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March 2003 Volume 62, No. 3 |
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Every other year for the last 20 years, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has organized and coordinated the Information Online Conference in Sydney, Australia. The Information Specialists Group of ALIA is the driving force behind this conference which drew more than 1,200 attendees for the 11th annual meeting in late January. Imagine SLA, ALA, MLA, AALL, SCIP, ASIST, PLA, and AASL all rolled into one enormous group and you have the effect of ALIA. While 1,200 delegates my not seem an enormous number, it would represent a proportional attendance of say, 18,000 at one of our information professional conferences in North America. This lively mix of corporate, academic, public, medical, legal and school librarians and information professionals meet to cover topics of direct and immediate need to their professional concerns. Do you imagine their discussions are similar to those of an SLA conference, or very different? The answer is both! Look at a list of key paper topics:
These topics would be right at home in our association but sometimes the focus takes on a special geographic flavor. Take virtual reference and e-learning for example. Distances and remote library locations bring special meaning to the need for shared reference delivered via virtual means. Distance learning and e-training, which are currently in vogue here, have long been staples in Australia and New Zealand. One workshop attendee told me of the time-honored method of providing anatomical charts and using the telephone connection to a doctor to assist in making basic medical diagnosis. The conference was sprinkled with a fair number of American speakers; Steve Coffman, Mary Ellen Bates, Carol Tenopir, Amelia Kassel, Chris Sherman and myself among others, reflecting the interest in global topics like portals, intranets and web searching. Local speakers provided application of these topics to unique needs in Australia and New Zealand. Information Online 2003 closed with a fascinating panel of 'experts' who were asked to look at the future and make predictions about the role of the information professional. The consensus was that URP's – 'Universal Research Professionals' – possessed all the important skills needed to become central to the information needs of every type of organization. Our universal knowledge and research skills, combined with the ability to act in a professional capacity to guide our organizations through intellectual capitol, acquisition, selection, dissemination and learning activities, make us ubiquitous. The only improvement the panel could suggest to the URP acronym was the addition of a 'B-word' to the front. Say 'benevolent' or 'best' or 'brightest.' After all, who could resist the opportunity to become a BURP? |
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Life Planning: NOW What Do I Do? January is an excellent time to look ahead, and 35 Chapter members did just that at the program on Wednesday, January 8th at the World Resources Institute. "Life Planning: NOW what do I do?" was the theme. Mary Ellen Bates, a local information broker and author of a number of books including "Building and Running a Successful Research Business," outlined the impact of the Web on our profession. Libraries have morphed from being information "cathedrals" to being just one more stall in the information bazaar. Our users’ perception is that they can find much of what they need themselves on the Web—so how do we differentiate our skills (by adding intelligence to research)? First we can look at our competition, which can even include the very services we have put on the desktop for our users. Note the packaging (presentation can trump content – figure out how your user wants to receive information). Next we can determine our core strengths, and realize that as we redefine ourselves, we need to focus on services and our brand, not facilities. Her message is that we are not our libraries and that we must learn to thrive on uncertainty. We are not delivering information; we are providing answers, and if we do it well, we will have addicted users who will be our champions. For more information: http://www.BatesInfo.com/value.html So how do we know if this sort of approach is going to be hard or comfortable for us? Mel Briscoe, a certified Myers-Briggs consultant, gave a quick overview of the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. He followed up with how the different aspects of our operating preferences affect how we work, gather information, make decisions, and interact with other people. Type doesn’t "pigeonhole" people; it just describes their style, and you can work in other styles, it just takes more effort. Mel shared statistics comparing the MBTI types of U.S. librarians (ISTJ and INTJ) with the U.S. population (ISTJ, ISFJ, ESFJ) as a whole, and pointed out how the being aware of the differences might improve how we communicate with our users. He also showed examples of other careers that are popular among the types which are most common among librarians and suggested further readings: "What’s Your Type of Career?" by Donna Dunning and "Type Talk" by Otto Kroeger. The Q&A session centered on what approaches might work when libraries face
going virtual and how knowing your own type helps to manage communication with
others.
Research Tip of the Month I'm preparing a short "cybertour" for the Computers in Libraries conference
(http://www.infotoday.com/ * One way of figuring out what channels a company is using to market a particular brand is to go to the brand's web site and click the link for "more information." There will often be a list of boxes to check, indicating how you heard about the brand. For a competitor, that is a handy check-list of where the company is marketing now. * Use the "search this site" link on a company's web page to look for Powerpoint presentations, speeches and white papers that may not be linked to other pages on the site. Use the search terms: ppt, doc or powerpoint. * After you have tried the site's search engine, repeat this search with one or more web search engines (e.g., Google.com, Alltheweb.com). To limit your search to a company's web site, see the Advanced Search screen. The syntax is often site:xyz.com To search Ford Motor Company's site for Powerpoint presentations, using Google, you would type the following in the search box: site:ford.com powerpoint * Use the Wayback Machine (http://www.archive.org) to see how a company's web site has changed over time. Just type the company's URL in the "Take Me Back" box; the Wayback Machine will come back with a list of links to copies of the web page, often dating back several years. Click on any of the dates to see what the web page looked like on that date. This is a particularly useful tool if you want to get information on executives who no longer work for the company, or dig up information on a subsidiary that was later spun off or closed down. * Use a web page change tracker to monitor your competitor's web site. Services that do this include WatchThatPage.com, TrackEngine.com, InfoMinder.com, and Web Site Watcher (aignes.com). * Identify the major newspapers in the city where your competitor is headquartered and where it has any major subsidiaries. Journalists are great sources of information on companies on their beat. To identify the web sites of newspapers in your competitor's home town, use http://pppp.net/links/news/ |
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: Advertising: EDITOR’S NOTE: Materials for Chapter Notes should be sent to the Editor: Cynthia Holt Event announcements should also be submitted electronically to the: Listserv Moderator: DC/SLA Internet Committee: Send address changes for Chapter Notes to: SLA Headquarters |
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DC Chapter Adopts a Library School Access to current library and information science literature in developing nations can be difficult and costly. While some material is available via the Internet, online access may not be possible. In an effort to assist students at library schools in developing nations, the DC Chapter is expanding its successful Twinning Project by adopting a library school in Zimbabwe. In fact, since we anticipate enormous response by our members, we’ve actually adopted two library schools, the other being in Havana, Cuba. All of us receive library, computing, and information magazines, scholarly journals, and bulletins that we read and discard. Instead of throwing out copies of American Libraries, PC Week, or the like, we are asking that members save them. The nature of the project as conceived by the DC Chapter’s International Relations Committee is simple and, we hope, will be duplicated over time by other SLA Chapters. Beginning in April with our International Special Libraries Day meeting (April 10th), there will be a box at the registration desk of every Chapter event. The International Relations Committee is asking each member bring the library-, computing-, or information-related reading material with which they are finished to the next SLA meeting they attend and toss it into the box. The Committee will see that the box is retrieved from the meeting venue, the material sorted and shipped via M-Bag to the School of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Communication and Information Science, National University of Science & Technology (Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and the Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Communication, University of Havana (Cuba). Given the realities of the postal service and political climate, it may take some time for the boxes to arrive, but we are confident that at least some of our shipments will get through. This will be but our first connection with the students at these library schools. The International Relations Committee hopes that this initial effort evolves into something larger, where we can act as mentors to these young students, perhaps continuing a dialogue with them as they proceed with their studies and even beyond as they go out into the work force. As with the Twinning Project, we expect that our Chapter’s efforts and the simplistic design of the program will encourage other Chapters to follow in our footsteps and adopt a library school or two of their own. The International Relations Committee looks forward to a large turnout for
International Special Librarians Day when we will hear from a panel of
international librarians who will share with us the similarities and differences
between working in libraries in their countries and our own. We’ve lots of ideas
as to follow-on projects based on their presentations and we hope that you will
join us on April 10th. In the meantime, continue reading your professional
literature, but save it for us to deliver to others. See you on the 10th! |
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Information Resources & Technology: Share an
Experience Submitted by Cynthia Holt, holt@gwu.edu Victoria Harriston, Digital Resources Librarian at the National Academy of Sciences, made the suggestion of a column entitled "Information Resources & Technology: Share an Experience." This would be a forum for sharing experiences of what you’ve had to go through to deploy specific products, e.g. technical considerations, making site-wide vs. limited staff access, training and outreach, marketing, consortia benefits, negotiating, licensing, and last but certainly not least, handling the ever increasing costs for desktop delivery. To submit an article for this column on your experience, please contact: Cynthia Holt The preferred formats for articles are Microsoft Word or a text file. Please attach all images in .gif, .jpg or .tif formats. |
SLA Winter Meeting, 2003
Submitted by Nancy Minter,
NMinter@ui.urban.org
About 220 SLA leaders attended Winter meeting in New Orleans on January 22-25. The main purpose of this meeting is train Chapter Presidents and Presidents-Elect, and Division Chairs and Chairs-Elect. Several SLA Committees and conference program planners for the 2003 and 2004 annual conferences also were convened.
The training session, called the "Leadership Summit," was conducted by Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Dav Robertson and Division Cabinet Chair-Elect Pam Rollo. Thursday morning was devoted to the topic of Reshaping our Association. An excellent presentation by the Branding Committee was followed by a "town meeting" format that allowed all to ask questions about the process, the potential outcomes, etc. Later in the morning, attention was turned to consideration of mission and vision statements for SLA. Small groups were then challenged to collect ideas that might comprise each.
At lunch, we were introduced to candidates for 2003-04 Association-wide office and heard campaign speeches from each. Among the candidates are Lynne McCay (running for Director) and Buzzy Basch (running for Treasurer), both DC Chapter members.
Friday brought us Round Two of the Leadership Summit. The morning sessions were again focused on Reshaping our Association, featuring an analysis of the new policies and guidelines for Chapter and Divisions. The three-member Bylaws Committee (which includes DC Members Marilyn Bromley as Chair and Lyle Minter as a member) had done yeoman’s work in drafting new guidance documents to replace Chapter and Division bylaws and new procedures manuals for units. The latter portion of the morning was devoted to a discussion of SLA expenditures on leadership development and whether restructuring might result in efficiencies and/or cost savings. Leadership-related expenses are the third largest expense for SLA.
The afternoon session was devoted to membership recruitment and retention, with several mentions of DC’s "Young Professionals" group being made. Later, SLA staffer Linda Broussard outlined several SLA resources that exist to help units – from their databases and how to find your way through them, to other, more personal touches.
An interesting handout was a chart tracking the Chapter’s membership over the past 11 years. In 1990, we had 1040 members; the total peaked in 1994 at 1249 and stands as of November 2002 at 1020.
The Board of Directors met on Saturday to transact its business. Here is a very brief summary of some of their actions:
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What’s in a Name? The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has been discussing the prospect of changing our name and brand for the past 20 or more years. Now the issue is to be resolved by the membership. Every member should, if possible, take the opportunity to attend the association’s Annual Business Meeting in New York to help decide this important issue. A few years ago, the SLA Board of Directors established a number of special task forces, including one on Branding. A great deal of background on the methods and recommendations of the SLA Task Force on Branding is available on the SLA web site. You may wish to go to http://www.sla.org/ and search on Branding. Or begin with these sites:
The business literature on Branding has been copious for years. Banks, information businesses, telephone companies, and special libraries have been proactively changing their names to project a more dynamic image. Now it is time that our association follow in their footsteps to adopt a new brand. With a new name and image, we can leave behind stereotypes that have plagued librarians for generations. On Wednesday, June 11th, 2003, at the Special Libraries Association Annual Business Meeting at the Conference in New York, the issue of a new name for the association will be put to a vote on the two prospective brands: the acronym SLA or the name Information Professionals International (IPI). Either way we have the opportunity to set a new direction and yet capture all the wonderful things about our profession and our association spotlighted in the tagline, "Putting Knowledge to Work". My personal preference would be for Special Libraries Association to take on the new name, Information Professionals International (IPI).
Arguments for the acronym are also valid. Using SLA as our name and for the logo would entail less dramatic change. And this keeps the L that many of our members feel should be retained in our identity. In accordance with the rules set out in the new bylaws, only members who are present at the meeting on June 11th in New York will be able to vote to change the name or to table the issue once again. There will be no mail-in ballots or voting by proxy on this issue. If at all possible, do plan to attend the Association’s Annual business Meeting and cast your vote!
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Volunteer Opportunity 2003 is a tough budget year for public libraries. But, typical of an economic slowdown, more people than ever are turning to their neighborhood branch for free recreation, education, and information, including job search support, English conversation practice, Internet and MS Office tutoring, and evening and weekend entertainment for the family. Like many public libraries, the Fairfax County Public Library is temporarily short-staffed during a partial hiring freeze. But volunteer Sharon Lenius, CIO of the Library of the National Guard and a member of the DC/SLA Chapter, is making a big difference in helping FCPL maintain quality service. Since 1989, Sharon has volunteered on the Centreville Regional Library reference desk on busy Monday evenings. "Keeping active in library public service in my community is a break from the technical reference work I do during the day," says Sharon. "Volunteering is a two-way street for me. I get to see a very wide variety of people, field questions, make suggestions, and interact with people of all ages. During the day I talk the 'alphabet soup' of the military, but on Monday evenings I work with FCPL's new SIRSI IBistro Catalog answering questions and referring my neighbors to the Library's great resources. And occasionally I can interpret a patron's request for 'information on the DOE, DII and any ANSI or IEEE supporting standards'!" Centreville patrons and staff are very appreciative of Sharon's skills and experience, and in 2001, the FCPL Board of Trustees honored her as the first "MLS Volunteer" to contribute over 1000 hours of service to the Library. Would you consider sharing your library training with FCPL or another public library? FCPL would welcome you even for just six months to a year, for one to four hours per week. Check books in and out, Adopt-a-Shelf, provide reference public service (with MLS degree, or enrolled in library school), offer one-on-one Internet tutoring or MS Office classes for the public, start an English Language conversation group, help with book sales, and more. Evening and weekend hours are available, and also short projects for individuals and groups. For FCPL information, contact Kate Wanderer, 703-324-8332; kwande@fairfaxcounty.gov or go to http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/volunteer/vol_home.htm. For information about programs at other public libraries, log onto their web site and look for the volunteer page, or drop by your nearest branch and ask for the volunteer coordinator. It's a great way to learn new skills, network, keep up with the latest good books, and receive appreciation from both the staff and the public for a valuable contribution to your community! |
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