News Library News Online
Vol. 21, No.3/Spring 1999

Table of Contents

Minneapolis: Welcomes the News Division on its 75th Anniversary
Aside Bar
Notes from the Chair
News Research at the Post
People
Rewarding a Job Well Done
Winter SLA Recap
Poynter: News Research in the  Newsroom
News Research with an Ethnic Touch
Technology Tips: ABC's Intranet
Public Reference

Web Extras:

Training Copy Editors
Election Winners

News Library News
SLA News Division Home

 

Notes from the Chair

By Carol Campbell

It's hard to believe this is my fourth and last column for News Library News. What an honor it's been to serve as chair for this great division.

My last official duty - planning the News Division awards program and banquet at Conference 2000 in Philadelphia - will be great fun. And I'm sure this will entail at least one little trip to that great city to check out locations.

By the time you read this, our chair-elect and program planner, Ginny Everett, will be wondering if she has taken care of everything for the '99 conference (she has). She'll be worried and harried, but also excited. After a year-plus spent working on the program, coordinating different presenters and working with the SLA staff, Ginny will be extremely satisfied when she sees it all come together.

And very soon, Ginny will be celebrating a successful conference, putting the finishing touches on her first column for NLN and looking forward to a relatively stress-free year.

The mantle then passes to Debra Bade as she embarks on that difficult but rewarding path to Conference 2000.

Conferences offer many opportunities for involvement. If you have program ideas, let Debra know. And don't wait for her to call you. Call her and volunteer your time and/or expertise.

Speaking of 2000, the thought of the approaching year seems to trigger stress in many people. Some are really worried about YK2000 and are stockpiling food, water and fuel in remote locations.

My reaction is quite different. It's more like spring fever, though intensified. The idea of 2000 evokes thoughts of seeds and beginnings, the chance to think progressive thoughts and make grandiose plans and the opportunity to start new and wonderful projects.

This is an exciting time. New technology and entrepreneurial ideas in and around our industry spring up faster than we can learn about them. We are truly beginning to feel part of the world community, where countries and peoples become less different and come closer together each year.

Which brings us to Global 2000.

This second global gathering of special librarians is titled "The Information Age: Challenges & Opportunities" and will take place October 16-19, 2000, in Brighton, Sussex, UK.

If you haven't already done so, check out the web site at http://www.sla.org/conf/2000web.html. You'll see that Brighton is on the coast, just a couple of hours by train from London.

Honolulu, Hawaii, was the site for the first Worldwide Conference, held in June 1979. At that gathering, according to the conference history, participants were "able to discuss states-of-the-art, learn about new technology, and discuss solutions for harnessing the information explosion from an international perspective."

And in 2000, a little over 21 years later, we will be discussing information commerce, copyright issues and - guess what? – technology and the information explosion. Again. Or still.

Annabel Colley and I have agreed to serve as co-chairs for the News Division Global 2000 planning committee. Other committee members are Ginny Everett, Debra Bade, Donna Scheeder, C.B. Hayden and Dave Mort.

Right now, we are kicking around ideas for a session on "Global News: Now and Then." This session would emphasize how the technology for gathering and disseminating news has changed, and will continue to change, and what those changes mean to us in our professional lives and as private citizens of the world community.

It promises to be a great conference in a wonderful location and it will open wider global networking opportunities for our profession.

I want to thank you all again for the honor of serving as your chair.

I'll see you in Minneapolis.

Carol Campbell is the Information Center Manager at The Daily Oklahoman. Her email is carolc@oklahoman.net.


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