VERMONT BECOMES 50TH STATE TO JOIN U.S. NEWSPAPER PROGRAM
By Connell Gallagher
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the University of Vermont
Libraries $157,413. to coordinate a statewide newspaper project. The Vermont project is
part of the United States Newspaper Program to locate, catalog and preserve newspapers
published in the state from the eighteenth century to the present. Vermont is the 50th
state to be funded, and when complete, ideally, holding records for all of the newspapers
ever published in the U.S. will be recorded in OCLC.
Connell B. Gallagher, Director for Research Collections, and Birdie MacLennan, Serials
Coordinator at UVM, will be co-project directors. The physical site for the project will
be at the Vermont Department of Libraries, the principal newspaper holding library in
Vermont. Lorraine Lanius, serials cataloger at DOL will help hire and train staff. In all,
more than 80 locations, including UVM, will be surveyed and their holdings cataloged.
The Newspaper Project was begun in 1982 to ensure that America's historical newspapers
are preserved as resources for those interested in the nation's history, the biographies
of its inhabitants and the genealogy of its families. Newspapers are the basic source for
most historical research, for they include a information and stories on a multitude
topics. The project seeks to catalog all newspapers published from the 18th century to the
present and preserve them on microfilm. When all of the projects are complete (50 states,
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), NEH's program will have created bibliographic records
for approximately 54 million pages of disintegrating print. Information about titles and
holdings will be entered into a database available at OCLC, an international network with
14,000 dedicated terminals that provides access to public, school, private and college
libraries throughout the country.
Many of the newspapers reflect a distinctive geography, historical circumstances,
immigrant populations and political perspectives. Lynn Missouri, for example discovered
The Daily Unterrified Democrat, published in 1898, and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, found
Avalanche In It Daily (1891-1892). Among the hundreds of Vermont Newspapers are such
intriguing titles as Anti-Masonic Republican, Brother Jonathan, The Bomb, Perfectionist
and Theocratic Watchman, and the Semi-equal Eagle.
Vermont's first weekly newspaper was published from 1780-1781 in Westminster, Vermont.
The Green Mountain Gazette or Green Mountain Post Boy, was printed on the first press in
Vermont, the so-called Dresden Press of Alden Spooner, which was donated to the Vermont
Historical Society in 1888. The University hopes to have staff hired and trained by
February 1997, and work completed approximately 18 months later.
A number of projects have put up web sites with an exposition of their activities, and
some have actually mounted databases. The best place to find full information on holdings
is through OCLC Worldcat. As the Vermont project moves along we will provide information
on our homepage at: http://sageunix.uvm.edu/
Connell Gallagher's e-mail address is cgallagh@uvmvm.uvm.edu.
REGIONAL
WASHINGTON LIBRARIANS "MEET THE PRESS"
By Catherine Kitchell
Not that Washington news librarians are the most dedicated of all news librarians, but
who else would hold a meeting at 8:30 in the morning on a Sunday? The reason for the
meeting was simple though, to watch a taping of the longest running show on television,
NBC's Meet the Press. On September 30th, Charlotte Kohrs, Manager, Information Services at
NBC, arranged for 15 librarians to watch the taping and have a light brunch.
The Israeli completion of the tunnel under Jerusalem and the subsequent crisis in the
peace process between Israel and Palestine was the obvious big story of the week so it was
no surprise, though very exciting, that Warren Christopher was the main guest. Following
Christopher, was Eliahu Ben-Elissar, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States. Then
came a little disaster, no satellite with Hanah Ashwari, Palestinian higher education
minister! While extra commercials played the staff brought in extra chairs to start host
Tim Russert's roundtable discussion with Mary McGrory, Richard Ben Cramer and David
Maraniss early. Fortunately the satellite came back and there was a chance to interview
Ashwari before the roundtable discussion.
Brunch followed with a tour of the library. With the advent of MSNBC, the 24-hour news,
talk, and information cable network from Microsoft and NBC News, the staff of the library
has found that more requests require instant responses. With 24-hour news, news cut-ins
may happen at any time with little time allowed for research. The library has always
focused on speedy response to requests, but this has definitely been a new challenge.
In attendance were Donna Scheeder and Peggy Garvin, Congressional Research Service;
Ruth Schwer and Denise Chen, National Public Radio; Richard Drezen, The Washington Post;
Thea Ragatz, Discovery Channel; Sandy Levy and Lisa LoVullo, Baltimore Sun; Terri Schultz,
Washington Center on Politics and Journalism; Vickie Allen, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer;
Kay Dorko, Eduation Week; and Rob Robinson, NPR and current Chair of the D.C. News Group.
REGIONAL
"CYBRARIANS" CONGREGATE IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
We've all heard the jokes about librarians' conventions where dowdy and temperant women
exchange arcane theories of bibliography. Well, last September, the ad-hoc Northern
California News Librarians Group, meeting in the heart of Silicon Valley, proved that that
kind of humor will no longer fly.
Newspapers from Redding to San Luis Obispo sacrified their most valuable asset - their
librarian - to attend a two-day trip into the newsroom of the future.
The tour, hosted by the San Jose Mercury News, penetrated all the cyberian hype to
reveal the essential role librarians play in the on-line world we live in.
Without librarians, cyberspace simply would not exist. Using the metaphor of the
newspaper, Gary Lance of the Mercury News explained, "if you don't have editorial,
the library and technical services all working together, (any on-line project) is not
going to work."
On Saturday, newspaper automation consultant David Coles demonstrated the tools that
can make it work, with his rundown on the software available to automate a news library.
Admitting his frustrations trying to build his own system (with Systems Integrators, Inc.)
for the Hearst Corp., he advised not to make that mistake.
He instead encouraged newspapers to spend the money on a system "from a developer
you can trust, such as Nexis/Lexis or Knight-Ridder," publishers of the Mercury News.
That noble news organization was well-represented, not only by hosting staff in San
Jose, but by the company's latest acquisition, the Contra Costa Newspapers.
Mona Hatfield, director of news research for that growing regional chain based in the
eastern suburbs of Oakland, co-hosted the conference. Her webmaster, Patrick Twohy, used
the gathering to preview HotCoco, CCN's on-line site. He, too, emphasized the importance
of "wetware" - the human element - in cyberspace development. For him, the
library's role was "absolutely essential."
Another Knight-Ridder librarian, Joe Keifer of the Mercury-News, showed off that
newsroom's nifty new intranet, that links each reporter's desktop to a vast array of
on-line resources - most of them royalty free.
But the future of the profession came through most vividly when Bruce Koon, editor of
the on-line arm of the Mercury-News, known as Mercury Center, demonstrated the cyberspace
version of the paper's now legendary series on cocaine infiltration into Los Angeles.
The work of librarians is responsible for much of the exciting content of that
trailblazing hypertext experiment in journalism.
Besides our hosts at Knight-Ridder, librarians from most of the region's top newspapers
were there. The Bees of Sacramento, Fresno and Modesto, the Marin Independent Journal, the
Oakland Tribune, the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, the Redding Record-Searchlight, the
Stockton Record and even the Vacaville Reporter sent members of their staffs.
Steven Lavoie was recently replaced by a dysfunctional search engine at the Oakland
Tribune, where he also wrote a popular Sunday column. Send e-mail to him at
spl@mrwassoc.com.
REGIONAL
EPW8: THE VALUE-ADDED ARCHIVING SEMINAR
By Linda Henderson
In early October, news librarians, photographers and photo editors shared the
experience of the eighth annual Electronic Photojournalism Workshop (EPW8) in San Antonio
and took away a mutual appreciation of their respective skills.
Kathy Foley, Editor of Information Services at the San Antonio Express-News, was our
host for the two-day archiving seminar, which was part of the eight-day EPW8. She was
joined by Mike Jesse, Library Director at the Dayton Daily News, who co-anchored the
two-day session. Kathy made sure that we became part of the whole EPW culture by
encouraging us to hang out in the newsroom (a hotel ballroom magically transformed) and by
inviting participation in our sessions by all of the EPW attendees.
About 20 librarians, photo editors and photographers participated in the seminar and
two papers (the Phoenix Newspapers and the Raleigh News & Observer) sent teams of
librarians and photo staffers to the seminar. The range of archiving experience varied
widely, from those who had had a system for some time to those for whom a system was still
a gleam in the eye. Our group even included a picture librarian at the Cleveland Public
Library, who is now seriously thinking about a career change after a few days with us.
Some of the archiving seminar participants had colleagues working in the EPW newsroom,
as well, so we spent time looking over the shoulders of our photo counterparts. This is
something we rarely have time to do in real life and I found it one of the bonuses of the
week.
We were also able to see two photo archiving systems in action. AP's system was the
"official" archive of the conference and T/One had a demonstration of the latest
version of their Merlin system up and running with about 13,000 records. For those of us
still making a decision, seeing the two systems was a big help.
The archiving seminar sessions were aimed at the practical, including discussions on
workflow, keywords and use of the archive for revenue-generating projects. One highlight
of the first day was a session that Kathy called "Can this Marriage be Saved?".
Three teams of librarians and photo people sat in front of a large crowd and discussed
their working relationships. The discussion, laced with newsroom humor and honest
observations, ended with a consensus that not only could the marriage be saved, but that
it really wasn't in much trouble to begin with. This conclusion might have been foretold
since the very presence of the teams meant a commitment on the part of the participants to
work together effectively. (Full disclosure - I was on the panel with my Journal-Bulletin
colleague Mick Cochran, so of course I thought the session was great.)
On the second day, we discussed how to develop an RFP (Request for Purchase) for an
archiving system. We also heard from Dave Cole, Editor of the Cole Papers, which is the
bible for newsroom technology. He elicited a groan from the group when he looked around
the room, sized up the average age (let's just say Boomer), and announced that from now
until the end of our careers in newspapers we would see a significant change in the
technology every two years. He spent almost the entire day with us, answering questions
that ranged from the big picture to the very specific (what is .PDF anyway?).
As is the case when news people come together, we did our share of socializing (uh,
networking), this time along the beautiful Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. We
librarians found that our photo colleagues were ALMOST as good at partying (uh,
networking) as we are.
As news libraries increasingly move toward electronic archiving of photos and graphics,
the need to work closely with the photo department becomes more critical than ever. The
archiving seminar and the entire EPW experience was a good step toward cooperation and
understanding in the changing environment. I encourage everyone to try to participate in
EPW9.
Connect to sunsite.unc.edu/nppa/epw8/index/html to get more informationon EPW before
you contact Linda Henderson at The Providence Journal-Bulletin. E-mail can be sent to her
at lhenders@ProJo.com
REGIONAL
TAMPA TRIBUNE HOSTS FLORIDA LIBRARIANS
An enthusiastic group of 45 news librarians met October 4 at the Tampa Tribune for the
annual meeting of the Florida News Librarian Association.
The agenda included a tour of the Tribune library and representatives of Database
Technologies of Pompano Beach, Fl demonstrated AutoTrack, their people-finding database.
The group also enjoyed participation in several timely and interesting panel
discussions:
ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULES FOR NEWS LIBRARIANS with panelists Judy Grimsley, Orlando
Sentinel and Michelle Quigley, Palm Beach Post.
AN UPDATE ON COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING with panelists Professor Bruce Garrison,
University of Miami School of Communication and Nora Paul, Poynter Institute of Media
Studies.
BUILDING A NEWSROOM INTRANET - WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU with panelists Kitty Bennett, St.
Petersburg Times; Barbara Shapiro, Palm Beach Post; Elizabeth Donovan, Miami Herald and
Carolyn Edds, Herald-Journal.
FNLA is not affiliated with Special Libraries Association although many Florida
librarians belong to both. It was formed as a grass roots organization in 1984 to fill the
need for a state network of news librarians. Meetings are hosted by members and there are
no membership dues or registration fees. The association encourages membership by both
large and small libraries in print and broadcast media. It affords an open forum for
learning, sharing and professional growth that some libraries with small budgets could not
otherwise get.
For more information, contact Maryann Sterzel at The Florida Times-Union. Phone:
904/359-4458, E-mail: Nightowl@tu.infi.net.
LIBRARY SPOTLIGHT
PRESS CLUB LIBRARY RENOVATES AND EXPANDS
The Eric Friedheim Library and News Information Center at the National Press Club in
Washington, DC was renovated in November and the new Bloomberg Center opened with support
from The McGraw-Hill Companies and Compaq Computer Corporation. McGraw-Hill donated
$100,000 and Compaq donated advanced PCs, monitors and server technology to equip a new
14-seat computer lab which will allow classes to be taught throughout the day while other
users have access to the Internet and word processing or spreadsheet programs in a public
computer area.
"As the craft of journalism relies more on electronic media, members of the press
must master new technologies such as the Internet," says Barbara Vandegrift,
librarian for the Eric Friedheim Library. The library now has the resources to train
individual reporters where their news organization might not. "Basic Internet
Skills" is the most popular class and is taught by librarians at the center and
reporters affiliated with the Press Club.
The library's mission is to provide current events reference materials and research
assistance to journalists and other members of the media. The Library staff consists of
four full-time librarians who staff the regular collection that includes access to over
350 serials, CD-ROMs and a circulating book collection specializing in journalism and the
history of Washington. Access to to online services such as Knight-Ridder, Lexis-Nexis and
Dow Jones are provided for a fee. Access to Bloomberg, AP and UPI wires is free. "The
library alone is reason enough to join the National Press Club," says Andy Alexander,
Deputy Washington Bureau Chielf, Cox Newspapers, and President of the Friends of the
National Journalism Library, a non-profit, tax-empt organization that raises money for the
library. "It's the best of its kind and a leader in providing journalists with new
skills and broader, faster access to information."
A homepage (http://npc.press.org) provides hot links to other news-oriented sites as
well as providing information on the club and its services.
NOTES FROM THE CHAIR
By Teresa Leonard
One of the dangers of spending a year as chair-elect and assuming the role of
conference program planner is that it takes a while to come back to earth and realize that
work goes on. Thankfully, work has been going on. News librarians have been quite busy
this fall and winter, both with division business and generally promoting the profession.
I'd like to start out by thanking Linda Henderson for her incredibly hard work as
editor of News Library News. Catherine Kitchell has made a lovely transition into the
driver's seat, and judging from her "gentle reminder" email messages concerning
deadlines, took more than a few notes from Linda's tenure.
Occasionally I hear from Tom Lutgen about how the Seattle conference is shaping up.
It's going to be a really exciting week. Be sure to get involved! I know from experience
that no one can do this job alone. I'm sure Tom would appreciate a phone call from each of
us, offering to lend a hand. You may not want to be in the spotlight on the program
itself, but there is so much more to be done. Offer to hand out evaluation forms, or run
the slide projector, or staff the hospitality suite, or make even a few phone calls.
As always, one of the highlights of the annual conference is the Awards Banquet, and
Charlie Campo tells me we're going to the "swankiest place in town!"
Others who have been charging away at their respective assignments include Mona
Hatfield and John Cronin. Mona has come up with a top-notch slate of candidates for the
upcoming year. It truly says a lot about the leadership quality of our members that they
are so willing to serve. John Cronin hits the new year running with the division's
strategic plan. If you haven't yet, you will be hearing from him as he solicits our ideas.
A newcomer to the division leadership (or rather, a new-returner) is Lany McDonald.
Lany will take charge of our 75th anniversary plans for 1999. Elizabeth Haworth, who got
the ball rolling on the anniversary celebration, had asked to be replaced, and Lany is the
best party planner I know.
Another group you've probably heard from is made up of Kathy Foley, Ginny Everett and
Rosemary Nelm. They are news libraries' representatives at E&P's Interactive
Newspapers conference in Houston, and they've put together a fine survey on newspapers
turning to libraries as a revenue center. And even farther than Houston, news librarians
Barbara Semonche and Margot Williams took their Internet and training skills to Bucharest,
Warsaw, Hong Kong and Manila courtesy of The Freedom Forum's International Library
Division. Track them down and get them to tell you of their adventures.
But even those of us back home have been globe trotting, thanks to Carolyn Edds and her
crew at the division's web page. With the help of Kathy Foley, the division web site will
be the place to check out the latest in newsroom intranets!
So as you can see, while I've been laid back taking it easy, many, many others are hard
at work making the news division happen.
Finally, I'd like to suggest we get some conversation started on SLA's proposed
Competencies for Special Librarians of the 21st Century. One of my favorite topics is
"just what is a news librarian anyway, and what standards should we live up to?"
This document is a good starting point for pondering that. You can find the proposed
competencies at http://www.sla.org/professional/competency.html.
Teresa Leonard is Director, News Research at The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC.
E-mail can be sent to her at tleonard@nando.com.
ELECTIONS
FORMER NEWS DIVISION CHAIR RUNS FOR PRESIDENT
Donna Scheeder, member of the News Division and Chair, 1993-1994, is a candidate for
President of the association this year. Donna has made many contributions both to the
division and the association throughout her 20 years as a member of SLA. Currently serving
a three year term as Treasurer of SLA, she has made it her goal to provide the membership
with information about the income, expenditures and financial decisionİmaking process of
the association through a monthly column called Money Matters. She currently chairs the
Finance Committee and is a member of the Association Office Operations Committee and the
Strategic Planning Committee. As a member of the News Division since 1977, Donna served as
the division conference planner for the 1993 conference, and as past chair, planned the
Awards banquet in Montreal in 1995. She served as the Chair of the division's Bylaws
Committee for two years and has made presentations for both the Freedom Forum and the
Investigative Reporter's and Editors Association on locating government information and
publications.
Donna is currently the Acting Chief of the Congressional Reference Division at the
Library of Congress. Her division is responsible for responding to over 300,000 requests
for information annually from the Congress. She has also been active in her local
chapter's News Interest Group and has held a variety of Chapter offices including Chapter
President. If Donna is elected she will be the first News Division member to serve as
President of the Association.
CHAIR-ELECT
Paula Stevens
Paula Stevens was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She attended the
University of California at Berkeley, where she received a bachelor's degree in
Anthropology in 1974, and a Master of Library Science in 1975.
Paula has been a newspaper librarian since 1980, and notes that her first days on the
job have been historically newsworthy. She started the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune the day
after Mount St. Helens erupted. She went to Pheonix Newspapers, Inc. in 1985, starting the
day after an Arizona Republic reporter on assignment in Afganistan had been killed in a
Soviet attack.
Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. publishes The Arizona Republic, The Pheonix Gazette, and the
weekly Arizona Business Gazette. In addition to providing news research, the library
produces daily and weekly industry and management reports for executives, has a fee-based
public research area, and handles all photo and copyright reprint sales and permission.
Paula is committed to serving the entire organization, and in the coming year will be
involved in developing services to departments outside the newsroom and a company-wide
Telecommuting task force.
Paula is active in the Special Libraries Association. In the News Division she has
served on the digital archiving committee, chaired the Student Stipend Committee, and has
done several presentations at local and national conferences. She served as Treasurer and
President of the Arizona Chapter. she is also active in the Arizona State Library
Association and represents special libraries on the Advisory Council to the Arizona State
Library. A strong believer in community service, she is an active member of Soroptimist
International in Phoenix.
Paula lives in Phoenix with her husband and her dog, and enjoys swimming, travel,
arhaeology, and reading.
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Carol Ashurst
Carol Ashurst, Research and Tape Archives Manager at CTV Television, has been with the
network since 1982. She began as Head Librarian of News Research. In 1993 the Library
became corporate. It was consolidated with Sports research, along with the tape libraries
and Carol became manager of the newly created department.
Prior to CTV, she spent 7 years as a teacher/librarian for the Toronto Board of
Education followed by 4 years as a freelance stylist (props person) for magazine and
television advertising.
Carol joined SLA in 1985. She and Leone Earles of Canadian Broadcasting Corp. organized
the 1994 and 1995 broadcast sessions at the annual SLA conference. Also they were
responsible for the broadcast column, Channels, in News Library News.
Carol's department was involved last year in a partnership with McGraw-Hill and
Canadian publishers Southam Inc. to produce the second part of an educational CD-ROM
series on Canadian immigration. The group also participated in the development of a
successful web site, "The Rink", for figure skating events covered by CTV
Sports. Carol is currently involved in the network's conversion from analog to digital
technology and in the upcoming launch of CTV's 24-hour news and all sports channels.
Sperry Krueger
Sperry Krueger is resource manager for The News & Observer's news research
department. She began her career in news librarianship in 1993, as a news researcher for
the paper's newly formed Durham bureau. She became resource manager in 1995 and is
responsible for acquiring and organizing resources and for the development of the
company's intranet.
During her first year in the news division, she served on the publicity and public
relations committee and planned a program for the Atlanta conference. In 1995, she
organized the first annual "newbies" meeting and was a panelist on a program
about designing and implementing training for the newsroom. In Boston in 1996, she planned
and moderated a program on reference sources and presented the NeRD page in a program
called "Webbing the Newsroom." She will be a featured speaker for the 1997
conference CE course on intranets.
Sperry is membership chair of the North Carolina chapter of SLA and a member of IRE.
She was one of 31 librarians chosen to participate in the 1995 Snowbird Leadership
Institute in Snowbird, Utah. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina College
of Library and Information Science and a member of beta phi mu.
TREASURER
Bill Van Niekerken
Bill Van Niekerken is currently Assistant Head Librarian at the San Francisco
Chronicle. He has been a librarian at the Chronicle since 1985, and before that, worked
for 5 years at the San Jose Mercury News.
Bill is currently finishing off a two-year term as treasurer of the San Francisco Bay
Region Chapter. He has chaired Mailing and Hospitality committees for the chapter and has
also served on Program and Hospitality committees.
Bill served as Elections chair for the News Division for 1988-89, and served on the
membership committee for the division in 1990-91.
Patti Graziano
Patti Graziano started working at The Plain Dealer Library (Cleveland, OH) in 1972, and
was promoted to Library Director in 1982.
She has served as Public Relations Chair, on the Audit Committee and as Advertising
Manager for the Cleveland Chapter of Special Libraries Association. Also she was on the
nominating committee of the News Division for 1994-95 year.
People
By Theresa Kiely
CHANGES FOR 1997
With the advent of the Internet comes new opportunities for librarians. Michael
Meiners, formerly Research Manager of the Editorial Research Center at the Fort Lauderdale
Sun-Sentinel is now a producer with Digital City South Florida, an "online
community" and joint venture with America Online. He can be most easily reached at
mmeiners@tribune.com
The Palm Beach Post's Mary Kate Leming will be joining Cox Interactive Media on January
2, 1997. She will be heading up the content side of Cox's operation in West Palm Beach.
Sammy Alzofon will become Library Director.
Margot Williams of The Washington Post and Barbara Semonche of UNC-CH School of
Journalism and Mass Communications Library were selected by The Freedom Forum to develop
programs for Internet and web instruction in Eastern Europe and Asia. Margot is going to
Hong Kong and Manila; Barbara went to Bucharest and Moscow.
GROWING IN THE GARDEN STATE
M.J. Crowley writes: "The information coaching staff is in place in Newark at the
Star-Ledger." Her staff includes: Christine Baird, deputy editor; Beverly Reid, staff
training and research; Padraic Cassidy, HTML design, CD-ROM and CAR training and special
projects reporting.
FROM THE TAR HEEL STATE
On December 8th, Sperry Krueger gave birth to a little boy, Jackson Miller. Sperry is
the Resource Manager for the News Research Department at The News & Observer in
Raleigh, North Carolina.
At the Charlotte Observer Library, Sara Klemmer has switched jobs with Marion Paynter.
Marion is the new Library Manager and Sara is doing research and archiving.
CAPITOL CHANGES
The CNN Library has hired a new librarian, Elizabeth Hathway. She is a recent graduate
of the University of Maryland's College of Library and Information Services.
CNN has an opening in its library for a Senior Library Assistant. The job consists of
cataloging and indexing videos using inhouse databases, and other projects. Applicants
should have some online searching experience; familiarity with the Internet; proficiency
with print sources; and being able to work weekends and evening hours. A MLS degree is not
required but library and archival experience is strongly preferred. Mail resumes to: CNN,
820 1st Street, NE, Attn: Elizabeth Sullivan, Library Manager, Washington, DC, 20002.
NOW OUT OF CALIFORNIA
Bill Van Niekerken has been promoted to Assistant Head Librarian in charge of the night
shift and library test and photo databases at the San Francisco Chronicle Library.
From the Orange County Register: Dick Glasgow joined the staff as a researcher in
October. Besides his many research responsibilities, he is a member of the newsroom
"Sunday team" that writes, edits, designs and researches for the weekend papers.
Assistant Head Librarian, Heather Schwabe was chosen as one of the two future leaders
from the San Francisco Examiner to attend the annual Hearst Corporation Editors &
Publisher conference, held this year in Monterey, California. Judy Cantor, Library
Director, writes that the honor is a great boost for the library.
Sharon Clairemont (formerly Ostmann) was married at the Mission San Juan Capistrano on
August 24th. Sharon wrote: "She married Bob Clairemont, a sixth grade teacher,
talented piano player, terrible punster, and otherwise wonderful man."
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
Ernest H. Robl wrote a six-page feature article for the October issue of Pacific Rail
News. The story describes the Burlington North Santa Fe Railroad's reconstruction of the
Cascade Mountain crossing in the the Pacific Northwest. Ernest's web pages can be found
at:
http://www.he.tdl.com/~coleman/Trains/cont_faq.html
MEMBERSHIP
A WARM WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
SLA News Division membership is up! Last year the second quarter statistics show a
total count of 845 members. As of July 31st the total count was 862 members. Our global
membership represents a diverse group of librarians and information professionals
representing news & academic libraries, research institutes, high technology
companies, information providers, government, students and national associations.
SLA membership also continues to grow. As of July 31, we had 14,493 SLA members. Let's
welcome our NEWest NEWS Division members:
Susan Anderson, Arlington, VA
Karen E. Angelowitz, Calvin Klein Inc.
Elaine Auritt, Philadelphia, PA
Monica Ballard, Lafayette, CA
Maureen Bearden, Congresional Research Services
Rachel Berrington, Tucson, AZ
Jack Boureston, Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Marta Chernik, New York Public Library, Acquisitions
Pam Clift, Austin, TX
Richard C. Collins, Knight-Ridder Info Inc.
Catherine Corum, Croton, MA
Kristi Curt, Columbia, SC
Kathleen Daly, Carnegie Endowment International Peace
Alex De Ravel, Medford, Ma
Carolyn Edds, Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Allison Evatt, University of Tennessee Cartographic Info Center
Linda J. Everett, Pulp & Paper Research Institute of Canada
Laura Falacienski, Crains Cleveland Business Editorial
Christine G. Florez, Burson Marsteller Knowledge Center
Colette Foulke, Belex Laboratories Inc.
Marjorie Gagnon, Montreal, Canada
Jennifer Hahs, Madison, WI
Turid Hegna, Oslo, Norway
Frederik A. Heller, National Association of Realtors Information Resource Center
Deirdre Hester, CBS News
Una Hildebrandt, Poolesville, MD
Sandra L. Hile, Time Warner Inc. Library
Janet E. Hoffman, KR Media Stream
Paula Kepos, UMI
Rachel L Landau, Washington, DC
Fran Larkins, Springfield, VA
Ruth Leonard, Washington Post
Julie Lynch, Iowa City, IA
Laura Mann, Bayside, NY
Margaret McCully, University Park, MD
Connie McDowell, Seattle, WA
Anca C. Medesan, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Kim Merchant, Milton, WI
Joan Mergeson, Birmingham, MI
Valerie Nye, Madison, WI
Maureen T. Pakosh, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
Lynne M Palombo, Harvard Business School Baker Library
Lisa Peterson, Durham, NC
Chandra L. Pierce, Columbia, SC
Donald W. Pine, AP News & Information Research Center
Magali Rheault, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine Research
Alison Rhodes, Knoxville, TN
Kelly Rhodes, Knoxville, TN
Jacqueline Richardson, Business Week
Barbara Rodriguez, Warren, OH
Vicky Schweitzer, DataTimes - Sales
Charles A. Shipman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Kathleen V. Smith, Associated Press
Julia Soles, El Paso Times Inc.
Lovelle Svart, The Oregonian
Robyn L. Tolle, LEXIS-NEXIS
Laura Tyner, Austin, TX
David C. Valenzuela, Grand Island, NY
Renee Valois, Journal American News
Karen Van Antwerp, The Detroit News
Michelle Van Hoeck, Santa Roda, CA
Ruth Volk, Ann Arbor, MI
Mary L. Watson, Turner Broadcasting Sys, Inc.
Jerolyn Wheeler, Lakeland, FL
Candace S. Whitaker, Kelly & Whitaker PA
Marsha Woodbury, University of Illinois Graduate School of Library & Information
Science
CONFERENCE ADVANCE
SEATTLE'S THE SETTING FOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Here's the latest take on the News Division programs for the SLA Annual Conference in
Seattle. Tom Lutgen, this year's News Division Chair-Elect, is planning the news library
program for our Conference. Tom is the Library Director for the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Library and can be reached using any of the following: Voice: (213) 237-4758;
Fax: (213) 237-4502; E-mail: tom.lutgen@latimes.com
There are likely additional evening events sponsored by vendors. Some of the events may
change slightly. Times are liable to change too. Your preliminary conference program
should arrive through the mail in March. It should be a great week to make new friends,
meet old friends, see new vendor products, learn new solutions to problems and have fun!
Preliminary Conference Schedule
SUNDAY, JUNE 8
9:00 to 4:00 CE Class: Internet/Intranet in News Libraries
4:30 to 6:00 Board Meeting
6:00 to 9:00 News Division Open House (Newcomers)
MONDAY, JUNE 9
7:30 to 8:45 Annual Business Meeting
10:30 to 11:45 Image/Art Databases: Conversion & Quality Issues
1:15 to 2:45 Getting Systems Support
3:00 to 4:15 Information Stores: How to Write a Business Plan and Build a Profit Center.
4:30 to 6:00 Freedom Forum International -- SLA Library Program
6:00 - ? Annual News Division Awards Dinner and Ceremony
9:00 - ? News Division Open House
TUESDAY, JUNE 10
7:30 to 8:45 Serving Remote Bureaus and Reporters: Using Web archives, Cellular
Telephone Technology, etc.
(sponsored by Knight-Ridder Information, Inc.)
Noon to 1:15 News Division Luncheon
(sponsored by Congressional Quarterly)
1:30 to 2:45 Library Researchers in the Newsroom: Behind the Front Lines
3:00 to 4:15 Expanding the Horizons of the News Library: Getting and Keeping Corporate and
New Media Clients
4:30 to 6:00 Digitizing Clipping Files
6:00 to ? News Division Open House (Hosted by Knight-Ridder Information, Inc.)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11
7:30 to 8:45 Video & Audio Archiving
11:30 to 12:45 Getting Your Archives on the Web: How to Prepare a Winning Business Plan.
1:00 to 2:15 Best News Web Sites
(co-sponsored with Business and Finance Division)
2:30 to 3:45 Computer Assisted Reporting: Regaining our Role in Gathering and Organizing
Data for Investigative Projects
6:00 to ? News Division Open House
(Hosted by UMI/DataTimes)
THURSDAY, JUNE 12
9:00 to 3:00 Field Trip to Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA.
SEATTLE CONFERENCE SWAP & SHOP
The Library Management Division is again sponsoring a Swap & Shop for the Seattle
Conference. This year they are encouraging you to submit your library's web pages, printed
materials, special materials and videos. Swap & Shop attendees will view your material
and vote for their favorites. For more information and entry forms, please contact Trudy
Katz at trudy.katz@lexis-nexis.com, fax: 212/309-7835 or Jill Konieczko at
jkonieczko@csc.noaa.gov, fax: 803/974-6298.
INTERNET TO INTRANET: WHAT NEWS LIBRARIANS NEED TO KNOW
The CE course will focus on two areas of Internet responsibilities that confront news
librarians. The first area is the news librarian as an Internet trainer/mentor/leader.
Attendees will learn specific approaches to evaluating resources on the Internet through
analysis, comparison and testing. They will learn what to look for in an Internet site to
determine if it is credible, reliable and factual.
They will learn what approaches and styles work when training journalists in using the
Internet. Practical guidelines will be offered in how to train journalists effectively and
thoroughly.
The second area of Internet responsibility offered is the news librarian as an
information provider. CE attendees will learn how to focus on the needs of their
individual newsrooms and how to find information on the Internet that satisfies those
needs. Attendees will learn what it takes to form a policy on collection development when
using the Internet. They will also learn what is involved in creating an Intranet of
useful resources used by journalists through an internal network.
The learning objectives are:
*How to evaluate the quality of Internet resources.
*How to effectively train newsroom staff in using the Internet.
*Information mission: How to analyze and gather information from the Internet that meets
the needs of the newsroom.
*News research responsibilities: Where does the library fit in?
*Intranet: Creating a network of useful resources.
The CE instructors are: Nora Paul, Poynter Institute for Media Studies; Sperry Krueger,
Raleigh News and Observer; Theresa Kiely, Newsday; and D. Scott Brown, Purdue University.
News Library News
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