|
|
You're invited to a party to celebrate with SLA President Judy Field and past Arizona Chapter presidents, the Arizona Chapter's 20th anniversary!
Friday, February 20th, 1998
5:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Pera Club
1 East Continental Drive in Tempe, Arizona
5:00 - 6:00 Cocktails - No Host bar
6:00 - 7:00 Dinner
7:30 - 9:00 Program with speaker Judy Field, SLA President
Cost: $10.00 per person
Spouse/Partners/Bosses welcome
Please RSVP with payment by February 16th to:
Polin Lei - Arizona Health Sciences Library
University of Arizona PO Box 245079
Tucson, AZ 85724-5079
I'm very excited about the opportunity to visit with those individuals who have led the organization throughout its development, to hear the SLA leadership speak directly to the Arizona Chapter membership, and to network with the future leaders of the special library profession - YOU, the membership!
One of the perks of SLA membership is the professional networking it provides both on a national level as well as locally. Whether you work in a one-person library or in a multi-library environment staffed with professionals, SLA offers you the opportunity to test your ideas or ask for help within a cadre that understands your language and knows how to translate it to the workplace. Through the Internet (www.sla.org) or a toll-free access number (1-818-411-2856), valuable professional documentation and interaction can be obtained from SLA headquarters. Locally, networking meetings in the Tucson and Phoenix area allow for monthly interchange and if that is not convenient, pick up the phone or email someone and that includes myself - I'm never toooo busy to stop and talk for a moment or set-up a meeting or phone conversation later.
Arizona is blessed with years of profession talent in our midst. Herb White is one of those gems in our midst. At the last business meeting we were challenged by Dr. White's presentation on the battle for turf and position in our organizations. Some key learnings I came away from our noted in a brief article in this issue titled. "White Nuggets." I hope we can have more local talent at future meetings to challenge our minds, thereby enriching the profession.
First Prize $750
Second Prize $250**
Third Prize $100**
To enter: Submit an essay of 500 words, minimum - 1,000 words maximum, double-spaced on 8.5 x 11 paper, or equivalent on diskette. Please do not include bibliographies; sources must be given within the body of the essay.
Entry fee: $10.00
Beginning date: January 15, 1998
DEADLINE: April 15, 1998
Prizes awarded no later than May 1, 1998
**Second and third prizes are dependent upon number of entries. First prize guaranteed. Contest open to all members of the Special Libraries Association. Please note: Contestants must be members at time of essay submission.
A panel of 3 judges from the Arizona Chapter will award the prize(s).
Send entries and checks to:
Laura J. Bender
Science-Engineering Library
University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210054
Tucson, AZ 85721-0054
On November 5th, approximately 29 Arizona library directors, managers, supervisors and leaders took part in an all day Leadership Workshop at the 1997 AzLA Preconference entitled, "Coaches Corner: Leadership Skills & Techniques." Co-Sponsored by SLA and AzLA, the workshop was lead by professional consultants in the area of library and information management, Jane Dysart and Rebecca Jones of Dysart & Jones Associates.
Conducted as a forum rather than a course, participants focused upon key issues facing library leaders through facilitated discussion. The differences between "management" and "coaching" as leadership styles was emphasized. The Core Coaching Competencies of knowledge of business, clarity of purpose and responsibilities, active listening, questioning for understanding and options, trust, fairness, and encouragement were discussed at length. Effective team building techniques were explored. The wisdom of imparting and linking an organization's vision and goals with the teams and individuals within the organization was emphasized.
Participants left the session with a variety of leadership ideas and models to consider along with a relevant bibliography upon which to draw. Each attendee was encouraged to choose three techniques to try as their first step in a game plan to hone their leadership skills and techniques in this exciting time of change and opportunity in the field of librarianship.
The AZ Chapter of the Special Libraries Association hosted a program entitles, "How to Succeed in a Political Environment." The speaker was Dr. Herbert S. White, distinguished Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, author of the "White Papers" column, and a part-time Professor at the University of Arizona. Dr. White always has something thought provoking to say about the library profession and, although it may sometimes stray from the topic at hand, it makes one stop and think about the direction our profession and environment are headed. I pulled some nuggets from his speech in September to share - this is strictly my interpretation of his remarks.
A. Customer satisfaction - if they don't complain, you are not doing your job and the library will soon be outsourced. Too much customer service may be detrimental to the organization's health.
B.End-User searching - develop a strategy around this or you will be giving away your powerbase of information retrieval. Customer will think they no longer need your services.
C.Cost - if it is free, it has no power. You must convince management that information costs money. Everyone is fighting for same monies so you must persuade management that they are better off giving money to you than to others. This involves politics - fighting for the scarce resources and "perception"; the latter plays a big part because what you might think is a huge sum may not be perceived in the same way as management.
D.Statistics - forget circulation and number of holdings; instead show what customer base you supported/searches done and time spent. Ideally, show your time and costs billed out to support projects. Show what didn't get done and why. It is a good idea to report resolved, new and continuing problems.
E.Librarianship - it is a "people profession" and we need cheerleaders, not complainers. Your staff is the most important asset of your library; you cannot have a quality library without smart information accessors. He thinks a MLA makes you legal.
F.Be visible outside library - balance professional responsibility with realities of organizational structure and be visible in many non-library areas.
H.Technology - it allows more access to information but squanders productivity. You do not need to be a programmer, but you do need to enlist those people in the design of new products.
I.Options - Always give management options you have pre-ordained. This is the essence of good planning; you provide the alternatives, not them.
Push technology is just one of the latest buzz words travelling along the Internet these days (also called webcasting). For those of us who have surfed for years, we had to "pul" information from many and varied sources using, at times, more than one browser. Push technology actually pushes the information we want at us. Think of 'push' sites as personalized mini-electronic newspapers.
'Push' allows you to define the kinds of information you want, when you want it and the format you want it in. This is done by filling out a "profile." For the three examples below this is done online while those you have to pay for are usually done by filling out a paper questionnaire and talking to a company representative. Information and cost are directly linked. (Not unexpected.) While some companies charge for this new technology there are many on the internet that do not and the free sites are a good way to sample push technology before you "buy."
All 'push' sites require a password, get their news from Reuters and/or CNNFN, let you change or modify your pages and have some form of changing advertising banner across the top of each page. The advertising is what pays for the information you receive and is generally based on the information you provided in your 'profile.' With that in mind here are three sites I use and recommend. Try 'em - you'll like 'em.
One of my favorites is http://my.excite.com I want certain kinds of news, I want to look at my stock portfolio, read my horoscope, glance at the local TV listings and have a ready list of my favorite links all on one page. And I wanted it free. my.excite lets me do all this and more. I have this set as my home page and at a glance I have a mini-newspaper that is updated every two hours. As with most 'push' sites the news is, but not exclusively, from Reuters News Service. I can change the content of each section at will by clicking the 'change' at the top of each section.
To start, go to http://my.excite.com and click on Personalize this page. This takes you to the Register for My Excite Channel page. You don't need to be to truthful here - just enough to get by and then click Submit Registration. From here you will be guided to make choices that tell the system what kind of information you want.
Best features - easier to construct than my.yahoo. I have not received any advertising in the mail, and I like the Notepad which lets me keep a to-do list.
Another good site is http://my.yahoo.com Click on "Start Your Own". Again you do not need to be overly truthful. (Giving out your real name or e-mail address assures that you will get unwanted e-mails and advertising literature.) Do be truthful and fairly accurate when filling out the demographic and interest screens as this information is used to determine what information is pushed at you. If you make a mistake or change your mind after you have submitted your choices not to worry as you will have a chance to fine-tune your selections after you're completely through. After you are through and you want to make changes just click on "Customize Page" at the top of the page.
I especially like the Industry section that lets you pick the industries that you may be interested in. By picking Telecommunications, for instance, get you a list of headlines on that industry on your 'front page.' You can even sign up for free Yahoo e-mail. Worst feature is the 'edit' instructions for changing your page sections.
PointCast, www.pointcast.com, is without a doubt the very best. The free version requires you to download a screen saver that doubles as an interface to the network. I tried to download with a 486, 8MB of memory and messed up my Windows software. I then used a Pentiuem with one gig of memory and had no problem. You're on your own in that department.
From www.pointcast.com click on Click to Download the PointCast Network. This will take you to a screen where you can choose For Windows or For Macintosh. Each succeeding screen will walk you through the download process. Once you have downloaded the screen saver you will be asked to select 'channels.' 'Channels' are nothing more than subject categories such as sports, news or weather. Again, you will have a broad range of categories to choose from; Reuters, Wall Street Journal, CNN and more. Each channel can be customized to your particular wants or needs.
PointCast is a memory hog so you may have problems multi-tasking if you leaving it running minimized. On the flip side, it is the best news site and I love watching the screen saver-interface-fascinating. Hey, I'm not the only one who loves to watch it, most of the guys at work do, too.
Remember - you can modify all three 'push' sites as you use them until you have just what you want. To make your 'push' site your home page or start page on Microsoft's Explorer, go to View/Options/Navigation. If your browser is displaying your customized page, then click Use Current. In Netscape's Navigator, click Options/General Preferences for the start page settings.
On November 20, 1997 AzALL & the Arizona Chapter of SLA, in conjunction with LEXIS-NEXIS, jointly sponsored a presentation in Phoenix by DAN MARTIN, Pepperdine University Law Library Director & Associate Professor of Law. He discussed his experience in writing and publishing Henke's California Law Guide, 3rd edition.
What a refreshing and informative program! Mr. Martin began his talk by tracing his library "roots" from working in the Carnegie Public Library as a young teen through his various library jobs as he worked through college. He emphasized that to suceed in this profession one needs a predisposition (he's always wanted to be a librarian), encouragement from good mentors and the opportunity to explore the many facets of the field. This background information was indeed helpful in understanding his easy going manner and big picture approach.
Mr. Martin first discussed options for publishing opportunities, i.e. alternatives to the mainstream academic literature. He explained the need to decide whether you are going to write for the profession only or for people who read the popular press. Examples provided included newsletters (library, corporate, etc.), Reader's Digest or Time.
Motivation is a very important factor in deciding why to write he stated. Tenure as quite a strong motivator was pointed out and accompanied by several sighs from the audience. He feels that the best way to learn a subject is to write about it. He suggested that updating a publication, as he did, can be a good way to accomplish this.
He advised that selection of a topic should be guided by the need of others for the information. To aid in you in focusing your efforts as well as the topic, seek the advice of others he recommended. This corresponds to your choice of audience as you must know their level as well as their needs.
Why reinvent the wheel was his theme where format is concerned. When he worked on his book, he reviewed several similar publications to decide which was the best and consequently adopted that. Find the best and work from that he advised.
On the question of whether to write first or get the contract first, he noted it is an individual's decision. However be prepared for publisher personnel changes and competing proposals he warned. Competing priorities are also a problem if you must work while writing your project. His best advice was to have support from your supervisor and be ready to give up your evenings, weekends and vacations!
How to do the research will depend on the depth and scope of the topic. For his book he scanned the literature, made lots of calls, did site visits and utilized his publisher's representative. He mentioned that he worked alone for the most part.
Mr. Martin's ending comments included advice about purchasing good equipment to work on, creating your own index and the importance of pacing the project with reasonable timelines. He stated that regardless of the ups and downs involved in the process, "above all one must stay motivated." His biggest fear was how his publication would be reviewed and how his peers would receive it.
He ended by explaining that the rewards received for undertaking such a project are different for different people. For him these included personal growth, the incredible learning of the subject matter and "the warm fuzzy feeling you get from helping others."
The Directory is 173 pages long and features 261 special libraries and collections; up-to-date information on addresses, access, holdings, services, subjects, and staff. It also boasts three separate indexes: Library Name Index, Personal Name Index, and Subject Index.
I enclose: _______ Check for $___________ or ______ Money Order for $___________
NAME____________________________
ADDRESS_________________________________________
CITY________________
STATE_____________
ZIP__________________
The Arizona Republic/The Phoenix Gazette, Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. - P.O. Box 100, Phoenix, AZ 85001. 602/271-5656. Web site: http://www.azcentral.com
Document Center - 1504 Industrial Way, Unit 9, Belmont, CA 94002-4044. 415/591-7617. E-mail: info@doccenter.com. Web site: equival"http://www.doccenter.com/">http://www.doccenter.com/
EBSCO Subscription Services - P.O. Box 92901, Los Angeles, CA 90009-2901. 310/322-5000. Web site: http://www.ebsco.com
Majors Scientific Books, Inc. - Houston. 713/662-3984 or 800/458-9077. E-mail: houston@mail.majors.com. Web site: http://www.majors.com
OPAMP On-Line Technical Book Catalog On the Web - 1-800/468-4322. Web site: http://www.opampbooks.com
TDI & Co. - 2118 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 787, Santa Monica, CA 90403-5784. 310/820-3651. E-mail: tdicolib@class.org. Web site: http://tdico.com/
Chapter Bulletin