DC/SLA Chapter Notes - July/August 2007

President's Corner: DC-SLA Greatest Chapter in U.S. Submitted by Susan Fournier, Susan.Fournier@icba.org

Ah, the hazy, hot, and humid days of summer are upon us. Not my favorite time of year, but certainly early June provided exceptionally beautiful weather to enjoy the Mile High City and SLA’s Annual Conference in Denver. This was my first trip to Denver and I was not disappointed. I toured the downtown area on my early morning runs and even had the opportunity to hike in the Rockies around Breckinridge and another two days in Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park—got to over 12,000 feet and no mountain sickness.

The Conference was one of the best I have attended recently—the program and General Session speakers were top notch. Former VicePresident Al Gore and cartoonist Scott Adams played to full auditoriums of rapt listeners. Gore spoke on a variety of topics, including that nearest and dearest, global warming, as well as the internet and information and mis-information. He can be a very funny fellow too. Scott Adams showed slides of many of his Dilbert cartoon strips, including some that never made it to print and some that did, that still provoked controversy.

He talked about how his corporate background became the fodder of his cartooning. I am sure many of us saw characteristics our own organizations in his strips. A number of our devoted Chapter members agreed to report on some of the other sessions during Conference and you will find those reports in this issue.

I guess the news that most everyone is waiting to hear—YES! DC/SLA is the largest Chapter in our international association. The official membership figures on June 2, 2007 according to Jill Calabria, SLA Membership Director, were 1,116 for DC and 1,102 for NYC. Immediate Past President Shirley Loo headed up the challenge with the NY Chapter and spoke about the Chapter’s membership efforts at the Leadership Institute on Sunday morning. Shirley was just one of the many Chapter members who gave presentations during this conference.

July/Aug 2007 Volume 68 No. 6/7 http://www.sla.org/Chapter/cdc

Inside this issue: President’s Corner ………1 Professional Enhancement Day ……….…………..…3 Annual Conference Reports .…….……….……………4 Patent Searching ………. 10 Student Scholarships ……10 Federal Librarians go to Germany to Study..………12 Award Winners ………….16 Members Corner ………...16 Read about the new products and services from: • • • • • • • •

InfoCurrent Library Associates Trak Legal EOS International Ebscohost American Bankers Assn Thomson Gale Dow Jones

Check us out on the Web

DC/SLA co-sponsored the International Reception that featured Champaign and sorbet—dinner in reverse that evening! Several DC/SLA Chapter members received awards. Just to name a few: Susan Montgomery & Helen Clegg received the H.W. Wilson award; Sharon Lenius received the Thomson Scientific Member Achievement Award;

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

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 nonmembers 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: Julia Leggett Email: jleggett@crs.loc.gov Deadline for the September issue is August 24. The issue is distributed approximately one week 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 Department of Homeland Security Headquarters Library Washington, DC Phone: 202-447-5077 Email: lea.wade@gmail.com

President’s Corner [cont’d from p. 1]

Karen Huffman, LexisNexis Innovations in Technology; Jane Kinney Award Meyers, Dow Jones Leadership; Terry Brooks, Fellow; Nancy Minter, from the Social Science Division, the ThomsonGale Murray Wortzel. A complete list is on page 13. We are truly a gifted Chapter.

Kudos to all of you.

Although we are in these hazy days of summer, DC/SLA will not be inactive. Coming up in July we will be holding two Click U at Night sessions. On July 12, Web 2.0 in Libraries: Theory and Practice, Part 1 and on July 25, Making Information Architecture Real, Part 1. We will be providing refreshments for these evening programs. And Click U Live! programs will continue in August during the day. The Young Professionals group will be hosting a happy hour on July 24th. Take some time to socialize and learn this summer with DC/SLA. See the Events Calendar on the Web site.

Coming in September, DC/SLA will host SLA President, Rebecca Vargha and two other SLA members, Shelly Edwards and Victoria Harriston, recent visitors to South Africa’s libraries as part of the People to People program. Rebecca, Shelly and Victoria will share their experiences and pictures of their 10 day visit on September 27. Time and location are still to be determined, so be sure to check the Chapter website and the list for coming announcements.

Our nominations committee is preparing for our upcoming election, the first under the new governance calendar. The election will be held in October, so watch the list and Chapter Notes for announcements about the balloting. Happy summer and I hope to see some of your at our summer events.

DC/SLA Web Master: Krista Mantsch National Geographic Society Libraries and Information Services 1145 17th St., NW Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-457-8450 Email: kmantsch@ngs.org DC/SLA Listerv Manager: Temporary Listserv Manager Helen Yang Electronic Resources and Services Librarian ASIS International 1625 Prince Street Alexandria, VA 22314-2818 703-518-1448 hyang@asisonline.org Send address changes for Chapter Notes to: Chapter Notes Editor ATTN: Address/Name Changes 617 Edmondson Ave., Catonsville MD 21228

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 2

SAVE THE DATE: OCTOBER 19!

Professional Enhancement Day Friday, October 19, is Professional Enhancement Day for DC/SLA. Put a reminder in your electronic calendar that you will be spending the morning with colleagues at the Charles Sumner School.

Additional information about the program and registration, including instructions for signing up for a one-on-one resume critiquing session will be posted to the webiste, be sent to the listserv, and appear in the September issue of Chapter Notes.

Enjoy your summer!

Mark your calendars for the next DC/SLA Board Meeting Wednesday, August 1, 2007 6:00 – 7:30 pm 1615 L Street, NW Suite 900 Washington, DC 20036

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 3

SLA Annual Conference 2007 Denver, Colorado June 3-6, 2007

Individual Reports Overall Impressions of the Conference Submitted by Daille Pettit

The conference started on June 1st with continuing education courses and ended on the 7th with tours of the area, but the “heart” of the conference was the 3rd through the 6th. These were very full days for me, packed with general sessions, smaller educational sessions, breakfast meetings, visits to the vendor expo, the SLA annual business meeting, and networking events such as an international reception and a get-together at a Rockies baseball game. Some of the sessions I attended included: • Opening Session with former Vice President Al Gore. Al Gore was entertaining, funny, and very comfortable with the group, but said nothing new during the opening session. He had obviously been briefed very well by SLA’s CEO, Janice LaChance (who happens to be a friend from the Clinton Administration) and talked about librarianship (and special librarianship) beyond the “I love librarians because I love books” that you normally hear from big name speakers! He promoted his books and spoke more briefly than I expected him to on global warming. The most interesting thing about hearing him speak was seeing in person such a politically important individual.

• Education Division Business Meeting and Roundtable. I’m not a member of SLA’s Education Division, but I attended their breakfast because one of their topics was a roundtable on Information Literacy Assessment. Two women who work for major educational assessment firms (i.e., who produce the SAT and the ACT) were part of the discussion which added a different point of view. We spent a lot of time talking about online tutorials. There was interest in whether research had been done that correlated performance on the SAT or ACT and performance in information literacy. Several of the group were familiar with Lynn Cameron’s efforts.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 4

• Synergy General Session. Three speakers, Stephen Abram, VP of Sirsi and President-Elect of SLA, Eugenie Prime, formerly of Hewlett-Packard, and Cliff Lynch, Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information, formed a panel to discuss the future of the information profession.

They were asked the following ten questions: 1.

How can you persuade leaders of the importance of the library profession? Answer: we have to deliver results and communicate those results.

2.

How can the information professional help organizations find the “embedded” information they need? Answer: Non-professionals can find an enormous amount of information. Librarians need to demonstrate that they can find the most relevant information and show their users how to find it.

3.

How can we deal with the changing nature of research in higher education? Answer: We can’t base our future on the OPAC. We need to look at the end user experience – i.e. what does our customer LOVE. 4.

How can we deal with the differences between older and younger librarians? Answer: We need to communicate that we all have a common vision or goal and that we value the different perspectives and learning styles between the groups.

5.

What is the most important innovation that has occurred in technology the last five years?

Answer: the panel couldn’t really answer this one, although social networking sites bubbled to the top of the list. What they stressed was having the adaptability to adjust to constant changes in technology.

6.

How can we be the best information guides?

Answer: do the best we possibly can.

7.

How can we deal with the secrecy and the climate of individualism in corporations? Answer: we need to constantly emphasize the importance of collaboration and working together across time and from different locations.

8.

How can we run our Information Center (or Library) as a business? Answer: we have to have courage to do the right thing and act where necessary.

9.

What are the best ways for us to determine what our users need? Answer: it takes a long time to find out what works for our users. We need to move from a “librarian mindset.”

10.

What tools should SLA provide? Answer: SLA is currently providing online continuing education and other programs, but they need to train us in how to make our employers think we’re indispensable!

• Luncheon Speaker, Theresa Szczurek: Practical Pointers for Pursuits of Passionate Purpose. The lunch was excellent but the speaker was trite, and I had no interest in purchasing her book, Pursuit of Passionate Purpose: Success Strategies for a Rewarding Personal and Business Life, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

• Google Presents: Tales, Tips and Tools for Librarians. A staff member from Google gave a very informative quick tour of some of Google’s latest features.

• Some of these include some tips and tricks for advanced search which include: - for excluded words; ~ for similar words; site: for a site specific search; link: for link pages. You can also type in “weather followed by the city and state” to get a weather forecast; “currency converter” to go directly to a currency converter site; to convert centigram to Fahrenheit type the number followed by degrees c in f. For more information go to www.google.com/help/features.html.

• For help in translating text you can search in other language pages by using http://translate.google.com.

• The speaker talked a lot about Google’s book project. She mentioned that 5-20% are in the public domain which allow full access to these books; 75% have unclear copyright status; and the remainder are fully copyrighted and allowed to be on the site by the publisher. You can use the advanced search in books by using http://books.google.com. You can also search 7 million patents through the Google book search.

• News alerts can be set up in www.google.com/support/news.

• Finally, there is a blog central for Google at http://librariancentral.blogspot.com.

• Education Research Forum. Sponsored by the Education Division, this research forum that consisted of three academicians presenting the results of their research.

• Dr. Sharon Weiner, Vanderbilt University: Does having an academy research library with a good reputation affect the standings reported in US DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 5

News & World Report? Her conclusion was that 70% of the variation of the reputation of the school could be explained by the standing of the library alone.

• Patricia O’Brien Libutti: Results of Developing a Searchpath Tutorial for Rutgers University to Measure Information Literacy.

Patricia reported on the mechanisms, training needed and the development of the tutorial.

• Dr. Lesley S.J. Farmer, Univ. of Calif., Long Beach. What Makes a Successful Librarian? From her survey of school media specialists, Lesley discovered that new librarians grow from outside control to inner control, become more realistic in their expectations, change their focus from daily operation to long term, and move to leadership positions within five years IF they stay in the field.

• Collection Development in the Electronic Age. A panel presented a variety of ways to handle electronic resources.

• First panelist presented a checklist of questions that needed to be asked when purchasing an electronic resource.

• The second speaker (from the Univ. of Auckland) explained what happened when her library dramatically moved from a print to an electronic collection (which included increased financial support).

• The third speaker represented a completely different view. The mandate of their library is to keep everything in print, so they have print materials not available anywhere else.

• The last panelist, representing a federal library, explained how they developed a plan to go from print to digital.

• International Exchange Caucus Breakfast and Meeting. The caucus’ topic was information literacy, and the discussion was very interesting because at least half of the attendees at the breakfast were not Americans. One of the most interesting programs mentioned was in Scotland.

• Closing Session with Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. This was an absolutely enjoyable fun session. He’s as entertaining as his characters!

• Social Networking Sites and Software. I attended this session because I wanted to become more familiar with these sites. The following were mentioned: MySpace.com; Facebook.com;

Friendster.com; YouTube; Orkut; LinkedIn; etc.

This session was sponsored by SLA’s News Division. Every teenager should attend a similar session! One of the speakers who worked at the Denver Post’s library demonstrated how she found extremely personal information through these sites while helping report on a crime.

All in all it was an informative (and fun) conference. If you have any questions, please let me know.

SLA Legal Division: International Law Reception Submitted by Larry Guthrie

The Honorable Don McCorkell enhanced the environmental theme of the Colorado conference by describing his forthcoming film documentary on CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). With 18 years as an Oklahoma Legislator who helped create the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Services, he pointed out that now, for a considerable amount of the poultry and hog industry, the entire food production process from beginning to end could be considered “factory farming.” This produces a large amount of concentrated waste, particularly in North Carolina for hogs; and in Arkansas for chickens with the rivers flowing into Oklahoma. He notes a link between CAFO’s and global warming, disease potential, diminished biodiversity, “genderbending” in fish, labor issues, and the decline of the family farm. He also said that Europe and Japan are ahead of the US in regulating these industries.

McCorkell’s message rings similar to Al Gore’s speech to SLA, and to “An Inconvenient Truth.”(2006)

Web Tools for Legal Researchers Speaker: Gary Price, Ask.com Submitted by Louis C. Abramovitz

This fast-paced and at times provocative session dealt with the vast array of tools now available to legal researchers.

Gary indicated that we as librarians must do far more than simply let our users know what services we have to offer: We must show them.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 6

If we fail in this task, our users may not truly understand the value of what we can do for them. If nothing else, users will listen if we can demonstrate how we can save them time.

Gary also made a very interesting point about new technologies: You do not necessarily have to employ the latest bells and whistles in order to be successful. In fact, he maintains that Web 2.0 is something that no one can really define – basically, a lot of hype. He thinks that many of these supposedly “hot” 2.0 firms have no business plan and are simply loading information onto other people’s servers.

To illustrate his thesis that librarians can go relatively low-tech and still be successful, Gary related his experience attracting large numbers of subscribers for an email newsletter he produces.

Gary believes it is a hit in large part because a) people in general know how to use email and b) email is far more user-friendly (at least where the average user is concerned) than, for instance, RSS feeds.

In spite of his misgivings about Web 2.0, Gary ticked off a fairly long list of new tools he likes, including: Meebo.com for instant messaging; inbox.com for Web-based email; esnips.com and mediamax.com for remote storage; wize.com and farecast.com for data mining; redlasso.com for multimedia online search; httrack.com for website archiving; and jajah.com and yak4ever.com for VoIP. Gary indicated that his all-time favorite is zoho.com. Zoho offers a complete suite of Webbased office productivity, wiki, email and presentation software – and, best of all, most of the applications are free!

How to Convince Your Clients They Desperately Need You Speaker: Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services Submitted by Louis C. Abramovitz

The fact that this session was so well attended speaks volumes as to how many of us in the special library world face this challenge on a daily basis.

Mary Ellen reminded the audience of an ugly reality: Whether we are willing to admit it or not, our competition includes the (inanimate) likes of Wikipedia and Google. The bottom line: We need advocates, not merely users.

She related the story of a focus group asked to choose between boom boxes. One was yellow, cool and hip, the other, a plain black model. The focus group members all ultimately selected the black boom box.

The lesson we can learn from this tale: Users may pay lip service to what we as librarians do and how nice we are, but at the end of the day, where do they turn for the information they need?

So, if you’re like Sally Field at the Oscars, it may be enough to know that people “really like” you but it’s not enough if you hope to continue your career as a librarian.

So, what’s a special librarian to do? Plenty!

Among Mary Ellen’s suggestions: Do a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). This will help you better understand your organization’s stakeholders and their needs.

Conduct a user survey and offer a reward for completing the survey. This could be something as simple as free training or current awareness services. Ask users what they do when they can’t find information they need – try to zero in on their “information pain point(s).” Try to probe into whether there are political or budgetary reasons why certain user groups don’t use the library more.

Know your clients’ preferences. Some folks, for instance, are more visually oriented, so they may prefer charts, graphics and spreadsheets over text.

Offer a new service. Refer to it as, for instance, your firm’s new custom search engine, beta edition – this way, you can easily scrap the idea if it doesn’t turn out to be a hit.

Develop a half-hour training session and schedule it at a convenient time. Perhaps a Friday afternoon happy hour would work, or a podcast that could be listened to anytime. Presentation topics might include when to use different search engines or the deep Web. DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 7

Web-based tutorials or short e-bulletins on hot topics. For instance, talk about “three cool quick answer tools” you think your users should know about.

“Look for love in the all right places.” By this, Mary Ellen meant that you need to identify the people in your organization for whom information translates directly into revenue.

Emerging Technology Breakfast – Legal Division Speakers: Nathan Rosen, Nina Platt and Thomas Fleming Submitted by Louis C. Abramovitz

A few sounds bites from the discussion that took place at this breakfast: The future depends on adoption of Web 2.0.

Law firms will adopt Enterprise 2.0 (KM, in a very narrow sense) more slowly than the corporate world. One can argue that this is because law firms are generally more conservative and deliberate when it comes to adopting new technologies.

The newer generation is coming into libraries very comfortable with technology, especially tools for social interaction. While this is good, they tend to labor under the misconception that information is always going to be instant, free and correct. They will need to be re-educated by us older and wiser folks.

In the legal field, there are now wikis such as Wex and Wikilaw, but these are in the early stages of development - not nearly as far along as, for instance, Wikipedia. (Some courts have used Wikipedia entries in crafting opinions, but given recent questions as to its credibility, this may not be a good thing.)

The courts are very slow to adopt new technologies such as wikis, although the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals now offers a practitioners’ handbook wiki. In addition, Washburn University operates an advanced legal research wiki.

Mashups and Remixes for Government Information

embedded links from search results in USA.gov, the official portal for the federal government.

Submitted by Cassandra Harper

Karen Huffman of National Geographic Society and Dan Newman of MAPLight.org presented innovative strategies on creating and accessing government information on mash-ups during this lively session. Web 2.0 has brought about a tremendous growth in collaborative communities and mashups on the Internet. It allows new ways to deliver information with customized content.

Librarians are fast to catch on to this trend by combining and remixing existing--and sometimes unrelated--data available on the internet to create new consolidated and customized applications. The creation of mashups can present legal issues when combining commercial information. However, government information is in the public domain and can be used without fear of copyright violations.

Mashups are part of service-oriented architecture with internet resources. Mashups reach into the Application Program Interface (API) for a given application, and then extract information and webpage elements to launch a new application that adds value. In the past, mash-ups focused heavily on connecting and mixing information with pinpoints on maps. Some mashups connected information on crime statistics, or real estate with Google or Yahoo maps to add value for users.

National Geographic Society (NGS) library made innovative strides to enhance and add value to information, improve productivity and corporate growth. Mashups have enhanced their existing library services. Presently, the library is working on a redesign of its Earth Currents newsletter. The staff added Google gadgets that enhanced the newsletter with images of the day from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website and earthquake data from United States Geological Survey (USGS). Google provides scripts that can be added to your webpage and allows users to create their own gadgets. The creation of the website for the joint BioBlitz project between NGS and the National Park Service included a merger of data about additional bioblitzes using KML standard with Google maps to pinpoint locations on the map. Additional features included the addition of podcasts, RSS feeds and DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 8

Newman presented the features of the award winning MAPLight.org. MAPLight.org tracks the relationships between campaign contributions and votes on legislation by election officials. It is a nonpartisan and nonprofit service that was featured in Wired magazine in April 2007. MAPLight.org mashes up data from three sources: funding information from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics and voting information from Thomas.loc.gov.

MAPLight.org combines this data to provide a graphical interface that demonstrates a connection between monetary contributions and votes on key legislation. Users have access to data that combines campaign contributions to a specific politician and their voting records. It provides details on funds from interest supporting legislative issues and not supporting legislative issues and its ultimate passage or defeat. In the future, MAPLight.org plans to include mashups of regional and demographic data on contributions from citizens with pinpoints of key areas on maps and a legislative bill tracking service.

Getting Started There are many factors to consider before creating a mashup. First, develop your ideas on paper.

Important considerations include the purpose of the mashup, methods for measuring usage, users, and cost. Collaborate with a team to assess your organization's issues and needs. Also, look for resources on building mashups.

Programmableweb.com is a good resource for information about creating your own mashups. It also provides free API tools for mapping to government data and other content.

Reaching New Heights: My Experience at the SLA Conference in Denver Submitted by Julia Leggett

My SLA experience in the Mile-High City, Denver, was truly enjoyable. I learned about new products and services from dozens of vendors, gained knowledge of new technologies, such as Podcasting, Blogs, Wikis, RSS, and developed interests in competitive intelligence and knowledge

management. More importantly, I discovered my potential for future development in leadership and management.

In addition to the learning experience, I also enjoyed the many social networking events every day on my conference calendar. I was able to meet with special librarians from all over the world. The conference provided me with a taste of diverse cultures and global experiences. I would like to share a few nuggets of knowledge I learned from the conference with you. I hope they are useful for you.

• SLA Leadership Institute, June 2, 2007 New technology can help us cope with changes, but it also contributes to our frustrations. As information professionals, do you often feel you are drowning in information, but are starved for knowledge? What are the critical survival skills we need to develop in the ever-changing information age? What's the key knowledge we need to learn to cope with change? What is missing in our library schools' current curriculum that will help our students adapt to changes no matter where they work? These are the key issues I learned in “Weaving the Invisible Cloth: Developing Leadership for 21st Century Libraries.”

SLA president Rebecca Vargha delivered an inspiring and entertaining speech on leadership.

She said that good leadership skills are transferable from one setting to another. To be a good leader, you must be of good character, acting with honesty and integrity. You must be devoted to the organization and have a passion to succeed. A good leader is never afraid of competition. Without competition, you can’t achieve excellence. A good leader must embrace change, and make adjustment in the ever-changing environment. She introduced the concept of “baseline changes,” referring to the changes that often occur incrementally and are thus hard to notice. To learn more about baseline changes and their impact on our life, Ms. Vargha recommended an article titled “Normal Is a Moving Target” by Linton Weeks, published in Washington Post on January 6, 2007.

A good leader must have the ability to plan. The very best use of time is to spend time and money on strategic planning. One CEO spends several hours a day thinking about the details. “The devil is in the DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 9

details,” Ms. Varga said. However, we should not micromanage and focus on insignificant details.

As an enthusiastic fan of the University of North Carolina basketball team, Ms. Varga highly recommends coach Dean Smith’s book titled The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons From a Life in Coaching. She also mentioned a book entitled 7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don’t published by Center for Association Leadership.

•

Annual Diversity Leadership Breakfast, June 5, 2007 I enjoyed the wonderful presentation by Dr. Camila Alire, Interim Library Dean, University of Colorado at Denver. In this presentation, Dr. Alire took the concepts of managerial and transformational leadership to respond to questions related to diversity in libraries. Who are the managerial and transformational leaders? Is managerial leadership color blind? How can a managerial leader help to diversify a library organization?

The managerial and transformational leaders are the individuals who embrace change, motivate and empower their library staff, and mentor and coach staff to deal successfully with the change process.

They influence staff in a positive way to reach the vision and goals of their libraries, and create a connection that increases motivation and morality in leaders and staff. To be a managerial and transformational leader, one must have strong leadership competencies. Managerial leadership allows managers to sit back and reflect first on the leadership implications of management. “Managers do things right, leaders do the right thing,” said Dr.Alire.

Dr. Alire stated that “There is a major disconnect when managers do not value diversity yet they have minorities in their organizations. This disconnect within the organization will adversely affect the organizational culture.”

“The managerial leader needs to promote the library organization’s core values that emphasize accepting and promoting diversity. This important component is key to developing the leadership capabilities of minorities within the library organization,” said Dr. Alire.

Summing up the presentation, Dr. Alire suggested that managerial leaders can help diversify a library organization by empowering their minorities to develop a shared mission. They should take the lead in recruiting qualified minorities in libraries, support those minorities in leadership development, encourage minorities to improve their relationbuilding, communications, problem solving, risktaking, innovation and collaboration skills.

•

Presentation: From Wallflower to Active Networker by Dr. Renee Gilbert, June 6, 2007 Dr. Gilbert is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, speaker, consultant and educator. In this fun-filled presentation, she told the attendees that networking may be easier than you think. Most people are uncomfortable in social situations.

Nowadays, social skills are on the decline while shyness is on the upswing. Most people choose comfort and convenience over quality when meeting new people. However, small changes in your networking style can make a big difference in your social and professional success.

To improve your networking skills, Dr. Gilbert provided three fundamentals principles in social networking: make it easy, make it fun, and make it worthwhile. She also offered five practical tips on how to do networking effectively. The five tips are

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 10

P-O-L-I-T-E. It stands for prepare, observe, learn, integrate and test.

P – Prepare. Prepare for the event and use it as a personal growth opportunity.

O – Observe. Observe what’s happening, watch the people around you. Notice what works for them.

Take the best of what you see and give it try.

L – Learn. Learn what you can, from wherever you can. Pick and choose what makes sense for you and ignore the rest.

I – Integrate. Integrate what you’ve learned, and identify specific strategies and techniques that may work for you.

T – Test. Test your learning by trying out your new acquired skills.

E - Evaluate the results of your networking efforts and make adjustments.

Dr. Gilbert mentioned that social networking has many benefits. It can boost your immune system, increase your work productivity, achieve your goals earlier in life, reduce your chances of being laid off from work, and enhance your general sense of wellbeing.

Dr. Gilbert lives in Bellevue, Washington. She has two interesting websites on social networking: http://www.reneegilbert.com and http://www.shakeyourshyness.com. Visit the sites to learn more about the subjects.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 11

Learn How to Find Elusive Patents! Basic Patent & Trademark Session Planned

Washington, D.C. Chapter 2007 Student Scholarships

SLA-DC's Business Information Finders group is hosting an informative session on basic patent and trademark searching on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website, Thursday, July 26 from 1-3pm. Members of SLA-DC and LLSDC are invited to attend.

The Washington, D.C. Chapter student scholarship program – 2007 Edition – is under way.

The presenter will be Chris Black, Librarian, of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The presentation will be hosted by Louis Abramovitz at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. (See Metro directions below). There is no charge for this session; light refreshments will be served.

Space is limited. Please RSVP to Louis Abramovitz <LAbramovitz@wbklaw.com> no later than June 15th if you would like to attend.

Directions From Foggy Bottom Metro (Orange/Blue Lines-approx. 10 minute walk) Take the escalator to the street level.

Turn left, walking past the emergency entrance to George Washington University Hospital. You will see a major traffic circle, Washington Circle, straight ahead.

Turn left and follow the circle to the crosswalk at Pennsylvania Avenue and 24th Street.

Cross Pennsylvania Avenue and continue three blocks north on 24th to N Street, NW. Our building is located on the right at the southeast corner of 24th and N Streets.

Directions From the Dupont Circle Metro Station (Red Line-approx. 15 minute walk) Take the Circle South exit.

Walk straight south on 19th Street, NW. Turn right on N Street, NW. Continue to 24th Street, NW. Our building is located on the left side of the street, at the southeast corner of 24th and N Streets.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 12

DC/SLA wants to encourage talented men and women to join us with a career in special libraries.

Two scholarships of $2,000 each will be awarded by the chapter in August for studies leading to a Master’s Degree from an accredited graduate Library Science program.

InfoCurrent Scholarship, $2,000 Catherine A. Jones Memorial Scholarship, $2,000 Winners will be chosen based on a short one-to-two page essay describing their professional goals and their interest in special librarianship. Applicants must be members of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of Special Libraries Association and enrolled in an accredited Library Science program.

If you aren’t a DC/SLA member yet, SLA student dues are only $35 per year. Join today at www.sla.org. Remember to select the Washington, D.C. Chapter on your SLA membership form.

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

Application deadline: July 18, 2007 Don’t delay!

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 13

Federal Librarians Invited on German Study Tour Ten American librarians have been invited to join a study tour of German libraries that provide research and information services to the German government, the federal and state parliaments and non-governmental organizations. The study tour is being provided by the Initiative Fortbildung für wissenschaftliche Spezialbibliotheken und verwandte Einrichtungen e. V. (Initiative for Continuing Education in Academic and ResearchOriented Special Libraries and Related Institutions – http://www.initiativefortbildung.de) and the German Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Parlaments-und Behoerdenbibliotheken APBB (Section of Parliamentary and Government Libraries) with generous support from the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation (http://www.cc-stiftung.de).

The study tour will run from October 2 – 14, 2007.

Scheduled visits in Berlin are to the German Bundestag, the Federal Foreign Office, and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. In Hamburg the group will visit the State Parliament of Hamburg, in Dresden the Saxon Parliament and the Saxon State Library and in Munich the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition, and Tax Law, and the Bavarian State Library. The tour will end with visits to the European Court of Human Rights in Strassbourg, France, the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.

The program aims to acquaint German and American librarians with their counterparts and to open a dialogue of exchange and cooperation.

The American librarians selected include: Lawrence S. Barish, Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau; Susan L. Blixt, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; C. Elaine Cline, U.S. Department of State Library; Eileen G. Deegan, U.S. Department of State; Arthur McEnany, Louisiana Senate Law Library; Jerry W. Mansfield, Congressional Research Service; Cathy L. Martin, North Carolina General Assembly Legislative Library; Curtis R. Rogers, South Carolina State Library; Donna Scheeder, Library of Congress Law Library; and Christopher Zammarelli, The Brookings Institution.

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 14

Put information overload in its place with Factiva.

More isn’t always good – especially when you need to find useful business news or information quickly.

You can achieve more, with less frustration, with Factiva because its unique text-mining and visualization technologies make it easier to find essential business information.

To learn how technology-enhanced content can give your organization a competitive advantage, download the IDC white paper, “Redefining Business Search -A Picture is Worth a Thousand Documents,” at www.factiva.com/dc/more

SLA Award Winners DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 15

Lina Ortega The 2007 SLA honor and award recipients are (DCSLA members in bold): John Cotton Dana Award Recipient: Gloria Zamora SLA Hall of Fame Inductees: Paul Wasserman and Gary Wiggins Presidential Citation Recipients: Clare Hart (Dow Jones & Company, Princeton, New Jersey, USA) and Jane Macoustra (Tai-Pan Research, Surrey, U.K.)

SLA Scholarship Recipients: Julie May, Jennifer Rohan, Meghan Fahe Affirmative Action Scholarship Recipient: Terence L. Johnson Mary Adeline Connor Professional Development Scholarship Recipient: Vaishali Jahagirdar Descriptions of the 2007 SLA Honors and Awards can be found online at http://www.sla.org/awards.

Fellows: Terri Brooks; Patricia Cia ; Toby Pearlstein; Gail Stahl; Wei Wei Factiva Leadership Award Recipient: Jane Kinney Meyers Rose L. Vormelker Award Recipient: Eileen Abels LexisNexis Innovations in Technology Award Recipient: Karen Huffman SLA Member Achievement Award sponsored by Thomson Scientific and Dialog Award Recipient: Sharon Lenius

Membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Corner

Blanca Chou, Senior Manager, Information Resource Center at Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. is an award recipient for the Diversity Leadership Development Program (DLDP) Award at SLA conference in Denver. http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/mem ber_news/index.html

H.W. Wilson Company Award Recipients: Helen Clegg and Susan Montgomery SLA Professional Award sponsored by Springer Recipient: The SLA Military Librarians Division The 2007 recipients of the Diversity Leadership Development Program (DLDP) award sponsored by Ebsco are: DLDP Award recipients: Blanca Chou Cheryl Jacocks-Terrell Debal C Kar DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 16

Iris Anderson retired in May from the International Monetary Fund where she had served as a Team Leader. Iris will remain active in SLA since she will be the chair of the Social Science Division in January 2009.

She will succeed Heidi Yacker of the Library of Congress who will be chair in January 2008. The current chair is Greta Ober of the IMF.

Nancy Minter, head of the Urban Institute Library, received the Thomson Gale Murray Wortzel Award for her distinguished service to the Social Science Division. The award, a certificate and a cash prize, was presented to her at the annual conference in Denver.

Shirley Loo, Athena Williams, and Suzanne Kalil greeted librarians and guests at the world premiere of "The Hollywood Librarian", a documentary about what librarians really do as compared to what Hollywood has depicted. They and other volunteers clapped and cheered for everyone who walked the red carpet including Ann Siedl, writer and director. Their picture appeared in the Washington Post on Sunday, June 24 in the Style section. After the documentary was shown to 5,000 librarians

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 17

and guests, Ann Siedl took the stage with librarians from the film whom she introduced. Kee Malesky was then invited to the stage by Ann to give her comments on the film.

James King, Chief Librarian of the Naval Research Laboratory, planned a program for the ALA annual conference, "Public Access to Government-Sponsored Research". He also led the panel discussion through the history, issues, legislative efforts, and opportunities related to public access and government-sponsored research. The program was sponsored by the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT) and the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC).

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 18

DC/SLA Chapter Notes | July/August 2007 | pg 19