Pacific Northwest Chapter

Interface Winter 2003 Members Spotlight Feature Article President's Discussion Chapter News New Members Past Issues

The PNW/SLA 2003 nominating committee (Jean Sansobrino, Kathy Harkness and Nancy Gershenfeld) is pleased to announce the slate of candidates for the 2003-2004 Executive Board:

President-Elect: Katherine Foster:
Katherine is currently a Research Librarian in Microsoft Corporation's Law and Corporate Affairs department. After getting her MLS from the University of North Texas in 1991, she worked with law firms in Dallas and Seattle. She has been active in AALL holding various chapter positions as Newsletter Editor, Chapter President and local arrangements Co-Chair for AALL's 2003 annual meeting to be held here in Seattle this July. She has been a member of SLA since 1993.

Treasurer: Barbara Wetzel: Prior to her current position of Information Specialist at the ZymoGenetics Research Library, Barbara worked on cataloging projects at UWTV and Microsoft Corporation. She was Chair of the UW student chapter of SLA 1999-2000 and received her MLIS from UW in 2000. She has been active in the local SLA chapter serving currently as Hospitality Chair

Additional nominations for President Elect and Treasurer can be sent to Becky Withington at withingtonr@soundtransit.org. They must be accompanied by a letter of acceptance from the nominee. Approval of nominees will take place at the Annual Meeting. If there is more than one candidate for any office, a printed ballot will be mailed to all chapter members.

Continuing their terms are:

President: Christina Byrne
Secretary: Lauri Ellis
Director: Carolyn Ruby
Past President: Becky Withington

Thank you to the nominating committee and to the candidates. Please contact me if you would like to nominate additional candidates, as specified above.

Becky Withington
President - SLA Pacific Northwest Chapter

[Note - see our reporter's articles about these events at http://www.sla.org/chapter/cpnw/events.htm.]

December’s Meeting and Holiday Event took place on Monday, December 16, 2002 in the Petersen Room, Allen Library at the University of Washington. A large group of members, guests and students celebrated the season and visited the renovated Suzzallo Library. Paula Walker, Assistant Director of Libraries & Special Assistant to the Director, provided tours of the renovated areas, including the magnificent Reading Room. We thank Andornot Consulting Inc. for sponsoring this event. Information about the major renovation of the Suzzallo Library can be found at http://www.lib.washington.edu/about/suzzren/

Student Night was a big success on February 3 at the Husky Union Building on the UW Campus. Over 60 attendees listened and responded to Cindy Romaine’s (Nike Design Library) interactive presentation about “Things You Didn’t Learn in Library School.” Joe Janes, assistant professor at the Information School and Chair of the M.L.I.S program, gave an overview of the recently re-vamped Master’s curriculum and commented on Cindy’s points of discussion. Many attendees joined the question and answer period after the presentations, adding their own items to the list of things they wish they had learned while in library school. The evening ended with a briefing from Cindy about the activities of the SLA Branding Task Force, which is putting a name change vote to the membership at the Annual Conference in June. Our thanks go to the UW Information School and Microsoft's Knowledge Network Group for supporting this event. Student night is in annual event co-sponsored by the SLA PNW Chapter and the UW SLA Student Chapter. Congratulations and thanks to Julie Cook and Linda Shippert, Student Relations Committee Co-Chairs, and the Student Chapter for a great program.

Upcoming event: The Chapter Executive Board is planning an informal chapter social event on Friday, March 28. Stay tuned to the chapter discussion list and the events page at http://www.sla.org/chapter/cpnw/events.htm for the details.

Chris Byrne
University of Washington
Assistant Head, Engineering Library
206-685-8371
cbyrne@u.washington.edu

Grants and Awards

Archives Committee Report

I am pleased to report that our Committee has a new member, Jim Foti. Jim is a student in the UW I-School. He is also working part-time at the National Marine Fisheries Service Library, in Montlake, and this quarter will be doing a field work placement with the Museum of History and Industry. Jim has taken a course on archival organization and preservation through the I-School so he brings real expertise to this committee! Thank you, Jim, for volunteering. Thank you, Karen and Sue, for all your work and advice!

• Archived newsletter issues and other features on the Chapter’s web site.
• Created schedule for archiving the different features on the Chapter’s web site.
• Organized archival materials not yet deposited with the University of Washington Libraries. Note: we are hoping to deposit all materials prior to the 1998/99 chapter year by the summer of 2003. This will depend, in part, on working out the agreement between SLA and the UW regarding ownership
.
• Updated the Finding Aid for archived items of particular interest (Annual reports, newsletters, membership directories).
• 50th Anniversary Photo Album – Jim is currently working on the transfer to an archival format, and will create a finding aid which matches photos to names.

Missing items needed for the Chapter’s Archives – Can you help?

• Interface – v.34, no.4 (2000)
• Membership Directory – 1995, 1998 (Note: I don’t think there was a directory produced for these 2 years but would like confirmation from someone on the Membership Committee for those years.)
• Annual report of the President & Chapter – 1994/95, 1995/96

UW Student Chapter Report

As we embark upon a new quarter, and our final leg as SLA-UW officers, we hope to continue the successful planning of events, designed to familiarize with and inform students about the world of special libraries.

February started off with the highly attended SLA “Student Night”, featuring guest speakers Cindy Romaine and Joe Janes. We continued the month with a panel of special librarians in the science field. Representatives from Microsoft, NOAA, Boeing, EPA, and PACCAR were all present for a very informative discussion and question/answer session.

Other scheduled events include tours of special libraries here at the University of Washington, a showing of a documentary on special libraries which was produced by one of very own iSchooler’s, and a student panel of those having done fieldwork in special library settings. Even more is in the works as we continue our goal of showcasing all of the wonderful possibilities in the field of special librarianship.

Futurists Nab NARA for NYC

Dr. Kenneth Thibodeau, one of the major players in electronic records preservation, will speak at SLA's 2003 Conference in New York City, co-sponsored by the Information Futurists Caucus (KINF) and the Library Management Division. Dr. Thibodeau directs the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). He will address SLA during the Future Directions track on Tuesday, June 10 at 3:30 pm.

An internationally recognized expert in electronic records, Ken Thibodeau taught at the University of Notre Dame and led records management programs for both the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. At NARA since 1988, he now heads NARA's effort to build "the archives of the future," preserving our nation's electronic records, from NASA photographs to White House email. Ken Thibodeau is a key player in the development of effective new methods for preserving electronic records through generations of information technology.

Digital preservation is becoming an important topic for SLA. First introduced to us by Stewart Brand in Minneapolis/1999, the Information Futurists and LMD followed up at San Antonio/2001 with Jeff Rothenberg of the Rand Corporation and his highly entertaining talk on preservation basics, "Digital Information Lasts Forever - Or Five Years, Whichever Comes First." The September 2002 Information Outlook featured an article on the digital preservation efforts at the Library of Congress, "Digital Preservation Looks Forward," by Amy Friedlander of the Council on Library and Information Resources.

The momentum continues for New York City. Stewart Brand will again address SLA, this time as keynote for Tuesday's Future Directions track at 9:30 am. In an interview for the February 2003 Information Outlook, Brand stated that one of his themes will be digital preservation. Dr. Kenneth Thibodeau follows in the afternoon with a program about the very exciting preservation projects at NARA/ERA. Be sure to attend both these important programs for the latest in digital preservation. You just might find the solution for your own preservation efforts.

Plan to join the Information Futurists for two more great conference events. Get an early start on the Future Directions track by attending the always lively KINF business and networking meeting on Monday at 5:30 pm. You'll also enjoy a program on wearable and mobile technology with members of the MIT Media Laboratory. KINF is co-sponsoring this program with the Information Technology Division at 1:30 during Tuesday's Future Directions track. Be sure to attend all the Information Futurists' events for an exciting look at the emerging technological world.