DC/SLA Chapter Notes - June/July 2006

June/July 2006 Volume 66 No. 10

President’s Corner: Good Programs and Good Times Submitted by Shirley Loo, sloo@crs.loc.gov The SLA annual conference in Baltimore went well with good programs, good times, good weather, and great views of the Inner Harbor. The DC Chapter sponsored, co-sponsored, or co-hosted four official events at the SLA annual conference in Baltimore.

"What Social, Medical, & Pure Scientists Want in Information", the Donald King program, co-sponsored with the Social Science Division, was standing room only. It attracted 140 people according to an estimate by Lyle Minter. A report by Ann Sweeney will appear in a later issue of this newsletter.

http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc

The International Reception was the second largest event of the four. Fully a third of the attendees were DC Chapter members. In addition, Barbara Robinson is currently serving as a director of the European Chapter. Christine Wellems, director of the library at the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in Germany, was one of the international guests. Anita Johnson and Eileen Rourke, co-chairs of the International Relations Committee, distributed bookmarks with the URL to resources concerning open access, the focus of the DC Chapter program on International Special Librarians Day. The event was coordinated by Ann Sweeney who received the SLA Member Achievement Award this year for her outstanding work on this reception for many years; the International Reception has maintained a focus on the globalization of the profession.

Congratulations, Ann, for another successful reception. The other two programs were a happy hour sponsored by the Young Professionals and a program on "Books that Changed the World", with a speaker from the Smithsonian Institution.

Great Volunteers

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Professional Competencies

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Mary Ellen Bates Presents

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Always Fresh Seminar

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Welcome New Members!

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Book Club’s Summer Event

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Member’s Corner

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Among the numerous DC Chapter members who spoke at the annual conference were Denise Bedford, Jennifer Boettcher, Susan Fifer Canby, Anne Caputo, Christina Dunn, Barbara Ferry, Karen Huffman, Barbie Keiser, James King, Germaine Leahy, Jane Meyers, Chris Olson, Bruce Rosenstein, Donna Scheeder, David Shumaker, Guy St. Clair, and Rebecca Vargha. Moderators included Terri Brooks, Peggy Garvin, Georgia Higley, Richard Huffine, Kee Malesky, Nancy Minter, Greta Ober-Beauchesne, Karen Shaines, and Ann Sweeney. We had an excellent showing at the conference and we also had Terri Brooks as co-chair of the Conference Committee.

The Right to Know

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Podcasting

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Inside this issue: Good Programs and Good Times Student Scholarships

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The Volunteer Appreciation Reception at the U.S. Botanic Garden on May 4 was a resounding success. Current volunteers and Past Chapter Presidents were guests of the Chapter in appreciation of their service to the chapter. Kitty Scott's term from 1971 to 1972 was the earliest of the 18 Past Presidents. Certificates of appreciation to current volunteers were presented deftly by Immediate Past President Sheryl Rosenthal. There were chuckles, surprised looks, and hugs. Past President Sue O'Neill Johnson who had recruited me to run for office in 2004 reminisced about volunteers. Her remarks appear on pages 2-3 of this newsletter. It was a lovely event for the DC Chapter.

Changes in the appointed Board members have occurred or will occur shortly. Shelia Jackson will be going to Mozambique as a Peace Corps volunteer this fall. Shelia has prepared the monthly printed calendar for several years. In addition, she has done chapter metrics for a year. Marina Kisunko will be metrics meister while Meg McGinn will do the printed calendar. Gulnar Nagashybayeva has now assumed the duties of discussion list manager from Allegra Moothart. Webmaster Cassandra Shieh has relinquished her duties to Krista Mantsch. Lea Wade will become newsletter editor later this summer. We appreciate former newsletter editor Cynthia Holt serving as editor for the June/July DC/SLA Chapter Notes | June/July 2006

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Professional Enhancement Day

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Read about the new products and services from: • • • • • • •

Dialog InfoCurrent OCLC Capcon Library Associates Trak Legal EOS International Factiva

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

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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:

Ana Echerman Email: aecherman@morganlewis.com Deadline for the August issue is Monday, July 24th. The issue is distributed approximately two weeks after the deadline.

The preferred submission format is a Word document sent via email. You should receive an email acknowledgement of your submission. Materials for Chapter Notes should be sent to the Editor: Chapter Notes Editor:

Lea Wade

newsletter while Barbara Ferry was on vacation in Hawaii. Later this summer, Business Manager Ana Echerman will turn over the duties to Julia Leggett. All of the outgoing volunteers have done great work for the DC Chapter and we thank each and everyone.

With this a transition year for SLA, and my term and other terms of Board members ending in 18 months rather than 12 months, the report of my presidency will be available in December 2006. In the meantime, look for an online vote concerning the addition of an elected position of Assistant Treasurer/Treasurerelect to the Board. Have you checked your email address in the SLA online directory to be sure that it's correct? We want to reach you when we vote. See my column in the previous issue for more on this.

Have a good summer!

DC/SLA is Looking for a Few Good Students to Apply for Scholarships Submitted by Mike Kolakowski, mkolakowski@crs.loc.gov The Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Special Libraries Association announces its 2006 scholarship program. Two scholarships of $2,000 each will be awarded by the Washington, D.C. Chapter in August 2006 for studies leading to a Masters Degree from an accredited graduate Library Science program.

DC/SLA wants to encourage talented individuals to join us in an exciting, fastdeveloping field. To assist students who are beginning their studies or who are already on the way to a degree, the chapter is offering:

Email: lea.wade@gmail.com

InfoCurrent Scholarship $2,000 Chapter Notes June/July Issue Editor: Cynthia Holt Email: holt@gwu.edu

Catherine A. Jones Memorial Scholarship $2,000

DC/SLA Webmaster: Krista Mantsch

Applicants must be members of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of Special Libraries Association or attending an accredited Library Science program in the Washington, D.C. Chapter area.

National Geographic Society Libraries and Information Services 1145 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-457-8450 Email: kmantsch@ngs.org DC/SLA Listserv Manager: Gulnar Nagashybayeva Government Documents Librarian NOAA Central Library SSMC-3, 2nd Fl., E/OC4 1315 East-West Hwy Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-713-2607 ext. 143 Email: gulnar.nagashybayeva@noaa.gov Send address changes for Chapter Notes to the Chapter Notes Editor at the address above.

The application form and additional details are available on the DC/SLA website at http://units.sla.org/chapter/cdc/yp/scholarship.html.

Great Volunteers: Observations made at the Volunteer Appreciation Party on May 4th Submitted by Sue O’Neill Johnson (Chapter President, 2001-2002), sueojohnson@hotmail.com Many of the best ones have lost an election or two. But they hung in with the Chapter contributing often to very hard jobs. I will only be able to mention a few out of the 100s of faithful and loyal volunteers. You know who you are.

I used to go to DC/SLA Chapter functions, but only became really active in DC/SLA in 1997, when a group of us were raising funds for international librarians to attend Global 2000.

The first group of great volunteers I’d like to mention is DC/SLA Treasurers

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DC/SLA Chapter Notes | June/July 2006

Marilyn Bromley and Catherine Kitchell, who took masses of small and large checks and managed this money, in addition to the regular Treasurer’s job. Catherine went on to manage the changeover to using Visa to replace checks, a real headache.

This job is a three year commitment. Marilyn has been Chapter President, served in multiple volunteer roles, and they have both gone on to volunteer at the national level.

Hospitality Chairs are the great volunteers who get new people involved and organize the where, the how, and the “how much” of events. They are not voting members of the Board. It’s a huge job. Estelle Alexander, Barbara Folensbee-Moore, and Gail Kouril are ones I worked with, and today it’s Lorraine Bell. This is a very hard job, and harder than ever today as there are so many events now.

Archives today, including the Bach Consort project in which she put together a series to show how to manage that archive.

After losing an election (as so many of the best volunteers do), she ran for Recording Secretary and won. Since 2002 she has been elected Treasurer twice (a six year commitment!), and is still going. She started PayPal for the Chapter, and volunteered even during the time she was between jobs, and also when she was getting married. That’s commitment!

And then there are SLA Volunteers for life: Kitty Scott, the volunteer of volunteers, who puts SLA at the top of her list of priorities, always, no matter what. A past president of SLA and of DC/SLA, and still extremely involved, she is the ultimate volunteer role model.

The other really hard job has been the Chapter Notes editor, again not a Board voting member. I remember when we were struggling to get the issue out when the Pentagon got bombed on 9/11. Marie Kaddell was the editor, doing everything in her power to get this out on time; we finally did. Amy Pass and Eileen Deegan ran Chapter Notes for the previous two years, won Chapter Member of the Year Awards, and then went on to take on a multi-year task (a huge undertaking and commitment) to pull together data and produce the DC Library Directory as volunteers. They really worked hard and long.

Diane Schnurrpusch, arranging meetings for the Military Librarians, would take her son out to restaurants, to test out their food for Military Librarian meetings. I understand he went into the restaurant business!

Innovators dare to start or change things for the better. Things that still keep going come to mind: • • •

Karen Huffman started the Young Professionals Group.

Kenlee Ray started the Community Relations Group.

Cynthia Holt converted Chapter Notes to electronic format, saving the Chapter a fortune.

However, I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight three people, still very active, on their special contributions.

First Kristina Lively: I first met Kristina 7 years ago as a volunteer to help the Chapter put on a concert by the Miles Hoffman Quartet to raise funds for Global 2000. She went on to apply her many computer skills to be the founder of the modern DC/SLA listserv and create the Chapter’s web page, and to modernize the Chapter manual. She has been DC/SLA Member of the Year, and is currently an elected Board member. She is also a very good singer, singing at Kenlee’s Souza School fundraiser. She has also sung at the Holiday party.

From left: Sue O’Neill Johnson, Kitty Scott, and Nick Mercury at the Volunteer Appreciation Reception.

The other one is Erin Clougherty. Approximately 10 years ago she was new in town, and was invited to a new member reception in Crystal City at a Computers in Libraries Conference. Her first volunteer position was as Chapter Archivist. You will always find her willing to help with

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First row: Mary Feldman (1985-1986); Shirley Loo (2005-2006); Joan Gervino (1982-1983); Donna Scheeder (1988-1989); Ellen Chu (1984-1985); Lynne McCay (1991-1992); Robert Klassen (1972-1973); Kitty Scott (1971-1972); Karen Patrias (1989-1990) 2nd row: Roger Haley (1990-1991); Nicholas Mercury (1986-1987); Anne Caputo (2002-2003); Sheryl Rosenthal (20042005); Nancy Minter (1999-2000); Lyle Minter (1993-1994); Eileen Rourke (1995-1996); Sue O'Neill Johnson (2001-2002); Betsy Knauff (1980-1981); David Shumaker (2000-2001).

Five Leaders Impart Insightful Ideas on Professional Competencies at 2006 Joint Spring Workshop Submitted by Eileen Deegan, deeganeg@state.gov During springtime in Washington, D.C., traditional events such as the Cherry Blossom Festival awaken residents and visitors to the season’s natural wonders. Since 1967, another traditional event, the Joint Spring Workshop (JSW), has been enlightening D.C.-area information professionals about major issues and trends impacting their field. At this year’s workshop, “21stCentury Competencies for Information Professionals,” five prominent leaders—Jane Dysart, Roberta Shaffer, Dr. Eileen Abels, Rose Dawson, and Donna Scheeder—spoke about the knowledge, skills, and abilities practitioners must cultivate if their careers are to continually blossom.

Nearly 130 participants attended the day-long April 25th workshop at the Library of Congress, which was co-sponsored by DCLA (2006 Lead Association), DC/SLA, LLSDC, and FLICC. Following Workshop Committee Chair Lorna Dodt’s introductory remarks, each speaker presented her ideas on critical competencies.

Given the speakers’ varied specializations, each offered

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Sheryl Rosenthal presents Sheila Jackson with a certificate of appreciation at the Volunteer Appreciation Reception.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | June/July 2006

distinctive interpretations and stories. Nevertheless, their presentations emphasized many of the same or related competencies, suggesting that certain competencies—focusing on the big picture, taking risks, planning, partnering, problem solving, exercising political savvy—are core for information professionals, whatever one’s specialty. (At a later date, a video recording of the JSW will be available for viewing via the FLICC Online Video Library http://www.loc.gov/flicc/vidlib.html.)

In her keynote address, Jane Dysart, a Principal of Dysart & Jones Associates and an expert in information management, strategic planning, and organizational structuring, defined “competencies” as “a specific range of skills, abilities, or knowledge enabling or qualifying someone to perform a particular function or carry out selected responsibilities.”

Competencies, she said, constitute a profession’s foundation and are a basis for professional growth and performance measures.

FLICC/FEDLINK Executive Director Roberta Shaffer noted that competencies should not be looked at in a vacuum, as they are intertwined with a profession’s values and attributes. She said that values—a set of principles that guide beliefs and actions of an individual or group—change slowly. Moreover, attributes—inherent characteristics that are describable and closely associated with a specific person, group, or object— may or may not change. But competencies, composed of knowledge, skills, and abilities, do change over time.

Dr. Eileen Abels, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (CLIS), spoke about “The Role of LIS Programs in Preparing Librarians of the Future.” She highlighted the challenges with which Library and Information Studies (LIS) programs must grapple.

Alexandria Library System Deputy Director Rose Dawson explored how competencies gained as a youth services librarian enhance one’s overall professional expertise. In her presentation, Dawson laid out the seven competencies established by the ALA’s Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) and recounted interesting ways she has put these competencies into action.

The afternoon’s final speaker, Donna Scheeder, remarked that she spoke from the perspective of someone who has lived through huge changes during her 37-year career as a special librarian at the Library of Congress. Still, she said, a number of professional functions have remained basically the same. For instance, we remain one of the few professions in which clients will tell us “what they don’t know.” Given this backdrop of change and continuity, Scheeder, currently the Director of Law Library Services at the Law Library of the Library of Congress, detailed three multi-faceted competencies that enable information professionals to excel: knowledge, leadership and courage.

All the JSW speakers participated in the day’s final activity: the panel question and answer, in which they fielded questions from an engaged audience.

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Mary Ellen Bates Presents: “Web 2.0 and What it Means for Libraries” Submitted by Lorraine Bell, lorraine.bell@factiva.com The DC/SLA Chapter begins its fall events with a very special program featuring Mary Ellen Bates of Bates Information Services. We invite you to attend Mary Ellen’s presentation on “Web 2.0 and What It Means for Libraries”.

The phrase "Web 2.0" has probably set the record for going from cutting-edge concept to an entry in Buzzword Bingo. The implications of the collaborative web, along with the dramatically changed expectations of our patrons and clients, mean that we need to reevaluate how we provide information services within our organizations. Mary Ellen will give her perspective on the impact of Web 2.0 on library services and how we will re-define our jobs to take advantage of the best of Web 2.0.

Mary Ellen Bates is the owner of Bates Information Services, providing business research to business professionals and special librarians, and consulting and training services for the information industry. She is the author of six books and innumerable articles, and is a frequent international speaker.

She is active in SLA and the Association of Independent Information Professionals. She lives near Boulder, Colorado with her two dogs.

Date:

Monday, September 18, 2006

Time:

6:00 – 6:30 pm (Reception) 6:30 – 8:00 pm (Presentation/Q&A)

Where: Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20004 (One block from the Metro Center metro stop) Price:

$12 members $20 non-members $6 students/retired/between jobs

Electronic payments may be made via PayPal. Checks should be made payable to DC/SLA and mailed to: Lorraine Bell Factiva, Suite 300 1600 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 If payment is submitted via PayPal, please remember that you must also RSVP to Lorraine Bell at lorraine.bell@factiva.com

Always Fresh: Fast Content for Your Web Site and Users Submitted by Meg McGinn, mmcginn@crowell.com In Session Two of the May 17th program at National Geographic, DC/SLA chapter members participated in a Click U Live seminar on RSS feeds. Darlene Fichter, the Data Library Coordinator of the University of Saskatchewan Library and an IT consultant, conducted the seminar to an audience of SLA members across the country. The attendees in DC ranged from veteran RSS users to those learning about the technology for the first time. Despite the array of experience, Darlene’s presentation provided take-away knowledge that could be applied to any library setting.

The presentation began with broad overview of RSS (commonly defined as Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication) and its advantages.

The terms used to describe RSS, such as “machine readable file” in XML, do not accurately relay how easy it is to use.

Darlene demonstrated how feeds of news headlines can be converted to display current content on an intranet page or blog without the drudgery of web maintenance. She also showed examples of libraries using RSS to post new book acquisitions or the table of contents for journals. For those interested in utilizing RSS to keep up on professional reading or to monitor several websites at once, Darlene illustrated how quickly an individual blog could be created with freely available tools.

The most interesting portion of the seminar dealt with the more advanced aspects of using RSS, such as copyright issues, security, and sophisticated tools used to display feeds.

Attendees contributed to the online discussion by recommending particular tools and sharing problems that have arisen from publishing content on their intranets. These discussions created an engaging dialogue which served as a reminder that there are different solutions for different libraries.

The presentation complimented the previous session on podcasts by demonstrating how libraries can take advantage of new technologies to provide appealing content to their patrons.

Thanks to Darlene’s expertise and advice, realizing how accessible the tools are to non-programmers makes it that much easier to experiment.

Replays of Always Fresh – Fast Content for Your Web Site and Users can be purchased through SLA: http://www.sla.org/content/learn/learnmore/distance/2006cul/0 51706cul/index.cfm In addition, Darlene Fichter wrote a step-by-step guide to using news feeds in the April 2006 issue of Information Outlook.

Payment must be received by Wednesday, September 13th. Seats are limited. Register early to ensure your space for this event.

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Welcome New Members!

Member’s Corner

Submitted by Kristina Lively, kristina@ned.org Please welcome the following new members to the Chapter: Carolyn Ahearn Linda Arret Paula Brooks Theresa Calcagno Susan Chesser David Chidester Nino Chkhenkeli Pamela Commerford Johanna Cornwell Erika Davis Jeffrey Elliott David Ennist Marie Folk Maurizia Grossman Anne Harrison Thomas Hay Rachel Holovach

Travis Johnson Ron Kleinfeldt Carolyn Larson Everette Larson Julia Leggett Kathleen McQuade Margaret Metcalf Katherine Nobles Penny Pendergrass Tina Pinnix Broome Timothy Porges Gary Price Rachael Roan Suzanne Ryder Tiffany Smith Ann Vlachos Leslie Yeakley

Book Club’s Summer Event Will Accent Iranian Culture and Thai Food Submitted by Eileen Deegan, deeganeg@state.gov

Sabrina Pacifici: beSpacific (http://www.bespacific.com) received the 2006 AALL/West Excellence in Marketing Award for Best Use of Technology.

Fellow DC/SLA Member, Sue O'Neill Johnson, is playing at the Tea at Strathmore at 1:00-2:00 July 12th if you can get away from the office. Sue on piano and Richard Conviser on violin will be playing selections from Broadway shows, America's popular composers, and their own compositions.

You have to make a paid reservation in advance at 301-5815108 (we actually don't get paid at all). It is $18 plus tax (the food is very good).

Ronald A. Rader, President, Biotechnology Information Institute, is the author of the 5th edition of Biopharmaceutical Products in the U.S. and European Markets. Published in July 2006, now two volumes and about 1400 pages, this is the only reference book concerning biopharmaceuticals. It is also one of the few pharmaceutical or other reference works authored by a librarian/information specialist. See http://www.biopharma.com/ for further information.

Karen Huffman, Manager of Knowledge Initiatives at National Geographic Society Libraries and Information Services, spoke at a panel on “Simple Approaches to RSS” at the OCLC CAPCON Service Center during the 2006 Computers in Libraries Conference.

This summer, immerse yourself in an intriguing culture – without the jet lag, visa hassles, and unwieldy luggage. Join the DC/SLA Book Club on Wednesday, July 19, from 6:30 – 8:30, for our dinner/discussion of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books by Azar Nafisi. The Iranian-born author relates her experiences in postrevolutionary Tehran teaching English literature at universities and forbidden Western classics in her living room. A CHOICE review called Nafisi’s book “fascinating” for its look at the ways those living in different settings and times interpret key Western literature. It also recommended the book as a unique, controversial and informative work on Iran, the Middle East, and Islam.

This July 19th event will take place at Sawatdee, a Thai restaurant near the Court House exit on Metro’s orange line.

All DC/SLA members are welcome to attend.

Please RSVP to Eileen Deegan at deeganeg@state.gov or 202-453-8073.

For restaurant details, please see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wpdyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1026308.

To learn more about our DC/SLA Book Club visit: http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc/bookclub.html.

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The Right-to-Know: Tales from Around the World Submitted by Barbie Keiser, barbieelene@att.net On May 2, Dave Banisar, Director of the Freedom of Information Programme at Privacy International (London, UK), gave a presentation to a joint meeting of the Chapter and the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC (LLSDC). His subject, “The Right-to-Know,” is a topic about which the speaker is quite familiar. Presently a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Law, University of Leeds, UK, Mr. Banisar was a Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and co-founder and Policy Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC. For the past 15 years, information policy has been the focus of his work and his writings. He is responsible for an ongoing project looking at developments regarding Freedom of Information Acts around the world. He and his staff work with civil society advocacy groups, as well as governments, to help new democracies develop, adopt, and implement effective FOI laws that encourage use by the citizenry. The laws have evolved over time and Privacy International is tracking the variations.

“FOIA is like a virus” According to Mr. Banisar, 73 countries now have FOI Acts. Since they are 90% the same, it’s the differences that are interesting. Developments over the past 10 years in Eastern Europe and Latin America have been most fascinating.

Essentially, FOI laws declare that you have a right-toknow about the workings of your government (with exceptions made for such things as national security) and the government has a responsibility to respond in a timely fashion. In most countries, this is about two weeks. Most importantly, you need not divulge why you are interested in a particular document/set of documents.

The first FOIA was enacted in 1776 in Sweden during that country’s Age of Enlightenment, influencing all of Scandinavia. It took another 200 years for the next law to appear on the books. England—one of the world’s oldest democracies—just enacted a FOIA in 2005. (In its first year, there were 13,000 requests made under the UK Data Protection Act, indicating a significant pent up demand.)

Why enact FOIA? In general, FOIA has a positive influence, promoting a free press. Openness is the basis for democracy. Perhaps no one has done more for FOIA than Ralph Nader, who has gone around the world extolling its virtues and explaining how useful such laws can be.

The new democracies of Eastern Europe enacted FOIA because they needed to know what had happened in the past in order to break with it (e.g., the Stasi in East

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Germany). Perhaps the greatest influence came as a result of non-information and misinformation released in the immediate aftermath of Chernobyl. It was clear that citizens of the world deserved to know about issues that affect their daily lives and well-being.

Regional and international bodies International bodies, such as the World Bank, do not have effective FOIA laws. While the European Union acts with the power of government, it does so with less accountability than any of its member (national) governments. Increasing the pressure on nations is the United Nation’s new Convention on Anti-Corruption. Anti-corruption is so important that government loans are now often tied to transparency.

Who uses FOIA? Advocacy groups for a civil society and the media use FOIA (e.g., Bulgaria). However, individuals have made effective use of FOI in such countries as India, Thailand, and South Africa.

In India, where ration distribution in rural areas has been outsourced, communities used the FOIA laws to gain access to the records of these firms that had received payment for rations that had not been distributed.

In Thailand, a mother used FOIA to inquire about who had gotten into an elite school when her child had not. She fought to receive the scores of these children.

A widow in South Africa used the FOIA system to obtain

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health records of miners, such as her late husband.

This shows how one person can change a system.

Does adopting a FOIA do anything?

FOIA is more a reflection of a society than anything else. It cannot really help a broken society. For example, while Bosnia has a FOIA, it is not used. In countries such as Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe, it’s not working at all. The demand, desire, and a willingness to change must be present, as in Armenia, where media groups bring cases to court, embarrassing the government into action.

culture for using the law, however bad that law might be. For further information about Freedom of Information Acts around the world, go to the Privacy International website (http://www.privacyinternational.org) and click on “Freedom of Information” in the left-hand navigation bar. (For a complete list of issue areas covered by Privacy International, click on “All Issue Areas.”) The 2006 FOI survey should be available here shortly. For additional resources concerning Freedom of Information, you can consult FreedomInfo.org (http://www.freedominfo.org).

Podcasting

What can the US learn from what is going on elsewhere?

Submitted by Inez Dinwoodie, inezd@mitre.com The third generation of FOIA, as evidenced in Mexico, establishes an independent oversight body (Information Commission) as a mechanism for review of release of information in the public interest. The US is particularly bad in terms of the length of time it takes to generate a response; an oversight body might help. In addition, making the destruction or alteration of records a criminal offense, as it is in Canada, would eliminate the shredding of records before new FOIA laws come into play.

Fees for filing, research (Australia), copy cost reimbursement, and appeals abound. Ireland has strict fees for filing and appealing requests; in the UK, there is no charge for making a request, but fees apply if your research requires more than two days of staff time. You must be a citizen in order to use the Canadian FOIA law.

What’s next?

Two years ago, only 55 countries had FOIA acts; now that number is up to 73. Probably an equal number of countries are now on the way to adopting FOIA laws, but that leaves 70+ countries without any FOI Acts.

Whistle-blowing protections appear to be the next wave.

Also, extending the concept of open information to private companies/universities, making open information a culturally-accepted practice. For example, Antigua and South Africa apply open information to all companies, somewhat relating it to privacy. Utilities (gas, electric, water) already have open information regulations in a number of nations; Nigeria applies it to natural resource companies.

Some of the newer laws take into account outsourced functions (e.g., hospitals) and extending the law to the Internet (eFOIA in Hungary). Indeed, the Internet has made a real difference with information that’s been released. For example, the UK maintains logs of requests for information online and the EU and Ireland have been increasingly good at making information released as a result of a FOIA request available to all.

To summarize, Dave Banisar made it clear to all who were present that citizens can make a difference, developing a

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A Podcasting Workshop was held at National Geographic (NG) on May 17th. There were three presentations as part of the workshop and I have briefly summarized each.

What is Podcasting?

Podcasting is a growing method of delivering audio information. Podcasts provide a way to get information if you are unable to be at the same time and place when the material is presented. You can listen to podcasts at your convenience, either at a computer or on an MP3 player.

Taking Advantage of Podcasting in Libraries Kathryn Shaughnessy from St. John’s University Library presented an informative session from the viewpoint of an academic institution. Kathryn presented an overview of podcasts which included some history of the technology, how podcasts are used in various libraries, references to some excellent sites that provide podcasts as well as to sites that provide guidance on the podcasting technology. Some recommended sites: • •

To find external podcast resources: http://www.podcast.net/ To learn more about podcasting at St. John’s University: http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/libraries/podcast.sju

Podcasting: A Corporate Approach Barbara Ferry, Karen Huffman and Lenny Williams gave a presentation on how podcasts have been implemented at National Geographic. Podcasting was seen as an additional way to market and deliver information. They developed a sample broadcast as a proof of concept to get management buy in to the idea. Now they are producing regular podcasts of various reports that were already being regularly written at NG. The audience was treated to a few samples of the NG podcasts and I was really impressed by their professional quality. There is quite a bit of time and work invested, especially in the editing process. Some tips from the podcasters at National Geographic:

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• • • • •

Brand your content with a catchy name and use a standard introduction to each podcast Catch the listener during the first minute of the podcast Don’t forget about copyrights for music you use Have some material that can be podcast on a regular basis Keep it brief

Podcasts: A Listening & Viewing Guide for Librarians Marie Kaddell was the last presenter of the session. Podcasting frees us from scheduling constraints and provides us with more choices. Her presentation was a wealth of sites that are resources for those interested in podcasting. Some of her recommended sites: • • • • •

Podcasts by Librarians: http://www.openstacks.net/os/ Webcasts from Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/index.php Podcast from Knowledge at Wharton: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/ Technology from all angles: http://thisweekintech.com/ Tech Podcasts: http://www.gsnyder.libsyn.com/

All three presentations stirred an interest in trying out podcasting, both at work and for personal use, for those attending.

Professional Enhancement Day: March 24, 2006

• • • • • • •

Trying to get the answers you need out of a patron Figuring out a way to explain something to a patron Knowing what to say to a difficult patron or client Knowing what to say on an interview that makes you stand out from the competition Creative ways to get patrons coming back to your library Knowing what certain body language means Knowing what gestures to use or not use when speaking one on one or to a group

No DC/SLA event is possible without the support of our volunteers and contributors. In addition to our appreciation to Margie Anne Bonnett for her time and expertise, we are grateful to the Sumner School for the free space in a great location. An important part of Professional Enhancement Day comes from our career specialists, InfoCurrent. Again, this year, Deborah Brightwell and Tom Bernart met one-on-one with potential job candidates and reviewed resumes. DC/SLA is also grateful to InfoCurrent for their ongoing support of our profession by sponsoring the annual library school scholarship (see the announcement on page 2 of this issue).

Last, but not least are the Committee members who help plan the event. Mary Talley handled pre-registration and conducted the Employment Survey. Victor Monti and Joan McCarthy handled the registration table on the day of the event. Eileen Rourke co-chaired the Professional Enhancement Day Committee with Kris Sasala, who graciously volunteered a second year in a row and identified Margie Anne Bonnett as our valuable keynote speaker.

Submitted by Eileen Rourke, infoeer@yahoo.com The annual Professional Enhancement Day was held on Friday March 24, 2006, 8:30 a.m.-12 noon at the Sumner School (17th St NW in Washington DC). The event attracted 22 participants of diverse backgrounds and organizations. DC/SLA, DCLA, LLSDC, DCPL, FortyPlus Club, and the library schools at Catholic University and University of Maryland were represented. Participants included a wide range of special libraries (including government, law and academia, public libraries), MLS students, and non-librarian researchers, some of whom are considering library school. Because we had the Computers in Libraries conference nearby in town, we even had one visitor from Alaska! Both seasoned professionals and new graduates found the workshop valuable and fun!

Sometimes it’s good to step outside of our own profession to get a fresh view. We couldn’t have had a better role model than Margie Anne Bonnett of Sandler Training Institute (sellmore@closingsales.com). Ms. Bonnett led an interactive workshop on “How to Present to Different Personalities.”

SLA Competencies emphasize the importance of good communication and customer relation skills. Ms. Bonnett demonstrated the various situations librarians encounter where these communications skills can be applied: • •

Reading the Audience Getting Up and Speaking to an Unknown Group

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | June/July 2006

From left: Eileen Rourke, Margie Anne Bonnett (Keynote Speaker), and Kris Sasala.

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