The LONE STAR LIBRARIAN
	A quarterly publication of the Texas Chapter, Special Libraries Association ISSN 0739-4950

Archive CONTENTS Texas Chapter Structure Membership Director — Joyce Chesher Employment Director — Peggy Martin Affirmative Action Liaison - Irene Cordova Visit the New Chapter Website at www.txsla.org Chapter Member News and Notices LPG News and Notices Texas Chapter Board and Business Meeting Minutes Texas Chapter Treasurer's Report New University of Texas GLIS Dean Salary Survey Reveals Equity for Female Information Professionals Texas Chapter - SLA Executive Board & Advisory Council 1999/2000 Upcoming Events

Texas Chapter Structure

Everything is changing—in case you haven't noticed. You can do your shopping over the Internet; your teenager's hair color changes weekly; the bulk of your correspondence is done by e-mail; your new "puppy" now weighs 45 pounds; all your library products can be accessed over the company intranet. Even the operating structure of the Texas Chapter of SLA is changing. With the new structure in place, the Chapter will be leveraging technology to better serve Texas members. Electronic communication will make it easier for committees to include members from across the state and still work together efficiently and effectively. Another advantage of the new structure will be to provide additional, and successive, leadership roles within the chapter. This will help us attain our goal of helping grow members in their leadership skills. There are now opportunities for committee members, committee chairs, directors, and officers.

The Executive Board includes eight elected officers: the President, 1^st Vice President/President Elect, 2^nd Vice President, 2nd Vice President Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Past President, and Director at Large. The Director at Large is the only change in this board. The position was created to enable a smoother transition in the case of a vacancy in any other Board seat and also to provide additional leadership with large, but infrequent, projects.

The Executive Board will be assisted by the Advisory Council, who will manage six areas vital to the effective functioning of the chapter: Operations, Membership, Strategic Planning, Program, External Relations, and Communications. Each of these areas will be headed by a "Director." The new role of director was created to coordinate many of the related activities that occur within the chapter. Each director will provide leadership for several committees as described below.

The Directors

• The Director of Operations is responsible for the chapter archives, bylaws, procedures manual, and the parliamentarian.
• The Director of Membership handles all issues related to recruiting new members, affirmative action, the membership directory, mentoring, and employment.
• The Director of Strategic Planning coordinates activities of the strategic planning committee and the survey committee.
• The Director of Programs (the 1^st Vice President) leads the "Area Program Chairs" (formerly the Local Planning Group Chairs) for Austin, DFW, Houston and San Antonio, plus the student liaisons at UT Austin, UNT/TWU, and Houston.
• The Director of External Relations covers public relations, government relations, international relations, and consultation.
• The Director of Communications will oversee all communications to and from members: the web site, the Lone Star Librarian (LSL), and the advertising manager/vendor liaison activities.

More detail about the Chapter structure and the relationships between positions is shown below. For specific board/advisory names, see the Texas Chapter - SLA Executive Board & Advisory Council 1999/2000.

Texas Chapter SLA Executive Board & Advisory Council
Organization Chart 1999-2000

The following structure for elected officers and standing committee directors is outlined in the Bylaws Amendments of Sept. 1998. Positions other than those of the elected officers and the directors of standing committees are optional and may be combined with one another or eliminated. The structure shown here was suggested by the Strategic Planning Committee (1998) and shows the relationships among the goals and tasks of the various positions.

Executive Board (8 members)

Advisory Council consists of the members of the following Standing Committees:

Joyce Chesher is Airport Research Administrator and manages both the Research Center and the Records Center for the Dallas Fort Worth Airport Board. She also serves as Records Manger for all Airport Board records. She has been employed by the Board for the last 11 years. She has over 30 years experience in the information profession, coming to the special library field after spending time in both public and academic libraries.

"As Membership Chair, I hope to see that all new Texas Chapter members are notified and welcomed and given the opportunity to be contacted by their respective Local Planning Groups to become viable members of each."
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Instead of wondering "what I was going to be after I grew up (I always knew I would be a mommy and a teacher)" the question was " what else am I going to be now that I'm grown up?" I had been a teacher and mommy. What next? I love learning, reading, organizing and answering obscure questions, so to become a librarian seemed natural. In addition, I love fooling around with gadgets, such as cdroms, computers and printers. (They don't let me have tools very often. But, that's another story.) A good friend, who is a public school librarian, encouraged me to go for it. My masters, that is.

Texas Woman's University was the school of choice and I managed to stretch out the degree over four years, while raising two sons (my husband died in 1985) and working part time.

Retrospective conversion of the catalog was occurring when I entered the DFW Airport Research Center scene. Later I worked with Joyce on the DFW Airport web site and now serve as Research Librarian. One big thrill at the beginning of this career was winning the Business and Finance Division Stipend to attend my first annual conference in Atlanta. What an introduction to the world of SLA! I think people would be surprised at all the fun librarians have.

I enjoy working at a one-of-a-kind library and after being here eight years I relish the changes in technology in the information field. My work is mostly on-line research on our subscription databases and, of course, the web. Our goal is to facilitate access to information for the entire staff, so we offer access to CD-ROMs and web database subscriptions. My skills as a teacher are handy for providing one-on-one training.

The opportunity to serve as employment chair will allow me to become familiar with the processes of the state chapter, as well as get acquainted with others in the field. The best part of this job, as a research librarian, is getting acquainted with other librarians all over the world. I love to call or e-mail with strange questions. And we do get them.

I hope to keep the information flowing between job seekers and career opportunities. Networking is the real bonus of this career.
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Irene Cordova's involvement in the library field began with her graduation from Texas Woman's University in 1990 with a master's degree in library science. Since then she has been working as a librarian in the defense industry. In addition to running the technical publication library at Bell Helicopter Textron, Irene has been actively engaged in numerous committees and boards. Some of these include:

• Serving as the Affirmative Action Liaison in the Diversity Caucus of the Texas Chapter of the Special Libraries Association.
• Appointed to the Library Services and Construction Act Advisory Council of the Texas State Library (1991-1994).
• Appointed to the Textbook Advisory Board Committee for the Texas Education Agency (1992).
• Elected alternate delegate for Texas to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services held in Washington D.C. in 1991.

Prior to her becoming a librarian Irene already had a long history of volunteer work:

• Volunteered with various churches in Oklahoma teaching children of migrant workers while their parents worked in the field.
• Translated for non-English speaking persons in the courts both in Oklahoma and in Texas.
• Was involved in voters' registration drives in Oklahoma and Texas.

In her current employment Irene was elected and served as a trustee for the Union, UAW Local 317, for three years. Irene's varied background and her bilingual skills—she has bachelor's degree in bilingual education—are well suited to the changing environment of library usage: the increase of Spanish speaking patrons in the nation and particularly in Texas.
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The Texas Chapter Website has moved to its own domain name at www.txsla.org.

Please be sure to update your browser's bookmarks. We will be introducing several new features this fall, including a members-only area and a searchable chapter member directory.

To enter the members only area, click on the Members Only icon on the homepage and then click on the hypertext link on that page. You will be presented with a GateKeeper "Password Required" window. Type in the word [censored] (lower case with no spaces) and hit Enter. The password will change periodically for security reasons, so be sure to scan future issues of The Lone Star Librarian, or write to the webmaster at webmaster@argiope.com for updates.
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Heather Rider has been making many changes recently. She started as an Information Specialist at PPD, a contract research organization in Austin. On July 24, 1999, she was married there. She can be reached at (512) 447-2995, x1344; email: Heather.Rider@austin.ppdi.com.

Russlene Waukechon started as the Head of Public Services at the Texas Medical Association Library on September 20. Previously she was the Director of the Llano County Library System and a librarian at the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.

Blaise Turney has left Deloitte & Touche to finish her PhD dissertation at Texas Woman's University. She can reached by email at G_2TURNEY@VENUS.TWU.EDU.

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LPG News and Notices

Austin Local Planning Group:

A reception was held in honor of Roberta Shaffer, the new Dean of the UT Graduate School of Library and Information Studies was held on Monday, August 16, 1999 from 4:30 - 6 p.m. at the Jamail Center for Legal Research, Tarlton Law Library,.

Dallas/Fort Worth Local Planning Group:

On September 16^th, at the Irving Public Library, Phyllis Hulse and Marcia Schemper-Carlock discussed how to build a win-win relationship with vendors. Light refreshments were served.

Houston Local Planning Group:

Held a networking meeting on Tuesday, October 12th, at Le Gâteau Old World Bakery and on Thursday, October 14, 1999 , at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Research Medical viewed the Special Libraries Association videoconference, "Effective Negotiating Techniques for Licensing Content".

San Antonio Local Planning Group:

Had a luncheon meeting at USAA on 9/15/99. Attendees were updated on the April 1999 Intranets '99 Conference and the June 1999 Special Libraries Association meeting. USAA's Intranet was demonstrated, with specific attention to the content that the Research Library maintains.
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July 31, 1999 - San Antonio, Texas. The Chapter Board meeting was called to order by Blaise Turney at 9:00 A.M. Each person in attendance introduced themselves. Damon Camille, Secretary, was unable to attend. Minutes from the April 11, 1999 Board meeting were published in the June 1999 Lone Star Librarian. Ernestine Chipman agreed prior to this meeting to take the minutes.

Leadership Opportunities and Responsibilities - Sandy Spurlock, SLA Chapter Cabinet Chair:

Sandy encouraged the members present to change things if they think they should be changed. Challenge the national organization. She is a member of a smaller chapter, (the Rio Grande Chapter), which is fighting similar issues. Everything starts at the state chapter level. She told us that she has observed more and more chapters sharing committees and linking up together.

Bylaws and the new Organizational Structure - Dell Johnson, 1^st Vice-President/President-Elect:

Dell passed out copies of the Chapter's organizational chart and went through each position, explaining the new committee structure and having everyone write in the names for each position on the chart, if known.

At this point, Blaise Turney interjected some remarks, (see below).

Remarks by Blaise Turney - President

Blaise made some brief remarks, stressing the importance of the new organizational structure and the more opportunity that it provides for members to participate. She went over what has been done in the last year and what the Board/Council need to do—organizational chart changes and procedures changes. She also stressed the 3 priorities of the Chapter's Strategic Plan—better communications between SLA and local groups, stronger programming, and improved student relations. She asked the Board/Council members to plan for 2 years whenever they plan any activities.

Blaise also announced that she met with the dean of the Library and Information Studies of Texas Woman's University last week. TWU plans to re-activate its student chapter this fall.

Strategic Plan 1996-2001:

The members present then directed their attention and discussion to this document. It was observed that there are not many tactics detailed for 1999, the reason being that this plan was developed in 1996/1997. Blaise suggested that the committees will want to talk about what to add or change in these tactics. A list of tactics for 1999/2000 was discussed—benchmark salary information with similar professions, an activity that an ad hoc committee or a Director-at-Large could perform; put a chapter membership directory on the web which is secure and searchable; recruit people from related library groups; draft a new strategic plan and survey the membership; and put membership in this plan in the section where it can be the most effective and have it cover all types of communication with the membership, not just electronic communications.

Membership activities, particularly recruitment of new members, was the subject of much discussion. The 2 issues are: 1) how do we get them in and 2) how do we do it well. It was pointed out that some members do not have web access because of their employers electronic access policies. There need to be procedures in place to contact these members. It was discovered during the discussion that the SLA members in El Paso and in the Valley are considered to be part of the Texas Chapter and not the Rio Grande Chapter. None of the Board/Council members were aware of this. A list of them will be pulled up.

Tactics for 2000/2001:

The group agreed upon the following priorities for the next 2 years:

1. Communications with membership - this includes communications with fellow librarians of other associations, new members, and less involved members; membership list with expertise will be developed.
2. Survey the membership to develop a new, high-level strategic plan.
3. Quality programming.

Upcoming SLA Events:

SLA Annual Conference 2001 in San Antonio Update - Denise Chochrek

• Has chairs for all her committees, but each needs at least 5 more volunteers which they do not have now. Passed around sign-up sheets for each of these committees. She needs help from everyone in Texas.
• Does not plan to ask for any money from the Chapter's budget for these committee activities. Her goal is to raise money and then spend it. She has created a separate money account. She does not anticipate any expenses until January 2000. The largest expenses should be in Spring 2000. SLA Headquarters is paying for the keynote speakers and transportation. The largest expense should be the Open House reception. She is planning a dessert flags theme for this. The other expense will be the Local Arrangements table. She told the members present that all the vendors with whom she has spoken are ready to hand over money.
• Is setting up discussion lists for the Local Arrangements committees.
• A video also has to be made to be shown at the SLA annual meeting in 2000. Mary Forman volunteered USAA capabilities and facilities.

SLA Southwest Regional Meeting II - Mike Zimmerman

• Title of this meeting - "Staying Ahead of the Curve"
• Dates: April 6 -7, 2000; April 5^th: Pre-conference continuing education session
• Program split into 2 sections – Practical/Technology and Educational/Entertainment—with breakout groups; vendor technology fair; wrap-up speaker
• Some of the speakers: Texas SLA members, Olga Wise and Richard Fletcher; other speakers: Howard McQueen, Richard Wiggins, and Wendy Schulz
• Location: Resort at Hilton Point, (not listed on meeting's website, http://www.sla.org/conf/swrc/, yet)
• Brochure in September.
• Chapters involved are: Arizona, Oklahoma, Rio Grande, Rocky Mountain, San Diego, Southern California, and Texas
• There will be automatic direct mailings to each member in these chapters and the national SLA board members; others are welcome, but no general mailing for them
• Link from Texas SLA page to this meeting's website (http://www.txsla.org/swrc.htm).
• Replaces the Texas Chapter SLA meeting.
• Does not need extra money from Texas chapter, just seed money.

Texas Information Professionals Conference - Chris Dobson

• Title: "Taming Technology".
• Vendor financial support already in place; no money needed.
• Annual Executive Board/Advisory Council meeting will be held at this meeting.
• Link available at http://www.txsla.org/tipc.htm.

New Business

Website Sponsorship Issue - Ann Griffith

• Ann Griffith, Second Vice-President, had sent an email to the Executive Board, advising that a vendor has asked to sponsor our website.
• SLA National has not been clear on this issue— the term, "sponsor", has not been clearly defined.
• Other chapters have put vendor logos on their chapter websites in exchange for a vendor's sponsorship of their websites.
• It is one way to raise money, but SLA National is clear that the chapter cannot raise their ad or other rates to do this and that it is not legal to link to a vendor's website as part of SLA National's website.
• Treasurer's guidelines have a list of scenarios that define sponsorship, but they do not go into the electronic format.
• Blaise requested that Ann Griffith and Marie Bloechle, the Chapter's webmaster, investigate this issue with SLA and bring recommendations before the November 12^th meeting.

Student Stipend

A motion was made to use student stipends for attendance at chapter meetings rather than annual conventions, thus emphasizing a chapter focus instead of international. The motion passed unanimously.

Procedures Manual - Paper copies eliminated except 2 copies - Ernestine Chipman

• Ernestine Chipman, Second Vice-President Elect, asked the Executive Board and Advisory Council members present to consider putting the complete Procedures Manual on the chapter's website and eliminate all other paper copies, except for one copy that stays with the Procedures Chair and one with the Archives Chair.
• There was some pointed discussion that some members may still not have website access yet or their employers may not allow them to access the chapter's website during work hours. Ross Burns felt that the chapter should find the money to supply a paper copy to each Board and Council member. Mary Forman felt that the Manual is a good promotion tool for the Chapter.
• After more discussion on these points, a motion was made by Carolyn Ernst that the Manual be put on the chapter's website with diskette distribution to all those without website access or restricted access to the Internet. The motion was seconded. It passed with only one "no".
• All paper copies should be returned to Ernestine Chipman, the former Procedures Chair, until the new chair is found.

Dell Johnson went through the calendar for the coming year, including newsletter deadlines. Then adjourned the meeting. The Membership Committee and Newsletter editors met informally after the meeting on several action items.

Respectfully submitted by Ernestine Chipman on August 25, 1999.
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New University of Texas GLIS Dean

Roberta Shaffer is the new dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

For the eight years preceding this position, Roberta was the Director of Research Information Services at the Washington-based, international law firm of Covington & Burling. Roberta has worked in the nation's capital at George Washington University Law School and at the Law Library of Congress. At the University of Houston (Texas) Law Center, she was the Director of the Research and Writing Program, and the Assistant Director of the Law & Technology Center. In 1987-88, Roberta Shaffer was a Senior Fulbright Researcher in Israel and Portugal. In both posts, she was involved in government-sponsored projects dealing with constitutional reform and legislative drafting.

Ms. Shaffer has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Vassar, her law degree is from Tulane, and she received her master's in librarianship from Emory. Roberta is admitted to the D.C., Texas and U.S. Supreme Court bars.

She has written numerous articles, and edited a book (with Raisch) on law libraries and legal research. She regularly lectures at bar and library association conferences on topics dealing with intellectual property, knowledge capitalization, and other technology-driven issues that affect information.

For several years, Ms. Shaffer has been active as a volunteer lawyer and advocate for the arts. She holds a graduate certificate in Arts Management from American University (D.C.). In the late 1980's, Roberta worked for the Washington Project for the Arts during its controversial exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs. She has been a frequent presenter at the Foundation Center (Washington, D.C.) on nonprofit organization management and external relations.

Ms. Shaffer is now serving a three-year term as Vice-President of the International Association of Law Libraries. This affords her the opportunity to pursue some of her favorite pastimes—foreign travel and archaeology. Roberta is also a Master swimmer, and teaches drownproofing to children under one year of age, and water safety to mentally retarded adults. Roberta and her mother collaborate as jewelry designers under the name "Cornelia's Jewels" (after the children's story).

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Washington, DC - October 14, 1999 - Gender equity in pay has been achieved by special librarians and information professionals, according to the 1999 Annual Salary Survey of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). For the first time in recorded history, the median salaries of female information professionals are equal to or higher than the median salaries of male information professionals.

Data from the survey indicate that yearly the median full-time salaries of female SLA Members ($49,550) actually exceed those of their male colleagues($48,672) in the United States. In Canada, median full-time earnings for male and female SLA members are equal ($52,000). A closer look found that the gender gap in wages among SLA members has been decreasing over the years, as women have received relatively higher percentage increases in pay than men.

From 1976 to 1992, women's pay in the United States increased 165%, while during the same period, men's salaries increased only 129%. By 1999, women's salaries had increased 237%, while men's pay had increased 169%, relative to 1976. This pattern holds for Canadian respondents.

The 1999 Salary Survey data show that the mean salary gap between men and women is also closing, but mean earnings are not yet at parity. The mean salary for Canadian full-time men in 1999 is $55,646 and that for women is $55,149, a difference of only $500. In the United States, the mean pay for men is $53,440 and that for women is $52,730, a gap of $700 dollars.

Dr. David R. Bender, executive director of SLA, noted that "Several factors have attributed to these trends. Both the U.S. and Canada have established laws that prohibit discrimination in pay on the basis of gender. Increasingly, we are finding that women are being placed in higher level jobs with appropriate titles thus placing them in leadership positions within their enterprises."

According to the survey results, the two highest paying positions among SLA members in Canada and the U.S. are Chief Information Officer/Vice President/Executive and Owner/Principal/Consultant. "We are ecstatic to see the trend reaching this point as we lead the way into the next century," added Dr. Bender.

The 1999 SLA Annual Salary Survey will be released in November 1999. For more information about the publication, contact SLA's Publications Department at 202-939-3673 or email apryl@sla.org.
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Texas Chapter - SLA Executive Board & Advisory Council 1999/2000

November 9, 1999, 11:30 A.M. — Houston LPG Networking Meeting, Houston, see http://www.sla.org/chapter/ctx/houston.htm for information.

November 12, 1999, 9:00 A.M. – 4:45 P.M. — "Taming Technology", Texas Information Professionals Conference, Dallas, see http://www.txsla.org/tipc.htm for information.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Texas Chapter Board meeting November 11th
at 7:00 P.M. at the meeting hotel.

April 7-12, 2000 — "Ahead of the Curve", SLA Southwest Regional Meeting II, San Diego, California, see http://www.txsla.org/swreg.htm for information.

June 2001 — SLA Annual Conference 2001 in San Antonio.

The Lone Star Librarian, a quarterly newsletter [ISSN 0739-4950], is the official publication of the Texas Chapter of the Special Libraries Association.
   The contents or articles and editorials are not to be considered as being or representing the official position of the Texas Chapter. The Special Libraries Association assumes no responsibility for statements and opinions advanced by the contributors to the Association's publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official position of the SLA. Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement of the product by the Chapter or the Association.
   Address inquiries to: Texas Chapter, Special Libraries Association, c/o 1307 White Lake Drive, Irving, TX 75060. Address manuscripts, comments, notices, etc. to the Publications Committee. Inquiries for advertising rates and advertising orders should be addressed to the Advertising Manager or Editor. Texas Chapter SLA members automatically receive subscriptions to the Lone Star Librarian. Subscriptions cost $15 per year/four issues. Portions of the Lone Star Librarian are on the web at URL http://www.txsla.org/lsl/index.htm.
   Address other subscription inquiries and non-member changes of address to the Editor. Members should send all changes of address to the Special Libraries Association, Membership Dept., 1700 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. µµµ