DC-SLA Chapter Notes - January 2003

President’s Corner: Living Legends

By Anne Caputo, DC/SLA President I recently sat watching the Kennedy Center Honors on television. Seeing the likes of James Earl, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon, Elizabeth Taylor and James Levine honored for their lifetime of giving pleasure to us made me think about living legends in the world of information professionals. It is a rare opportunity to hear from these, our own legends, but the first week of December offered a chance to hear from not one, but two of these treasures. This month I’ll focus on Barbara Quint , a speaker at the Library of Congress Luminary Lecture series. Next month I’ll talk about Toni Carbo who spoke at our holiday party.

Barbara Quint, also known simply as ‘bq’, Editor of Searcher magazine, and one of the world’s most famous online searchers, is widely acknowledged as the most creative, controversial, and influential writer to emerge from the online information industry. An audio ‘Luminary Lecture’ at the Library of Congress on December 4th featured vintage bq on “No Guts, No Glory: Information Professionals March in the 22nd Century”. Vintage Quint from beginning to end, the audience of 50-odd LC staffers and guests were treated to such Barbaraisms as, · · · ·

· · · ·

Implementation is the key – we need flamboyant courage to continue to serve the information needs of our customers.

Branding and image are important to our survival. Ditch the bun and move ahead.

Globalization, disintermediation and centralization and mega trends in the information world. How will we act on these trends?

Traditional information structures are in a state of collapse, including scholarly publishing and subscription services. How does this change affect us and what will we do about these changes?

How will the ‘privatization’ of federal government information affect access?

Concerns about the dominance of unstable structures, including the ubiquitous Google and Northern Light. How does Google stay in business?

Need for united action, or the need to think like a consortia and work in concert.

Look for new funding options and using political action to raise our profile.

And, as a parting gift, bq’s views on skills needed for the 22nd Century. Guess what they are and how many of us can claim to have them all?

Basic technical skills Database building skills Word processing and spreadsheet skills Web management skills And… Knowledgeable on any technology that distinguishes truth from falsehood on platforms for content exchange And… Legal and contract negotiation skills Networking skills A proactive approach to library work And… An “Out of the Box” thinker.

January 2003 Volume 62 No. 1 http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc

Inside this issue: President’s Corner

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Research Tip of the Month 2-3 Member News

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Errata

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Warm-up the Keyboard!

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Community Outreach Project

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Legal Research Institutes

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Welcome New Members!

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Special points of interest: • • • •

A chance to see yourself in print.

A new column offering research tips.

Welcome to 19 new members.

Check out the new products and services from: EBSCO InfoCurrent Dialog Capcon Library Associates

Check us out on the Web http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc/

This is a tall order. bq is provocative and outrageous at times, but lively and thoughtprovoking always. The audience was stirred up and the questions went on until well after the allotted time period. A living legend, yes, and an incisive thinker. Barbara is the original “Out of the Box” thinker herself.

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Special Libraries Association assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by the contributors to SLA’s publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official views of SLA. Acceptance of advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product by SLA. Subscriptions: Chapter Notes is free to DC/SLA members. Subscriptions to non-members are available at $10 per year.

Advertising: Advertising rates effective September 1997 are: $95—1/4 page; $175—1/2 page; $290—full page.

For information regarding advertisements, contact the DC/SLA Chapter Notes Business Manager: Kelley Weber, Surface Transportation Board Phone: 202-565-1668 Email: weberk@stb.dot.gov EDITOR’S NOTE: Friday, January 17th is the deadline for materials which can be included in the February 2003 issue.

The issue is distributed approximately three weeks after the deadline. The preferred submission format is a Word document sent via email.

Materials for Chapter Notes should be sent to the Editor: Cynthia Holt The Gelman Library George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington, DC 20052 Phone: 202-994-1352 Email: holt@gwu.edu Event announcements should also be submitted electronically to the: Listserv Moderator: Kelley Weber, Surface Transportation Board Phone: 202-565-1668 Email: weberk@stb.dot.gov DC/SLA Internet Committee: Frederik Heller Phone: 202-383-1157 Email: fheller@realtors.org Send address changes for Chapter Notes to: SLA Headquarters ATTN: Address/Name Changes 1700 18th Street NW Washington, DC 20009-2508

Research Tip of the Month Web Link Look-Up Submitted by Mary Ellen Bates, mbates@BatesInfo.com This is one of those cool tricks that you’ll probably only use once a month but will be so glad you have when you need it. And what’s “web link lookup”? It means finding out what web sites have links TO a particular site.

For example, I could use this trick to find out what web sites have linked to this Tip of the Month page. And yes, anyone who has a web page likes to see who has linked to them -- it’s a nice ego boost.

But beyond the personal fame meter, I use web link look-ups to find web sites that cover the same general topic as the site I’m looking at. For example, I was researching reports on whether digital photos printed on color ink-jet printers faded quickly. After much searching, I found a great report on just this topic. I assumed that other pages that linked TO this excellent report might also discuss this topic, so I used the web link look-up trick to see what web sites were pointing to this report. Sure enough, I found several other pages with similar research and other information on the topic. Bingo!

Another use for web link look-up is in competitive intelligence research, when you’re trying to track down former employees of a competitor in the hope that you can interview them and find out more about that competitor. Using this technique, you can find web sites that have the word RESUME or CV and that contain a link to your competitor’s web site. Those sites are likely to be resumés of present or former employees of the company, who list both the name and the web site of the employer.

And web link look-up is a nifty way of finding hidden relationships among organizations. I needed to find out what the executive from a small association was up to, so I used this technique to search for links to his biography page on the association’s web site. Surprisingly, I turned up a link to his biography from a lobbying group’s web site. It turns out that he was on the board of directors of this advocacy group as well as serving as an executive for the association. My client was very intrigued at this information, which wasn’t disclosed in any of the executive’s biographical material.

So, how do you find web links? The syntax is simple. For most search engines, type link:the.web.site.you.want (example: link:www.BatesInfo. com) in the search engine’s search box. Note that you don’t include the “http://” portion of the URL. Try it in www.google.com and see what you find.

If you want to look for web sites that link to a specific URL and that mention a particular topic (like the competitive intelligence research I mentioned above), use the “advanced search” page; each search engine handles this type of query differently.

For example, you can go to the Advanced Search page of AllTheWeb. com (www.alltheweb.com/advanced), and type www.enron.com in the first Word Filters search box, pull down the menu on the right and select “in the link to URL”. Go to the next Word Filters search box, type resume, Select “Must include” on the left pull-down menu. Then click [Search] and you’ll turn up resumés of people who at one point have worked for Enron.

There are some limitations to this trick, at least in some search engines.

Google won’t let you search on any additional terms if you’re doing a link: search. That is, you can’t search: link:www.wilhelm-research.com permanence for web sites that both link to Wilhelm Research’s web site AND talk specifically about permanence of color ink-jet prints. Likewise, the competitive intelligence trick I described above won’t work in Google, since you can’t include the word RESUME to the link search. And this trick doesn’t

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DC/SLA Chapter Notes | January 2003

work well if you’re looking for links to a very popular web site.

Try searching for link:www.amazon.com, for example, and you’ll get tens of thousands of pages. But it’s a great way to find “more like this” pages and to see who’s talking about you.

Give this trick a try the next time you want to see who’s pointing to a particular site. And let me know if you think of new ways to use web link look-up.

------Mary Ellen Bates is the owner of Bates Information Services, providing business research to business professionals, consulting services to the information industry and workshops for library professionals. She can be reached at 202-332-2360, mbates@BatesInfo.com or http://www.BatesInfo.com.

Member News Congratulations to Alphonse Vinh on his new column “Musings with Alphonse Vinh” on the NPR website http://www.npr.org/programs/musings/index.html

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | January 2003

Errata The last two rules and the bibliographic citation to the President’s Corner column were inadvertently omitted from the December 2002 issue. They are listed below.

Rule 9 Be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem. Be positive and constructive and not whining and obstructive.

After all, you will have to live with whatever is decided.

Rule 10 Name what is causing you difficulty.

Most people cannot read your mind. The team can’t help if you don’t express your ideas to them.

Inspired by: ‘Teamwork’, by Rev. Scott Benhase, The Living Church, September 1, 2002, page 14.

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Warm-up the Keyboard!

Submitted by Cynthia Holt, holt@gwu.edu Have you always yearned to write the grand epic? Ever wanted to have a monthly column? Now is your chance to get started.

With the change in format for Chapter Notes, we would like to start seeing some more articles on issues or topics. Please send all submissions to: Cynthia Holt Reference Department The Gelman Library George Washington University 2130 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20052 holt@gwu.edu The preferred formats for articles are Microsoft Word or a text file. Please attach all images in .gif, .jpg or .tif formats.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | January 2003

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Community Outreach Project What Does A Good School Library Look Like These Days?

Submitted by Kenlee Ray, KenleeR@aol.com For special librarians, changing gears to work with the Sousa Middle School Library means that we need to think about what constitutes an ideal school library in today's educational environment.

Fortunately, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association, has excellent resources on its web site to help faculty, parents and community leaders understand the role school libraries should play in their children's education. Below are two excerpts from the AASL Advocacy Toolkit: The School Library Media Center: What Parents Should Know Learning today means more than memorizing facts. It means learning to learn for a lifetime. Savvy parents and educators know that the school library media center is key to teaching students not just to read but to practice the skills they need to seek, evaluate and use information throughout their lives. Research shows those students from schools with professionally staffed, fully equipped libraries score higher on achievement tests.

Does your child's school library measure up?

The best way to find out is to pay a visit and ask the following questions: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Is there a state-certified full-time school library media specialist?

Does your child have access to the school library anytime during the day that he or she needs to use its resources?

Does the library offer remote access from home via computer?

Does your child visit the school library frequently with his class? Individually? In small groups?

Is the school library an attractive and convenient space where children can work individually and in small groups?

Does the school library have a wide range of resources in a variety of formats–books, computers, audio and videotapes–that appeal to different learning styles?

Does the library have the hardware and software to provide access to the Internet and other electronic resources?

Are the resource materials in the school library current? Are the encyclopedias less than three years old?

Is the school library budget adequate to provide a full range of both print and electronic resources?

Are children encouraged to read, view and listen both for understanding and enjoyment?

Are school administrators knowledgeable and supportive of the school library?

Does the school provide ongoing training to support teachers and staff in learning about new technologies?

Are teachers encouraged to work with the school library media specialist to extend learning opportunities beyond the textbook and classroom?

Is there a process for ongoing evaluation of the school library?

If you care to learn more, the American Association of School Librarians has other useful materials on their web site: http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/index.html The statements and papers from Laura Bush's June 2002 conference on school libraries also furnish valuable insights: http://www.imls.gov/pubs/whitehouse0602/whitehouse.htm Next time you attend parent/teacher conferences, are invited to Grandparents' Day at your grandchild's school, or participate in a community meeting to discuss your local school, ask a few questions about the school's library or better yet, visit it.

We are ready to put the Sousa Library collection online and are looking for volunteers who know how to use Follett software. If you'd like to help, please contact Kenlee Ray at KenleeR@aol.com or 202-483-2423.

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The Law Librarians' Society Of Washington, D.C. 2003 Legal Research Institutes I and II The Legal Research Institutes are hands-on all day programs aimed at those working in law libraries who want to sharpen their research skills and non-law library personnel and paralegals with limited experience using basic legal sources.

Program Monday, March 10th, 2003

Tuesday, March 11th, 2003

Case Law Statutes Secondary Sources

Federal History Research Administrative Law International & Foreign Research

Location: Georgetown University Law Center Edward Bennett Williams Library 111 G St. NW Washington, DC 20001 Metro stop: Red Line Union Station or Judiciary Square For further directions see http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/topics/directions.html Time:

8:30 am - 4:00 pm

Cost:

LLSDC members:$30 each day/Non-members:$75 each day/enrollment limited to 60 people.

Lunch sponsored by Lexis-Nexis.

Mail registration to:

Jane Walsh E.B. Williams Law Library 111 G Street NW Washington, DC 20001 (202) 662-9199

Note: Registration by Mail Only. Registration Deadline: February, 28th 2003

2003 Legal Research Institutes I and II Make check payable to: Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC Name: _____________________________________________________________________________ Firm/Institution: ________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________________________________________ Please check:

_____ Legal Research Institute I, Monday March 10, 2003 _____ Legal Research Institute II, Tuesday March 11, 2003

Please check:

_____ LLSDC Member

____ Non-Member

Registration Confirmation will be available on the LLSDC Website - http://www.llsdc.org Note: Contributions, gifts, dues or registration fees paid to the Society are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal tax purposes.

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Submitted by Alphonse Vinh, avinh@npr.org Please welcome the following new members to the SLA/DC Chapter: Marcia Connelly Stephanie Dennis Andrea McGlinchey Mardell Moffett Patricia Morse Rebecca Roth Laura Shelby

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Nancy Stewart Barbara Fisher Alex Hodges Anne Marie Houppert Abby Krystel Sandra Levy Jennifer Luna

Carrie Berard Myrtis Parham Malissa Ruffner Elizabeth Samuel Vesselina Stoytcheva

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | January 2003