Vol. 16, No.4/Summer 1994
Television on the Information Highway
Minutes of the News Division Annual Business Meeting
Job Opportunity at the Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.
Technology Program Entertains Overflow Crowd
Viewing the Electronic Landscape
Student Stipend Winner Puts His Skills to Work
Entertaining Tribute Paid to Three of the News Division's Best
Reflections of a First-Timer
70th Anniversary Celebrated at the Carter Presidential Center
A Year of Hard Work By The PR Committee Pays Off Handsomely
News Division Visits Access Atlanta
News Librarians Are Best at Looking Forward. . .Looking Back Just Makes Us Tired.
Dialing for Dollars: The USA Today Library Researchline
Daily Oklahoman Celebrates Its Centennial
People
Listing Government Sources on the Internet: A Beginning
Survey Finds Most Journalism Schools Don't Offer Courses Emphasizing Library, Research Skills
The Aside Bar
Emerging Free Press, News Libraries Vital Partners
NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: 1994
CONFERENCE REVIEW
NOTE: -- an edited version of a speech given by Herb Brody,
Technology Review, at the 1994 SLA Conference, Atlanta
Over the last couple of years the prospect of an information highway has
led to some pretty magnificent visions and promises. This afternoon, I'm going
to sort through some of those promises with regards to television -- some that
I think are going to be true -- some that I think will not. I'll also talk
briefly the about a potential development that thus far has received very
little press.
And now to the promises.
Promise number one -- 500 channels. True. At least strictly speaking. Cable
TV companies are turning their programming into strings of digital bits.
They're applying advanced compression techniques so that fewer bits are
required to represent a signal. And, on top of all that, they're replacing
their cable with fiber optics which has a lot more capacity. To understand
what's happening I think of this transportation analogy. Imagine a trucking
company that replaced vehicles with ones having several times the capacity,
and at the same time devised a way to magically shrink all items of freight so
they could fit into a box maybe a tenth the size; a refrigerator could maybe
be packaged in a box for a microwave oven. That's the technological whammy
that has caused much of the hyperventilation about television. Fibre optics
is a bigger truck and compression shrinks the cargo.
Compression technology is on the brink of commercialization right now. The
biggest cable company in the US, Telecommunications Inc. has ordered over a
million decompression boxes for its subscribers. Smaller cable companies are
going to follow soon and the first compressed cable TV signals are expected to
be sent to subscribers next year.
Promise number two -- 500 choices. You would think 500 choices would be the
corollary of 500 channels, but sadly it's not. If you look at what the cable
companies are test marketing, a large number of the 500 channels will actually
give no more diversity than what we have now. Cable is using about half these
channels to continually retransmit maybe a half dozen movies starting at
staggered times on different channels. This way a viewer who selects a movie
will never have to wait more than a few minutes before the show starts. The
more channels the cable operator devotes to each movie, the shorter this lag
time will be. And, since video stores have found that something like 80
percent of their business comes from 20 percent of the titles, cable companies
have a strong incentive to devote a lot of channels to a few movies.
The next step up is video on demand. With true video on demand you can
select a movie and have it start right away. And, just like watching it on
your VCR, you can pause and rewind. That kind of technology is coming but it's
not nearly as well developed as what's possible for the multiple starting time
showing. So for the near term all the fiber optics and all the computer power
we have will serve primarily to spare us from having to make that onerous trip
to the Blockbuster store.
This limitation of choice applies mainly to programming delivered through
the cable system. Greater diversity could be offered if the telephone network
carried television. Cable connects subscribers to central sources of
programming, whether they're from Hollywood or in Wayne and Gord's basement.
In effect cable has a super highway carrying programs into your home, and a
gravel path leading out. The only interactivity you enjoy is changing the
channels.
Telephones by contrast provide communication that is fully two way. Thus,
the kind of video on demand that you might get from a Nynex or a Southern Bell
would be much more flexible than what might be possible from a local cable
operator. In essence you should be able to tap in to any programming stored
on any hard disc or CD that's connected to any computer anywhere in the world.
This has the potential to democratize video programming. I can make a home
video with my camcorder, store it on a computer that is tied into the network,
and other people could then download this movie to their TV screens.
The phone companies have come up with some other creative ways to expand
TV. For example, how about being able to view a sporting event or news event
from any camera angle you choose. As it is, the networks have lots of cameras
running but all that information is not sent to our homes now because there's
not enough room for the signal to go through the pipe -- through the coaxial
cable. With fiber optics there would be room for as many camera angles as you
want. It would up to the viewer to select via the remote control how he wants
to view the event at the moment. So if you wanted to watch the World Cup
soccer game from the view of a goalie, you could.
Promise number three -- channel surfing through cyberspace. The notion
that we can have 500 channels or even a small subset of that does lead to the
problem of how we are going to find what you want. Where are they going to
put the buttons for all those channels on a remote control? The answer is, I
think, that people aren't going to think in terms of channels anymore.
So there are some interesting new TV interfaces that are starting to
appear. One system called Your Choice TV presents the viewer with on screen
menus based on types of programming. If you pick news, for example, you could
select from a list ranging from ''20/20'' to ''Larry King Live''. Your Choice
also makes videotapes of many popular shows -- so if you pick news you might
be given the chance to watch last Sunday's edition of ''60 Minutes.'' The
marketers of this system -- Discovery Communications -- believe that
consumers will pay a premium for not having to learn how to program their VCRs
in advance, a skill that many people have given up on altogether anyway.
Microsoft has developed another interface adapting its Windows software for
use in TV sets. Called modular Windows, it gives the TV a look and feel of a
PC, with buttons, menus and windows. The TV screen interface can vary to match
individual tastes. Computers operated by the phone network or the cable system
could store the interface software just as they store the movies making it
accessible when the TV is turned on. Viewers could have a customized look and
feel to the TV set, which could actually follow them from city to city.
Promise number four -- shopping without dropping. From the viewpoint of a
cable operator home shopping is pure gold. It's a service that pays its own
way. In the future though, there's going to be a lot more than the familiar
peddlers of cubic zirconia jewellery. Right now home shopping with its chatty
hosts is as much about continual companionship as it is a way to buy things.
And that may be an enjoyable way for some people to pass the time but it's not
an efficient way to buy things. The same technologies that are making video on
demand and other services possible will also lead to interface electronic
catalogues.
Promise number five -- TV as encyclopedia. I mention this because promoters
of new information services typically, I'd say almost chronically, paint
scenes of school children gathering material for research reports without ever
having to darken the doors of a library. While encyclopedias of information
are available online, it's unlikely they will ever be widely available through
the television set. In the late '70s and early '80s experimental video tech
services offered news headlines, local weather as well as access to a
potpourri of reference information. These trials all bombed. Knight Ridder,
Times Mirror and some other companies lost a bit of money on that. The
television is looked upon as a piece of furniture that sits in your living
room and entertains you. People who do like to get their information
electronically have computers and the cable companies have taken that lesson
to heart. These companies are ploughing millions of dollars into upgrading
their systems to fiber optics and digital compression and they need to recoup
this investment. The way to do that is to offer services that they can count
on to turn a profit and that means entertainment and shopping. No matter what
Al Gore says, the more noble educational aims are going to follow later -- if
at all.
The sixth promise -- learning through games. If you have ever watched a
nine year old play Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo, you know how raptly they
pay attention, how much information they soak up, how much detail they recall.
There's something about the way video games dole out small doses of success
that hooks the players and make them play again and again and again and again.
Unfortunately the information that is transmitted in this way is of virtually
no value outside of the game itself. But the intensity of the interaction has
led to the belief in some quarters that video games can be used as teaching
tools. Educators and parents would love to tap in to whatever magic there is
in video games and apply it to some more worthy ends.
One proposal which sounded far fetched at first but which I've come to like
is the idea of a public video game service. If video games are going to be
part of our children's education, then it's in the public interest to create
good ones. Proposed by Alan Jaylind at WGBH-TV in Boston, the idea is to
create the video games equivalent of PBS, a service that's liberated from the
market pressures of developing a best selling game, so that it can develop and
broadcast games with the ability to develop young minds.
And finally a promise not made - TV as an interpersonal communications
device. From all the video tech market trials that have been going on for the
last 15 years, one thing tends to emerge more than anything else and that is
that people want the ability to communicate with each other. We like to give
each other messages. We're seeing this now on the Internet -- with the
extraordinary use of e-mail and usenets.
So where does TV fit in? Right now television is all one way. Broadcasters
transmit, the rest of us receive. But millions of people own camcorders now.
In the spirit of the Internet they could plug these camcorders into the net.
Why can't I send videos of my children through the network to my parents in
New York -- a video version of e-mail -- V-mail? A minute or two of video
from my camera could be plugged into the network, addressed to my parents and
they could watch it on their TV at their leisure.
Conclusion: I've been painting with a pretty broad brush here. And that's
necessary because the issues that I'm talking about here are in flux. But I'm
happy to try to expand on any of these points if you'd like to know more about
them, and so I'll open up the floor to questions. Thank you.
KEYWORDS: TELEVISION; TECHNOLOGY; TRENDS; FORECAST; CONFERENCE 1994; SPEECH;
TEXT
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
CONFERENCE REVIEW
The Annual Business Meeting was held in Grand Salon B of the Atlanta
Hilton, Atlanta, Georgia. Donna Scheeder, Chair, called the meeting to order
at 3:00 p.m.
REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR: Scheeder introduced Division officers,
parliamentarian Bob Isaacs and board proctor Richard Geiger. The agenda was
adopted and minutes of the 1993 business meeting, as published in News Library
News, were approved.
The Chair's report thanked the Finance Committee for their work over the
past year. The Public Relations Committee and Elizabeth Haworth were
recognized for their activities.
Scheeder reported that Association goals include fostering diversity in
leadership through a grant to subsidize conference attendance. Carolyn
Hardnett will coordinate affirmative action efforts for the Division and
encourage Division members to apply for the leadership program.
CHAIR-ELECT REPORT: Mary Kate Leming reviewed the schedule for the
remainder of the Division program and thanked Barbara Semonche for her
assistance in arranging a site for the annual awards dinner.
Incoming Chair-Elect Charles Campo reported on preliminary planning for the
Montreal conference and solicited suggestions for programs.
TREASURER: Lu-Ann Farrar reviewed the Division's financial position, which
has improved over the last year mainly through the efforts of conference
planners who made sure that each program broke even or made money. Farrar
estimated that the Division would end its year with about $2,500, including
money from suite fees, the awards dinner, and the CE course. Andrew Ippolito
presented a check for $1,200 to the Division, representing ten percent of the
proifts from the International Directory of News Libraries.
John Cronin moved that the treasurer's report be accepted as presented;
Bridget Janus seconded and the motion carried.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: The committee's report, as published in the newsletter
and accepted by the Executive Board on June 12, was read by Farrar. A motion
to receive the report was made by Bridget Janus and seconded by Diane
Sponsler. The motion carried. Leming said the Executive Board has agreed to
continue the Finance Committee for another year with the same membership: Lu-
Ann Farrar, Cathy Jones, Carolyn Hardnett and Kathy Trimble. Jim Scofield
congratulated the Treasurer, Finance Committee and Board for meeting goals set
last year.
ARCHIVES: M.J. Crowley reported on progress in integrating Division files.
The database on VuText continues but will eventually have to be moved. Crowley
and Barbara Semonche are discussing the possibility of having the database
available on the Internet.
AWARDS: John Cronin announced that awards will be presented to Ben
Lightman, Richard Geiger, Nora Paul and Donna Scheeder. The winner of the
Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award was Glenn Johnson-Grau. Cronin thanked
Barbara Semonche, Elizabeth Haworth and Debra Bade for arranging the awards
dinner.
MEMBERSHIP: Scheeder presented the committee report in the absence of Kee
Malesky. The Division now has 731 members, third largest in the Association.
Linda Paschal and DataTimes were thanked for producing the membership
directory. The committee sent about 60 letters to prospective members during
the year.
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Elizabeth Haworth reported on the ''greeter'' program for
first-time conference attendees, organized by Bob Isaacs; letters thanking
managers for supporting conference attendance; a conference program on
promoting the library within the organization coordinated by Sperry Olsen; the
silent auction, organized by Patti Graziano and Theresa Kiely; the methods and
materials Clearinghouse being established by Jody Habayeb; the 70th
anniversary reception; planning for the 75th anniversary; and new letterheads
to consider that were created for the Division by John Sinclair. Jody Habayeb
asked for assistance in compiling a list of experts in various aspects of news
librarianship.
ELECTIONS-NOMINATIONS: Richard Ploch reported that 820 ballots were mailed
and 305 valid ballots returned. Elected were Charles Campo, Chair-elect;
Sherry Adams, Secretary; Mona Hatfield, Director-Publications. Appreciation
for supporting expense of the election was expressed to the Washington Post.
LONG-RANGE PLANNING: Judy Canter reported that members' concerns are:
Finances and fund-raising; continuing education for people who cannot attend
conference; public relations and visibility in the industry; the importance of
the newsletter; comunication and help with problem-solving; conference
porgramming and continuing education seminars; and input in the development of
technology.
PUBLICATIONS: Bridget Janus thanked Kee Malesky, Mona Hatfield and
Elizabeth Haworth for their efforts during the year.
Hatfield reported that Linda Henderson will be the next managing editor of
News Library News. A four-issue advertising contract was cancelled after one
issue last year. Advertising editor Gay Nemeti needs suggestions of vendors
not already sponsoring conference programs, etc. to advertise in the
newsletter.
Scheeder reported that Hatfield had made a presentation to other newsletter
editors in the Association, an indication of the high quality of News Library
News.
EDUCATION: Debra Bade reported that the Continuing Education Seminar had 80
attendees and netted an estimated $8,000 for the Division. She said that the
Division has committed to participate in the Great Lakes regional conference
in March, 1995.
SMALL LIBRARIES: Diane Sponsler reported that committee is producing a
column for each newsletter, and a conference program on using technology in
the small library. She challenged members to make an effort to locate and
contact small libraries in their state.
NEW BUSINESS: M.J. Crowley said that the membership directory contained
many errors due to old tapes provided by SLA and quality should be improved.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Scheeder and Leming acknowledged the contributions of
committee chairs, conference planners and sponsors, news and other
organizations in support of Division efforts.
NEW OFFICERS: Scheeder introduced new officers Charles Campo, Sherry Adams
and Mona Hatfield, and presented the gavel to incoming Chair Mary Kate Leming.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
GRAPHICS: PHOTO (1)
1. Andy Ipplolito presents a check for the News Division to Lu-ann Farrar and
John Cronin.
KEYWORDS: MINUTES
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
Position: News research chief (department head position)
Salary: Negotiable Duties: Manage and develop the news research library,
which serves our five dailies with total circulation over 205,000. Oversee the
impending transition to an electronic library, develop closer ties to the
newsrooms via involvement in daily stories and projects. Organize strategy for
handling research data bases and training and develop fee-generating
information services.
Qualifications: Experience/involvement in running a daily electronic
newspaper library, excellent research skills, including data base searches,
strong people skills, knowledge of emerging library technology and information
services.
Contact: Marcia Parker, assistant managing editor; 2640 Shadelands Drive;
Walnut Creek, CA 94598. (510) 943-8308. or e-mail Patrick Twohy, twohy@well.sf.ca.us
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CONFERENCE REVIEW
Attendance at the Small Libraries program at the Atlanta conference was
anything but small. Over 200 attended and heard the program titled ''Making
Technology Work for You in the Small Library.''
Speakers Marcia MacVane of the Portland Newspapers in Maine, Virginia
Hauswald of the inston-Salem Journal and Mary F. Mackzum of the Toledo Blade
provided a lively program full of helpful and practical ideas and much fun.
Topics included shopping for and implementing a text system, introducing
database searching through commercial databases, how to find cheap dtabass and
how to offer a profitable research service.
Special thanks to Elaine Cant of Information Access who offered to take
business cards and mail handouts to the many who did not get them.
A look ahead I'm excited about planning the program for next hear and any
ideas are welcome. We hope to include a Canadian librarian on the panel to
address unique problems they face in their small libraries. Give me a call or
drop me a line soon.
I also would like to conduct a survey of smaller libraries in the U.S. and
Canada. I'm looking for volunteers to help me coordinate the survey. My idea
is to have one librarian from every state and province conduct the survey of
members and non members. We need to know how we can better help many of those
struggling in small libraries.
It was great to talk to the many from small libraries who were able to
attend conference, but we all know that many more have to attend. And yes,
there are still those who have never heard of SLA or the News Division. So let
me know if you would enjoy helping. My number is 309-829-9411 or fax me at
309-829-7000.
KEYWORDS: CONFERENCE 1994
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
Paula Stevens is with Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., Phoenix, Az.
CONFERENCE REVIEW
On Sunday, June 12, about 100 news librarians attended the News Division's
CE course titled ''The Electronic Landscape.'' The CE focused on some of the
new technologies and their implications for journalists, news librarians, and
society in general. This summary can capture only a tiny fraction of the
fascinating topics presented and issues raised.
The first speaker was Roger Fidler of Knight Ridder's Information Lab. He
discussed possibilities for electronic newspapers and noted that what people
like most about electronic networks is the interaction with others. The role
of the newspaper, said Fidler, is to make sense of the glut of information
received, and to add value to it through accessible packaging. He suggested
electronic stops/starts in circulation, submitting classified ads, and an
electronic complaint desk as ways to develop more interaction with the
community
Our next speaker was David Scott, manager of Electronic Information
Services at the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Scott explained Cox
Newspapers' strategy in regards to new ventures: 1) to reposition themselves
to take advantage of the new delivery technologies, 2) to identify new ways of
gathering, editing and distributing information, and 3) to focus on content
rather than hardware. He discussed several new ventures at Cox, including
audiotex, ''N11'' and fax services, and Access Atlanta, their new online
service with Prodigy.
Cox has put $350,000 in capital into Access Atlanta. Their goal is to make
available the 90 percent of information that doesn't make it into the daily
paper, and lots of additional community information. Revenue comes from
subscriptions, paid advertising, premium services, and acquisition and
retention fees from Prodigy. They hope to break even by year 3 of the service.
Next up was Earl Casey, CNN vice-president, Domestic Newsgathering, to talk
about ''change leaders.'' ''Change leaders,'' as defined in American
Demographics, January 1994, do not engage in or purchase traditional mass
communications, but instead have created close-knit communities online. CNN
wants to go after this market. They have begun with a CD product, are working
with Time Warner on an interactive TV product, and a new Intel chip will allow
CNN headlines to appear on a pc screen. Live video eventually will follow.
Kelly Frey, legal counsel for the Copyright Clearance Center, spoke on
''Rules of the Road on the Information Superhighway.'' He discussed some of
the problems for copyright that come with increased electronic exchange of
information. For example, vendors easily design computers and photocopiers
made to violate copyright, but have, and feel, no legal responsibility for how
their machines are used. While Frey believes that copyright law as it exists
will continue for some time, he also contends that users - and abusers - will
have to create some practical solutions. He quoted Hannibal, ''We must find a
way or make one.''
In cyberspace copyright, Frey sees a continued blurring of information and
republishing and a need to take lessons from the oral tradition on attribution
and integrity of information. He also reminded us that ''fair use'' for news
reporting is a legal defense once a complaint has been filed, and not
necessarily a right.
The last speaker of the day was Shari Steele, Director of Legal Services
for the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Steele discussed some of the legal
issues of system privacy, e-mail privacy, rights of law enforcement officers,
and national security on the electronic landscape. She used legal case studies
as examples.
Steele brought up issues that should concern information vendors, such as
being held liable for the content of your public electronic database. Issues
to watch for in the future include: the rights of citizens to send encrypted
electronic material out of the country (right now you must be a licensed arms
dealer to do this legally); the FBI wanting electronic service providers to
have a ''back door'' into their systems for the FBI's access to system
contents and customer records; and privacy of medical records, especially with
the possible passage of the Clintons' health care reform.
The usual discussion on freedom of information for the press vs privacy of
individual citizens followed. How will the news media handle these issues as
they become electronic information providers?
Each speaker brought up many interesting points, and there was a lot of
active discussion about how this applies to newsrooms, libraries, our
companies, and our future. Many thanks to Debra Bade for gathering, and
moderating, such a stimulating group of speakers.
KEYWORDS: CONFERENCE 1994; CONTINUING EDUCATION; TRENDS; ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
WHO WE ARE
This year's Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award winner, Glenn Johnson-
Grau, graduated with his MLS from the University of California, Los Angeles
in June. His emphasis in library school was on electronic information access.
He became interested in news libraries through an intership at the Los Angeles
Times Editorial Library. He has a long-time interest in politics and current
affairs and his undergraduate degree is in Political Science from UCLA.
On July 11, he started a part-time job working for Sam Gnerre in the
editorial library at the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif., which serves the
South Bay area of Los Angeles County.
Glenn is a member of SLA, ALA and ASIS.
GRAPHICS: PHOTO (1)
1. Glenn Johnson-Grau
KEYWORDS: AWARD
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
CONFERENCE REVIEW
On Tuesday, June 14, members of the News Division and their guests traveled
out of downtown Atlanta to the Buckhead Club in the Atlanta Financial Center.
The setting was a picturesque top floor dining room - and the evening was a
great success.
UMI, as has been their generous custom, hosted a reception before the
dinner. John Cronin, the awards committee chair welcomed us all and introduced
Linda Henderson, who was chair of the Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award
Committee. Henderson presented the student award to Glenn Johnson-Grau, who
received his MLS from UCLA the following week.
Incoming division chair Mary Kate Leming then presented outgoing chair
Donna Scheeder with the Ralph J. Shoemaker award and a bright blue feather
boa. After dinner, Richard Geiger and Nora Paul were presented their Agnes
Henebry awards by Sharon Ostmann, from the Orange County Register, and M.J.
Crowley, from Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., respectively. Ostmann, in a
heartfelt tribute to Geiger summarized his contributions to the Division, both
professionally and socially.
It also was noted that both Geiger and Scheeder enhance the image of the
News Division by currently serving on the SLA board as a director and
treasurer, respectively.
Paul accepted her award to the tune of ''The House of the Rising Sun'' and
proved, once again, that we news librarians have many hidden talents.
The final award of the night, the Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award, was
presented to Ben Lightman by his successor at Time- Warner, Lany Walden
McDonald. His acceptance speech was vintage Lightman, as he wove a third-
person narrative detailing his many hilariously disastrous conference
trips, including tornados, a bulls and bedless hotel rooms.
An unplanned highlight of this enjoyable evening was an impromptu serenade
for Barbara Semonche to celebrate her wedding anniversary. The crooners moved
on to Paul Pohlman, from the Poynter Institute, to sing ''Happy Birthday'' and
then roamed through the room taking requests.
GRAPHICS: PHOTO (3)
1. Ben Lightman shares a moment with Time Warner librarian Angela Thornton at
the UMI reception.
2. Hennebry Roll of Honor recipients Nora Paul & Richard Geiger. (Photo by
Chris Orr)
3. Barbara Semonche is serenaded by Nora Paul, Mary Kate Leming, Richard
Geiger and Lany McDonald. (Photo by Linda Henderson)
KEYWORDS: CONFERENCE 1994; AWARD
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
Editor's note: This look back at our annual conference comes
from excerpts of a letter sent to News Library News by Tim Rozgonyi, director of information services at the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette.
CONFERENCE REVIEW
I find myself looking back on my first SLA conference as a News Division
member with a sense of mysterious wonder generally reserved for eclipses,
inner revelations, and other events that seem to occur outside of ordinary
time and space. . .
This conference afforded me the opportunity to meet with many vendors, some
of whom I had known only through the telephone for years, and to see the
products that represent the technological opportunities available to us in our
profession. More importantly, however, this conference afforded me the
opportunity to join and participate in a community called the News Division, a
community the likes of which I have rarely encountered.
. . . I found myself in the presence of a group of people who see each
other infrequently yet are firmly connected by bonds of shared purpose, mutual
respect, hard work, and love.
. . . I witnessed this connection in the orderly sharing of information and
experience that went on in the News Division programs.
. . . I witnessed this in a very moving way at the News Division Awards
Banquet. Listening to the many expressions of respect, caring and humor voiced
that night was uplifting in a most tender and beautiful way.
My experience at the banquet crystallized my view of this community as
people brought together under the umbrella of a common profession who have
transcended that origin to connect on a much more intimate level, one that is
reached only by those willing to be genuine and open and vulnerable to one
another. Those are the aspects of community that hold the greatest appeal to
me. . .
I am honored to be a part of this division. I have already received many of
the benefits that come from participating in a community. I look forward to
the sharing, support, and hard work that will serve to cement the connections
established in Atlanta.
Thanks to all of you who welcomed me so graciously and outrageously into
your midst.
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CONFERENCE REVIEW
One of the high points of the News Division's conference week was the
celebration of its 70th birthday at a brunch at the Carter Presidential
Center. The champagne brunch was hosted by Mead Data Central.
Elizabeth Haworth, chair of the Publicity-Public Relations Committee,
welcomed us with a short appreciation of the work of the division. She also
noted that President Carter had been invited to attend, but that a small
matter in North Korea had kept him from being with us. We were joined,
however, by two members of the Atlanta City Council.
After brunch, we toured the museum and viewed a presentation on the history
of the presidency. The museum was a nostalgic look at the Carter presidency,
including a re-creation of the oval office as it looked during President
Carter's tenure and exhibits and audio explanations of the milestones in his
career. The final stop on the tour (before the gift shop) was a mesmerizing
gallery of nineteenth century photographs of the celebrities of the day.
The grounds of the Center are beautifully laid out and after the leisurely
tour inside, it was an unexpected bonus to stroll past the Japanese-inspired
garden and lily-filled pond.
KEYWORDS: 70TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION; CONFERENCE 1994
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CONFERENCE REVIEW
Thanks to the enthusiasm of News Division members -- and some very loose
wallets -- the silent auction raised $1225.50 for the Division treasury. Those
of you who missed the auction missed the News Division at its best. Picture
Lucy and Ethel at a Macy's end-of-season sale and you'll get the picture. Moon
Pies, a See Rock City birdhouse, baseball caps autographed by Ted Koppel and
Peter Jennings, sweatshirts, tee shirts, cartoons, photographs, and books
proliferated in the Division suite.
To those of you who contributed, and to the news organizations and celebs
who supported us -- thank you! Patti Graziano organized and lead the auction
effort, assisted by Theresa Kiely, Chris Hardesty, Linda Chapman, and Dargan
Richards. These guys worked like crazy, so when you don that New York Times
sweatshirt or sip coffee from your USA Today mug, think of them.
We have entered the dark world of understanding customs and VATS in
preparation for an even better fundraiser in Montreal!
Sperry Olsen organized a fantastic luncheon sponsored by the Dialog Quantum
program where Division members had the opportunity to share ideas for raising
the library's profile and positioning ourselves in the competitive news world.
Jody Habayeb is organizing the News Division Clearinghouse. If you don't
know what this is or how it can help you, call Jody -- she would love to hear
from you.
Thirteen people served on the PR Committee this year and because of their
efforts, we can report that despite the hard work, we had a successful and fun
year. If you would like to join us, call Elizabeth Haworth at 803-779-6761 and
sign on board. It's going to be a heck of a ride to Montreal.
KEYWORDS: REPORT; SILENT AUCTION
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
Ginny Everett is library director at the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
For many of us who attended the SLA conference, our first stop was Access
Atlanta, the online version of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. There
Diane Hunter, former library director and now manager of electronic services,
gave us a behind-the-scenes tour.
Access Atlanta, an outgrowth of an earlier, home-grown AJC electronic
edition by the same name, has been available via the Prodigy online
information services since mid-March. It has adopted a Prodigy ''look'' and is
available to Prodigy's 1.3 million subscribers for an additional $4.95 per
month or for $6.95 per month to non-Prodigy subscribers. Most of its 14,000
users also subscribe to Prodigy.
What do Access Atlanta subscribers get for their money? The online version
contains 90 percent of the current dayAs hard copy plus local entertainment
listings, mall maps, real estate classifieds, lists of congressmen and local
politicians, an electronic flea market and other bulletin boards, and many
Associated Press stories. Advertisements for Rich's and Haverty's are included
now, and additional advertisers will be coming on board in the future.
Unlike the original ASCII-only Access Atlanta, the new version integrates
color photos and graphics with text. And if you want to delve deeper into some
topics, a hypertext-like feature allows you to click on buttons for more
information.
Stories are available by 10 p.m. on the night before publication of the
Journal, the morning newspaper, and they are constantly updated. Most stories
are automatically purged after 24 hours. However, some special sections, like
those published on the anniversary of D-Day and after the death of Atlanta
columnist Lewis Grizzard, may stay online indefinitely.
A news archive is not yet available. David Scott, AJCAs publisher of
electronic services, explained at our Sunday CE that Prodigy uses an object-
based architecture, and doesn't lend itself to word searches. However, a
task-force led by Palm Beach Post library director Mary Kate Leming is working
on overcoming the technical difficulties. Archives from the Atlanta Journal
and Constitution, Los Angeles Times and Newsday should be in place later this
year.
Is putting together Access Atlanta similar to enhancing an online archive?
Not exactly. Text is processed and manipulated, but Access Atlanta staffers
are actually creating and designing another edition of the newspaper. Access
Atlanta is staffed almost round-the-clock by more than 30 people, most full-
time.
Two news editors with journalism backgrounds work 10 hour days, four days a
week, determining what appears on section fronts such as Local News, News
& Opinion, Money, Sports, and Living. An information center editor prepares
additional information for each section. The bulletin board editor monitors an
ever-growing group of popular boards devoted to sports, computers, kids and
families and other topics. Associate editors process text from the AJC front-
end system to get it into a format that Prodigy can accept. Photo and
graphics editors manipulate images and create charts and other visual
enhancements. The finished product resides at Prodigy's headquarters in White
Plains, N.Y.
Cox Newspapers, one of the first media companies to embrace new technology,
views Access Atlanta as an experiment. So far they've learned that users want
a searchable archive; they want graphics; and they want photos to be available
without Windows software. Other Cox newspapers that may be available later on
Prodigy are The Palm Beach Post, Dayton Daily News and Austin American-
Statesman. Media General's Tampa Tribune and Times Mirror's Newsday and Los
Angeles Times also are working on Prodigy editions.
Along with other online newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News'
Mercury Center and the Chicago Tribune's Chicago Online available via America
Online, the Access Atlanta laboratory gives us a glimpse today of the
newspaper of tomorrow.
GRAPHICS: PHOTO (1)
1. Division members look at Access Atlanta on a Journal-Constitution tour.
KEYWORDS: CONFERENCE 1994; ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
NOTES FROM THE CHAIR
The annual conference in Atlanta gave us all a lot of information to use
as we face the coming year. As we heard in session after session, in the CE
Course, and even in the Hospitality Suite, the future looks bright for
information specialists. But, it does not look easy. I'll guarantee that the
only constant we will see is change: changing technologies, changing
responsibilities, and changing staff. Enough to make us tired.
I know that many of you are feeling like the scientists who have been asked
to create Jurassic Park. The slow, torpid dinosaurs that we work for are
waking up. They are waking up in an unknown place in the middle of the night,
and they are scared. The media has not seen this kind of change since the
advent of televised news.
Never before, have all of our News Division components; broadcast,
magazine, newspaper, publishing, and radio, had so much in common. We are
looking at the entertainment park of the new Information Age, and wondering if
the creatures being created are going to be the next ''killer applications''
at the park, or the next meal.
If they don't want to be dinner, media organizations will need to recognize
the unique capabilities of their information professionals. If information
professionals don't want to be dinner, we will have to prove our worth. It
will not be an easy sell. Take a look at your organization, who is being
promoted to the New Media Director positions? With the exception of a notable
and inspirational few, news librarians have not been the first ones invited
into these new and challenging roles. As a matter of fact, I see the trend
shaking out one of two ways: they are either news room editors who don't know
the difference between ASCII and ACCESS, or they are systems editors who think
that verifying a source means checking the DOS manual.
Does this mean that News Librarians have been asleep? No! The very informed
and professional coordinators and presenters in Atlanta proved that: * We
have embraced the changing technologies - text, images, and global
telecommunications. * We are preparing ourselves for changing responsibilities
- a news division information clearinghouse, tools for focusing our goals and
objectives, exposure to visionaries, decision makers, and New Media products.
* We are challenged to meet the staffing demands of our information hungry
organizations - a session on Core Competencies for Information Professionals,
a well-attended workshop on Making Technologies Work in the Small Library, and
the initiation of an Affirmative Action project.
To not become a Jurassic dinner at today's entertainment park, we must
continue to develop the enormous strength that we provide for each other
through the News Division. We can always count on each other to explain the
difference between ASCII and ACCESS - without being embarrassed to ask, and
even if we don't do DOS, we all know how important it is to qualify a source.
No News Librarian is ever alone if they are active in the News Division of
SLA. But we do risk the future of our organization, if we don't remember two
simple, but critical things:
1) We are an international organization: The 1995 SLA annual conference in
Montreal will be a good reminder - as those who attended the Freedom Forum's
session on International Special Libraries were reminded. If we are to be
informed decision makers in today's world, we must think globally.
2) It is essential that we remember that we are no longer the Newspaper
Division of the Special Libraries Association: We are the News Division. In
the Information Age, it no longer matters ''how'' we deliver information - the
mediums are already merging. What matters is that we deliver news.
If we stay informed, share resources, keep perspective and a sense of
humor, we shouldn't get too tired.
If we are able to stay awake, we just might turn out to be the ''killer
application'' our organization has been looking for!
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
NLN FEATURE
You want a USA TODAY article, though you're not sure when it ran. You are
not a member of the media, you don't have online access, and can't get it from
your public library. What should you do?
Since November 1991 our readers have been phoning ResearchLine, a fee-based
service set up by the USA TODAY Library, and staffed by library employees.
Ruth Fogle, previously database coordinator, has been running the service
since its inception.
ResearchLine addresses two needs for the company: * Brings in additional
revenue * Provides our readers with high-quality individual attention
Callers are informed up front that ResearchLine is fee-based. There are no
statistics on how many callers decide they don't want the information after
learning there is a charge.
Prices vary as to how many articles the reader wants, and whether the
information is to be mailed or faxed. They can either be billed or charge the
fee to a credit card. Information can be sent via Federal Express at the
customer's expense. Even if no article is found, there is a research fee for
the work performed.
What kind of information are people seeking? Some of the questions Fogle
remembers fielding from callers: How can I find out how much my collection of
toilet seat covers is worth? How can I get in contact with the millionaire
who's giving away money? Can you locate sources of scholarship money for
medical school? Not surprisingly, some of the most requested information is
sports-related: player salaries, end of season statistics, etc.
Not all the calls relate to specific stories the newspaper has run. Some
would be more appropriate for a public or other library, but ''some people
think because we're USA TODAY, we must know the answer,'' Fogle says.
Sometimes, rather than a USA TODAY story, the caller may get more up-to-
date information in the form of a referral of a phone number or an address
for an organization. The fee for this is a bit less than for an article. At
other times, the caller is referred to a public library, at no charge. ''We're
not mercenary,'' Fogle adds.
One type of material the service does not track is advertising. Many
readers call requesting information contained in classified and display ads;
they are referred to the newspaper's advertising department.
ResearchLine staffers search our in-house database system where they also
can access Gannett News Service, Baseball Weekly and USA Weekend stories.
Callers receive laser computer printouts, which are sent within two business
days. A rush research fee costs double (though not double the fax price).
The service occupies part of the library space that once was allocated
totally to clips. After initially sharing library equipment, it now has its
own PC, fax machine and printer.
It is staffed five days a week, from 9-5 EST, closed holidays. Researchers
work shifts of two hours at a time. All except Fogle have duties in other
parts of the library, such as reference and indexing.
One person answers the phones during these hours, with at least one other
completing research or administrative work. There are approximately 75 calls a
day during the winter/fall months, and approximately 50 daily in spring/
summer.
Fogle stresses customer service to her staff: she advises them to stay calm
and professional with all callers, especially the occasional difficult voice
at the other end of the line. She says, ''we want them to leave feeling
satisfied we've tried to fulfill their request.'' Some staffers have taken
seminars on customer service, and she keeps a file of printed material on the
subject. One of her credos is ''We try our best never to say no.''
How do readers find out about ResearchLine? Classified ads run on a semi-
regular basis in the Life section of USA TODAY. Several times a week a one
line strip appears across the bottom front page of the Money and Life
sections. Referrals also come from the newspaper's customer service
department, main switchboard, library reference desk and reporters and
magazines.
Besides responding to requests for specific stories, the service is now
compiling its own special packages from frequently-requested topics (eg.
Health Care Reform and Auto Leasing). There is also a financial services
source list featuring companies mentioned in USA TODAY articles.
The list includes phone numbers and addresses, and a disclaimer that USA
TODAY doesn't endorse the companies, and isn't responsible for the outcome of
business transactions.
Recently it has branched into corporate intelligence, with advertisements
in Information Today, Online and Database magazines offering copies/lists of
articles, customized research projects and a clipping service.
For Fogle, one of USA TODAY's most experienced librarians, ResearchLine is
where the action is. ''I'd rather be here in a heartbeat,'' she says. ''I like
the unknown.''
KEYWORDS: PROFILE; NEWS LIBRARIES; RESEARCH SERVICE; FEE-BASED; INFORMATION
BROKERING
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
GRAPHICS: PHOTO
REGIONAL NEWS
The Daily Oklahoman is celebrating its centennial this year. In April they
published six special sections in a Sunday paper. The first was subtitled
''Who We Are'' and included photos and a story on the library written by
head librarian Carol Campbell.
Campbell said doing research on the ''big events'' covered by the newspaper
from 1894 to the present was hard work, but resulted in two benefits. First,
people in the newsroom not familiar with and appreciative of the library are
now. And second, they have about nine-tenths of the research for the century's
wrapup already done.
GRAPHICS: PHOTO (2)
1. The Daily Oklahoman's editorial library has evolved through three
buildings and many remoldelings since this photo was taken in 1939. (Daily
Oklahoman file photo)
2. Current library staff from left, Mary Phillips, Robin Davidson, Billie
Harry, and Melissay Hayer, assistant manager. Seated is Carol Campbell,
library manager. (Daily Oklahoman staff photo by Roger Klock)
KEYWORDS: NEWS LIBRARY PROFILE
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
Marion Paynter has been hired as assistant librarian at the Charlotte
Observer. Paynter is from New Jersey, has an MLS degree from Rutgers
University and has worked as a librarian / information specialist for a
management consulting firm, the Educational Testing Service and Rutgers
University. She also spent 3 years in Singapore where she was active with
school and mental health libraries.
Sonja Noble is the Toronto Star's new Chief Librarian. Sonja was photo
librarian at the Star where she has worked for the past 11 years.
Mike Meiners, former Library manager at the Tampa Tribune is now Database
Specialist at the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Mike will coordinate the
research efforts for the newsroom.
Bernadine Aubert, chief librarian for the Detroit Free Press, was promoted
to the position of Education Coordinator in April. New duties include
coordinating elementary school libraries with the paper's Five To Reading
drive - a big effort on the Free Press' part to donate books to underfunded
school libraries. Aubert also will encourage students to read the Free Press
and stimulate their interest in the paper by demonstrating the paper's CD-ROM
product.
Bob Lyford, librarian and shop steward at the Washington Post, reports the
promotion of 7 assistant librarians to librarian. The promotion translates
into pay equity with reporters. In addition, a substantial number os assistant
librarians received a pay boost with the newly created 5th year scale for the
assistant librarian position.
Five other News Research Center staffers who were guild covered will become
part of the library management team. This victory was the culmination of a 4-
year struggle with the Post over job changes resulting from
computerization. With the support of Jennifer Belton and Kathy Foley,
instrumental staffers who led this drive include Rob Thompson, Sandy Davis,
Bob Lyford and former staffers Larry Ellis (now with Dialog) and Cathy Wall
(now living in California).
Jan Gehl, head librarian at the Sarasota (Fla) Herald-tribune, was promoted
to News Research Manager.
Carolyn McClendon, news librarian for the Orlando Sentinel for 7 years,
moved with her husband to Columbia, S.C. in early March. Together they will
introduce Miami Subs Grill to South Carolinians. She plans to work on her MLS
degree at USC.
Christine Orr has left the San Francisco Chronicle for a position at
Addison-Wesley Publishing starting their library at the Benjamin / Cummings
division. She plans to keep her membership in the News Division.
The Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists
presented one of its James Madison Freedom of Information Awards to three
staff members at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Alison Head, Vonnie Matthews
and Albert Sears were selected because ''together they provided the on-line
and off-line investigation that made possible a series of stories...Creative
research of public and private documents nationwide provided the critical
impetus for a stymied investigation.'' Thanks to Richard Geiger for sharing
the news.
Dottie Horrocks, assistant manager of the Editorial Research Center at the
Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel was a winner of the paper's 1994 Fred Pettijohn
Award for Excellence. Horrocks has worked at the paper for 22 years. Her photo
was featured prominently in the A-section fo the paper.
Kitty Bennett, News Researcher at the St. Petersburg Times, received a
well-deserved credit for her contribution to an award-winning investigative
series called The Patient Pipeline. The series won best of show, best
investigative report - print and best of print division at the annual SPJ
Excellence in Journalism Awards program sponsored by the Atlanta Chapter. The
series also received a first place in public service award at Florida Society
of Newsapers editors (FSNE)
Mary Crockett, library director at the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier,
installed an SII inhouse electronic library.
Paula Stevens library manager at the Phoeniz Gazette / Arizona Republic
recently compiled and edited the latest edition of the Directory of Special
Libraries and Collections in Arizona. This directory includes non-SLA member
libraries and some very unique collections such as tribal / Native American
collections and astronomy libraries. Stevens also functions as marketing
director. If you's like a copy, please contact her at 602-271-8115/ Cost:
$25.00.
Look for an update on Dialog's Megafile in an article in the OCtober 1994
Database magazine written by Ginny Everett. Database contacted her for the
update after reading her News Library News article last summer.
Donna Colletta, reference librarian at the Phoenix Sun / Arizona Republic,
received a prominent credit in a book published by the paper on the Phoenix
Suns. The book, Tough Enough is available for $17.95 and is a must have for
Charles Barkley fans.
What prompts a quick return of the Bible? A small item in The Toronto Sun,
May 22, 1994 reports the success of a stern warning sent from the Sun library
to staff on the computer system. It read, in part, '' you are breaking the
11th commandment: Thou shalt not keep library materials ... or the librarian
goddess will smite thee down.'' The Bible was returned.
Not so lucky, was the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which had reporters from
around the country researching its files on the Rose Law Firm. A small notice
in the June 1994 issue of American Jounralism Review says a decade's worth of
clips have vanished. Managing Editor Bob Lutgen says, ''..somebody with good
intentions probably thought they'd just take them back to their hotel room and
then send them back.'' Sounds too familiar, doesn't it?
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
On May 27, a small group of librarians (academic, news and public),
journalists and an FOI expert met at the Center for Investivagtive Reporting.
The group heard a proposal by Chris Mays of Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility for a project he and I wanted to launch.
Our goal is to use the Internet to establish a listing of sources of
California electronic government information. The initialism is CEGI -- of
course! Mays was asking for suggestions and volunteers. He has developed a
questionnaire that can be used to get the basics needed to identify and access
a database.
Terry Francke of the California First Amendment Coalition added crucial
suggestions relating to privacy.
The CEGI project welcomes anyone wanting to enter the battle to open up
government information to citizens.
Contact Chris Mays on the Internet: cmays@sfsu.edu; phone: 510-452-2554 or
496 Fairbanks, Oakland, CA 94610. Barbara Newcombe's e-mail is
71022.276@compuserve.com or her listing in the News Division membership
directory.
KEYWORDS: INTERNET; DIRECTORIES
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
SPECIAL INTEREST
Julie Bolding was the News Division's 1993 Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend
recipient. She now works for the South Dakota State Historical Society,
Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Drive, Pierre, SD 57501; phone: (605)
773-6021; e-mail JULIEBOLDING@delphi.com
News librarians often sense that reporters know little about non-interview
research and the vast store of information that's theirs for the asking.
Journalists' lack of knowledge may result in part from the way they are
educated.
Only one-third of U.S. undergraduate journalism programs responding to a
recent survey say they offer students one or more courses emphasizing library
and database use. ''Emphasizing'' means at least one course containing 20
percent or more instruction in the use of books, studies, magazine and journal
articles, reference books and databases for news stories.
The survey was mailed this spring by the author, a student at the
University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, to
every undergraduate journalism program listed in the Journalism & Mass
Communication Directory. The directory is published by the Association for
Education in Journalism and Mass Commmunication (AEJMC).
The survey's response rate was 52 percent, or 206 usable responses out of
the 399 undergraduate programs listed. This article summarizes preliminary
results of the survey.
Some educators say they should be doing more to teach students how to use
libraries and databases. Others plan or hope to do more soon.
''We need more hands-on use of databases, but expense is a major problem
here,'' writes one survey respondent. ''We're working on it. A student who
graduates without knowledge of these reporting strategies will be severely
disadvantaged.''
Another says instruction in research skills is hard to fit into the AEJMC
''liberal arts standard,'' which restricts the number of communication
courses students can take for the major.
Journalism programs also show little consensus on how they impart
information-gathering skills and concepts, the survey finds. In many cases,
these skills and concepts appear to be part of a regular reporting course. In
others, research skills are a small component of courses across the
curriculum. Few programs devote entire courses to library and database
research skills.
In addition to finding that 33 percent of journalism programs responding
offered single or multiple research skills courses with 20 percent or more
research skills content, the study finds:
- of those 67 journalism programs (33 percent) offering courses with a
research skills emphasis, 78 percent require journalism students to take those
courses to get a degree.
- 34 percent of those responding to the survey say they do not offer any
research skills courses.
- 20 percent of those responding say they offer single or multiple courses
in research skills instruction but each course contains less than 20 percent
research skills instruction.
- 34 percent of total respondents say they have a course that teaches
Internet use.
Other respondents say Internet instruction within the program is in the
planning stages or is available on campus outside the journalism program.
NOTE: 13 percent of total respondents say they offer a single research
skills course or multiple courses, but they do not state the percentage of
course content devoted to research skills instruction. These respondents were
not included in the 33 percent figure.
KEYWORDS: JOURNALISM; RESEARCH; STATISTIC; SURVEY; REPORT;
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
ARCHIVES INDEX
DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
As promised in the spring issue, several reports from the annual conference
in Atlanta are in this issue. There also is plenty of opportunity to be active
in the coming year. Your new officers and committee chairs won't be shy in
asking for volunteers, so pick up the phone and stake your claim to the issue
dearest to you!
I hope News Library News addresses issues important to you, and I hope I
hear from you if it does not. It is difficult to measure its success in
covering issues through the year that affect each area of interest in the
News Division. Be an active reader and make this a better newsletter by
sharing your ideas on items you would like repeated, expanded, reduced or
eliminated.
I will continue to be involved in News Library News as publications
director, but am delighted to pass the managing editor hat to Linda Henderson,
library director of the Providence Journal. Linda has started work on her
first issue this fall so give her a call at 401/277-7887 and let her work with
you, too.
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NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
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DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
INTERNATIONAL REPORT
They travelled halfway around the world to America to share their
experiences as news librarians in eastern Europe. The simplicity of their
presentations, the straightfoward discussion of their circumstances and their
heartfelt optimism for the future easily won their audience.
The News Division and International Exchange Caucus program ''Pathways To
Involvement: International Special Libraries,'' sponsored by The Freedom
Forum featured news librarians from Poland, Slovakia and Croatia as well as
an American news librarian's observations in Vietnam.
Chris Wells, vice president/international, and Phyllis Lyons, manager/
library services, for The Freedom Forum gave brief opening remarks
preceding regional discussions. Four talks that painted vivid images of
stunted, yet ever-improving, journalistic cultures followed:
THE POLAND EXPERIENCE
For more than 40 years the press in Poland was controlled by the Communist
Party, specifically through the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Maria Roszkowska,
librarian at The Freedom Forum News Library, Warsaw, Poland, talked about the
changes in Poland since 1989 and the introduction of a free press and free
speech.
With independence came many difficulties. Without the constant flow of
copy once provided by the state, newspapers had trouble filling the void.
Very little of the free exchange of information so familiar to Western
journalists existed, so they relied heavily on foreign correspondents and
information services -- an expensive alternative not available to many of the
smaller dailies. Many newspapers, unfamiliar and inexperienced in selling
advertising, were unable to afford this new, free press and went bankrupt.
There are few newspapers with news libraries in Poland. Those that do have
libraries have their own information and not much else.
It took six months after the May 1993 opening of the Warsaw library for
Polish journalists to use it. They were suspicious of free information. The
number of journalists has steadily increased and includes foreign
journalists. Roszkowska's library also is popular with the students at the
Warsaw Institute of Journalism. For many, the library is their only access to
databases and text editors and PCs.
Roszkowska works with a local area network of PCs with a Hewlett-Packard
server, CD-ROM and one PC with a modem for access to DataTimes and the
Internet.
She concluded her talk with slides illustrating the well- equipped PAP
newsroom, a large daily's newsroom with PCs and its own information service
and the less-fortunate newsroom of a smaller daily newspaper.
THE CROATIA EXPERIENCE
Gabrijela Gavran, director of the Vjesnik Documentation and Clipping
Center, Zagreb, Croatia, spoke about the impact of privatization of news
organizations in 1990 and the effects of war that began in 1991.
She talked about the destroyed roads, bridges and even whole towns that
disrupted the country's daily newspapers.
Until 1990, the Croatian media had been under state control and there was
one library to serve it. The state organization, with 5,500 employees,
controlled all publication. Privatization of the news industry left her
library with a sudden lack of support and a need to build information from
scratch.
The open market meant adjusting to the idea that they were no longer a
service to state journalists alone. Users to Gavran's library come from
Bosnia, international organizations such as the Red Cross and other non-
governmental agencies. Many seek evidences of war crimes. And many, many
foreign journalists have come to her library for help.
The BBC and CNN are her clients. They want more than news articles, they
ask about the territory, the industry, the demographics of a town that might
be under attack. It is a new kind of information for her and her staff to
pursue. Much of their efforts go toward directing journalists to the right
place for the information they seek.
The war and political situation make running a news library even more
difficult. In addition to changes in their jobs due to privatization, the
staff faces political changes every day as the war continues. Everything is
broken yet journalists ask for articles and biographies of all kinds.
They have looked toward newspapers that already had computers for training
and expertise. The Freedom Forum opened a library and journalism forum to
help young journalists learn to think like journalists so they could write
better. Much of the post- communist journalism in Croatia had been writing on
impressions rather than reporting facts.
Gavran strongly believes an independent library will help her country. The
Documentation and Clipping Center is 30 years old and its weak point is that
it has no method to sell information. She wants her library to be an open
information center independent of political centers, because she feels that
is the only way for it to be professional.
They received their first computers from the international media fund and
are going to try to sell their information to help them toward independence.
THE SLOVAKIA EXPERIENCE
Luba Horvathova is librarian at The Freedom Forum News Library,
Bratislava, Slovakia. She said that until 1989 journalists could not
communicate abroad. Now, her library has books, encyclopedias, magazines,
access to the Internet, CompuServe and DataTimes.
Horvathova focused her talk on the Internet services provided by her
library. The Internet provides the opportunity for two-way communication
around the world. They subscribe to the Daily Report from Radio Free Europe
and Slovakian journalism students produce two electronic journals about Czech
and Slovakian issues. The journals are posted to the Internet in English and
Slovakian.
Her library also helps foreign journalists transfer articles back home,
provides for a bulletin board service on the center for independent
journalists, collects business and statistical information that is sent
through e-mail to journalists in Slovakia and abroad and provides fellowships
for students and working journalists to get experience working abroad.
The initial success of the Freedom Forum library has left Horvathova
optimistic about the future of information sources in Slovakia.
THE VIETNAM EXPERIENCE
Linda James, head librarian at The Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.,
presented her experience in visiting Vietnam in 1991 and 1993 through her
activity in the St. Paul Red Cross, which has a pairing relationship in
Vietnam.
The Vietnam News Agency is an umbrella agency under which newspaper, radio
and television are directed. Television broadcasts are done in Vietnamese,
French and English. English press is very new to Vietnam. The press has
become more free in the past several years.
James used a slide show to illustrate the stark contrasts within Hanoi.
One slide showed a modern office building, the next showed ox carts in the
street. A slide of a street market full of electronics, hair ribbons and
myriad other Western conveniences, and was followed by a man watering his
field with a tea pot.
The newsrooms of the Vietnam News Agency were equally contrasted.
While the Vietnamese-language newsroom enjoyed computers and modern
surroundings, the English-language newsroom had a distinct 1950s look. The 12
reporters used manual typewriters, and the two news librarians painstakingly
maintained an index card system that was both typed and hand-written.
They are proud to have a complete collection of the Vietnam papers, which
may be the only complete collection anywhere. Their resources are very
limited, not until 1991 were Time & Newsweek legally allowed into the
country, yet they continue to maintain their index card file as they come
across each new morsel of information.
James said last fall they were unpacking their first computer with high
hopes for the future.
GETTING INVOLVED IS AS SIMPLE AS -
After the formal program, the three eastern European news librarians were
excited about the prospect of touring CNN. It was something Maria Roszkowska,
Luba Horvathova, and Gabrijela Gavran had told Phyllis Lyons they wanted to do
most on this trip to America.
The news that CNN tours were sold out hit them hard. But they understood,
were familiar with disappointment and would persevere.
CNN reference librarian Debra Bade couldn't watch them in their
disappointment and not act. She was going back to work anyway, they could go
with her. She would make sure they got a tour.
Her offer was met with a collective gasp and tears of joy from her
international colleagues.
A tour of CNN highlighted the annual conference for many American and
Canadian SLA members, but for these three, especially, it held a special
meaning.
. . . STARTING A DIALOGUE
Maria Roskowska, Internet e-mail: wjcenter@frodo.nask.org.pl
Gabrielja Gavran, soon to get Internet access
Luba Horvathova, Internet e-mail: Luba@cenezu.sk
Linda James, Head Librarian, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 345 Cedar Street, St.
Paul, MN 55101, 612/228-5556
. . . WORKING WITH AN ESTABLISHED PROGRAM
Cynthia Borys, chief of Field Services, United State Information Agency
Library Program, provided information on the USIA program.
The USIA is a part of the United States Information Service, which has 160
libraries and cultural centers around the world.
It funds a fellows program administered by the American Library Association
that sends American librarians abroad for from two to three months to a full
academic year. Occasionally, USIA sponsors visits or work study programs for
librarians abroad to travel to the U.S. For more information, contact: Cynthia
Borys, Regional Library Officer, United States Information Agency, 301 4th St.
SW, Washington, DC 20547
Phyllis Lyons provided a quick rundown of opportunities for international
librarianship, including: the ALA/USIA fellowship; Fullbright scholarships to
librarians; Fullbright professional for librarians; book donations, such as
American Donated Books Abroad; hard copies of journals & serials are very
difficult to get to eastern Europe; IFLA, which has its conference in Cuba
this year; the IFEX bulletin board CCPJ monitors freedom of the press around
the world; CARR-L listserv on the Internet is a great place to pick up some
exchanges and join a dialogue; sister cities programs provide great help as
well. For more information, and other programs, contact: Phyllis Lyons,
Librarian, The Freedom Forum World Center, 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington,
VA 22209, 703/284-2864.
KEYWORDS: NEWS LIBRARIES; INTERNATIONAL; PROFILE
END OF DOCUMENT.
News Library News The page was reformatted on 12/07/2003. The content, including URLs and contact information, on this page has not been updated to preserve the historical record.
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
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SOURCE: By Herb Brody
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SOURCE: BY DIANE SPONSLER
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SOURCE: BY PAULA STEVENS
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SOURCE: BY LINDA HENDERSON
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PAGE: 12
SOURCE: From Timothy D. Rozgonyi
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PAGE: 12
SOURCE: By Linda Henderson
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SOURCE: BY GINNY EVERETT
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PAGE: 09
SOURCE: BY MARY KATE LEMING
LOOKING BACK JUST MAKES US TIRED.
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SOURCE: By Bruce Rosenstein
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SOURCE: By Barb Hijek
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SOURCE: BY BARBARA NEWCOMBE
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PAGE: 04
SOURCE: BY JULIE BOLDING
COURSES EMPHASIZING LIBRARY, RESEARCH SKILLS
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PAGE: 02
SOURCE: BY MONA HATFIELD
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 01
SOURCE: By Mona Hatfield
. . . SAYING, ''COME WITH ME''
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