News
Large NW regional law firm, based in Portland, OR is recruiting for a part time (20 hours per week) research librarian.
Examples of Duties:
- Perform potential client background research and assess intake risk
- Perform other research as needed
- Assist with research/library training of attorneys and staff
- Conduct reference and research projects including in-depth information retrieval, evaluation, and synthesis
- Coordinate interlibrary loans, perform cite-checking of briefs and memos, prepare legislative histories, bibliographies, guides, etc.
- Other duties as needed
Minimum Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Bachelor's degree
- Knowledge of privacy laws and regulations
- Excellent legal, business, and public record research skills
- Highly dependable, punctual, and able to provide high-quality service in a fast-paced environment
- Excellent organizational and analytical skills
- Knowledge of basic legal reference resources
- Excellent online research skills including Accurint, D&B, Lexis/Nexis, OJIN, business and corporate databases, public records databases, and other online and internet resources.
- High level of PC proficiency
Paid leave benefits, 401(k) and FSA benefits available to part-time employees. Equal Opportunity Employer. Please send a resume with a cover letter indicating salary requirement, by November 30th to staffhiring@schwabe.com, or 1211 SW 5th Ave, Suite 1500, Portland, OR 97204, fax 503-796-2900.
Posted 20-Nov-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
As if having our illustrious president, Gloria Zamora, and our 2010 President Elect, Cindy Romaine, together in the same place on Friday wasn't enough -- now Governor Kulongoski has announced that November 20 is Special Libraries Association Day in Oregon.
If you are able, we hope you can make it to the Alignment discussion at Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt on Friday at 5:30 (see previous e-mails).
What are YOU going to do in your library on Friday to celebrate this day of honor for our organization? Share your ideas with the listserv!
Posted 17-Nov-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
The Board has received a lot of feedback from leadership and alignment ambassadors, and we have heard the membership on the issue of the acronym.
We have decided that we will use the full name, Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals, at every opportunity to introduce the association. There is discussion on alternative abbreviations whose URLs were purchased just for this kind of situation. HQ Staff and the Board of Directors have not used the acronym since the end of the first week of discussion and I believe we will seek alternatives to use should the name pass. The vote is on the full name of the association and there is no acronym on the ballot.
Sincerely,
Gloria
Gloria Zamora
President SLA
Posted 17-Nov-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
PRESIDENT'S WELCOME
There's been a lot of talk about the future of our profession lately and the next month affords us some great opportunities to experience and shape and live that future.
Gloria Zamora, SLA President, is coming to talk with our members about SLA's proposed name change to the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals on Friday November 20 (see "COMING SOON" below for details). What an outstanding opportunity to talk with our leader about our profession and association's future.
The decision to put to a vote a new name for our Association is not one that leadership took lightly. The Association conducted extensive research over the past 2 years on where the growth, opportunity, value is in the information industry so that we can position ourselves that. There is conclusive evidence that that words "special libraries" are not valued, but that the words "strategic" and "knowledge" are.
I am strongly in favor of the new name. I urge you to review the research and cast your vote to position the association for the future!
In December, ORSLA will host another event that dovetails beautifully with Gloria's visit. Vailey Oehlke, Director of Multnomah County Libraries, will speak with us about her vision of the future of libraries (again, see "COMING SOON" details below). Another venue to exercise your mind, learn where our leaders see our profession going and contribute your insights.
Join in!
While I risk a cliché by saying, "this is a time of great change in our profession,"-it truly is. Our future will be exponentially brighter as more of us get actively involved in SLA at any level. But how can you do that, you might ask? There are a variety of ways to participate: at your local level-volunteer with ORSLA-or at the headquarter level-there are many committees and caucus you can be a part of. Join in! Be part of the conversation and be part of the strength of our future.
As with any association, you really do you get out what you put in. And you will be richer because of it. Nothing has brought that home to me more than this past election. I had never imagined how many members out there were so willing to participate, share their great ideas and help execute them. Their insights and energy was invaluable. Yours are too. So get out there!
Thanks a million
Cindy
MEMBER PROFILE
This month we are profiling Zoe Fisher-one of our active student members!
When and how did you realize you wanted to be a librarian?
I started volunteering with the Multnomah County Library when I was thirteen years old as a Homework Helper and a Summer Reading volunteer. I still remember the first question I ever answered - a patron came up to the reference desk and wanted to know where to get a copy of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain. I looked it up for her in the OPAC (remember DYNA? I do!) and walked her over to the shelf where it sat. It was probably one of the proudest moments of my adolescent life. When I wasn't helping patrons, I was pestering library staff. I realized through talking to them that I wanted to have a job like theirs when I grew up.
What's your educational background?
I majored in Art History at Oberlin College and I just graduated in 2008. I'm currently in my second (and final) year of my Masters degree through Emporia State Univeristy's distance program here in Portland. I'm hoping to earn a second Masters (possibly in Art History) sometime in the next few years, but I need to pay off some of my student loans first!
What's your title? Do you like it? Does it reflect what you do?
Right now I'm a Benefits Specialist for Knowledge Learning Corporation. I spend about half of my day on a hotline answering questions from field employees, and the other half of my day is divided between answering e-mail & voicemail, and processing requests for Family and Medical Leave and Short Term Disability claims.
I like my job because I like answering questions & helping folks understand things, especially insurance-related matters which can be so convoluted and confusing. Working through phone calls and e-mails can be tough sometimes, and I often wish I could have more face-to-face interactions. I try to think of my work as specialized long-distance reference. I'm hoping that my experience will help me transition to a position in an academic or special library after I get my MLS.
What book(s) are you reading now?
I just finished reading David Plouffe's The Audacity to Win. Plouffe was the campaign manager for Barack Obama's primary and general elections, and his insights are absolutely fascinating. They made a lot of choices in both the primary and general elections that were considered very unusual, but they totally paid off. I admire Obama's integrity and I think he ran one of the most respectable political campaigns we've seen in a long time. Before that, I read some YA novels, including Francesca Lia Block's latest book and Paul Griffin's The Orange Houses. I read a lot of YA novels because they're easy to sneak in between my class readings.
Why did you decide to join ORSLA?
My advisor, Perri Parise, told me to, and I do what she says! To be honest, even if she hadn't told me to join, I probably would have anyway. I'm really excited about all the different careers to which an MLS can apply and I love meeting folks who are using their library-backgrounds in different ways. I love public libraries as a patron, but I don't really want to work in one, so I wanted to join a professional organization that would give me as much exposure as possible to all the different career options available to me.
Do you have an example of an ORSLA training, meeting or member helping you in your career?
Not yet, but I hope I will! In the meantime, I've met some great folks and I'm having a lot of fun. I loved Aaron Schmidt's presentation at the annual dinner last month, and just before that, I attended the strategic planning training hosted by Betty Jo Hibberd, which was so helpful. I also really enjoyed meeting Anne Caputo at the Conversazione in August.
What's your favorite ice cream?
Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert in the Peanut Butter Zig Zag flavor.
What other interesting tidbits would you like to share?
I recently wrote a post of the SLA blog about why I'm voting yes for the name change. You can read it here - http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/2009/10/a-students-perspective-on-the-name-change-zoe-fisher.html. I'm always interested to know what other folks think - feel free to e-mail me about it!
Thanks Zoe! For future, we need to hear from you! Have a colleague you find particularly interesting? Innovative? Unsung? Brilliant? Let us know (SusanMecklem@dwt.com) and we'll take care of the rest.
TREASURER'S REPORT
PayPal: Woo-Hoo! We're setting up an ORSLA PayPal account as an optional convenience to members and others to pay online for ORSLA events. In the near future, registering for an ORSLA event on SurveyMonkey will include a "PayPal button" option for payment. A similar button will also be located on our ORSLA events calendar Web page.
Prior Payment for Event Registration: With the creation of our own PayPal account, we will be moving to a prior payment situation for certain ORSLA events. These will be events that involve a registration fee and for which the cost to ORSLA is based on the number of people who register (such as those involving catering). Those registering for the event will have the option of using PayPal or mailing a check prior to the event. The reason for this is to help reduce instances where people register for an event but do not attend or submit payment. For many events, ORSLA must nevertheless pay the event organizers for those who register but do not attend or pay. That, of course, affects the entire membership.
Our Event Registration and Refund Policy: Just to reiterate, our standing policy has been to refund the registration fee of those who cancel their event registration if they do so before a specified "cut-off" date. After that date, ORSLA is financially committed to the event's organizers for the full amount and will be unable to refund or excuse a registration fee.
Please contact me with questions or comments.
Your Treasurer,
Don Oswalt
INDUSTRY NEWS
Taking a break this month so we can focus on the proposed name change.
TECH TIDBITS
What with all the hullabaloo about germs these days, the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have teamed up to bring you Medline Plus Local-it helps you locate local medical services among other things:
- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/golocal/index.html
IBM has developed a data visualization tools beta site. You can upload your own data and develop graphic representations. And, of course, others can then comment on them.
- http://www.manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/
CENTENNIAL TIDBITS
Happy 100th Birthday SLA! For the balance of 2009, in this segment we'll publish an "SLA Factoid" from SLA's site (http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLACTK/10+SLA+Factoids+for+10+Decades) for a touch of history.
1980 - 1989 First Who's Who in Special Libraries is published
1990 - 1999 SLA publishes "The Value of Corporate Libraries: Findings from a 1995 Survey of Senior Management"
COMING SOON
November 20: Gloria Zamora discusses SLA's name change proposal
The vote on the new name The Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals is a high water mark in our Association's development. Please take the time to read the Alignment project material at http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/alignment/portal/index.html. This is a complicated issue. You owe it to yourself to get informed before voting--in fact, before you vote, come listen to Gloria Zamora, Reece Dano (our Alignment Ambassador) and Cindy Romaine, as we discuss the issues on November 20th. Then vote. The vote will open November 16 and run through December 9.
Event Details
Location: Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, 1211 SW 5th Ave Portland, OR 97204-3715
Time: Mingling begins at 5p, with Gloria's presentation starting at 5:30p.
This event will be free to all members.
RSVP: Please RSVP to merylbeth@gmail.com. Please send your RSVP by November 17 at 5pm.
December 11: tea with new Multnomah County Library Director, Vailey Oehlke at Concordia University.
An ORSLA Holiday Event: Come celebrate the holidays together at our ORSLA December Tea. Take a few minutes away from that busy schedule, relax and mingle with friends and colleagues. The afternoon tea will feature Vailey Oehlke, Multnomah County Library Director, presenting her Vision of the future of libraries and includes a behind the scenes tour of Concordia University's Library, which opened August 2009. Ask the architect about its concepts and designs.
Cindy Romaine, our current Chapter President, will soon be moving to her new position as President-elect of SLA. Take this opportunity to let her know your priorities for SLA.
Read more about Vailey here http://www.multcolib.org/about/mcl-director.html and more about Concordia's new library here http://www.cu-portland.edu/giving/success/librarycenter.cfm.
Event Details
Location: George R. White Library, Concordia University-Portland (directions)
Time: 3p - 5p
RSVP: Please RSVP to Judy Anderson by Sunday, December 6, 2009, to assist us in planning.
Generously sponsored by: Group Mackenzie, Information Express, and OCLC.
Are there any programs you'd like to see ORSLA coordinate? Let us know! Please contact us (merylbeth@gmail.com).
VOLUNTEER CORNER
New: ORSLA Volunteer Coordinator
Interested in volunteering for ORSLA? We've had a number of members ask about volunteering with the association. To help us better serve everyone in that effort, the Board has asked Jessica Wilson to join the Board as Director/Coordinator for Volunteers, to help match your interests and skills with ORSLA's events and projects. Jessica has worked as volunteer coordinator for non-profit organizations in the Portland Metro area and, when she heard we needed help organizing our volunteers, she volunteered to help us get started. Thank you, Jessica. Look for more streamlined processes for becoming a volunteer and more opportunities, both short-term and ongoing, coming soon. To contact Jessica, email ORSLA.volunteers@gmail.com.
Judy Anderson, President-Elect, ORSLA.
ON YOUR SLA SITE
Our SLA web site has many hidden treasures which are both useful and yours (!) to explore. Each month we'll point to one of the site's useful features. If you have a favorite site feature, let us know (merylbeth@gmail.com) and we'll post if too.
This month we'd like to highlight the "SLA Name Change Info Center" page on our site. We encourage you to avail yourself of all the information to make an informed vote: http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/namechange/index.cfm.
CONTACTS
Communications Team Co-Leads
Kama Siegel (KSiegel@schwabe.com)
Meryl Cole (merylbeth@gmail.com)
President
Cindy Romaine (cindy.romaine@comcast.net)
President-Elect
Judy Anderson (JuAnderson@cu-portland.edu)
Posted 15-Nov-09 by:
Jessica Hastings
Knowledge Learning Corporation
ORSLA Members,
Our ORSLA election process got a little tangled up this year. I came on as President-Elect and was immediately promoted to President without current institutional knowledge of our process. Furthermore, the governing documents were not immediately available. The nominating committee was supposed to be composed of "one board member, one former officer or nominating committee member, and one member who has not previously served in either of these roles," but we did not do it that way. So we're a bit out of compliance.
Furthermore, the documents stipulate that the Treasurer and Secretary are to serve a maximum of two two-year terms and those positions are to be elected in alternating years but currently the Board is recommending that Don Oswalt serve for a third term.
The Board has approved the following variance in our nomination/election process for 2010. It is our intent to return to our normal process in succeeding years.
Newly Elected Officers for 2010:
Kama Siegel, President-Elect
Don Oswalt, Treasurer - 3rd term, 1st year
Current Officers:
Judy Anderson, President
Sue Mecklem, Secretary - 1st term, 2nd year
Please vote yea or nay on the Slate here. Please note there is space for write-in candidates. The survey will close November 17, 2009 at noon.
Thank you for your kind attention,
Cindy Romaine
ORSLA President
Posted 10-Nov-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
PRESIDENT'S WELCOME
What a productive and informative month it has been for us.
SLA Election Results
As many of you know, I was elected President-Elect of SLA. Honored and energized, I look to the coming years to keep our organization and members vital and valuable. Congratulations to the other winners: Treasurer, Dan Trefethen, Division Cabinet Chair-Elect, Mary Ellen Bates and Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect, Liz Blankson-Hemans. Congratulations, too, to all who ran. Running, itself, was a growth experience and provided the opportunity to talk with so many members which I'm sure all candidates enjoyed.
Your ORSLA 2010 Officers
For 2010, your slate of officers is as follows:
Kama Siegel, President-Elect
Sue Mecklem, Secretary
Don Oswalt, Treasurer
Dean Walton, Valley Liaison
Proposed New Name for SLA
As the email from Headquarters details, the proposed new name is Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals. I encourage you to consider the name and discuss with your colleagues, local and otherwise. We already have a lively discussion going on our listserv. If you have any questions/thoughts you don't want public but do want to discuss, please contact me directly.
Banquet
What a fun banquet we had this year! Lots of energy in the room, lots of new faces, a thought-provoking speaker and good food. See below for a profile of Perri Parise, our Kathy Greey Award winner, and a link to Aaron Schmidt's compelling presentation.
In signing off, I'd like to quote myself (that's awkward, isn't it?). This is a bit from my blog that I want to share because I believe it typifies much of what SLA is going through right now:
You can't - and shouldn't - do it all yourself. Relying on others isn't always easy. I've always been able to meet deadlines and check off tasks on my own. But running for office is not a solo effort. So I learned to collaborate better and to involve others by articulating a simple vision. They, in turn, spread the message further. I think if we can get this concept right, eventually we'll be able to empower a movement.
Thanks a million
Cindy
MEMBER PROFILE
This month we are profiling Perri Parise, our 2008 - 2009 Greey Award Winner. Perri is everywhere, knows everyone and is always smiling.
When and how did you realize you wanted to be a librarian?
I considered teaching and social work as a career - definitely something in the "helping professions." After graduating from college, I tried out social work in New York City, working with drug addicts and people who had attempted suicide. But being an idealistic child of the 60's, I felt that social work was not for me. I felt that I was just counseling people to conform to society's norms.
So, I took off with all the money I had and a one-way ticket to Europe. I had never flown before or been on my own. I cried myself to sleep every night for two weeks! My pride was the only thing that kept me from going back home. But after those first two difficult weeks, I settled in to the vagabond's life, traveling all over Europe with no particular itinerary. In retrospect, it was the best thing I ever did for myself.
While staying in a youth hostel in Holland, I met a woman who was taking a break from her MLS studies, and that was when I asked that cliched question - - You mean you need an MLS to shelve books? (Yes, I really said that!) She was very polite and patiently explained to me what a librarian really does. And it clicked! That was what I wanted to do with my life!
What's your educational background?
I have a BS degree in Human Ecology from Cornell University and an MLS from the University of Hawaii.
What's your title? Do you like it? Does it reflect what you do?
I'm "Director, Oregon Distance Program" (of Emporia State University's School of Library & Information Management). Yes, I do like it. I think "director" encompasses the many aspects of my job.
What do like best about your position?
The students! And going to the weekend classes. I'm an "education geek", and I love seeing how students progress throughout the program. I love watching the light bulbs go on.
What book(s) are you reading now?
I just finished all three novels by Julia Glass and just started A Golden Age, by Tahmima Anam.
Why did you decide to join ORSLA?
I want all our students to join ORSLA, so I need to set an example.:-) I enjoy the programs and keeping current with the profession.
Do you have an example of an ORSLA training, meeting or member helping you in your career?
In general, talking to members helps me keep up on what is going on in the day-to-day work of professionals, and that information helps me make our courses relevant for our students
What's your favorite ice cream?
Mocha almond fudge!
What other interesting tidbits would you like to share?
I was a Peace Corps librarian in Fiji and highly recommend the Peace Corps experience.
I love to talk "movies". Seeing a great film revitalizes me, just like reading a good novel.
I have a 23-year-old son who is a senior at Beloit College in Wisconsin. My husband, Bart Day, is an entertainment lawyer in Portland.
And I was immensely honored and humbled by the Kathy Greey Memorial Award! This is the best career in the world, and I love being able to share it with others.
Thank you for this opportunity!
Thanks Perri! Inspirational as ever. For future, we need to hear from you! Have a colleague you find particularly interesting? Innovative? Unsung? Brilliant? Let us know (SusanMecklem@dwt.com) and we'll take care of the rest.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Congratulations to our friends at Multnomah County Library for being named a recipient of the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
"Multnomah County Library receives nation's highest award for community service"
http://multcolib.org/news/2009/imls.html
To help keep up to date with Google's book deal, here are two recent articles from the NY Times.
"In E-Books, It's an Army vs. Google"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/technology/internet/07google.html?_r=1
"Judge Tells Google to Revise its Book Pact by Nov 9"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/technology/internet/08google.html?_r=2&hpw
Cindy often talks about the nobility in our profession. This article typifies that nobility. It is about "Question Box, a free, nonprofit telephone hot line that is meant to get information to people in remote areas who lack access to computers." Thank you to Aaron Schmidt for pointing out this article in his blog.
"Dialing for Answers Where Web Can't Reach"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/technology/internet/28village.html?_r=4&hp
TECH TIDBITS
Continuing on in the spirit of Web 2.0 here's a site recommended by Aaron Schmidt in which he says "people are doing library work online (for fun)":
· http://ask.metafilter.com/
CENTENNIAL TIDBITS
Happy 100th Birthday SLA! For the balance of 2009, in this segment we'll publish an "SLA Factoid" from SLA's site (http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLACTK/10+SLA+Factoids+for+10+Decades) for a touch of history.
1960 - 1969 Visitors to the Library/USA Exhibit at NY World's Fair are the first to see an online bibliographic retrieval system in operation and view the American Reference Center exhibit (co-sponsored by SLA), where the librarians answered any questions put to them using state-of-the-art computerized retrieval systems.
1970 - 1979 SLA Professional Development department established.
COMING SOON
December: tea with new Multnomah County Library Director, Vailey Oehlke at Concordia University.
Join us to welcome Vailey Oehlke, Multnomah County Library's new Director. She will speak about her vision for the future of libraries at a library of the future: Concordia University's newly remodeled library. Read more about Vailey here http://www.multcolib.org/about/mcl-director.html and more about Concordia's new library here http://www.cu-portland.edu/giving/success/librarycenter.cfm.
The tea will be on Friday, December 11 from 3p - 5p. Look for an invite soon!
Recaps of September and October events
Strategic Planning for the Information Center
ORSLA hosted its first webinar on September 23. Members from Springfield and Eugene participated virtually from their offices and Portland area members attended the live presentation at the offices of Davis Wright Tremaine. We are excited that the technology for hooking up members from distant locations worked because now we can include our colleagues from all over the state.
Betty Jo Hibberd, Senior Manager in Market Development at Dialog Corp., presented the basics of strategic planning and had attendees work through a case study to illustrate how and why to plan strategically. We shared our own strategic planning endeavors, ranging from very small to company wide. The presentation provided a great review of why goals, objectives and a needs assessment are important to our information center and gave us specific tools for continuing to strategically plan for both short and long term effectiveness. To see a copy of Betty Jo's slides and case study, check out this wiki: http://orsla.pbworks.com/ORSLA.
Annual Banquet and Business Meeting
We hope those of you who attended enjoyed this year's banquet as much as we did. The room was abuzz with lively chatter and, of course, interesting conversation. We were proud to honor Perri Parise with this year's Kathy Greey Award (see her profile above); excited to announce our 2010 Slate of Officers; and energized by Aaron Schmidt's presentation, "The Read/Write Web Opportunity" (found here http://www.walkingpaper.org/consulting/orsla).
Thanks to our vendors for their kind support:
IEEE www.ieee.org
Information Express www.ieonline.com
Reprints Desk www.reprintsdesk.com
Are there any programs you'd like to see ORSLA coordinate? Let us know! Please contact us (merylbeth@gmail.com).
VOLUNTEER CORNER
Volunteers are always welcome, of course! Here we'll list those volunteer opportunities that are "quickies" - not long-term commitments, rather some short-term projects.
Working with the Communications team
Working with the Vendor Relations team
If you have some expertise, time, & energy please help your chapter. Contact us (ORSLA.volunteers@gmail.com) and we'll get right back to you.
ON YOUR SLA SITE
Our SLA web site has many hidden treasures which are both useful and yours (!) to explore. Each month we'll point to one of the site's useful features. If you have a favorite site feature, let us know (merylbeth@gmail.com) and we'll post if too.
This month we feature Click University - increase your career knowledge online with short skill building courses or complete certificate programs in Competitive Intelligence, Knowledge Management or Copyright Management. Click U recently added members-only free access to Credo Reference's eReference collection: http://www.sla.org/content/learn/members/refcoll/index.cfm.
CONTACTS
Communications Team Co-Leads
Kama Siegel (KSiegel@schwabe.com)
Meryl Cole (merylbeth@gmail.com)
President
Cindy Romaine (cindy.romaine@comcast.net)
President-Elect
Judy Anderson (JuAnderson@cu-portland.edu)
Posted 18-Oct-09 by:
Jessica Hastings
Knowledge Learning Corporation
Dear ORSLA members,
Today's Alignment Project interviewee is chapter member Amy Maule of CH2M Hill. Amy recently had her thoughtful article "Corporate librarian or corporate climber?" published in the latest issue of Information Outlook (link -- login required). Amy is a relatively new professional, but has been working in libraries for about 12 years.
Amy, what is your job title and how long have you been working in your field?
"Information Specialist" is the title I made up for myself. Tech Specialist is what HR calls me, but that's a catch-all for people with jobs they don't understand. I've been a post-MLS professional for just over 2 years, but have been working in libraries of one type or another for about 12.
How would you describe what you do today?
Research (technology, business, competitive intelligence) and information management, plus some writing and editing, technical support (mostly SharePoint and LiveMeeting), cat-herding, etc.
What are some of the significant changes you have experienced during your career? Does the Alignment Project speak to these changes?
I've gone from academic/public libraries to corporate, and from a physical library to an embedded-type position in our strategic-planning and future technology group. I've experienced the change from hand-typed catalog cards to online everything. In the corporate world, I'm seeing less reliance on the physical library and more reliance on online resources.
I think the findings of the realignment process are in line with the changes I'm seeing. In terms of follow-up, I haven't seen anything more than talk so far, so what comes from those findings remains to be seen.
After taking some time to look at the Alignment Project's findings, do you think they relate to you and your professional goals? If so, how?
I hardly know what my professional goals are anymore, I'm so far from where I ever thought I'd be. The Alignment's findings are in line with my current path.
From your perspective, where do you see the profession going in the next 10 years?
Honestly, I hate to say it, but I see "corporate librarian" as a profession ceasing to exist. I think the companies that keep librarians will not keep them as "librarians" for too much longer, but as embedded researchers, records managers, database administrators, CI pros, etc. I'm not sure that's something we should be fighting against. Rather than spending all our energy arguing that librarians are still relevant, maybe we need to look to our own skill sets and make ourselves useful in the areas that are still valued by our employers.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I like the idea of broadening the scope of our association to include other info pros, but I fear that there is so much history of exclusivity in the profession that it will be difficult. In hiring for "librarian" jobs, we require an MLS and refuse to acknowledge that people with different backgrounds could be as skilled at research and information management as someone with an MLS. At the same time, we want non-librarians to see how valuable we really are in all of these other areas. To broaden the scope of our association, we need to broaden our concept of what it takes to be a librarian (or whatever we call ourselves).
As a credential, the MLS is basically meaningless outside of library circles. As long as we rely on it to prove how qualified we are to do all the things we do, we will never convince any non-library people of our value outside of traditional libraries. In my current work, a strong knowledge of business and marketing principles, a broad understanding of new technologies, and strong computer skills are all as or more important than research or info management skills. I think SLA would benefit from taking a more skills-based approach to our field.
****
Once again, if you haven't checked out the Alignment Portal, take a moment to read the research and think about how *you* would answer these questions. I'd love to hear your ideas.
Sincerely,
Reece Dano
ORSLA Alignment Ambassador
Posted 12-Oct-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
Dear ORSLA members,
In response to some questions that implied confusion about the Alignment Project's goals, Jill Strand, Chair, PR Advisory Council Chair & Alignment Ambassador, Minnesota Chapter has put together a Q&A that attempts to clarify these issues. Please take a look at these answers and let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks,
Reece
***
Getting to the Heart of SLA's Alignment Project
Although there have been several presentations, online forums, Twitter feeds, mentions in Information Outlook and informal meetings discussing the SLA Alignment Project, I'm sure many of you may still have some unanswered questions as have other members across the globe. For a good overview of how the project started, who was interviewed, how and what the research found, check out the Alignment Portal. Below is a summary of various writings from SLA CEO Janice Lachance, President Gloria Zamora, President Elect Anne Caputo and myself in response to some of these questions. We hope it also answers some of yours but if not, please feel free to contact one of us.
What is the SLA Alignment Project and how did it come about?
For several years, members have asked for a broader effort and support from the Association in helping them to communicate their value in their organizations. At one time or another, many of us have struggled to define the value of what we do and why our skills as a librarian and information professionals are important. Many of you may remember that the Association attempted to hold a vote on a name change at the annual conference in 2003. While the membership did vote to change the name, the final vote on which name to use could not be completed due to logistical issues. In the long run this was probably a good thing given the untested choices offered at the time.
When funds became available from the sale of SLA's previous headquarters building, they decided to try again but this time by conducting solid, in-depth research with a broad range of organizational leaders as well as information professionals. (There is a misconception held by some that member dues were used - this is not true.) The Alignment Project plan and goals were first introduced at Leadership Summit in January of 2008 with initial research findings shared at the next Leadership Summit in 2009. The research provided broad concepts as well as value statements and encouraged people to use the information contained in it to explain what they do and the value they provide. Association leadership encouraged people to use the very powerful language and concepts when they talked about their skills.
Why is Alignment so important?
When the Alignment research talks about using language that resonates with leaders and executives it is referring to leaders at all types of organizations: corporate, academic, non-profit and government. Particularly in today's economy, we all need to articulate our value in language they can relate to, no matter where we work. Different organizations may have different goals but to some degree they all must be mindful of a budget and/or bottom line. Our job, no matter whether we are up front or in the back room, is to talk with them about the solutions and support we offer and to align it with the organizations goals. This can be hard to do but the Alignment research is the first step to showing us how we can begin. As this initiative progresses, we will be looking to members to help us tailor the language for different types of organizations and audiences.
Is the Alignment research truly reflective of all SLA members?
Information professionals and leaders in a wide range of professions and types of organizations were interviewed as part of the Alignment research. (See the Alignment Portal for details.) While the largest sector in our membership is represented by corporate information professionals, this changes over time. We are deliberately reaching out to other areas as evidenced by our newer divisions, Legal, Government and Academic in particular. These have grown rapidly and represent some of the larger divisions within SLA. We will continue to be responsive to these requests from our members and will use this responsiveness to attract new members. The formation of the newest division focused on taxonomy is a bow in part to technical services where this discipline often resides.
I've heard that it is mainly a way to push a name change for the Association. Is that true?
Although the research suggested that a name change should be considered, SLA Leadership hesitated to move too quickly because they did not want anyone to think we embarked on this project as a means to that end. Yet as members looked at the initial research findings on the SLA website, many (myself included) kept asking about a name change. A name change is but one of many ways we can benefit from the findings of the Alignment project. The project results clearly show us the name and the perception of the name leave us in a very weak and not very desirable place in the world of public perception, and especially in the perception of senior management in our organizations. The names we call ourselves -- and there are more than 2,000 variations on names in our membership database -- is testimony to the losing battle to use our professional name as a the name of our association. We honor and respect libraries and librarians, just as we honor information professionals, knowledge managers, business or competitive intelligence professionals and a myriad of others.
In fact, we are no longer an association of "special libraries" as more than 50 percent of our members do not work in a "library." We will never be able to reflect all these names and changes but we can put forth a name that reflects the value and professionalism we bring to our organizations, regardless of what we call ourselves now or in the future. Anne Caputo has said "I think John Cotton Dana would be pleased to know we are evolving and focusing on what is really important -- how we provide strategically important information, content and knowledge that make our organizations competitive and successful." As Gloria Zamora has said, "This is about a game change and not (just) a name change." I think Janice Lachance put it well with this closing to her Info View letter in the September issue of Information Outlook: The term "special librarian" carries great sentimental weight. But just like an overpacked suitcase at the airport, these days that weight is costing us dearly ... It is time to practice what we preach and adopt new ways of describing the role of information professionals -- and adopt a new name for SLA as well. The words we use to describe ourselves can limit our roles or they can illustrate our contributions to our organization's strategic priorities. We can be accurate or aspirational. The wrong words can hurt, but the right ones can help us align our skills with successful outcomes. Which words will you choose?"
How would a possible name change be handled? What's next and when will we learn more?
In an Oct. 5 message to the SLA Leadership List, Gloria Zamora communicated the following: We have discussed the name change issue and we believe that we currently have the momentum to move forward. Remember Seth Godin said the time to change is when you have the momentum propelling you forward. As you all know the Alignment information has been available since January. Janice and I have both written extensively on the alignment and informed the membership in June that we were pursuing a name change. We believe that an additional six months for discussion will not make a significant difference. The name is coming from the same research that we collected from the alignment project. We still hear that there are those who have not heard about the Alignment and believe we will have the same issue with the name. Some will ensure they are informed and others will not read the research or ask any questions.
In addition, since we are not required to conduct the vote at a membership meeting we do not have to vote at New Orleans in person. In fact if we did we would disenfranchise those who do not attend. We will have an electronic ballot to allow all of our members to participate.
The Board will take up the name change issue this week based on the alignment research and further testing and will inform the membership of any actions taken. Once a decision is made there will be webinars as well as a well-thought-out communication plan to get the information on the name and the accompanying research out to all of the membership. We will ask our alignment ambassadors to continue to talk about the alignment and the name and we will answer all questions in order to prepare our members for any vote. Please stay tuned, get informed and take an active part in the discussion.
The core of what we do hasn't changed, so we should still be calling ourselves librarians. Terms such as "info pro" and "knowledge manager" are inaccurate and have hurt the profession.
I disagree that using different titles has hurt the profession. What has probably hurt us is not recognizing that our members' roles and duties and have expanded beyond what most people think of when they hear "librarian" or "library." Again, keep in mind that the Alignment research is not saying members need to change their titles. There is nothing wrong with being a librarian or working in a library but there are instances when it limits how we are perceived and what we have to offer. Becoming an association open to a broader membership can only enhance and help people understand the value of librarians and all our members. That said, in a recent discussion with fellow MN Chapter members, many agreed that "information" was too vague and easy to confuse with similar or overlapping professions such as Information Technology. We need something new but just because "info pro" may not be the best name, doesn't mean that "librarian" is a one-size-fits-all solution.
Why doesn't the Alignment Project stress the value of an MLIS?
After an information professional's first job, the MLS is less emphasized. It is the experience and performance that is valued. The MLS degree is a means to an end and the credential to get one in the door. SLA realized this many years ago when they removed a professional library degree as a requirement for membership. And it has not hurt the association. SLA Leadership is seeking ways with the Alignment Project to open up our membership to more people who are information professionals but do not have an MLS. They believe (and attendance at annual conferences has shown) that the diversity of interests will be beneficial to our association and profession as a whole. Anne Caputo notes that, "Just as we see people with the MLS degree doing many things outside the traditional boundaries of the library (myself and the majority of the last 10 SLA Presidents included) -- we also see many people doing high-level professional research and information work who do not have the MLS degree."
Having been raised in a family of professors and university leaders, I understand and respect the value of an advanced degree. While I think my MLIS is important and helps me to do my job better, I know that experience counts for a lot as well. As the manager of a midsize law firm library, I could probably do some parts of my job somewhat better if I had a law degree. Yet I am certain that my experience and lessons learned from SLA colleagues, courses and conferences is what will help me to do a great job.
Some long-time members or those who have had budget cuts seems to be against Alignment, saying that no matter what we do decision makers aren't going to value us. As she has visited companies and libraries over the past two years, Gloria Zamora has seen what a positive attitude can do. She has met CEOs who do know their information professionals and who value the work they do. "If we do not stand up and state our value we cannot expect anyone else to do it for us," she says. "The Alignment Project gives each of us the tools we need to communicate value, to speak in terms that businesses understand, to convey that we are forward looking and are true assets to our employers no matter what the setting. We have the tools and whether we are librarians or knowledge managers or information professionals we need to take responsibility, even if it is hard or you think no one will listen. They will listen if we speak, knowledgeably and proudly of the value we provide. It is up to each of us to take responsibility for our careers and our profession."
Anne Caputo has also said, "If you carry a defeatist attitude you will be defeated. We want an association filled with people who believe they can make a difference and a contribution and then go out and prove it."
Where do we go from here?
If there is one thing librarians and info pros don't do it is ignore solid research! Alignment Ambassadors representing almost every unit, division and caucus has just been through training on how to "talk Alignment" and they will be working hard to help members absorb the research and answer their questions. Their job is to continue the dialog and help us all learn how to "talk Alignment." No matter what happens re: a name change, there is still a lot we can learn to help us better align with our organizations and convince them of our purpose and value. That said, it is up to each individual member to decide for him- or herself what is possible. By working together, learning from one another's experiences and speaking with a unified voice in language that has been tested and honed for each audience, I honestly believe we can make a difference -- many already have, and the next issue of Information Outlook will include stories of five who have done just that.
A final thought
Regardless of one's personal thoughts, feelings and experiences about the research and a possible name change, the need for Alignment for us as a profession and Association still exists. This is bigger than any one of us and to condemn it completely based on what you wish to call yourself or your single experience is not fair others. I plan to move forward and align, welcoming any and all (librarians, technical support, IT, market researchers, info pros, KM managers or others) who want to come along.
Best regards, Jill
Jill Strand
Chair, PR Advisory Council
Alignment Ambassador, Minnesota Chapter
Posted 09-Oct-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
Dear ORSLA members,
Over the past few weeks the Alignment Ambassadors have been sharing the research and resources the Alignment Project has produced to date (link). I hope it's been insightful and engaging.
Today I'd like to share reactions to the Alignment Project's findings from one of our fellow ORSLA members, LaJean Humphries of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. LaJean is currently the Library Manager at Schwabe and has been in the profession for 23 years. Needless to say, she's witnessed a lot of change -- and sees librarians as more important than ever.
LaJean, how would you describe what you do today?
I help people find the information they want/need.
I help people figure out what information they want/need.
I help people manage the information they receive/find.
I find information for people.
I proactively supply information to people.
I provide context to information.
I teach people how to do different kinds of research and how to evaluate what they find.
I evaluate information and information resources.
I determine the best information resources, in other words, the highest quality, most reliable, most reasonable price, most appropriate resources for my organization.
What are some of the significant changes you have experienced during your career? Does the Alignment Project speak to these changes?
Obviously the Internet and the birth of the World Wide Web as well as the personal computer are some of the most significant changes I've experienced. When I started as a librarian the Internet was only accessible by a few, primarily academicians. It was very cumbersome. Librarians used computers and computer systems primarily for cataloging and for Dialog searching. The first computers I used mostly didn't have monitors, they had little rolls of thermal paper and what you typed and received electronically was printed on the continuously rolling paper. There were no laptops. Some computers had monitors (characters appeared in orange or green) but it was an entirely different environment than what we have today. Of course, cell phones, Blackberries, etc. didn't exist.
The World Wide Web made the Internet accessible to most people. That has totally changed the way that people view information. Unfortunately, the proliferation of wikis, blogs, etc. has resulted in a proliferation of "junk." It's harder for people to find high quality, reliable, unbiased, information. That's why librarians are more important than ever. (You might enjoy "From Moses to Megabytes: A Short History of Online Information Access," College & Research Libraries News, December 1983, pp. 425-26.)
After taking some time to look at the Alignment Project's findings, do you think they relate to you and your professional goals? If so, how?
I think they probably relate to every practicing librarian. I think that's because librarians do a combination of physical and intellectual work. It's almost always easier to explain physical activity, cataloging, shelving, routing, than it is intellectual activity, evaluating, analyzing, synthesizing. I don't know that I agree that all librarians generally add value to information to "produce key intelligence and enable good decisions." Some librarians do that some times. It's not done all the time by any one. Should it be? Probably. Certainly it should be done more often than it is.
I could better explain what I do every day as I suspect most of us could. The profession clearly suffers from lack of a unified voice.
I do very much agree with the three mission-critical contributions:
- "unique knowledge regarding the information sources available and how they can best be used in your organization's unique setting;
- assurance that you are aware of the "newest and truest" sources of information and are making that information available to the organization; and
- best practices in the most efficient use of information resources."
I was quite interested under the "demonstrate your value" section to see that it is recommended to offer a case study instead of listing the number of requests you process. I have done that for years. I have been consistently berated by supervisors for not just providing the number of requests even though the case studies (in my opinion) demonstrate that what is done is more important than the number of requests.
Most of the non-professional people I know don't understand that "thinking" can be work. I see a growing divide between people who are intellectually oriented and people who are not intellectually oriented. It is even more critical than the divide between rich and poor.
From your perspective, where do you see the profession going in the next 10 years?
I have no idea where it's going. I don't know that I want to foresee the future. Right now I think the opportunities are limitless. It all depends on what we do with them.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Ranganathan's laws of library science are still (mostly) relevant although the "book" may be in different formats and the "book" might be a film, article, research study, or other piece of data or intelligence. I see our job (the librarian's role) as matching what's needed with the person who needs it (in some cases, whether they know it or not).
* * *
So, ORSLA members, after reading LaJean's insightful answers, how would you respond to the same questions? Let me know. Let's keep the conversation going!
Again, if you haven't had the chance to review the Alignment findings, check them out here. Have questions or comments? Feel free to send me a message.
Sincerely,
Reece Dano
ORSLA Alignment Ambassador
Posted 08-Oct-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
Congratulations are due to Cindy Romaine, current President of ORSLA and now, President-Elect of SLA! Cindy's 2010 promises to be quite busy.
Here is the press release about the election results.
Great job, Cindy!
Posted 02-Oct-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
"Entering SLA's Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll"
Success stories in action!
SLA Contributed Papers: An opportunity to share your knowledge!
How are you putting your hard work into action? How are you using the long-planned, expertly-vetted, SME-approved technologies in your library? How are your users responding to these new services?
If you have a success story to tell your colleagues, we would love to hear it! SLA is now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at its 2010 Annual Conference in the "Southern and Soulful City" of New Orleans, Louisiana, with the theme "Entering SLA's Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll!" Accepted papers will also be published on the SLA Web site.
Every SLA member is eligible and encouraged to apply. Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of SLA members in a blind review, and the best will be selected for development into full papers, which are due 7 May 2010.
Requirements for Acceptance
Paper topics should be related to library science, information management, research or other issues related to customer service, technology, or administration in special libraries. Proposals will be judged on their relevance to the conference theme, "Let the Good Times Roll", as well on the strength of the idea, quality of the writing, and potential member interest.
Proposed papers must also meet these requirements:
- At least one author is a member of SLA.
- At least one author commits to presenting the paper at the annual conference.
- The proposal is received by the deadline.
- The paper has not been published in or submitted to any other publication or conference planning group.
- The author (and any co-authors) must be willing to sign a copyright assignment form that will permit SLA to use the paper in various formats.
Full guidelines, including formatting instructions, are available here.
To view papers presented at SLA's 2009 Annual Conference, visit here.
Deadlines
Proposals due. Submit an abstract of your paper via e-mail to chris.mulready@boeing.com no later than 18 December 2009. Abstracts should be 250-300 words in length, which is roughly one page in 12-point text.
Papers selected. Between 12 and 15 proposals will be chosen for development into papers. All applicants will be notified of a decision on 29 January 2010.
Papers due. Authors submit their completed paper and copyright assignment to SLA no later than 7 May 2010.
Papers presented. Authors will deliver a 15-minute presentation of their papers (along with three to four other authors) during a 90-minute session at the SLA 2010 Annual Conference, 13-15 June 2010.
We look forward to your submissions and to hearing how you have broken rules and built bridges in the information profession!
Kristin M. Foldvik, CMP, MBA
Events Director
SLA
331 S. Patrick Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
+1.703.647.4947
+1.703.647.4901 (fax)
www.sla.org
Twitter ID: kfoldvik
Watch. Learn. Connect.
SLA-TV
The only online video network for and about the information profession
Posted 22-Sep-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
PRESIDENT'S WELCOME
We had our ORSLA Board meeting on September 8 and this is a busy month for ORSLA!
We are doing all the behind the scenes activities that keep the chapter moving forward. For example, the nominations committee is busy working on the slate of officers for the board for 2010. Also, to make attending programs easier for you, we will soon incorporate Paypal as one of the options to use when signing up for ORSLA programs. And finally, the Board is also discussing how to make it easier to update the ORSLA website. Be looking for some changes by the end of the calendar year.
We are also working on finalizing details on some great programming that will take us through the end of the year. We have a Dialog Quantum program on Return on Investment which will take place September 23. These programs always provide solid business information, so they are worth your while.
Also, we've got a team working on preparations for the Annual Banquet. The speaker will be Aaron Schmidt whose expertise is user experience and usability. The speaker will conduct a survey preceding the event to make sure he is talking to the needs of the attendees specifically. It will, no doubt, be an informative and enjoyable evening. Look for more details in the next few days.
And finally, at the HQ-level, we have the SLA Candidates election. You should have received your e-ballot on September 9th. In most volunteer organizations, about 25% of the membership votes. Let's see if we can move that needle. Please inform yourself and cast your vote.
Thank you for allowing me this opportunity. It's been a pleasure.
Cindy
ORSLA President
SLATE OF OFFICERS, ORSLA 2010
ORSLA has nominated the following slate to serve as officers for 2010:
President: Judy Anderson
President-Elect: Kama Sue Siegel
Past-President: Cindy Romaine
Secretary: Sue Mecklem
Treasurer: Don Oswalt
Valley Liason: TBD
We will open a poll for additional nominations and for the approval of Officers October 10th and close it October 28th.
The Nomination Committee would like to thank all incoming officers for agreeing to lead ORSLA. It will be an exciting year.
MEMBER PROFILE
Uta Hussong-Christian is our highlighted member this month. A new member, Uta got involved right away reporting back to members about this year's annual SLA conference.
1. When and how did you realize you wanted to be a librarian?
While I was still employed as a medical lab analyst (and before that as an environmental testing lab analyst), a friend who had recently completed library school and was working in an academic science library talked to me about the kind of work she was doing (reference desk work, developing a holdings database as part of a project to provide online access to medical information). I liked the thought of being able to work and interact with so many different kinds of people (students, faculty, colleagues), still stay connected to science but not be in the lab and connect people with the information they needed. So, after 13 years in various lab settings, I applied for library school in early 2003.
2. What's your educational background?
B.S. Biology and MLISc.
3. What's your title? Do you like it? Does it reflect what you do?
Title: Physical & Mathematical Sciences Librarian; I don't dislike it, but I don't love it. I don't think it reflects the breadth of things I do (collection development, instruction, research) though it does clearly indicate that I am on the sciences-side of librarianship rather than the humanities and social sciences side of the academic librarianship profession.
4. What do you like best about your position?
I still like my interactions with students the best, though I must admit I enjoy interacting with older students more because they are more focused and often have begun to realize how important the library is to their academic success (especially graduate students).
5. What book(s) are you reading now?
Many&Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee/Dee Brown (inspired to read after visiting Crazy Horse National Monument on my move to Oregon last summer); Parting the Waters/Taylor Branch (inspired by focus on race issues often addressed by WYPR-programming when I lived in Baltimore); Solitude of the Open Sea/Gregory Newell Smith (I grew up sailing and personally know the author of this book).
6. Why did you decide to join ORSLA?
The opportunity to be professionally active at the local level is attractive; it expands my network of professional colleagues beyond academic libraries, and is a good way to make contacts in my new home state (I've only been in Oregon since end of June 2008).
7. Do you have an example of an ORSLA training, meeting or member helping you in your career?
Have not been active long enough yet for this to apply.
8. What's your favorite ice cream?
Hard ice cream: vanilla-macadamia nut; soft ice cream: Rita's frozen custard (a Baltimore treat) - best soft serve I've ever tasted.
9. What other interesting tidbits would you like to share?
I spent 10 of the past 19 years living the good life in Hawaii (I miss the WARM ocean) and I just got married in May.
Thanks Uta! For future, we need to hear from you! Have a colleague you find particularly interesting? Innovative? Unsung? Brilliant? Let us know (SusanMecklem@dwt.com) and we'll take care of the rest.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Social Media is a topic we will discuss in our Annual Banquet next month. To help rope you in, check out Scott Simon's interview with Clay Shirky "Social Media's Growing Influence": http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112779080&sc=emaf.
Shirky just spoke this week at the Gov 2.0 Summit. Read about it here: http://www.gov2summit.com/.
TECH TIDBITS
In the spirit of Web 2.0 and an informed democracy, we present these two useful sites for your perusal:
http://www.GovPulse.us
http://www.ThisWeKnow.org
CENTENNIAL TIDBITS
Happy 100th Birthday SLA! For the balance of 2009, in this segment we'll publish an "SLA Factoid" from SLA's site (http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLACTK/10+SLA+Factoids+for+10+Decades) for a touch of history.
1940 - 1949 First Salary Survey conducted and published in Special Libraries
1950 - 1959 Katherine Hepburn plays special librarian Bunny Watson, head of a television network research department, who takes on her boss Spencer Tracy and EMERAC, a computer that threatens her job in "Desk Set"
COMING SOON
September: With a focus on building business acumen, our next event, "Dialog's Quantum 2: Return on Investment," will be on September 23. Betty Jo Hibberd, Dialog's Director of Market Development for North America, will lead a workshop on Quantum 2.
From their site (http://quantum.dialog.com/training/descriptions/) here's a description of the workshop:
Strategic Planning for the Information Center
Presentation: This session offers basic techniques and a hands-on approach to evaluate the current strengths and weaknesses of your information services aligned against organizational goals, envision innovative strategic alternatives for the future, and create an action plan to apply the appropriate resources and tactics for achieving your vision.
This event is coming up. Be sure to RSVP AT Survey Monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kojU_2flouzQtnycPRqMi_2bew_3d_3d.
October: We will enjoy our Annual Banquet on October 10 at Elephants Deli, Garden Room. Our speaker, the Web 2.0 and usability expert, Aaron Schmidt. Check your inbox soon for an RSVP form!
December: a tea with new Multnomah County Library Director, Vailey Oehlke at Concordia University.
Recap of August's Conversazione: What could be better than Thai food and stimulating conversation? Our most successful Conversazione to date was held on August 26, at Pok Pok in SE Portland. The guest of honor? SLA President-Elect (and ORSLA member!) Anne Caputo, who came to nosh on some delicious Thai food and talk to the members about the SLA Align in '09 project.
Anne has been traveling all over the country talking to people about the Alignment Project, and it seemed that she was a little disappointed to be in front of such a receptive group. Our President-Elect enjoys a challenge, it seems, and she was eager to preach the gospel about the Alignment Project, rather than having softballs thrown at her. However, the group still had a lively discussion about the alignment project and how to get involved, or even just how to learn more about the project and what it entails.
Click the link above to find out more about this project and how it will affect you, as an SLA and ORSLA member!
Are there any programs you'd like to see ORSLA coordinate? Let us know! Please contact us (merylbeth@gmail.com).
VOLUNTEER CORNER
Volunteers are always welcome, of course! Here we'll list those volunteer opportunities that are "quickies"-not long-term commitments, rather some short-term projects.
Working with the Vendor Relations team
If you have some expertise, time, energy&please help your chapter. Contact us (ORSLA.volunteers@gmail.com) and we'll get right back to you.
ON YOUR SLA SITE
Our SLA web site has many hidden treasures which are both useful and yours (!) to explore. Each month we'll point to one of the site's useful features. If you have a favorite site feature, let us know (merylbeth@gmail.com) and we'll post it too.
The SLA Community Page provides a variety of ways to connect with other information professionals and, as such, is a valuable resource for both research assistance and career planning. Check out the Communities of Practice, the Business Partner Community and the Membership Directory at http://www.sla.org/content/Community/index.cfm.
CONTACTS
Communications Team Co-Leads
Kama Siegel (KSiegel@schwabe.com)
Meryl Cole (merylbeth@gmail.com)
President
Cindy Romaine (cindy.romaine@comcast.net)
President-Elect
Judy Anderson (JuAnderson@cu-portland.edu)
Posted 14-Sep-09 by:
Jessica Hastings
Knowledge Learning Corporation
Please let SLA HQ know what topics interest you for Click U webinars and certificate programs by completing this short (5 question!) survey. We are planning now for 2010 and beyond, so don't miss this opportunity to share your ideas.
Take the survey.
Thanks for your participation! Contact me or Natalie Gozzard (703-647-4906) if you have any questions.
Carolyn Sosnowski, MLIS
Information Specialist, SLA
331 S. Patrick St.
Alexandria, VA 22314-3501 USA
Tel: +1.703.647.4914 Fax: +1.703.647.4901
csosnowski@sla.org
www.sla.org
http://slaconnections.typepad.com/info_center_blog/
@triviachick
Posted 03-Sep-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
PRESIDENT'S WELCOME
Ah, the lazy days of summer...well, not so lazy this year. As part of my bid for president-elect of SLA, I visited five chapters in the East. And I was reminded, once again, what a great chapter we have-how active our members are and how dedicated you all are to our profession and chapter.
There are a couple new developments afoot for SLA. The big association news is, as you likely heard, is that there is a possible name change in the works.
SLA Name Change
About two years ago, SLA commissioned a public relations firm to conduct in-depth primary and secondary research of the information industry and our alignment against where the value is in the industry. Findings show some strong evidence that a rose by any other name might not smell as sweet. In fact, the words " special library" did not connote value to either our director or even to ourselves.
This is not the first time the association has debated a name change and each time it sparks lively discussion. Discussion that ranges from the light suggestions people come up with to the heavy thoughts members have about the nature of our profession. I highly recommend that you read more this important issue on the association's wiki devoted to this mammoth topic at SLA Name Change.
My contribution to the mix is: Knowledge Tamer or Information Whisperer.
SLAM
Speaking of name changes, we've been looking for a new name for our ORSLA Newsletter. Zoe Fisher, ESU graduate student is the winner of the " name our newsletter " contest! Our new name is SLAM (Special Libraries Association Monthly). Yeah Zoe! Thanks to all who contributed your clever ideas.
Nominations
This is the time of year we start looking to your skills and talents to see who would like to step up to the Oregon SLA Board of Directors. There is a lot going on in our chapter and industry-jobs, jobs, jobs, the Alignment Project, new web 2.0 developments, the possible change to a new name, and others. Your voice needs to be heard! Join in the conversation.
Upcoming Events
We've got some great programming coming up and I hope you'll join me in conversation with Anne Caputo, SLA President Elect, August 26, and with Betty Jo Hibbard from Dialog, September 23.
Looking forward to seeing you at both these events as well as the ORSLA website and Facebook page.
All the best--Cindy
MEMBER PROFILE
LaJean Humphries is our highlighted member this month. Within ORSLA LaJean has graciously volunteered as President-Elect/President, Professional Development Team Leader and Ethics Ambassador. She was also awarded our chapter's Greey Award.
When and how did you realize you wanted to be a librarian? I realized that I wanted to be a librarian the second day in my basic introduction to reference class. The professor discussed the " problem patron " defined as someone who didn't return a book on time or who asked a difficult question at the reference desk. I went home in hysterics and told my husband, " I can do this; librarianship is the career for me! "
I had spent the previous five years (of a thirteen-year career) as a caseworker for the Oregon Children Services Division, specializing in permanent planning and termination of parental rights. These cases involved extreme abuse and neglect and in many cases children were permanently removed from their birth parents and placed for adoption without the parents' consent. Murder, mayhem, and dead children, while not an everyday occurrence, were also not uncommon in my caseload and I often dealt with parents who threatened to beat me up or kill me. Since some of these parents were (or had been) incarcerated for violent crimes these were credible threats.
With this background, somehow a difficult question just didn't seem like a problem! I could handle that.
What's your educational background? I had originally planned on being a high school teacher and graduated with a BA in history and secondary education. However, the year I graduated from college about a half million other young people graduated with the same degree and there just weren't enough jobs. Thus, I ended up in social work.
When my husband turned 40 he decided to go back to graduate school for a Ph.D. I wasn't ready to go that far but decided to look at other career options and started taking some classes to just to see what was available. I fell in love with the library classes. My reference professor strongly encouraged me to enroll in the MLS program at San Jose State University. I did and never looked back. I loved every day of library school and virtually every day of library work since!
Early on I was fortunate to have a couple of successes that sealed my commitment. In that same introductory reference class, the professor commented about the movie, Walkabout, and how he would like to find the poem that was briefly quoted in the movie. I had also seen the movie and had a sense of the words but couldn't remember them precisely. Only a couple of lines were quoted (not the first lines) and my professor had been unsuccessful trying to find the poem (and we weren't even positive it was a poem). Through serendipity I stumbled across a clue about a year later that eventually led me to Housman's " Into My Heart an Air that Kills " (from A Shropshire Lad). The last stanza had been quoted in Walkabout:
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.
Needless to say I was thrilled to have found it and the professor was delighted!
My father-in-law loved to read but was not particularly well-educated and I think was quite intimidated by libraries and librarians. He would never ask for help in finding a book but always enjoyed the books we lent him. He occasionally referenced a good book that he'd read about a young boy that was a Tom Sawyer-like type of book and said he'd really like to read it again. Of course, he didn't know the title or the author or anything except every day started out bright and fair. In every library school class I would find new sources and try to track down this elusive book. Finally, in cataloging we were introduced to OCLC where you could enter the first 3 letters of the first word in the title, the first 2 letters of the second word in the title, and the first letter only of the third word in the title. Voila! Brite and Fair by Henry Shute. As luck would have it, a young man in New England decided to republish Shute's books around this time and I was able to purchase an exquisite new copy of this little book. It was the best Christmas gift I ever gave my father-in-law. How could I not love being a librarian after these experiences!?
What's your title? Do you like it? Does it reflect what you do? "Library Manager" - it's just a title and reflects a small portion of what I do. I think "Library Director" would be a more inclusive and reflective title.
What do like best about your position? Learning something new every day and helping people find what they're really looking for is what I like best.
What book(s) are you reading now? I'm usually reading at least several at any given time. I just finished Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell. Campbell commanded a platoon in Ramadi and provides a gripping narrative of the Iraq War. Bone by Bone is a departure from Carol O'Connell's Mallory series but if you enjoy the Mallory series, you should enjoy this book (and yes, it involves a person missing for twenty years being returned home one bone at a time!). Ride the Wind by Lucia St Clair Robson is a historical novel about Cynthia Ann Parker, the nine-year-old Texan who was kidnapped by Comanche Indians in 1836. Most westerners are familiar with the Parker story and this account, although rather romanticized, seems a fairly accurate portrayal including the less than honorable treatment of Indians by the whites of that time. (If you're not familiar with the Parker story, Cynthia Ann grew to love the Comanches, married a war chief and was the mother of Quanah Parker, the last free Comanche war chief and later probably the most influential Comanche leader of the reservation era. It's a depressing story.) The Indifferent Stars Above: the Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown recounts the story of the ill-fated Donner party. Brown makes it clear that this tragedy could easily have been avoided at a number of points along the way. Being goal-oriented is one thing but being blind to reality is something else. Also, I decided to re-read the Nero Wolfe series (by Rex Stout) in chronological order and am about a third of the way through the set.
Why did you decide to join ORSLA? I learned about SLA in library school and was very impressed with the librarians I met at the local chapter. When I started at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, ORSLA was the logical organization to join! Having a local professional librarian organization is invaluable for collegiality, education, and just plain fun. I've known many wonderful librarians over the years and am proud to call them friends.
Thanks LaJean! For future, we need to hear from you! Have a colleague you find particularly interesting? Innovative? Unsung? Brilliant? Let us know (SusanMecklem@dwt.com) and we'll take care of the rest.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Army streamlines field manuals via wikification : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/business/14army.html.
TECH TIDBITS
Check our this new product from Microsoft: http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLACTK/10+SLA+Factoids+for+10+Decades) for a touch of history.
1920 - 1929 Columbia University opens its School of Library Service
1930 - 1939 The faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Chicago establishes the Library Quarterly, a "journal of investigation and discussion. "
COMING SOON
August: EXTRA SPECIAL CONVERSAZIONE-meet SLA President-Elect Anne Caputo and ORSLA colleagues for dinner and discussion. The topic of this Conversazione is SLA's Alignment Project and possible name change. Wednesday, August 26, 6p at Pok Pok.
September: With a focus on building business acumen, our next event, "Dialog's Quantum 2: Return on Investment," will be in September. Betty Jo Hibberd, Dialog's Director of Market Development for North America, will lead a workshop on Quantum 2.
From their site (http://quantum.dialog.com/training/descriptions/) here's a description of the workshop:
Strategic Planning for the Information Center
Presentation: This session offers basic techniques and a hands-on approach to evaluate the current strengths and weaknesses of your information services aligned against organizational goals, envision innovative strategic alternatives for the future, and create an action plan to apply the appropriate resources and tactics for achieving your vision.
October: We will enjoy our Annual Banquet in early October. Stay tuned for details!
November: TBA
December: a tea with new Multnomah County Library Director, Vailey Oehlke at Concordia University.
Are there any programs you'd like to see ORSLA coordinate? Let us know! Please contact us (merylbeth@gmail.com).
VOLUNTEER CORNER
Volunteers are always welcome, of course! Here we'll list those volunteer opportunities that are quickies - not long-term commitments, but rather some short-term projects.
- Working with the Vendor Relations team
- Helping coordinate logistics for our Annual Dinner
A longer-term volunteer opportunity is to be our chapter's Alignment Ambassador. Each chapter is recruiting Alignment Ambassadors to champion the Alignment and to facilitate communication and build community around this exciting change.
If you have some expertise, time, energy...please help your chapter. Contact us (jesssh@u.washington.edu) and we'll get right back to you.
ON YOUR SLA SITE
Our SLA web site has many hidden treasures which are both useful and yours (!) to explore. Each month we'll point to one of the site's useful features. If you have a favorite site feature, let us know (merylbeth@gmail.com) and we'll post it too.
Information Portals
SLA's information center has created gateways to valuable information on a variety of timely topics ranging from Management/Services to Careers to International. Check out these information-rich lists at KSiegel@schwabe.com)
Meryl Cole (merylbeth@gmail.com)
President
Cindy Romaine (cindy.romaine@comcast.net)
President-Elect
Judy Anderson (JuAnderson@cu-portland.edu)
Posted 23-Aug-09 by:
Jessica Hastings
Knowledge Learning Corporation
Community opening of our new library at Concordia University - Portland
Our new library is a reality. Come and help us celebrate!
Place: Concordia University, Portland, OR
2800 Liberty St in NE Portland
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009
Time: 10:00am-4:00pm
Directions to campus: link
Campus home page
Posted 13-Aug-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
The Reading Club just launched, sponsored by SLA's Leadership & Management Division (LMD) as a global initiative to celebrate SLA's Centennial - 100 years of developing innovative information leadership. We encourage everyone in the SLA community and beyond to join us.
The Reading Club promotes knowledge-sharing and the exchange of creative ideas, insights and trends. We support continuous learning to develop leadership skills and to help achieve professional success. We're looking for new ideas and new resources and we're looking to have some fun.
We'll be posting on selected titles, but we encourage everyone to post on whatever they are reading. Full details are on our Titles List. Our initial titles are:
* Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet by Ian McNeely and Lisa Wolverton
* Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie.
We're also looking at the BusinessBalls Website and two titles featured at the recent 100th SLA Conference:
* Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin (also SLA 2008 keynote speaker)
* "The Hidden Traps in Decision Making," Harvard Business Review (classic reprint) by Hammond, Raiffa & Keeney.
We encourage the formation of other Reading Clubs within our blog framework. An SLA Division or Chapter, or even a business group, could select a title and have their own members join and comment.
Everyone is welcome to comment on postings. You can also contribute postings about your own reading or about the blog's featured titles, but you have to register for that. Please contact our blog owner, Alex Grigg.
We're looking forward to hearing about what you're reading at The Reading Club.
Dee Magnoni
Secretary, LMD, SLA
Library Director
Olin College of Engineering
1000 Olin Way
Needham, MA 02492
Phone: 781-292-2389
Fax: 781-292-2388
dianna.magnoni@olin.edu
AOL: dmlibrarian
Facebook
"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."
- T.S. Eliot
Leslie J. Reynolds
Associate Professor
Senior Head of Collections & Services
Director, West Campus and Policy Sciences & Economics Libraries
Texas A&M University
leslie.reynolds@tamu.edu
West Campus Library | 5001 TAMU | College Station, TX 77843-5001
voice: 979.458.0138 | fax: 979.862.2977
http://library.tamu.edu
Posted 10-Jul-09 by:
Kama Sue Siegel
Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt
Hello!
NWCentral is a web based CE (continuing education) tool for all of us working in libraries. NWCentral is located at http://www.nwcentral.org/.
Why does it matter to you? It's your learning community place. At NWCentral you can find professional development events, online free training, resources for doing our jobs, and a community of librarians from all over the state.
Log in an try it out at http://www.nwcentral.org/ ! The site will be going through improvements in 2008, and if you start using it now -- you can be part of the process to improve it. Your feedback will be welcomed and used.
How are we going to do site improvements? The NW Central just got a federally funded LSTA grant from the Oregon State Library. The LSTA funds will go to hiring consultants for usability testing, content rubric design, web design, content harvesting, and outreach. Each of these roles will contribute to NWCentral site becoming more user friendly with more content for your use and your continuing education and training needs.
NWCentral is managed by an Advisory Group, and special libraries are represented by Gretchen Leslie (gretchen-leslie@spiritone.com) Feedback to Gretchen is welcomed, and will be shared with the other Advisory Group members.
Thanks, and have a great holiday season.
Gretchen
Posted 07-Dec-07 by:
Gretchen Leslie
