depending on whether the Archivist can or should be remote from the Archives.

Linda Chapman reported on the Automation/Technology committee. Last year, Kathy Foley and Julie Kirsh suggested six special interest groups for the committee. Six special interest groups were formed, based on selections made by division members in a survey. The SIGS are: CAR, CD-ROM, Digital Imaging, Internet, Keywords, and Text Archiving. Some SIGs have not been active this year, some are basically committees of one, working with his or her staff at their papers. Some are underway in their areas with nothing to report at this time, and others have reached the stage where they need feedback fromthe division.

The status of the SIGs is:

*CAR - Barb Hijek. Serving with Hijek are Janice Gehle, Bridget Janus and Anne Magill. Hijek plans to meet with her crew here in Boston and propose that we adopt Bruce Garrison's book "Computer Assisted Reporting" as guide. She'd also like to post a survey to establish where we are as a division in relation to CAR.

*CD-ROM - Melody Blake at the Washington Post is in the middle of a CD-ROM project. She reports that their CD-ROM Network Server currently houses 28 drives and they plan to add another 28 this year. In her words, "We have rolled out the Network Server gradually to 10 research librarians, 20 beta testers in the newsroom, then 20 expansion users. The 50 users have been great supporters and have offered constructive help as wellas constructive demands. The ProPhone Disks are the most popular while the ProQuest New York Times and Wall Street Journal have saved us the most money. T\yes, there is a downside--the server may jam under the pressure of multiple simultaneous users. A reboot usually solves the problem. Also, many disks require enormous amounts of memory and a PC may reject the CD-ROM while other applications are running." Additional CD-ROMs that are not networked, the maps and other graphic products, are available from their walk-up PC.

*Digital Imaging - David Cappoli. Nothing to report at this time. He did attend the Electronic Photojournalism Workshop last fall, and will continue to work in this area.

*Text archiving - Sharon Reeves. Nothing to report at this time. Reeves is currently investigating combined text and image retrieval systems and will be attending NEXPO next week.

*Keywords - John Jansson and the staff of the Chicago Tribune, and Jim Hinter. Jansson has updated the list of keywords for digital photo arciving that was posted on our Web page last fall and has provided handouts that are available in the News Division suite. He'd like us to use them and give him feedback. Jim Hunter and the Columbus Dispatch librarians have been working with the list and have made a number of changes and additions. They can't currently evaluate the indexing they are doing, though, until they upgrade to Version 3 of AP Preserver Archive, in the next few weeks.

*Internet - Not an active SIG; could use volunteers.

Chapman pointed out that with the Listserve and Web Page - Pete Basofin and Barbara Semonche - instead of playing telephone tag with a few librarians who are credited with being in-the-know on a given topic, we can easily post a query that reaches authorities all over the world - some we may not have reached otherwise - withthoughtful insight into whatever software/vendro/service we're investigating, making this a virtual autotechnology committee (not to replace the Automation/Technology commitee, but to augment it and make it more productive). Chapman said there needs to be a restatement of goals or direction for Automation/Technology committee and volunteers for the Internet SIG.

Campo reported on the Nominations committee for Debra Blade. Tom Lutgen is the new Chair-Elect; Pete Basofin and Gay Nemeti were nominated for Director of Publications, with Basofin elected; and Kathleen Flynn and Jeanette Brown were nominated for Secretary, with Brown elected.

Elyse Eisner reported that the Employment Clearinghouse is fast becoming obsolete due to the listserve and Web site. She received 15 job announcements all year, all but three form the listserve. She has 23 resumes, and two people forund jobs, one not in a news library. She will ask to have resumes updated. Eisner suggested that the Web site should be clarified to prevent non-news library job seekers from sending their resumes.

Broadcast committee chair Rob Robinson reported that the committee put together a list of broadcast libraries; and that they will tour Monitor Radio on Tuesday.

There was no report form the International Relations committee.

Ginny Everett reported on the Membership Committee. At the end of April, there were 822 members, compared to 819 the previous year. But there has been a lot of activity. Mmebership fluctuated from a low of 770 in February to a high of 868 in September. There are 162 new members, or 14 per month. Considering that SLA's gropwth rate is 2 percent, News Division is holding its own. News Division is 7th in size among 28 divisions in SLA, as it was last year. The Samll Libraries Committee is doing well in recruiting--they identified 70 librarians at small news organizations or small newspapers with no libraries. All 70 were sent packets, and there is an increase among small libraries. Everett reported that the membership directory was suposed to be out in late February or early March, but SLA sent some incorrect addresses to DataTimes, so the list had to be redone. June or July is the probable publication date, so the new division officers might be listed. Everett suggested a new publicaiton cycle forthe directory, to have the new board members listed in the directory.

Chris Hardesty reported that the Publicity/Public Relations Committee did not have anything to report this year, but will have a big year next year. They plan to distribute the new revised brochures to non-Division gatherings like IRE and maybe at job fairs. With the 75th anniversary of the News Division coming up in 199 in Minneapolis, the Publicity committee is looking for ideas.

Diane Logsdon reported for the Small Libraries Committee. They have completed a survey of 300 small news libraries in the U.S. and Canada, asking things like staff size, systems, and Internet access. They are spreading the word about the News Division, telling about the NewsLib list if the library has e-mail. The results of the survey will be published in News Library News and onthe Web site. Tuesday, the Small Libraries group will be co-sponsoring a program with the Solo Librarians.

Sandy Vance made a motion to approve all the committee reports. Carol campbell seconded, and it passed.

OLD BUSINESS

Kathy Foley asked if the Long-Range Planning Committee still exists. After discussion Foley moved to reactivate the Long-Range Planning Committee of the News Library Division, Sperry Krueger seconded the motion, and after more discussion, the motion passed.

John Cronin pointed out that ten percent of the revenues from the "International Directory of News Libraries" goes to the News Division.

NEW BUSINESS

Mona Hatfield said that it would be helpful if the News Divsiion membership directory were published after new board members were elected so correct informaiton would be in the directory. Ginny Everett agreed that it would help, as the membership list would be more accurate. Donna Scheeder asked if we could put the list on the Web page. Barb Hijek found out from SLA that SLA does not want us to put the membbership on the Web for two reasons--the issue of privacy and the fact that SLA sells their printed membership directory. Scheeder said SLA is working on an electronic publishing policy, and she will bring the question up at the chapter cabinet meeting.

Hatfield told about a workshop September 20-21, sponsored by the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News.

Donna Scheeder brought up the question of the Archives, making a motion that the Archivist could work on a proposal with the Poynter Institute and report back next year with a written proposal. The point was made that this delay for a year might make the archives inaccessible, especially while the division is planning the 75th anniversary. SLA requested our archive materials. Archivist M.J. Crowley reported that the archives were contained in two filing cabinets of vertical files, and contained committee reports, biuographical material and minutes of meetings, and said that much of the material does not have to be there. She said there is current communications for the past two to three years; older communications between the presidents and officers; minutes of meetings; committee reports; old scrap books with informaiton on what went on in older libraries; old speeches and old histories to show the development of news libraries and how we developed as a profession; a number of old slides and early film, oversize negatives and glass slides; and assorted souvenir-type materials. The questions were raised that if the Archives wereat Poynter,how would they be used; would the title of Archivist go to Nora Paul, and whether back copies of News Library News were part of the Archives. Kee Malesky has copies of all issues of News Library News and its predecessors, and the NLN database would be offloaded to a SAVE database. Scheeder withdrew her motion. Bob Isaacs suggested the Board appoint a committee to look into the question of what to do with the Archives, and that they take a broader look beyond the Poynter Institute, toinclude library schools.

Someone pointed out the New York Public Library exhibit, "Headlines Deadlines, Bylines--100 Years of the New York Times Morgue."

Campo thanked Sherry Adams and Mona Hatfield for their service to the Board.

The new officers were installed: Jeanette Brown, Secretary; Peter Basofin, Director of Publications; Teresa Leonard, Chair; and Tom Lutgen, Chair-Elect.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

Respectively submitted,
Sherry Adams
Secretary

To the top.

IN MEMORIAM
Michael A. Marler

Michael A. Marler, assistant director of the reference library at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, died April 9, 1996 at his home of a brain tumor. He was 45.

Mike joined the staff of the newspaper's library in 1980 and was promoted to assistant director in 1985.

Mike was born in St. Louis and graduated from Herculaneum High School. He served for three years in the Army.

Jerry Brown, library director, said: "Mike was totally dedicated to providing Post-Dispatch journalists with the most thorough and accurate research material. Alwasy a gentlemen, Mike was highly respected by everyone he came in contact with."

Reporter Harry Nevins noted that Mike "had a knack for completing crossword puzzles that stumped his colleagues at the paper. So often did he fill in the final, toughest squares that he won the nickname of Bruce Stter, the Closer."

Among survivors are his parents, Floyd and Patricia Marlerof Pevely; six sisters, Diane Chanceof Festus, Sheila Meyers of Stockton, Calif., Vivian Pope of Crystal City, Sandy Brown of Buna, Texas, Pan Wilfong of Festus and Laura Hill of Bonne Terre; five brothers, Floyd Marler Jr. of Pevely, Rick Marler of Festus, Tim Marler of Pevely, John Marler of Hematitle and Jeff Marler of Valley Park; and 23 nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the clinical research fund, in care of David Clifford of the Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, P.O. Box 8111, 6660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 63110.


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