Fairfield County Chapter
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The Bulletin of the Fairfield County Chapter
Of the Special Libraries Association (SLA)
Volume 18 No. 1 September 1999 Editor: Anna F. Shallenberger
In this Issue
President’s Letter
Letter From the Editor
Update on Chapter Web Site
President-Elect’s Programming Overview
Calendar
Membership
List Serv Subscription Instructions
Search Geek
FFC Chapter Board Members
Although the title* is definitely rooted in the 60's, it has never been more relevant than in the present.
Looking to the future, the 1999-00 FCC/SLA Board is committed to building a foundation to allow our Chapter to move into the 21st Century in a seamless transition. This will include such issues as the ability of delivering information in a cost-effective, timely manner, to contact membership at all times, and to provide the best, relevant professional development. We can no longer have the luxury of just being 'current'; we must be 'ahead of the curve' or 'on the leading edge'.
How can we do this?
Change! There will be changes made this year requiring our membership to view change with an open mind that looks to the future not at the status quo. However, we will need your input, guidance and support to make this work for all of us. We encourage you to network and give us your feedback. We cannot make change work effectively without our members.
Please rest assured that all of these changes are and will be in line with the Vision and Goals and Objectives currently outlined by SLA. I had thought about developing a vision, goals and objectives relevant only to this year and this Board; however, the vision and goals and objectives the SLA 1999-00 have put forth are just exactly where we need to be - in line with SLA.
Therefore, the vision statement of SLA will be FCC/SLA guideline.
"Our vision is to be known as the leading organization in the information industry - a catalyst in the development of the information economy, and a strategic partner in the emerging information society."
If you look at the vision statement carefully, these are strong words - to be known, a catalyst in the development and a strategic partner in the information industry. They are a mandate! The best part is that we are indeed an emerging information society. However, the underlying concept is we are in a 'rapid' emergence.
The Executive Director's 1999 Objectives of Strategic Plan, Intellectual Capital and Promote the Association to External Publics support the goals of SLA are clearly those which can be used by the FCC/SLA.
Listed are but a few we believe we are starting to institute and implement. I encourage you to read the SLA Objectives and Strategic Plan to know what we have embraced.
FCC/SLA should be in a constant state of emergence as an association and a profession; I particularly want to focus on the last lines of the lyric which epitomize the state of change.
Sandra Lahtinen, President
…"As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin' " *
(*'The Times They
Are A-Changin', Bob Dylan, 1964, Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991
Special Rider Music. )
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I would like to take this opportunity to let you know about some changes that our board is making regarding the bulletin and to introduce the other new board members and myself.
During Susan Stramiello’s tenure, Meta Group had generously paid for the publication of the bulletin, an expense that would have otherwise cost the chapter a large portion of the budget.
Keeping pace with technology, we are examining new delivery options, including e-mail or fax delivery. The bulletin will also be available on our web page. [See Jim Smallwood’s article in this issue of the Bulletin] While advertising could cover some of the printing costs in a hard-copy version, the remaining expense would negatively effect our funds available for programming and professional development.
Our plan is to utilize an e-mail distribution. We will contact the non- list-serv subscribers to obtain their e-mail for a bulletin and meetings only distribution list. [For information on how to subscribe to the list-serv, see page 8 of this issue.] If you do not have e-mail, and do not want to read the publication off the web site, we can fax or mail a copy of the bulletin to you. Please note that the mailed copy would be printed on regular paper, not the heavier stock of the past.
To expedite the process, I have included my contact information at the
end of this column. Please call me with any questions, or your preferred
mode of delivery if you are not already a list-serv subscriber.
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New board members include:
Nicole Stamatelos, President-Elect Nicole works for Gartner Group as the Director of Knowledge Management. While active in SLA over her career, this is her first official office.
Darrell Stewart, Business Manager Darrell is the Librarian for First Matter.
Jim Smallwood, Webmaster Jim serves as a Research Manager of Information Resources in GE Commercial Finance. Past SLA responsibilities have included programming issues as an Information Technology Division Section Chair.
Anna Shallenberger, Bulletin Editor I am the Manager of the GE Financial Assurance Information Center. Former SLA service included the Employment Chair and the Downtown Luncheon Group Coordinator for the NY chapter. Currently, I also assist the national Publicity Chairperson of the Business & Finance Division with promotion of the Mentoring Initiative. For further program information, see http://www.slabf.org/mentor1.html .
Anna Shallenberger, Manager, Information Center
GE Financial Assurance, Investment Services Group
777 Long Ridge Road; Building B # 3044
Stamford, CT 06927
Telephone (203) 961-2325
Facsimile (203) 703-1917
e-mail anna.shallenberger@gecapital.com
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As of July, our chapter has its own web site, hosted on the SLA headquarters server. If you not seen it yet, take a moment and tour through it. Your suggestions and ideas for improvement are most welcome! The goal is to make the web site a tool to serve chapter members and their needs.
What early plans have already been implemented? We now have a chapter member list in an HTML table format and can make it available on the site, creating on-demand access to information about our members. The plan is to update the list several times per year. SLA only provides an annual update.
One issue regarding the member list that we must resolve concerns privacy. How much personal and professional information do you want to disclose over the web site? We need to hear from YOU. There are plans to implement password protection on selected portions of the site and SLA offers free programming to make it happen. What’s your opinion? Talk to us!
We also have an employment opportunities section, which has been active since July. At present, there are nearly 20 job leads listed, and we have included a direct link to employment opportunities listed at the Hudson Valley Chapter web site. Should we password protect our job leads? It could be a way to encourage others to join our chapter. What suggestions do you have for improving the look and feel of the employment opportunities page? Share your our ideas with us!
A key benefit of the web site is a reduced reliance on “snail mail” for communications within the chapter. (Currently over 85% of our members have access to email.) In addition, we will significantly reduce costs associated with mailings, not to mention the time it takes to stuff envelopes, stamp, and address each item being mailed.
The web site offers other advantages as well. Ever lost your directions to a chapter meeting, or even the announcement about the meeting itself? Beginning this month, all meeting announcements will be posted on the web site, along with directions. That way, you always can refer back to the web site to check for meeting details and directions. Speaking of meetings, beginning this year we will post the meeting minutes on the web site, eliminating the need to mail them (or even e-mail them). A further reduction of printing and mailing costs, as well as e-mail traffic.
Ever wonder what’s being written about our chapter and its members? Or what professional publishing we’ve done? Our new web site posts articles written by and about our chapter members. We currently have several articles posted. Why not stop by the site and check them out?
Need to contact a board member? Or perhaps you’re new and are wondering
about the leadership of the Fairfield County Chapter. You can quickly find
who need on the Board of Directors table
[ http://www.sla.org/chapter/cffc/FCC-SLA-BoardOfDirectors.html ] which
includes hot links to e-mail addresses for each board member.
What other ways can we leverage the web site to make our chapter a more effective, better-connected and close-knit organization? We need your suggestions and ideas! Perhaps you have visited other SLA chapter web sites and seen some great stuff, share what has impressed you. This is a team effort and we are all part of the Fairfield County Chapter team! We look forward to hearing from you and engaging in productive discussions over the coming weeks and months.
Jim Smallwood Fairfield County Chapter Web Master
james.smallwood@gecapital.com
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Yes indeed, times are a-changin, and this year's programming will focus on the different but related paths available to us as information professionals.
Anne Mintz of Forbes will kick off our first dinner meeting on September 21st. She will share successes of aligning her organization with Forbes' business core. More importantly, she will discuss the power of knowing who you are, assuming authority, and not waiting to be invited to play in the sandbox.
The second meeting, tentatively scheduled for the week of November 15th, will focus on Knoll's transformation from a corporate library to a competitive intelligence organization. Late next winter, Trish Foy of PriceWaterhouse/Coopers has agreed to discuss their transformation to a knowledge organization. In the spring, we plan on inviting several recruiters specializing in our field to discuss the market value of hot information professional skills.
By the last meeting, you may not be interested in angling your career any differently; however, it is essential (that) we understand and seize the opportunities available to us today. We must take advantage of our window of opportunity or others, without our experience or knowledge, will.
I would like to thank Miriam Solomon and Shira Honigstein for their role in orchestrating the arrangements for these meetings and Darrell Stewart for signing up sponsors for these events.
Nicole Stamatelos
President Elect
nicole.stamatelos@gartner.com
203-316-6877
Miscellany
Thanks to Libby Knapnik for great work as president last year !
Look for profiles of returning board members in the next issue.
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September 21st , 5:30 p.m. social hour, 6:30 p.m. dinner, 7:30 p.m.
Program: "Strategies for Aligning with the Business Core: Anne Mintz’s
Personal View".
Three Bears Restaurant; Route 33, exit 41 off the Merritt Parkway (203-227-7219)
Members $27 / Non-members $29 / Students $18 – RSVP by Friday September
17th @ the latest.
Mail checks to Miriam Solomon, FAF Library, 401 Merritt 7, PO Box 5116,
Norwalk, CT, 06856-5116.
Call her with any questions at 203-847-0700 X238 or e-mail
Alternately, Shira Honigstein @ 203-761-7533, or e-mail.
Graciously Sponsored by OneSource
October 14th, 1-4 p.m. Effective Negotiating Techniques for Licensing
Content –
Norwalk Community Technical College -- A/V Center - Main Floor / 188
Richards Avenue / Norwalk, CT
Free, Sponsored by the Fairfield County Chapter. Register here.
or contact Bill Langham, for additional information e-mail
or call 203 358-7497
November 15th Week One Library’s Transformation into a Competitive
Intelligence Center
Early Spring
Joint Meeting with Hudson Valley Chapter
June
Year End Social Meeting, possibly at the Norwalk Brewery
NYC http://www.sla.org/chapter/cny/
To Be Announced
WCLC http://www.wclc.org/ (203-577-4010)
Advanced MARC Cataloging, 10/8, Pitney Bowes – Shelton
Library Furniture Show, 10/13, Cromwell Radisson
“What If You Ran Your Library Like Amazon.com?” Teleconference at four CT locations TBA
“You, Your Job, & Your Future” at Bridgeport’s Housatonic Community-Technical College for Paraprofessionals,
Hudson Valley http://www.sla.org/chapter/chdv/
To Be Announced
CT Valley http://www.sla.org/chapter/ccnv/
To Be Announced
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11/7-11/1999 Internet
Librarian
11/18-19/1999 State
of the Art Institute
1/20-22/2000 Midwinter
Conference – St. Louis
1/23-25/2000 Midwinter Education Conference – St. Louis [see
above]
5/16-18/2000 National
Online - NY Hilton
6/10-15/2000 Annual
Conference – Philadelphia
Expanded
list
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What may be the very last print version of the Membership Directory is in production right now. Corrections to listings are still trickling in, as are the forms, which went to members who weren’t in the previous edition.
We hope to have the Directory to the printer by early September (or at least by the middle of the month). Directories will be mailed to all Chapter members by early October. Don’t forget that changes to your mailing address should be sent to SLA rather than to anyone in the local chapter.
Anita Barney
Membership Chairperson
abarney@wclc.org
203-577-4010
Send an email message to: Majordomo@westnet.com
Leave the subject line blank. In the first line of the text write: subscribe fccsla
You will automatically be added to the list.
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with the message unsubscribe -- You will be removed from the list.
For further details, peruse this URL
http://www.sla.org/chapter/cffc/FCC-SLA-Listserv.html
Request for Submissions and Feedback
Have a suggestion for an article topic? Interested in writing
for the Fairfield County Chapter Bulletin? Have constructive suggestions
or feedback? Contact Anna Shallenberger, Editor at anna.shallenberger@gecapital.com
or annainfo@aol.com or 203-961-2325.
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With this issue of we inaugurate a new regular column called Search Geek, which will feature reviews and insights on electronic research tools. Why the name? Let’s face it, computer geeks have had the spotlight long enough. It’s time for professional researchers to grab our rightful share of the spotlight. Anyone enamored of databases, research tools, search languages, the ins and outs of modem and net-based communication, controlled vocabularies and Boolean logic has earned the status. I’m one and I’m proud of it. So, let’s get down to it!
What goes around, comes around: A phrase often heard these days and one that applies very well to the work and tools of information professionals. I’m referring to the evolution of search engines and the research process itself, especially when it involves online searching.
It’s fascinating to see how our profession and its tools have evolved over time. In the early days (say, back in the ‘80s and before) professional researchers had the status of gurus. Nobody else knew our secrets for extracting obscure information and data from database services requiring knowledge of special search languages, arcane systems and modem communications. All served to elevate our work and skills beyond the reach of the “mere mortals” we supported. For those reasons we were able to carve out a secure niche in our organizations. Well…we thought it was secure.
Fast-forward to the early 1990s and the birth of the World Wide Web. I recall having a premonition as I began using the early web search engines that in the next five years or so the work of information professionals would suffer a discontinuous change that would rock the profession to its foundations. Sure enough, as the decade draws to a close we can see how our research skills and tools became devalued to the point of commodities. The proof? The oft’ heard expression: Everything’s on the Net! Right. There were folks out there who actually believed they had acquired professional research skills overnight – thanks to the “power of the Internet”.
But how did this happen? Chalk it up to the growing pervasiveness of the Internet and the rapid rise of Internet search engines, which seemed to offer the ability to find and retrieve anything and everything on the Net. The operative phrase here is “seemed to.” A recent NEC study revealed that even the best search engines cover less than 18% of total Internet content! Not very impressive considering that Nexis, Dow Jones and Dialog provide far more sophisticated searches of a body of information and data that actually dwarfs the Net.
This fervent belief in the Net and its research capabilities resulted
in more than a few of us losing our jobs. It seemed that overnight we lost
our niche as researchers. We seemed to have been displaced by leagues of
rank amateurs who didn’t know a Boolean from a bit.
Fast-forward a bit more to today. Voila! What goes around, comes
around. Our nemesis, the Internet, has become our champion. Some current
Internet search engines have morphed into the kind of power tools that
we as professional researchers have come to demand in order to be effective
in our work. The increased sophistication of these search engines has begun
to move our expertise back to center stage. Most of those we support will
(at least in the near-term) completely overlook the powerful capabilities
these search engines offer. Much like the legions of VCR users who were
never able to figure our how to program their machines.
If you’ve been using the new Internet search engines it’s clear to see that their increasing sophistication has begun to put them in a class with power tools research professionals have relied on for years. There is a slowly growing appreciation and respect for the work info pros do, and part of that is due to the rapid evolution of Internet search engines.
A premier example is Northern Light (www.nlresearch.com). If you haven’t used this web-based search engine your research toolkit is incomplete. Here is a sampling of its features:
What’s so great about that? All documents available through Current News Search are free and updated every 15 minutes.
Other Northern Light features
- Selective searching of Internet-only sources or NL’s Special Collection
(charges apply, but volume corporate volume discounts are available) of
5,400 journals in full text. Or, search both simultaneously with a powerful
front end that ranks with the best search tools available.
One of Northern Lights’s best features is Custom Search Folders™.
This powerful feature takes the results of each search and creates subcategory
folders automatically. So, let’s say you run a search on Japanese banks.
The results will likely include hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of hits.
With Custom Search Folders™ feature the results are listed two ways: first
as a straight listed ranked by relevancy and second as a series of subcategories.
In our Japanese banks example, the database creates a series of ten sub
folders as follows:
Within these sub-folders are search results culled from the original
relating to a specific subcategory, such as Economics. This technique is
rooted in something like Nexis’s Focus .
Clearly, what Northern Light has developed is a powerful hybrid search engine drawing on the best features we as info pros have come to expect from serious research tools. It is itself a precursor of the increasingly sophisticated search environment now dawning on the Net.
Don’t get me wrong, Northern Light is no panacea. But it’s no flash in the pan either. It’s growing power, range and sophistication represent another discontinuous change that will have a significant impact on both end-users and professional researchers alike. What’s your take? Share your insights with the membership! It’s a great way for us to remain strong as professionals.
Jim Smallwood
Fairfield County Chapter Web Master
Search Geek Sneak Peak of Future Issues
James Bond, look out! MataHari: http://www.thewebtools.com/features/universalsearchpower.htm#highest
This engine doesn’t stink! Dogpile http://dogpile.com
Many try, few achieve… LookSmart: http://www.looksmart.com/
The eyes have it… Google: http://google.com
No, really! AllTheWeb: http://www.alltheweb.com/
For all of you WWF Fans… SearchEngine Showdown: http://www.notess.com/search/
PLUS
Intellifact: http://www.intellifact.com/
Langenberg: http://www.langenberg.com/
SearchEngine Forums: http://searchengineforums.com/bin/Ultimate.cgi
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Sandra Lahtinen President
sandra.lahtinen@gartner.com
203-316-6749
Libby Knapik Past President
lknapik@umi.com
203-374-7613
Nicole Stamatelos President-Elect
nicole.stamatelos@gartner.com
203-316-6877
Beth Dominianni Secretary
BESD@aol.com
203-371-6716
Jack Stevens Treasurer
stevenja@pb.com
203-924-3235
Darrell Stewart Business Manager
dstewart@riskcapre.com
203-226-2805
Anna Shallenberger Bulletin Editor
anna.shallenberger@gecapital.com
203-961-2325
Jim Smallwood Webmaster
james.smallwood@gecapital.com
203-357-4674
William Langham Director-at-Large/Professional Development
blangham@westnet.com
203-358-7497
Gunnar Sahlin Career Guidance/Employment
nk_sahlin@commnet.edu
203-857-7379
Anita Barney Membership & Directory
abarney@wclc.org
203-577-4010
Elizabeth Muskus Membership & Directory
elizabeth.muskus@gecapital.com
203-316-7844
Miriam Solomon Arrangements
masolomon@f-a-f.org
203-847-0700 x238
Shira Honigstein Arrangements
shonigst@csc.com
203-203-761-7533
Linda Panovich-Sachs Director-at-Large/Government Relations
E-mail TBA
Phone: TBA
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Page last updated: 11 Sept 1999