News Library News Online
Vol. 19, No.2/Winter 1997

News Library News

Winter 1997

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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.

CURRENT TOPICS ON THE NEWSLIB LISTSERV

Barbara Semonche, NewsLib listserv owner, has been stashing some message "threads" that have been discussed recently on the listserv. She is doing this because the Newslib search engine leaves much to be desired. NLN is providing the list of topics for those who do not subscribe to the listserv but might wish to know what has been discussed lately.

There are some caveats to the discussion "threads." Most of the discussions are "first impressions" and, although all the participants have thought about the topics, they may not be the definitive word on an issue. They may, however, provide leads for further research. To request a "thread" please e-mail Barbara directly at semonch@gibbs.oit.unc.edu and she will e-mail the topic back to you. If you do not have e-mail please call her at 919/962-1204 and she will make other arrangements.

The topics include:

Black and White Photo Archives
Contest Entries for News Articles
Foreign Accents Printed in News Articles
Helping "Other Media" Policies in News Libraries
Intranets
Net Archives' Copyright
News Archive Corrections
News Library Careers (M.L.S. vs Professional Development)
News Library Credits
News Library Future
Pricing Web Archives
SAVE Library System
Thesaurus or Key Wording Policies in News Libraries

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

THE ASIDE BAR
By Catherine Kitchell

It has taken me two issues, but I have finally figured out the way to delegate is to find columnists. I am happy to announce that Steve LaVoie and Michael Jesse have agreed to do regular columns that will start in the next issue. I think both of them will be provocative writers, so we may get some controversies going. Steve will evaluate websites in specific subjects each issue and let us know which are the best and worst. Both of us are aware that not everyone is connected to the web and that, in many cases, the best source will still be print - don't worry we have not abandoned evaluating print by any means! If there are websites you love or subjects you are particularly knowledgable about, please let Steve know.

I have asked Michael to keep all of us current on electronic issues. Also, I am hoping he can keep me current in photo and picture issues since BNA products do not have art. Many of these issues are currently discussed on the listserv but, hopefully, they can be fleshed out in NLN and made available for those who do not subscribe to the listserv.

Thanks to all of you who gave me feedback on the last issue. I think the learning curve is getting smaller! I am especially interested in hearing from the smaller libraries. I want to make sure NLN is meeting your needs.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

In the November/December 1996 issue of Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals, Nora Paul dissects The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. The article entitled "A 'Money' Web Site: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition" starts on page 26.

For those of you preparing for Seattle, American Journalism Review profiles Frank Blethen and the Seattle Times in the October 1996 issue. The article starts on page 18 and is titled "Independent's Day."

The Cyberskeptic's Guide to Internet Research reviews Editor & Publisher Interactive as their "Site of the Month" in the January 1997 issue. Editor & Publisher Interactive is at http://www.mediainfo.com. The same issue surveys information brokers to find out what search engines they use most. Also they note that PC Magazine, in the December 1996 issue, ranks 10 search engines from Excellent to Poor.

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.

ATTENTION CONFERENCE NEWBIES

Will Seattle be your first, second or third trip to SLA?

If so, we'd like to see you at an informal meeting for newcomers to talk about this year's conference and what we might like to see discussed at upcoming conferences. We can go to dinner after and socialize some more with other news librarians.

Sunday night at the News Librarians Hospitality suite will be devoted to "meeting and greeting" the newcomers. We'll keep you posted on details.

And last, we are requesting "oldtimers" to volunteer as a mentor to a newcomer which will involve being a contact and helping them navigate the conference. If you are interested in the meeting or know someone who is, and/or are requesting a mentor, please contact Lovelle Svart, News Researcher/Librarian, at The Oregonian, 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201. Phone messages: (503) 294-5085; E-mail: lovellesvart@news.oregonian.com

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.


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