Chapter Notes July/August 2000
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Vol. 59, No. 9 July/August 2000 Contents President's Corner The Official DC/SLA Guide to Humor on the Web A Message to DC/SLA Officers, Committee & Group Chairs: WETA SENDS THANKS TO DC/SLA VOLUNTEERS DC/SLA Discussion List Ask the Experts Convince Me Otherwise (article by Suzanne Pilsk) Education Practice and Change: Skills and Training for 21st Century Information Professionals DC/SLA 2000 Election Results President's Corner Washington DC Chapter, Special Libraries Association By Nancy Minter, DC/SLA 1999-2000 President, nminter@ui.urban.org DC/SLA ANNUAL REPORT Every year, just before Thanksgiving, my mother would wonder aloud how it came to be that the holidays were approaching so quickly. With the impatience of youth, my sisters and I would carefully point out that it had been nearly a year and that it was time for turkey, shopping and new party dresses. I must confess that in many ways it seems like just yesterday that we were gathered at the Childe Harold restaurant, and I was nervously waiting for the ceremonial gavel to be passed to me. And now, I'm about to officially place it into the able hands of Dave Shumaker, our President-Elect. I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you a little about all we've accomplished this year. Yes, I said WE -- for there's no way all our accomplishments could possibly have come to pass without the help of everyone. First, our work on Global 2000 fundraising is about to come to a close. To date, we actually have, in hand, nearly $51,000 for fellowships for the Global 2000 Conference!! That figure is comprised of just over $18,000 sent from other Chapters and more than $16,000 sent from SLA Divisions, combined with the monies we have raised ourselves. What a great job! Second, our work to update our Strategic Plan is well underway. Our newly configured committee, under the excellent leadership of Ellie Briscoe, has developed a survey instrument to gather YOUR input. Have you responded? If so, then your completed survey is one of more than the 200 we received, and is now being tabulated by committee members. Along with the committee's evaluations and ideas, these ideas from you will form the basis for determining how to improve and strengthen our Chapter. They will also direct how we strategically position our Chapter and ourselves to maximize our opportunities to learn and grow. We expect this report to be completed in the next few months. The third area that I mentioned in last year's plan of action was to help foster professional development and caring. I said we planned to reach out through networking and through mentoring to help each other and, thereby, help ourselves and our profession be stronger and more visible. This year, for the first time, we had a Mentoring Coordinator on our Advisory Committee. Well, I should say co-chairs -- Barbara Folensbee and Rhea Austin. We have identified some individuals who are willing to be mentors and some that sought mentors, and we are working to strengthen and formalize this program. Through this increased involvement, we will grow our Chapter, not just in the number of members, but in the quality of the knowledge leaders we count among our members. We are also exploring ways to reach out to paraprofessionals -- many of whom are potential professional librarians and thus new Chapter members -- in a partnership to further strengthen the library community here in DC.
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These, then, the three goals that I outlined for you one year ago, have all been in our sights this year. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication in making them a reality for us. So, what else has been happening? Well, this year, we awarded our first student membership award to Loren Scherbak. This entitled her to have her dues paid for one year and free attendance at three DC/SLA Chapter events. We have been notified that SLA's Board of Directors has selected Washington, DC as the site for the 2009 annual conference. What a perfect place to kick off the 100th anniversary of the association! Chapter programming covered a number of different topics. The October program featured SLA's John Crosby discussing a variety of government relations issues, not the least of which was the potential NTIS closing. Some of the association-wide officers and candidates attending the SLA Board meeting joined us for this program. For the November program, "Real Knowledge Management," we assembled a panel of leading practitioners from our Chapter to discuss what they have done in the knowledge management sector, and what their practices are in this area. At the January Professional Development seminar, Mary Dzurinko convinced us that "All Systems Are Not Created Equal," and offered a system for comparing vendors' offerings when purchasing an integrated library system. In March, we co-sponsored Technology Day 2000 with the Maryland Chapter. The day-long event addressed a wide variety of emerging technology topics, from intelligent agents to enterprise portals. For the April program, SLA President-Elect Donna Scheeder moderated a panel of local library school deans who looked at how library schools are preparing students for the real world. Social events included our second annual Neighborhood Dinners program, a series of hosted dinners held around the metro area. Members exchanged holiday greetings at the December reception held at the Arts Club of Washington, and greeted new members and old friends at the February New Members' Reception, held at SLA headquarters. Chapter Notes was published 10 times this year -- more than any other SLA Chapter's newsletter. Yet there was no shortage of information. Each issue was filled with important, exciting news about and for the Chapter's members. Thanks to the diligent efforts of our business manager, Mary Talley, our issues were fully supported by advertisers. For the first time in several years, we have appointed a member to serve on the SLA Committee on Cataloging, Suzanne Pilsk. Her informative, thought-provoking columns are now appearing in Chapter Notes. Special thanks to our three co-editors, Joanie Cornwell, Amy Pass and Eileen Deegan, for their superb contributions to Chapter communications. This year we also implemented a new sponsorship policy delineating the specific terms for levels of vendor support of Chapter programs. My thanks to Directors Anne Caputo and Mike Kolakowski for their skill in crafting this policy. Groups Last May, the Board approved the establishment of a new informally affiliated group, Business Information Finders. This group has now had a year of programs and events, including a discussion of international trade resources, led by Michael Donnelly of the Library of Congress. In June, a presentation on small business sources will be given by Liz Cline. A new formally affiliated group, the Legal Issues Group, was officially formed last summer. Its objective is to enhance the skills and knowledge of members, both law librarians and non-legal librarians, in legal and regulatory affairs and issues. The bylaws of this group were approved by the Chapter's Board of Directors in August. Watch for program announcements of both these groups in Chapter Notes and on the discussion list. The Military Librarians Group remains very active under the able leadership of Pat Alderman. It sponsored several programs this year, including some author talks that drew large crowds. The News Group continues to hold some meetings, but is struggling to find a new Chair. If you'd like to volunteer, please let me or Dave Shumaker know. Committees
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Our Awards Committee, headed by Rick Davis, submitted nominations for association-wide awards, whose winners will be announced in Philadelphia. The committee also selected winners of our annual Chapter awards. The Member-of-the-Year award was presented to Sue O'Neill Johnson for all of her excellent work in coordinating the efforts of the International Projects (IP) Committee and its fundraising efforts for the SLA Global 2000 Conference. The Board-of-Directors award was given to a group of ten members of the IP Committee who have made outstanding contributions over a two-year period. These members are: John Latham, Rhea Austin, Mandy Baldridge, Liz Farley, Sharon Lenius, Daille Pettit, Sylvia Piggott, Renny Ponvert, Margarita Studemeister, and Barbara Vandegrift. Also, Special Recognition Certificates were presented to the following sixteen members who have made a major contribution of time and effort to one or more aspects of the project: Marilyn Bromley, Mary Nell Bryant, Elizabeth Cline, Joanie Cornwell, Terri Fritz, Catherine Kitchell, Michael Kolakowski, Karen Lee, Kristina Lively, Zeina Mansour, Greta Ober-Beauchesne, Allen Overland, Kenlee Ray, Donna Scheeder, Jeff Stickle, and myself. Our Consultation Committee received three inquiries for consultation services, with one consultation completed and one in progress. This was down sharply from 1999's eight completed consultations, but response to the services provided continues to be positive. Inquiring organizations are typically very impressed by the willingness of our information professional community to share its expertise. We thank Christine Romboletti Sicard and Gail Kouril for heading up this year's effort. The Government Relations Committee, co-chaired by Roberta Geier and Sharon Millman Wasserman, closely followed the many legislative developments on the national level that affect special librarians, and relayed that information promptly. Their detailed information on the proposed closing of NTIS has been of particular interest to many of us. The Internet Committee and the Discussion List Manager, Greta Ober and Kristina Lively, have worked hard to keep the Chapter's website up-to-date. I particularly wish to thank them for their efforts to keep the Global 2000 Conference information current, so all could know the importance of this upcoming event and the progress we are making to raise funds for fellowships. The Membership Committee continues to be active. Chair Monica Romiti insured that each new member was sent a "welcome" packet. This year brought some special challenges as headquarters worked out the kinks in a new system, and requested our help in sorting out new members from 45-year members. The Public Relations Committee has supported the many activities of the Chapter, and provided an opportunity for 30 of us to help WETA with its annual fund-raising campaign in March. We enjoyed a Sunday evening of meeting the "talent," taking pledges, and having an insider's tour of the studio reserved for Jim Lehrer's use at the station. Thanks to Hetty Barthel for her efforts to get our name "out there" on the tv screens of the region. Last, but certainly not least, I want to extend my special thanks to the Hospitality Committee for its work in finding sites and handling all of the details that ensured the success of this year's programs. Mandy Baldridge always makes it look so easy, but we know she has spent many hours arranging and checking every detail. Mandy, thank you. So, we've had a very busy year, occupied with the business of SLA and the information profession here in our nation's capital. We have made significant progress toward achieving the three goals I laid out this time last year: z z z
To complete our Global 2000 fundraising; To establish a mentoring opportunity and a caring environment; To update our strategic plan.
We added two new groups, and we are reaching out in many other ways to diversify our membership and to meet -- and exceed -- the needs of our members. I thank you all for your involvement, support and assistance, and for the chance to have served as your president this year. Thanks, also, to our outgoing officers: Karen Mark, Laura Foy, Linda Smith, and Mike Kolakowski, who were always there for me. And good luck to our new leaders, and especially to Daille Pettit, who is trading in her Immediate Past President hat to become an Association officer.
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I hope to see many of you in Philadelphia!! -- Nancy Minter Return to contents
The Official DC/SLA Guide to Humor on the Web Search Engines and Metasites HumorLinks Site - http://www.humorlinks.com/links/ Topical list of sites plus search engine. Humor Search: the Web's Source for Humor - http://www.humorsearch.com/ Humor Sites Ed's Joke Archive - http://www.eds-jokelist.com Email joke of the day by subscription; joke archive. Family Humor Archive - http://www.slonet.org/~tellswor/ Includes email service, search engine, and topical list. HumorMall.com - http://www.HumorMall.com A resource for the pros as well as amateurs. Includes email service and a humor ezine. Joke Post - http://jokepost.com/ Great collection of lawyer jokes at http://jokepost.com/lawyer.html The Superjoke Site -http://www.superjokes.com/collection23.html Email joke of the day by subscription; also a metasite with other joke links. Newsgroups Brad Templeton's rec.humor.funny - http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/ See also Brad's links to other humor newsgroups: http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/bestngrp.html Special Interests Classic Internet Jokes Site - http://129.142.224.107/jokes.html Daily Golf Joke Site - http://www.dailygolfjokes.com/index.html For golfers only. No archive. Political Humor Site - http://politicalhumor.about.com/comedy/politicalhumor/ Return to contents
A Message to DC/SLA Officers, Committee & Group Chairs: This is a reminder about the archives -- it's time to gather together the various materials your DC/SLA activities have generated this past year, so that they can be placed in the Chapter Archives. These materials include announcements of group programs, minutes of committee meetings, program information, letters, and of course a copy of your annual report to the President. Please e-mail Kee Malesky, DC Chapter Archivist, at KMalesky@npr.org, if you have questions about what materials to save. Return to contents WETA SENDS THANKS TO DC/SLA VOLUNTEERS Editors' Note: Hetty Barthel, Public Relations Committee Chair, received the following message from WETA's
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volunteer coordinator, thanking DC/SLA for its participation in the station's recent Pledge Drive. As the note indicates, the enthusiastic work of many DC/SLA members contributed to a very successful drive. Dear members of the D.C. Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, Thank you for contributing your time and energy to the WETA TV 26, March Pledge Drive. With your assistance, WETA raised a grand total of $1,174,363 from 8,248 pledges. The afternoon your group was in the studio we raised $23,390. Your efforts contribute to WETA's ability to deliver the quality programs and services for which it is known. Our fund drives would not be as successful or fun without you. Again, thank you for supporting WETA. Sincerely, Christine L. Wolski Manager, Volunteer Services WETA Return to contents DC/SLA Discussion List Subscribe to the Chapter Discussion List! A great way to keep up with Chapter news and events is to join the DC/SLA Chapter Discussion List! This list was created to provide SLA DC Chapter members a means of quick & easy communication. To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail to: lists@lists.sla.org with the following in the body of the message: subscribe sla-cdc Firstname Lastname You will receive an automatic confirmation message once subscribed. For additional information, click here http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc/list.html, or contact Greta Ober, 202-6236413, e-mail: greta@worldbank.org Return to contents
Ask the Experts At the Annual Meeting and Banquet, humorist John J. Daly suggested that the DC/SLA newsletter compile a list of the funniest, strangest or wackiest questions Chapter members have received from their patrons. In response, Teresa McGervey, Technical Information Specialist at the National Technical Information Service sent us an excerpt from an article in the May 2000 issue of Funny Times - "Weird Library Reference Questions." The following are some queries that were actually received by American and Canadian librarians: "Do you have a list of all the books I've ever read?" "Do you have that book by Rushdie: 'Satanic Nurses'?" "Which outlets in the library are appropriate for my hair dryer?" "Can you tell me why so many famous Civil War battles were fought on National Park sites?" "Do you have any books with photographs of dinosaurs?" "I need a color photograph of George Washington (Christopher Columbus, King Arthur, Moses, Socrates, etc.)." "Is the basement upstairs?" (Asked at the First Floor Reference Desk) "I am looking for a list of laws that I can break that would send me back to jail for a couple of months."
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We'd love to hear some of the humorous requests you have received! Send them to the Chapter Notes Editors at cneditors@yahoo.com, by July 14, 2000. We'll print them in the next issue....no kidding! Return to contents
Convince Me Otherwise by SCP (Suzanne 'Cataloger' Pilsk) pilsks@sil.si.edu The red emergency phone has been going off in Libraryland! Seems there's some talk about changing the shelving order from the subject arrangement based on class number to a size-based system at THE Library, a.k.a. The Library of Congress. Many librarians are crying "Anarchy!" But me, well, I may be unpopular -- and I am willing for someone to convince me that I am wrong -- but I just can't care how Library of Congress shelves its books. "Heartless librarian!" "Heresy!!" "Horrendous cataloger!!!" I just do not see why I should care. I am not allowed to go back in the stacks of THE Library -- even most LC staff aren't allowed into the stacks. I search the catalog and ask for the book and wait. Up swoops LC staffers as caped crusaders, and down my book comes. Do I care if it was sitting on the shelf next to another book about the same topic but twice the size? Do I care if it was sitting next to a book about something unrelated but matched in size? I don't think so. I just want the book. Now be truthful. How many of us remember the color and size of a book before the title? I'll fess-up. More than 73.2% of the time, I remember what it looked like more clearly than the proper title and author! Take away my borrowing rights if you must. Okay, one might argue that browsing the stacks by call number allows one to find material through serendipity: "I have special bat sonar! Let me back there to browse and I will find more on the topic I want." My response: "Do that online -- browse the call number." Those who think that they "discovered" a new book next to the one they were after because they just "happened" upon it are missing the POINT of my job. I catalog. I assign call numbers related to the book's subject. I placed that book there!! You could find it if you used the call-number searching option. Take the book you want on the topic you want. Use that call number as your guide to search the callnumber option online, and browse away. The shelf assignment is the address of the book - i.e., where in the bat cave the book is sitting. It is important because it helps libraries avoid losing the book. But what do I care how that address is done or assigned? Back in the days of cards, the shelf list was the working list and patrons were not allowed to see, let alone touch, the shelf-list cards. They had special secret notes written only for the librarians. Special (super-hero?) librarians could glance at the cards and know secret information that would make them nod their heads and hum to themselves. But now, we live at a time when the call number is an access point and can/should be used that way. All right, not everyone uses a subject-based call number system. But THE Library does. And it shouldn't stop assigning the subject access points in the class number. No one should be losing access to the data. However, patrons just can't fly like a bat to the exact location the book was sitting for the last 200 years based on that subject number. Space is space. Don't weed the good stuff out, and don't limit acquisitions based on space. It's time to solve the problem. Shelve more efficiently, and keep good inventory controls so the proper bats can find what they need to find. Sounds logical to me! Return to contents
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Education Practice and Change: Skills and Training for 21st Century Information Professionals By Barbara Folensbee This program, held on April 25, provided a lot of interesting information on where the profession might be going and how professional librarians will be trained and working in the coming years. The session started off with a presentation by Donna Scheeder, President-Elect of SLA. As the individual who will be helping the association move forward in the next year or so, it was very interesting to hear her thoughts on the evolution of the information professional and the competencies that she thinks will be needed. Beginning with her own predictions and observations on the future of our profession, she also discussed the differences she sees between information management and knowledge management. She concluded with her suggestions for the future training of librarians and how those currently in the profession can keep themselves up to date and thriving. Having heard from someone already in the information workplace, it was interesting to shift to the views of two individuals currently involved in helping to form new members of the profession. Both Dr. Peter Liebscher, Dean of the library school at Catholic University and Dr. Ann Prentice, Dean of the library program at University of Maryland discussed how their respective institutions see the future of their programs and the training of new professionals. Dr. Prentice let us be some of the first to know that the school at Maryland was changing its name from College of Library and Information Services to the College of Information Studies. This change reflects her views on the broadening array of skills that will be needed by our colleagues of the future. Dr. Liebscher discussed the challenges of trying to change the focus of a more traditional program while still holding on to the service orientation and people skills that are such a part of the profession today. He stressed that management, technical and research skills were some of the most important areas of expertise for tomorrow's information professional. Dr. Prentice agreed with many of the points made by Dr. Liebscher and added her preference for continuing to develop ways to keep our profession from becoming "dull, boring and poor." She also discussed ways to bring the real world to the students during their time in the program so that they are more aware of the skills that will be needed and the talents that they can enhance through the program of study available. It is always reassuring to someone like myself who does hiring to hear that the library schools understand the need for a combination of practical and theoretical study. The discussions and presentations gave me some ideas on where I might need to build up my own skills to remain competitive, and also helped me to see where the profession is moving over the next few years. Return to contents
DC/SLA 2000 Election Results The following members were elected to DC/SLA office in the 2000 election: First Vice President/President-Elect: Susan O'Neill Johnson Second Vice President: Mandy S. Baldridge Recording Secretary, 2000-2002: Erin L. Clougherty Corresponding Secretary: Frederik Heller Director, 2000-2002: Anna Therese McGowan
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Return to contents
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