News Library News Online
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
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 19
SOURCE: By Herb Brody

CONFERENCE REVIEW

NOTE: -- an edited version of a speech given by Herb Brody, Technology Review, at the 1994 SLA Conference, Atlanta

TELEVISION ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 18

GRAPHICS: PHOTO

CONFERENCE REVIEW

MINUTES OF THE NEWS DIVISION ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING June 13, 1994

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 17

JOB OPPORTUNITY AT THE CONTRA COSTA TIMES, WALNUT CREEK, CALIF.

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 15
SOURCE: BY DIANE SPONSLER

CONFERENCE REVIEW

TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM ENTERTAINS OVERFLOW CROWD

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 14
SOURCE: BY PAULA STEVENS

Paula Stevens is with Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., Phoenix, Az.

CONFERENCE REVIEW

VIEWING THE ELECTRONIC LANDSCAPE

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 14

GRAPHICS: PHOTO

WHO WE ARE

STUDENT STIPEND WINNER PUTS HIS SKILLS TO WORK

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 13

GRAPHICS: PHOTO
SOURCE: BY LINDA HENDERSON

CONFERENCE REVIEW

ENTERTAINING TRIBUTE PAID TO THREE OF THE NEWS DIVISION'S BEST

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 12
SOURCE: From Timothy D. Rozgonyi

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

REFLECTIONS OF A FIRST-TIMER

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.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 12
SOURCE: By Linda Henderson

CONFERENCE REVIEW

70TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED AT THE CARTER PRESIDENTIAL CENTER

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 10

CONFERENCE REVIEW

A YEAR OF HARD WORK BY THE PR COMMITTEE PAYS OFF HANDSOMELY

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 10

GRAPHICS: PHOTO
SOURCE: BY GINNY EVERETT

Ginny Everett is library director at the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

NEWS DIVISION VISITS ACCESS ATLANTA

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 09
SOURCE: BY MARY KATE LEMING

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

NEWS LIBRARIANS ARE BEST AT LOOKING FORWARD. . .
LOOKING BACK JUST MAKES US TIRED.

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!

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 08
SOURCE: By Bruce Rosenstein

NLN FEATURE

DIALING FOR DOLLARS: THE USA TODAY LIBRARY RESEARCHLINE

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 07

GRAPHICS: PHOTO

REGIONAL NEWS

DAILY OKLAHOMAN CELEBRATES ITS CENTENNIAL

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 06
SOURCE: By Barb Hijek

PEOPLE

COMING ABOARD

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.

CHANGES ON DECK

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.

HOIST ANCHOR

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.

NEWS LIBRARIANS RECOGNIZED

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)

A NEW TOY

Mary Crockett, library director at the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier, installed an SII inhouse electronic library.

EXTRA EFFORT

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.

THE 11TH COMMANDMENT

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?

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 04
SOURCE: BY BARBARA NEWCOMBE

LISTING GOVERNMENT SOURCES ON THE INTERNET: A BEGINNING

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

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 04
SOURCE: BY JULIE BOLDING

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

SURVEY FINDS MOST JOURNALISM SCHOOLS DON'T OFFER
COURSES EMPHASIZING LIBRARY, RESEARCH SKILLS

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;

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 02
SOURCE: BY MONA HATFIELD

THE ASIDE BAR

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.

END OF DOCUMENT.

To the top.

NEWS DIVISION of the SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

ARCHIVES INDEX

DATE: SUNDAY March 13, 1994
CATEGORY: NEWS LIBRARY NEWS 1994 Vol.*XVI*No.4
EDITION:*SUMMER*
PAGE: 01
SOURCE: By Mona Hatfield

INTERNATIONAL REPORT

EMERGING FREE PRESS, NEWS LIBRARIES VITAL PARTNERS

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 -
. . . SAYING, ''COME WITH ME''

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
SLA News Division Home

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.

Comments about News Library News should go to the editor.
Comments about the Web site should go to the Webmaster: newsdivisionweb@yahoo.com