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President's Corner
Innovators in our Midst In the next few months, I will be bringing you words of encouragement through this column about some remarkable people in our Chapter, people I call "Innovators in our Midst." I am doing this to show you some of the many examples of how people are defining and changing their roles as librarians and information scientists in our own community. Through these good practice models and stories I hope you will get ideas and inspiration to look at your own challenges in a positive light, and to know you are in good company out there. There could not be a better time to be in the knowledge and information profession! What sets an innovator apart from others? The first innovator to whom I would like to draw your attention is Mr. Jerry Mansfield, Manager, Information Resource Centers (IRCs) at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. Jerry has been in this job for a year and is completing the formation and management of three IRCs to serve the CRS analysts and staff. While doing so, he is working to transition a seasoned professional staff of former abstracters and bibliographers into traditional reference/research librarian roles. Together, "Team IRC" serves the 600+ CRS staff as well as members of Congress and their staff. Being a creative, resourceful innovator is just part of the job for Jerry. He explains that from early on in his career and "before it was a fashionable management term, I operated outside of my comfort zone by taking on challenges, sticking my neck out, etc. and this is how I learned and got noticed. I also made mistakes but, hey, we wouldn't have the modern conveniences we have today were it not for experimentation and mistakes in the lab." Two innovative things that Jerry did while in his previous position as Head of Public Services at the U.S. Postal Service Corporate Library come to mind. A few years ago, while working with the joint Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service team that was assembled to identify and catch the Unabomber, Jerry utilized competitive intelligence methods to identify which libraries had all the books named in the Unabomber's Manifesto. He then paired those locations with those where one might freely purchase explosives for small mining claims. He also assisted with the size determination of each exploded parcel that Theodore Kaczynski (the Unabomber) used by coming up with the idea to check historical stamp rates and postmarks of reassembled parcels and, based on postage used and distance traveled, determine the parcel's dimensions. All this was in an attempt to pinpoint the location of the Unabomber. In 1996, during a period in which Jerry was managing the U. S. Postal Service Corporate Library, an opportunity fell into his lap - one which he could have turned down, but did not - that ended up being a turning point for the Corporate Library. This challenge required a tremendous amount of work with a short deadline, but he knew that the long-term benefits and visibility for the library would be enhanced. He was asked to be on Team 100 - 100 people working 100 days to bring in $100 million in new revenue for the USPS. While the elite "guerilla" tactical marketing sales force was being assembled and trained, Jerry and his staff completed competitive intelligence on 1150 businesses that primarily used competitors of the USPS for their overnight and two-day deliveries. Simply put, Jerry and his team worked seven days a week and late into the evening to put together individual information packets in the ten-day timeframe allowed. With this customer information, the sales force hit the streets. Four months later the results were in - $132 million in new revenue. This venture cemented the Corporate Library's valuable role in the revenue generation process of the USPS and continues today. Finally, while working for the U.S. Treasury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jerry utilized some techniques actually learned from television murder mysteries to teach the Saudis to gather internal Iranian political intelligence for the Saudis. This was carried out in the marketplaces of Abu Dhabi where Iranians flew in to meet with family and friends. The friendly guy that he is, Jerry would simply start up an information gathering conversation with an Iranian and, playing dumb, a la Peter Falk in Columbo, would make an intentional error and be properly corrected by the Iranian and in so doing, the correct information was obtained. Some of the techniques used by Jerry throughout the years to ensure and enrich innovation are:
Jerry adds that in his current position he is still building infrastructure and hasn't been able to be very innovative yet. Stay tuned! He welcomes contact through e-mail at jmansfield@crs.loc.gov, and is available to come by and talk to groups. October Development Information Workgroup MeetingWednesday, October 24, 2001, 12:00 noon - 2:00 p.m. Becky Milton, Librarian, and Bill LaRocque, Director, Information and Connectivity Services, will discuss the World Resources Institute, its new Connectivity team, and the role of library services within the team. The WRI Connectivity Team was formed by combining staff from the areas of Internet/Website development, network/LAN support and library services. The presentation will be followed by a tour of the Connectivity Center. For further information contact Becky Milton at beckym@wri.org or see WRI's website at http://www.wri.org/wri. No reservations are required. All are welcome. The meeting will be a brown bag lunch held at the World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002. The closest Metro stop is Union Station on the Red line. Take the First Street, NE exit. WRI is just west of Union Station. To find out on the day of the event if the meeting is cancelled, contact Becky Milton at 202-729-7602. --Gail Wadsworth
DC/SLA Student Membership AwardStudents, get acquainted with the Special Libraries Association and meet your future colleagues in Washington area libraries and information centers. For Free!!! Kudos!
Library News - U.S. News BriefingsThe U.S. News & World Report Library has a home on the web. Recently, we launched U.S. News Briefings, our own mini-site on usnews.com. The section aims to anticipate hot topics the magazine covers in depth. The News Briefings spotlight the magazine's articles and photography supplemented by the best information freely available on the Internet. New issues are showcased each week with updates to past Briefings. Current topics include the debate over stem-cell research, building national missile defense, and globalization. Look for the News Briefings on www.usnews.com. We welcome your comments and suggestions, reference@usnews.com. -- Sheila Thalhimer
By Ozy Orji [Patricia Idahosa and Ozy Orji were the two Global 2000 Fellows from Nigeria; in all, twenty-five Fellows were selected from over 400 applicants.] Ms. Patricia Idahosa was born on March 21, 1966 to the Idahosa family in Benin, Edo State of Nigeria. She was a graduate of Library and Information Science from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. She started her librarianship career at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan (African Regional Center for Engineering Design and Manufacturing). She was a librarian at the leading Business School in Nigeria (Lagos Business School). She was instrumental in setting up their Resource Center. She also worked briefly at the Strategic Management Division of FSB International Bank in Lagos before she finally joined Book Services (a library constancy service firm) where she worked until her death. Patricia was an active member of the Nigerian Library Association where she was a one-time vice-chairman of the IT Unit of the Association. She was involved in training professional colleagues in the area of library automation and was a strong ambassador of CDS/ISIS software. She was one of the participants of a program organized by USIS in 1998 in Washington where she visited different institutions. She joined SLA in 1997 and was known to have shared SLA resources with her colleagues, before she was awarded a Global 2000 Fellowship. She was an associate member of the Nigeria Institute of Management, WHO Global Environment Technology Network, and the Development Information Network. She was one of the pioneering team to ensure that an African Chapter was born, but unfortunately she died the very month her dream Association - the Sub-Saharan African Chapter - was born, in May, 2001. The death of Patricia came as a shock, as we were just getting to be closer since our fellowship award and the evergreen Brighton Conference. Her death is a big loss to her colleagues in Nigeria and in SLA who have invested in her. It is painful that she did not live to actualize the objectives of the conference. During her working career as a librarian in Nigeria she must have encountered some of the problems peculiar to librarians from this part of Africa:
May the soul of our dear Patricia, Rest in Peace. We pray not to lose any of our members prematurely again! SLA and information professionals need initiators and energetic personnel like the late Patricia Idahosa and hope never to lose them in their prime.
Some Thoughts From the Second China/U.S. Conference on Libraries 2001
Flushing, NY and Washington DC Sylvia Piggott, a past SLA President, and I had the opportunity to be delegates from the U.S. to this small conference in which leading Chinese and U.S. librarians were able to become acquainted, exchange views, and brainstorm about cooperating projects. Several of the librarians from the U.S. were originally from China, and were extremely helpful in bridging the language barrier for the rest of us. The conference was primarily at the impressive Flushing, N.Y. branch of the Queens library system, perhaps the largest public library system in the country, with 64 branches. It circulates an astounding 17,000,000 books per year. The atmosphere in the library is highly international, with a major collection of Chinese, Korean, Russian and Spanish language materials. Library Director, Gary Strong, did a monumental job of hosting the event. The last day of the conference was held at the Library of Congress. Experts presented information on collections and discussed how they could work on projects together. Nancy Davenport, Head of Acquisitions, and Winston Tabb, Deputy Librarian, did an excellent job of organizing that day's event.
One of the leading themes of the conference that came out from both American and Chinese librarians was the success of and the need for exchange programs, from both directions. James Cheng, Librarian of the Harvard College Harvard-Yenching Library, and Rush Miller, Director of the University of Pittsburgh library system, spoke of the success of professional librarian exchange programs that are providing major benefits for U.S. librarians. The research and digital library development in China (850 current projects), a top-down comprehensive effort by the government, will offer U.S. librarians more and more opportunity in technical learning over time. If you are interested in pursuing the idea of exchange programs, I suggest you contact either of the following very outgoing, professionals I met at the conference: I was very impressed by the enterprising spirit of the Chinese librarians. Ma Yuanliang, Director of the Shanghai Library System, for example, spoke of how the library, the leading business library in China, also operates a big hotel next door, which helps bring in funds for library operations! He is organizing an international conference in July 2002 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the library. He welcomes participation by American librarians. You can contact him at yima@libnet.sh.cn. The leading government official in China dealing with libraries, Zhou Xiaopu, was very friendly and outgoing. She is Deputy Director of the Bureau of Social Culture and Libraries, Ministry of Culture. She is open to American ideas and partnerships. She is particularly interested right now in building a database on Chinese culture. Her fax number is 86-10-6555-1776. -- Sue O'Neill Johnson
U.S. Supreme Court Decision Could Impact Information ProfessionalsIn a report to Congress on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), the U.S. Copyright Office has concluded that copyright law should not be revised to include a digital first-sale doctrine. This revision would allow libraries and consumers to lend and archive e-books, CDs, software, and other electronic material they purchase. The DCMA, passed in 1998, updated copyright laws to cover digital works and protect them from piracy and unauthorized distribution. The Copyright Office's report on the successes and drawbacks to the law since its enactment was released at the end of August. Last November, representatives testifying on the behalf of SLA and four other library organizations at a public hearing on the DCMA requested that digital works be treated the same as paper works under the first-sale principle. Many in the library community believe that nonnegotiable software license contracts and the DCMA's anticircumvention provisions (which outlaw the decrypting of digital material) are combining to undermine fair use rights and the first-sale doctrine. In its report, the Copyright Office said that "[a]lthough speculative concerns have been raised, there was no convincing evidence of present-day problems . . . The fact that we do not recommend adopting a 'digital first sale' provision at this time does not mean that the issues raised by libraries are not potentially valid concerns." Shortly after the report was released, the American Library Association announced its intention to push for Congressional hearings on the report. The full text of the report is available online in PDF format at www.loc.gov/copyright/reports/sec-104-report-vol-1.pdf. -- Frederik Heller, DC/SLA Government Relations Committee
Understanding U.S. Economic Statistics And International Business SourcesBusiness Information Finders (BIF) of the DC Chapter of the Special Libraries Association presented two summer lectures: "Finding U.S. Government EconomicS Statistics" and "Cybertour of International Web Sources." Information professionals, data junkies, and web surfers attended. Both talks were free and held at the Arlington Central Public Library. "Finding U. S. Government Economics Statistics" introduced the U.S. statistical system, explained uses of economic statistics, and demystified demographic data, economic indicators, industry statistics, price & inflation, measures of compensation, forecasts & projections, and international comparisons - *all in plain English*. The speaker was Deborah Klein, Associate Commissioner of Publications and Special Studies at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a member of the American Economic Association, Washington Statistical Society, and Special Library Association. Because the program was held in the Public Library and open to everyone, it was filmed by Channel 31 of Comcast of Arlington and rebroadcast three times every Wednesday in August. It was very informative and provided great visibility to SLA. The other summer event was "Cybertour of International Web Sources." It was a guided tour highlighting the ins and outs of international business sites. The talk addressed questions about searching and using the World Wide Web in the fields of marketing, finance, management, and trade. The speaker was Sheri R. Lanza, Founder and President of Global InfoResources, Inc., author of International Business Information on the Web: Searcher Magazine's Guide to Sites and Strategies for Global Business Research (CyberAge, 2001) and numerous articles. The attendance for both events was high (over 25 people). BIF is committed to open meetings and increasing visibility for special librarians and other business information professionals. To learn about Business Information Finders, join BIF-L. Send email to listproc@listproc.georgetown.edu. Put nothing in the subject line. In the message space, type "subscribe BIF-L [your name]." The contact for BIF is Jennifer Boettcher at boettcher@.georgetown.edu (202 687-7495). -- Jennifer Boettcher
What A Cataloger Does on Summer Vacation(For the cataloging-challenged among you, see a mini-MARC cheat sheet at the end for asterisked tags (*). You're on your own for the subfields and LC call numbers…ed.) Back from the wilds of central Oregon, I thought I should share with you all what it is like for a cataloger to vacate Washington, D.C. Every vacation, like every cataloging record, has a few required fields. I left with my family and headed west. As a map cataloger of sorts, I was curious about the exact longitude and latitude. FYI: Baltimore/Washington International Airport's are 39-10-31.446N / 076-40-05.514W, and Seattle/Tacoma International Airport's are 47-26-56.335N / 122-18-33.527W.
Then we (4 adults and 4 children) piled into two cars with sport and hiking equipment, summer- and fall-type clothing, and enough snacks to last if we happened to get stuck for a moment somewhere for more than 5 minutes (goodness, what would we do if we got hungry?). And we drove south to Portland, Oregon, then east to The Dalles and south to Bend.
Adventures always give us great excuses to try new things - like new food. This trip was no different. Did you know that, besides Beef Jerky, they make Turkey Jerky? And that you can get your Turkey Jerky teriyaki-flavored, pepper-flavored, and regular beef-flavored?
*650 4 Jerky $x Turkey $x Pepper. *650 4 Jerky $x Turkey $x Beef? *650 4 Dried meat $x Dental work required. And what will those candy people think of next? Fruit Snacks in the shapes of Hotwheels race cars and Rugrats cartoon characters.
Besides the continuous input of food into every mouth, other activities were accomplished. "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee" song was rewritten to accommodate the vocabulary of a two year old.
*245 10 Baby bumble bee. *246 13 Wont mommee powdy me Paddle boats were taken out on a beautiful lake where children screamed and cried and only wanted to be on shore or steer themselves. (Note, please, that 5 year olds do not have long enough legs to reach the pedals and 2 year olds do not know their left from their right.) *506 Restriction Notice: Length requirements 4 feet. Ear plugs recommended. Not recommended for parents who have low tolerance for screaming fighting children in small spaces with no escape but to swim to shore. Wildlife besides the screaming short humans was spotted.
QL737.U55 Deers and fawn (Cervidae) QL696.F36 Osprey (Pandionidae) QL696.F32 Bald Eagles, Night Hawks, Red Tail Hawks, Turkey Vultures (Accipitridae) QL737.C5 Bats (Chiroptera) QL737.C25 River Otter (Mustelidae) QL638.S2 Trout (Salmonidae) were seen but not caught. SF309.28 Trail riding (Horses were ridden but not seen wild). Let's just end by saying that a quiet cubicle with my coffee mug by my mouse, aloe smeared on my shoulders, and not one bit of fresh air getting near me can be a comfort.
300 = Physical Description 240 = Uniform title 245 = Title Statement 246 13 = Varying Form of Title, Other title 506 = Restrictions on Access Note 650 4 = Subject Added Entry - Topical Term, Source not specified --Suzanne Pilsk Mini-Minutes of the DC/SLA Board MeetingAugust 7, 2001
For the full minutes, please see the Chapter web site at www.sla.org/chapter/cdc. -- Erin Clougherty
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Monday, October 15, 2001
