This account was written for the MidAtlantic News Research Conference on July 18-19, 1997.
Michelle Harmon Chief Librarian Post and Courier Charleston, SC (I started this job six weeks ago, with no newspaper background but a strong reference background. It's difficult to assess what a typical day is. Since my arrival the library has gotten Internet access and the reporters and editors are slowly starting to use us for more than just access to the paper's archive.) It's Thursday, July 10. I arrive at about 7:45 am. I am the first to arrive (out of a staff of three), so I collect the library's copies of our early and final editions from the mail room. I begin reading my e-mail. Soon, Lathornia, our photo librarian arrives and puts our papers on the racks and begins archiving today's photos. Pam, our third staff member, arrives around 9 am and she and I divide today's paper for electronic enhancement. Today all three of us will be filing stories all day long because we publish six additional sections with regional news on Thursdays. At about 9:45 one of our reporters asks me for help finding statistics on SAT scores for SC. A brief check of our print materials shows too much of a lag in compilation of this data. I start searching out State dept. of Education's web site. This, too, is not as current as I would like, so I resort to the telephone to try to get the data. The person with whom I need to speak is not available and will call me back. Between filing stories into the archive, Pam and I take turns amswering reference queries by phone from the public.We do some limited research, but also make referrals to the public library. At 11:00 I attend the morning news meeting, where the day's paper is critiqued and tomorrow's stories are discussed. I offer input, when I can, on how the library can assist in research. At 11:30, the meeting is adjourned, and I go back to enhancing. After lunch, an editor asks me to get background information on "Creative Loafing" which has just purchased a local entertainment weekly. I dial into a the public library's catalog, which also offers full text periodicals (EBSCO masterfile 1500). I locate and print out several relevant articles. I find Creative Loafing's Website and print out parts of it. I call the reference desk at the public library and get them to search American Business Disk for me for financial data on the company. We have Internet access but have not purchased any CD-Roms or remote access to databases. So far I am relying on my knowledge of databases I can get into free. I deliver the information to the editor and get back to filing stories. I am asked to assist with some research for a story coming out this weekend about costs in the Citadel case. An editor has a list of last names of attorneys, abbreviations for firm names, and fees, and wants the full firm names and attorneys' first names. Our Martindale-Hubbell is a 1993 edition, but I do what I can between it and their web site to fill in the blanks. I try to catch up on some bills that have piled up over the last few days and then I attend the 4:30 budget meeting so I can suggest information resources. When the meeting is over, I check in with Pam, back in the library, to see how today's enhancing progressed. There is a little leftover but we will save it and finish it up tomorrow. It's about 5:00 and we head home.
A Day in the Life
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Last Updated: 09/16/02
Amy Disch
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