This account was written for the MidAtlantic News Research Conference on July 18-19, 1997.
Diary of a "typical" day: Until last week, I had a part-time assistant in the library; however, I decided that there simply wasn't enought work to warrant a part-time employee, and so he has been transferred to another department at The Times. This changed my schedule a bit, but it seems to work well. Here's my diary for Tuesday, July 15: * 9 a.m.-9:30: Import stories, begin preparing stories for electronic library. * 9:30 a.m.-10 a.m.: An FBI agent came by and needed help tracking down the correct name of a hit-and-run victim from 1985. The police department had misspelled his name. We both poured through the old hit-and-run clip files and then moved on to the microfilm. We finally found the correct spelling of the victim's name, and the investigating officer. * 10 a.m.-noon: Finished preparing stories and added the paper to the electronic library and transmitted stories to Lexis-Nexis. * Noon-12:30 p.m.: Lunch * 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: Judy Frank, a business reporter, is reviewing a book on resume writing. She asked me to test the free software that came with the book so she could add my comments to the review. After two hours, I returned the disks with the comment "If it's free, it's usually for a reason." * 2:30 p.m.-3 p.m.: Discussed my proposal for a follow-up story to the HMDA series we ran last year with two reporters who worked with me on the original series. Scheduled a time to meet again after they've had a few days to think about any angles we missed the first go-round and could remedy this time. *3 p.m.-4 p.m.: Moved old movie pictures to another little-used space in the library to make more room for old files. Refiled loose files from the newsroom and checked to make sure everyone had everything they needed from the library. Printed a few stories for a new reporter, and showed her how to use the electronic library. * 4 p.m.-5 p.m.: Attended annual award get-together. This is the time of year that our management honors those reporters who have won state and/or national journalism awards. * 5 p.m.-6 p.m.: Ran Autotrak report for a reporter who needed a background check. This was the first time this reporter had used an Autotrak report, so I took some time to show him what each line meant. * 6 p.m.: Made arrangements to have someone import stories for me while I'm gone. Made one last walk-through in the newsroom, and headed out to my car! Mary Bonine The Chattanooga Times Library (423) 752-3320 mbonine@chattimes.mindspring.com
A Day in the Life
SLA News Division Home
Last Updated: 09/16/02
Amy Disch
Send comments or suggestions to newsdivisionweb@yahoo.com