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Contents
Special points of interest:
- A chance to see yourself in print.
- Help out the editor with addresses.
- Tribute to departed Chapter member.
View Chapter Notes in
PDF format. |
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Member News
Robyn Frank (Robyn_C._Frank@oa.eop.gov)
was at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, until mid-July.
She is now the Director, Library and Research Services, Executive Office of the
President.
Bill Turner was recently elected treasurer of the District of Columbia
Library Association. He began his two-year term on July 1. At the same time for
one year, Bill will be serving on the SLA Board as Corresponding Secretary.
Shirley Loo was elected as director of DCLA for a two-year term. She joins
Mike Kolakowski on the DCLA Board. Mike is serving the second year of his
two-year term. Shirley had served as DCLA President 1989-1990. She received the
DCLA Community Service Award at the annual banquet. Shirley and Betsy Knauff,
past SLA Chapter President, are the co-chairs of the DCLA Student Financial
Assistance Committee. The committee awarded the first $5,000 Ruth Fine Memorial
Student Loans earlier this year. Ruth Fine was SLA Chapter President in 1953 and
she also served as DCLA President in 1963. (http://www.dcla.org/)
The 6th-ever PAM Achievement Award was given to Brenda Corbin at the
recent SLA Annual Conference! This exciting event honored Brenda, who is
librarian of the U.S. Naval Observatory Library, for her work over almost 25
years in the PAM (Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics) Division and her dedication to
librarianship in astronomy. Within the Division, Brenda has held many important
posts, including Chair, head of Strategic Planning Committee for several years,
Bulletin Editor, Secretary, Nominating Committee, Government Relations, and she
led the first Astronomy Workshop, the precursor to the Astronomy Roundtable.
Beyond these offices, Brenda has made unique contributions to the Division, such
as the creation of the PAM International Membership Award during her term as
Chair; creation of the Member's Corner of the PAM Bulletin; and spearheading
PAM's pro-gram at the SLA Global 2000 Conference. Brenda Corbin's dedication to
librarianship is evident in the collections and services of her
U.S. Naval Observatory Library, which serves as the de facto national library
for astronomy. She has been recognized for her organization of the first LISA
meeting, and she has continued to be involved with each of these international
conferences for astronomy librarians, and maintains contact with astronomy
librarians around the world. Brenda's mentoring has helped many of us -- she is
always willing to share her experience and broad knowledge of the literature as
well as her thoughtful approach to difficult questions. |
President’s Corner: The Rest of the Story
By Anne Caputo, DC/SLA PresidentIn the September issue of Chapter Notes, we looked at the top two themes of the 2000 Strategic Planning Report; those of Member Communications and Programs. Following on that note, I'd like to take this column to look at several of the specific calls to
action recommend in the detailed report portion of the Strategic Plan.
Improving Chapter Notes
Chapter Notes is one of the most visible and highly-valued methods of
communication for members of DC/SLA. As of this month, you will be receiving the printed version
of the newsletter ONLY if you sent back the request form found in the October issue.
Otherwise you'll get an email notification of the availability of Chapter Notes on the
Website. This action will enable us to increase the size of the newsletter and include more
articles and other substantive copy. A printed calendar will replace the monthly newsletter
mailing to keep you informed about the chapter programs and other events. This was a key
recommendation from the last strategic plan and one that an electronic
newsletter can permit us to create.
Increase Networking Opportunities
The institution of a monthly Happy Hour, the new DC/SLA Book Club, several
networking receptions and the Young Professionals coordination of movie nights, 'Duck
Tours' and other informal events have upped the opportunities for networking tenfold. If
you haven't found an event to attract or interest you...let us know what will and we'll try
to make it happen.
Professional Development Programs
We've had one highly successful professional development event already this year
with the excellent program on "Finding and Selling Your Library's Value". Look for the "Library
Education: Point Counterpoint" program on November 12th and the Holiday Party
presentation with Toni Carbo on December 4th. Several excellent programs are planned for 2003
including one on presentation skills and another on life planning.
Make Meetings Accessible
The Strategic Plan suggested concerns about both the location and time of
chapter events as well as the cost of attending meetings. We are working hard
this year to vary the locations and days of the week for our chapter events as
well as offering meetings with a variety of costs. Some, such as the Book Club,
are free. We will work to use the funds saved by decreasing the cost of printing
and mailing Chapter Notes, to help subsidize the attendance cost of our meetings. Our Directors are also working diligently to find vendor sponsors for
chapter events to lower the cost to individual attendees.
Publicize the Chapter Website and Discussion List
Use of both the Chapter website, found at http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc/list.html,
and the Discussion List are skyrocketing. If you have not visited the website or
used the list hurry there immediately, do not pass GO and do not collect $200
until you have done both of these. In our busy lives, these two methods are out primary way of contacting you and facilitating communication among our members.
The website allows us to post pictures in the Chapter Photo Gallery, to create an up-to-date Events Calendar, to post and
archive Chapter Notes and much, much
more. Do what more than 100 of your colleagues do each day and come see what our electronic communications capabilities can offer.
Mark your calendar to participate in at least one DC/SLA event between now and
the end of the year. I promise you'll network like mad and have fun learning and
sharing with your colleagues. Check us out and see how we're doing' after all.
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Welcome New Members!
Submitted by Alphonse Vinh, avinh@npr.org
Please welcome the following new members to the SLA/DC Chapter:
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Kenneth B Allen
Amy Blaine
Jennifer E Blackford
Elizabeth A Brooks
Margaret T Cossman
Kathyrn C Deschler
Donna M Doering |
Lisa M Gaddy
Gillian V Grant
Sage E Hulsebus
Josephine A Kirks
Violetta Loyevsky
Mara R McGarry
Vic M Monti |
Dan Onstad
Jenny L Smith
Abdul Salam Syed
Miranda A Turner
Beverly E Walker
Michael J White |
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Special Libraries Association assumes no responsibility for the statements
and opinions advanced by the contributors to SLA’s publications. Editorial views
do not necessarily represent the official views of SLA. Acceptance of
advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product by SLA.
Subscriptions:
Chapter Notes is free to DC/SLA members. Sub-scriptions to non-members
are available at $10 per year.
Advertising:
Advertising rates effective September 1997 are: $95—1/4 page; $175—1/2 page;
$290—full page. For information regarding advertisements, contact the DC/SLA
Chapter Notes Business Manager:
Kelley Weber
Surface Transportation Board
Phone: 202-565-1668
Email: weberk@stb.dot.gov
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Friday, November 15th is the deadline for materials which can be included
in the December 2002 issue. The issue is distributed approximately three weeks
after the deadline. The preferred submission format is a Word document sent via
email.
Materials for Chapter Notes should be sent to the Editor:
Cynthia Holt
The Gelman Library
George Washington University
2130 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202-994-1352
Email: holt@gwu.edu
Event announcements should also be submitted electronically to the:
Listserv Moderator:
Kelley Weber
Surface Transportation Board
Phone: 202-565-1668
Email: weberk@stb.dot.gov
DC/SLA Internet Committee:
Frederik Heller
Phone: 202-383-1157
Email: fheller@realtors.org Send
address changes for Chapter Notes to:
SLA Headquarters
ATTN: Address/Name Changes
1700 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009-2508 |
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Legal Division in Liverpool
Submitted by Larry Guthrie,
lguthrie@cov.com
The SLA Legal Division maintains formal liaisons with other law librarian
organizations, specifically the Canadian Association of Law Librarians (CALL),
the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL), the Australian Law
Librarians Group (ALLG). Other formal liaisons are developing through Marth
Foote, the Division's chair of the International Relations Committee. The Legal
Division has initiated reciprocal visits with these organizations, sending a
delegate to the CALL conference in 1999 and this year to the BIALL conference.
Legal Division Chair Jeff Stickle intends on attending CALL next summer. Also,
delegates from CALL, BIALL, and ALLG have attended the SLA conference in the
past few years.
This year I attended the BIALL conference in Liverpool June 13-17. Valerie
Stevenson, Chair of BIALL from the Queen Mother's Library in Aberdeen, hosted a
summit dinner of Overseas Delegates including Liz Bourne, Chair of the
Organization of South Africa Law Libraries (OSALL); John Eaton, President of the
Canadian Association of Law Librarians (CALL); Carol Nicholson, President of the
American Association of Law Libraries (AALL); and myself as Past Chair of the
Special Libraries Association Legal Division. Barbara Tearle, the Oxford Law
Librarian was also in attendance. Mary Greenfield, President of the Australian
Law Librarians Group (ALLG) arrived the next day. These delegates at the Annual
General Meeting, gave a short speech, inviting BIALL members to attend their
association's next year's conference. I did as well, and added emphasis that law
librarians should speak in a unified voice globally through cooperation among
law librarian associations. I also announced that the Legal Division sponsored
two librarians from developing countries to attend the SLA conference this year.
Valerie Stevenson gaveled in BIALL's 33rd Annual Study Conference and announced
that two law librarians received awards in the Queen's Birthday Honours. The
award is called the Order of the British Empire, Civil; and recipients can now
add the designation after their name "MBE". They are Mary Catherine Stocks,
Librarian, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Executive
(Edinburgh); and Evelyn Anne Elizabeth Stevens, Senior Librarian, HM Treasury
Solicitor's Department.
The conference theme "We've Got To Have I.T." (Information Technology)
anticipated the future with pro-grams on electronic interlibrary loan including
using electronic signatures; Electronic Record Management (ERM) where Australia
leads the field; using firm web page services including practice area subject
resources to sell to clients. A large librarian organization in the UK is CILIP
(Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals) with the
publications "Library Association Record" and "Update". They are particularly
concerned with positioning the library profession at the heart of the
information revolution, and noted that 80 libraries were destroyed on September
11th attack. They are concerned, "Is the Google Factor a threat to
librarianship; i.e. does it contribute to the invisibility of the profession?
Some BIALL do not work in "libraries" and are not called "librarians"; and BIALL
recently sponsored a Continuing Education course on Intranet Taxonomies. Many
British law librarians are members of a union.
Another session covered Linux as a desktop framework for those who want
alternatives. Dr. Paul Maharg, University of Strathclyde, Graduate School of Law
said they have created a "Virtual town" named "Ardcalloch" for law students to
cooperate within transactional learning. His book is Effective Learning Teaching
Law. Lorraine Boyd from the Royal Bank of Scotland, told of how the Human
Resources of their company were converted to e-learning on computer. Their
people strategy is (RICES) Recruitment, Induction, Competence, Excellence,
Succession. There is no need for traveling for HR seminar; they are done via
Distance Learning on digital, interactive videos.
Entertainment was engaging each evening: dinner at the Liverpool Football Club
in Anfield with a speech by the most colorful Emlyn Hughes, a local football
hero. Saturday night was a formal dinner with big-band music; and Sunday dinner
with a Beatles impersonating band. Special guest drummer was John Eaton, CALL
President who also plays in such a band. Coincidentally, Paul McCartney had just
been married in Ire-land and his artwork was on display in the galley near the
Adel-phi. In addition, England was still in the World Cup (soccer) competition
which added an electricity everywhere in Liverpool.
In all, BIALL engaged and challenged members in the words, "The future of law
librarianship is now." The conclusion is that law librarians provide the content
and I.T. the delivery in a coordinated effort. For the Legal Division, BIALL was
a milestone, initiating a new era of enthusiastic global cooperation with other
major law librarian associations.
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Farewell to Ann Williams
Submitted by Montrese Hamilton,
MHamilton@SHRM.org
The Washington library community lost one of its most talented members with the
September 11th passing of SLA member Ann W. Williams, former director of the American
Health Care Association (AHCA) Information Resource Center and most recently,
AHCA's director of member relations.
Ann, who died suddenly in an automobile accident, arrived in Washington in 1992
for a post-graduate internship with the Library of Congress after an internship
with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and earning her MLS from the
University of California, Los Angeles. She joined AHCA in October 1992 as a
library and information specialist and her versatility, determination, and
leadership soon elevated her to AHCA's director of information management where
she developed innovative news products to connect staff and members with the
most up-to-date long term care information.
Ann also held a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Mary Baldwin College
which she used to teach elementary school science, and a master's in health
policy from Johns Hopkins University. Her professional affiliations included
Beta Phi Mu, the American Society of Association Executives and the American
Library Association.
Hailed by colleagues as loyal, steadfast, and "astonishingly productive", Ann
will be remembered for her energy, concern for colleagues, and capacity to have
fun under any circumstance. She was also a breast cancer survivor and a strong
supporter of breast cancer research charities.
Ann is survived by her father, William Collins Wirth; her daughter, Sarah
Ramsaur McLean, and son-in-law, Grey McLean; two grandchildren, Conner and Anna
McLean; and her fiancé, Paul Boran. |
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Oktoberfest and Library Tour A Grand Success
Submitted by Sharon Lenius,
Sharon.Lenius@ngbcio.ngb.army.mil
Photos by Diane Schnurrpusch,
dschnurr@dtic.mil
Saturday morning, October 5th, 2002, 17 people gathered to tour three libraries
and the Fest Tents, Craft Fair and carnival rides at Fort Belvoir's Oktoberfest.
This event was sponsored by the Military Librarians Group of DC/SLA. After light
refreshments, the caravan departed for the Van Noy Library. Linda Cheung, the
Post Library Manager greeted us as we arrived. The friendly atmosphere of the
Children's Room, with colorful area rugs, snuggly animals and comfortable
parent/child reading areas, brought back warm memories! Then I remembered
chewing gum everywhere....well moving on. On the second floor we viewed an
extensive Reference Collection. Of special note at the Van Noy Library is the
Military History Collection amassed over the years by Reference Librarian,
Phyllis Cassler, an active DC/SLA member.
At the Acker Library of the Defense Acquisition Library Helen Haltzel, a DC/SLA
member, gave us access to her recently reno-vated library. Some of you must know
the joys of replacing carpeting and painting walls while still remaining open.
Helen and her staff did just that. She provides many materials to the faculty,
staff and student populations via the desktop. Acker Library has self checkout.
The refreshed library presents an atmosphere for study groups and quiet study
along with specialty resources for the Ac-quisition Corps.
The imposing building housing the Army Management Staff College Library, LOOKS
like a "real library;" in fact it was built to serve the US Army Corps of
Engineers Basic and Advanced Officer Courses. It was built with metal stacks as
an integral part of the structure. "Once a library always a library" must have
been their building guidance. The thick glass floors of the walkways between the
4 stories of stacks was a bit disconcerting. Peggy Poirier, library staffer
cheerfully greeted us and explained the mission and services of this 24/7
accessible library. After a pause for lemonade and cookies at the checkout it
was on to the Fest Tent.
The warm day necessitated several rounds of brew and brats in the Fest Area. The
German Army Band from Stuttgart played American tunes; we requested some Munich
Fest songs. They obliged. We lifted a mug and saluted a successful day.
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Address Soup
Submitted by Cynthia Holt, holt@gwu.edu
Each month SLA Headquarters sends me the address list for mailing the events
broadsheet and Chapter Notes. I've noticed that many of you have gotten
very creative in recording your addresses in your member information. I can see
why it might be a lot quicker and easier to write MA Ave. or Mass Ave. instead
of Massachusetts Ave. Common shortenings like Rd, Ave, St, etc. are okay.
Unfortunately, the shortened street names cause great havoc for me as your
newsletter editor as I need to scan for these creative addresses in the mailing
list and convert them to USPS standard addresses. Please take a few minutes to
check online at
http://www.sla.org/content/ memberonly/index.cfm to make sure that your
address is written in a standard way. Your mailing label on this issue has
already been corrected so don't use it as a guide to how it looks in the
database. |
Warm-up the Keyboard!
Submitted by Cynthia Holt, holt@gwu.edu
Have you always yearned to write the grand epic? Ever wanted to have a monthly
column? Now is your chance to get started. With the change in format for Chapter
Notes, we would like to start seeing some more articles on issues or topics.
Please send all submissions to:
Cynthia Holt
Reference Department
The Gelman Library
George Washington University
2130 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
holt@gwu.edu
The preferred formats for articles are Microsoft Word or a text file. Please
attach all images in .gif, .jpg or .tif formats. |
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