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Vol. 24, No. 2/Winter 2002

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Kathryn Pease People
By Kathryn Pease

On the Move

Debra Bade stepped into a new role as Deputy Information Editor for the Chicago Tribune in January, joining Information Editor John Jansson. This appointment reunites Debra with the Midwest and the world of print journalism. She will be managing many of the daily operations of the Editorial Information Center for the Tribune and launching new intranet and computer-assisted reporting efforts as John turns more attention to special projects, including of course John's favorite: metadata. Debra was previously Director of Online Training and Development with CNN in Atlanta, GA and had also been Director of News Research for CNN. Debra's personal and professional roots in the Midwest (having worked at the Minneapolis Star Tribune in the 1980s) make this a great move and both Debra and John are excited about the projects ahead. Debra began her duties on January 2 of this year. Welcome to the Tribune family, Debra!

John Sinclair bids a fond farewell to the newspaper industry after 21 years in the business. John started as Chief Librarian of The Edmonton Sun in 1979, and was more recently Director of Web Operations for fyiedmonton.com, the newspaper's sister web site, and Director of News Research at The Edmonton Sun. John began attending SLA conferences in the early 1980s and was a frequent presenter in the 1990s. Five changes of Sun Media ownership in seven years eventually caught up with John, who was handed a pink slip back in May 2001 along with 300 other senior Sun Media staffers. John landed on his feet in October at the University of Alberta, where he now happily toils as Web Librarian in the Faculty of Extension. John manages a web site, puts out a weekly electronic newsletter, and helps develop a web-based distance learning program that goes national in 9 months. John thanks all his long-time colleagues in the news biz for their support over the years and especially during his jobless period. "I worked and played with a great bunch of news people for over two decades," says Sinclair. "I may be in a better place now, but I'm gonna miss ya!" John can be reached at sinclair@worldgate.com and john.sinclair@ualberta.ca.

Accolades

Judy Canter happily reports that the research staff at the San Francisco Chronicle has had a bonanza period. In November 2001, researcher Kathleen Rhodes received the Unsung Hero award from the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The award went to Kathleen for "consistently reliable and informative research that helps reporters pull together the threads of story after story," and for her winning recognition of librarians as newsroom professionals equal in value to reporters in the newsroom. Judy also reports that each month the editors name winners in various in-house categories, and among the September 2001 contest winners was researcher Mike Tuller. He won for Professional Performance for his quick work assembling pertinent web links after the terrorist attacks. Congratulations Kathleen and Mike!

In Passing

I am sorry to report that our division has had several deaths in the past year.

Sandy Vance received word from Shiela Hylton’s sister in Wooster, Ohio that Shiela died on February 14, 2001 of cancer. Older members will remember her from Bell & Howell in Wooster.

J. Stephen Bolfaner, News Researcher at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, wrote in that Nancy Stoddard, former Chief Librarian of the Post-Dispatch, passed away on July 10, 2001 of complications from a form of blood cancer. Nancy joined the Reference Department in 1970, becoming the Chief Librarian in 1973. She left the library for the Features section in 1985, and was working in the Food section upon her retirement in 1995.

After Linda Henderson, Library Director of the Providence Journal, reported the death of Joe Mehr, many of you wrote in to reminisce. Leslie Parsley, formerly of the Denver Post, Carolyn Hardnett of the Freedom Forum, and John Cronin of the Boston Herald were all conference pals with Joe and spoke of their professional admiration for him as well as his wit and the fun they had in the hospitality suite. Diane Logsdon of The Pantagraph remembered Joe’s kindness to her at her first conference, and how he welcomed newcomers to the News Division as it changed names from the Newspaper Division. Sandy Hall recalled how Joe never lost sight of the "Big Picture" of what the Division could be. She said he was a great visionary and role model who never hesitated to speak his mind. Linda Chapman of The Patriot Ledger was mentored by Joe. She said, "He was always ready to answer all of your questions with insight and wit, and got us started with SLA all those years ago, for which I am eternally grateful. His passing is a sad loss for the new library world." Joe also mentored Linda Henderson. In his obit she was quoted as saying, "Joe was a pioneer in news libraries. He fought for the transformation of the ‘morgue’ into a professional news library. He embraced new technology and was delighted to give us access to the latest research tools as they came online." Joe spent 21 years at the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky before moving to Providence in 1968 to head the Providence Journal News Library. He was a charter member and past president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, and past Chairman of the News Division. Jose received the Agnes Henebry Award in 1986 and Kwapil Award in 1991.


Kathryn Pease is the Editorial Research Supervisor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. You can contact her at kpease@sun-sentinel.com.