The LONE STAR LIBRARIAN
CONTENTS
No Fear: You Won't Be Replaced by Web Agents
Reprinted with permission from THE INFORMATION ADVISOR, Vol. 9 No. 9 September, 1997, page 8
One of the biggest problems that the Web presents all business researchers is the sheer amount of raw, unprocessed data available. Although a great deal of work and effort is being paid to the refinement and improvement of intelligent agents, it is difficult to imagine that any piece of software could duplicate the more intricate, complex, and subtle thinking that goes into the decision of determining what information is worth reading and what is not (from a strictly strategic perspective, not for pleasure reading, browsing, etc.)
These days, raw news and data - that is: statistics, reports, facts, etc. presented without being placed in a larger context - are the least valuable type of information for strategic purposes. It's the highly processed, "value added" information that's been culled, sifted, and analyzed by the authoritative researcher that is going to become increasingly valuable as an antidote to information overload.
A good researcher, when making his or her decision on whether some report or article is worth spending time reading, absorbing, and collecting, would - on a partly conscious and partly unconscious level - "hold" the following framework in his or her mind.
External Environmental Factors
1. The current state of the global and national economy.
2. The current and emerging state of one's industry.
3. The roster of current competitors, and emerging new types of competitors on the horizon.
Internal Organizational Issues
1. The mission and goals of one's organization
2. The mission and goals of one's department
3. Current departmental problems and challenges
Personal Issues
1. The mission and goals of one's own role in the department
2. Current problems and challenges one may have in meeting those missions and goals
3. External organizational pressures impacting one's work (e.g. political factors, favors, etc.)
Media/Information Sources Issues
1. The general quality of the information source (e.g. how one views say the quality of information in American Demographics or Forbes versus People magazine or Reader's Digest)
2. The particular framework of the source; e.g. the fact that Fortune will look at the issue from a management perspective; American Demographics from a data quality and marketing perspective; People from a
Popular, mass audience perspective, etc.
3. The credibility of the writer
4. Whether the argument, logic, and organization of a particular item tends to support or detract from its credibility
Other Factors in Making an Information Selection Decision
1. What one has already read on the topic which eliminates the need to get the same information
2. New questions raised by what has already been read on the topic. This is an important factor, since the more one learns about a topic, the more the initial subject is refined and honed.
Obviously, few if any of us actually articulate these elements, even to ourselves, when we make an information selection decision; however, to some degree most or all of these factors (and likely others not listed) combine to guide our information selection decision. It would be quite difficult, then, to imagine how any intelligent software could integrate all of these extremely subtle factors into its selection decisions.
Tying all this together is the researcher's own insight. Insight requires external information, but also draws on more. It requires a broad understanding of where the world is going and the key forces that are going to make for changes; knowledge of one's own organization, its mission, challenges, and unique strength. And it requires good judgment, which, according to Alvin Toffler, "cannot be taught, it can only come from experience." (Honest Profits, Andelman, David A., Management Review v86n1 PP: 30-32 Jan 1997)
The primary and best filter will remain, for a long time to come, the human mind. "The best search engine," acknowledged a spokesperson from InfoSeek, "is the one that's between your ears."
Editor's note: This article by Reva Basch is reprinted with the permission of the publisher of THE INFORMATION ADVISOR, edited by Robert Berkman.
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SLA co-sponsors booth at annual
Texas Book Festival
The SLA Texas Chapter shared a booth at the second annual Texas Book Festival with the State Agency Librarians of Texas (SALT).
This year's festival, held November 1 - 2 in Austin on the State Capitol grounds, was "a HUGE success" according to Renee Daulong, the Chapter Public Relations Chair. Renee coordinated SLA participation at the Festival, which raises money for Texas public libraries. The event is sponsored by Texas First Lady Laura Bush.
The SLA / SALT booth, staffed with dedicated volunteers both days, fielded many questions, and gave out materials including Texas Chapter SLA letter openers, the SLA competencies document, and SLA membership brochures. A copy of Who's Who in Special Libraries was on hand to refer people to their own corporate librarians.
µ µ µNominations Committee Report:
Election results, call for nominations
for Spring Elections
Submitted by Denise Chochrek, Nominations Committee Chair and Margaret Carroll, Pres.
Mike Zimmerman elected First VP
A special election was conducted this fall to fill the position of First Vice President, which was vacated last spring. By unanimous vote, Michael Zimmerman from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas was elected to this position. Michael comes to us with valuable experience. He has assisted with program planning for the Chapter, was the DFW Local Planning Chair, and he co-chaired programming for the 1996 SLA Southwest Regional Conference.
Nominations, volunteers sought for 98-99 officers and committees
The Texas Chapter holds elections for officers each spring. For 1998, the nominations committee is seeking candidates for First VP Elect (Program chair and President Elect), Second VP Elect (co-editor of the newsletter), and Secretary.
Please contact the nominations committee or the President if you would like to run for any of these offices or if you would like to nominate someone else to run. In addition to the elected members, the chapter is also looking for appointees for Local Planning (Program) chair for the Austin area and for an Affirmative Action Chairperson.
Please volunteer to serve the Chapter, either as an appointed or an elected officer.
Contact: Margaret Carroll, Pres. 972-756-7778
(mcarroll@microsoft.com)or
Nominations Chair: Denise Chochrek 817-338-2024
(dcsnowball@earthlink.net)µ
µ µIndianapolis Is the Place to Be In '98!
Calling all students: Let the Texas Chapter send you to the SLA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, June 6-11, 1998. Now is the time to prepare your winning essay.
The Texas Chapter of the Special Libraries Association is pleased to announce that two student travel stipend awards of $750 each will be presented to the winners of an essay competition held among eligible Texas library school students. The stipends will be used to defray the expense of attending the 1998 SLA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 6-11, 1998. The conference theme will be "Leadership, Performance, Excellence: Information Professionals in the Driver's Seat." More information on the SLA Annual Conference may be found at: http://www.sla.org/committee/ 98conf/index.html
To apply, write an essay of 500-700 words on your personal perception of the conference theme. Winning essays are traditionally published in the Lone Star Librarian and/or on the Chapter web page.
Essays will be judged "blind" to ensure impartiality -- that is, with no foreknowledge as to author nor school affiliation. They must not contain any reference to your school, nor any identifying information, i.e., name, address. Essays containing this kind of detail will be disqualified. Essays exceeding 700 words will be disqualified.
Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited graduate level library or information science program in the state of Texas at the time the winner is selected.
Students must have become members of SLA by February 1, 1998 to be eligible to win.
Essays should be mailed or faxed, WITH A SEPARATE COVER SHEET containing your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, to arrive no later than February 1st to: Mr. Bill Dice
400 E. Las Colinas Blvd.
Irving, TX 75039-5579
VOICE: 972-584-5677
FAX: 972-518-0417
Questions? Contact one of the following student liaisons:
Val Magno, Austin Liaison
512-933-6089; email ra5871@email.sps.mot.com
Janice Findley, Denton Liaison
972-997-7588; email jhfindley@siemens-wireless.com
Kristin Ahlerich, Houston Liaison
713-918-2091; email KRISTIN_AHLERICH@bmc.com
Names in the News
Mike Zimmerman, Chapter 1st VP, had an article in the September 1997 issue of Marketing Library Services titled "The Librarian Image: A Battle Plan for Change". And his article "Your Library's Strategic Plan" appears in the Dec. 97 Information Outlook.
Janice Findley has a new position as Research Reference Librarian at Siemens Business Communication Systems.
Shawnna Dancer has a new position as Information Specialist at Nortel.
Sandra Henry has resigned from SEMATECH in Austin to take a new position in Barcelona, Spain as Library Director at the Institute of North American Studies.
Larry Enoch's cover story from the June 1997 issue of the Lone Star Librarian, "Marketing Strategies for the Corporate Library: Spreading the Word!", was cited in the November 1997 Sci-Tech News Bulletin (51:4) article titled "Survival of the Fittest".
Texas Chapter Spring State Meeting Announcement
Location: Embassy Suites NorthWest,
San Antonio, TX
When: Monday, February 16, 1998
Meeting Registration fee:
$125 at the door,
$75 if sent by January 26th,
$50 for students
Hotel Room Rates: $109, $129, $139
Forty rooms have been blocked out. To reserve a room please call 1-800-362-2779. The deadline for reservations is January 26, 1998.
The Executive Board Meeting will be held the evening of Sun., February 15, 1998 in Margaret Carroll's suite. Officers and committee chairs (Advisory Council members) are required to attend.
Program: While details are still pending as to the individual speakers, the overall program will tentatively include the following.
BUILDING THE CORPORATE INTRANET: Database integration with Your Company Site. With the migration to internet communication comes the potential for growing the corporate internal Web. Come listen to how four companies are using Intranets as they partner with database vendors to bring knowledge to their corporations. The vendors on this program will be WavePhore Inc., Lexis-Nexis, Dow-Jones Interactive, and Moodys.
DEFINING YOUR MARKET: Larry Enoch, former MCI Library Director, current independent consultant, and an adjunct UNT professor will discuss ways we can better define who our customers are and how we can provide the services they truly need.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Details to be announced later.
As further details of this program become available they will be posted on the Chapter home page and to the Chapter discussion list. For further questions, please contact Mike Zimmerman at (214)922-5219.
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We're Looking for Jobs
Looking for a new position? Looking for that right employee? Your Texas SLA chapter can be a valuable resource in either case. Job seekers can check out the latest postings on the Texas SLA web page at http://www.sla.org/chapter/ctx/jobframe.html. For those SLA members who do not have web access, you may send Ann Spoth, Texas SLA Employment Chairperson, a set of self addressed stamped envelopes along with a list of your professional affiliations. Job postings can be mailed to you as they are received . Please specify if you would like to receive job postings for Dallas, Houston, San Antonio/Austin, or the entire state.
Employers are encouraged to e-mail job opening announcements to Ann Spoth or Lawrence M. Enoch. Job announcements will be posted on the Texas SLA web page for 60 days.
Texas SLA Employment Chair
Ann Spoth EDS
B5-1B-02 5400 Legacy Dr.
Plano, TX 75024
(972)604-3898 phone; (972)604-7997 fax
Texas Networking Chair
Lawrence M. Enoch
618 Mimosa Dr.
Denton, TX 76201
(940) 382-9586 -v/fax; lenoch@iglobal.net
Houston LPG Hosts Workshop
The Houston Local Planning Group gathered thirty-five attendees for a Friday afternoon workshop featuring Larry Enoch, University of North Texas Professor and Library Consultant. Dr. Enoch captured the imaginations of his audience with a call to "Spread the Library Gospel" and market their library as if leading a commando raid into the corporation.
At least one convert, Connie Bihon of Sperry-Sun, immediately incorporated changes to her library's webpage upon returning to work with Dr. Enoch's suggestions. The interchange between attendees was lively as participants contributed their own "war stories" to the discussion.
The workshop was held on the campus of Rice University in a classroom setting perfectly suited for the lecture-style presentation. Peggy Shaw, Librarian extraordinaire at the Jones Graduate School of Business, invited the group to stay after the presentation for a reception on the school's patio.
The Houston LPG gathered again for a Winter Social at Majors Bookstore on December 4th. The group is excited to have a new leader, Rick Feldmiller of RoweCom. µ µ µ
Government Relations Update Report
Submitted by Erika Mittag
It's been a busy fall in Washington. While the campaign finance debates and various controversies surrounding the President have been grabbing the headlines, Congress and others have been moving ahead on areas of concern to librarians.
Copyright:
No fewer than 15 House Bills and 8 Senate Bills have been introduced so far this session to address various aspects of copyright. Highlights of some major bills follow.
HR. 2265, the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, introduced in mid-summer by Rep Goodlatte (R-VA) has passed both the House and Senate and is currently before the President. This bill, which imposes criminal penalties for copyright infringement whether or not financial gain is realized, is opposed by the library and scientific community and the policy committee of the ACM recently sent a letter to the President urging that he veto this bill.
On September 9, Sen. John Ashcroft (D-MO) introduced S. 1146, the Digital Copyright Clarification and Technology Education Act which clearly sets out the
principles of Fair Use, First Sale and other standard definitions now applicable to print and other media and applies them to electronic/digital media as well. The legislation also is targeted to implement the World Intellectual Property (WIPO) agreements made last December in Geneva. Ashcroft's bill was crafted with significant input from the Digital Futures Coalition of which SLA is a member.
On October 9, Rep. Coble (R-NC) introduced H.R. 2652 styled the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act (also known as Misappropriation of Collections of Information Act) which includes criminal penalties for "willful" infringement of copyright law. A first round of hearings was held October 23, with Association of Research Libraries President James G. Neal testifying on behalf of ARL, ALA, AALL, Medical Libraries Association and SLA expressing concerns about the fact that the law defines no term of protection and that the proposed legislation does not incorporate case law regarding time sensitive information. A second hearing is tentatively scheduled for February 1998. For a complete rundown of the hearing testimony including remarks by representatives of the publishing industry, go to the 10/23/97 Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property - Witness List at http://www.house.gov/judiciary/41110.htm
In the last hours of the first session of the 105th Congress, Rep. Boucher (D-VA) and Rep. Tom Campbell (R-CA) introduced HR 3048, the Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act which was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. This legislation is supported by ALA and SLA is studying the bill. It also incorporates many of the provisions including Fair Use desired by the library community and addressed in Sen. Ashcroft's bill.
National Archives in the News:
On October 22 District Court Judge Friedman of DC ruled against the Archivist of the United States stating that General Records Schedule 20, which allowed wholesale destruction of e-mail and word-processing electronic records if a paper copy existed, was overly vague and broad and was not in keeping with the public trust to make accessible the record of government activity. The importance of the Archivist's role in preserving records was highlighted just before Thanksgiving with the news that a major portion of records from the 30's to the 50's from the Naval Research Laboratory have been destroyed. These records included nearly 5000 laboratory notebooks detailing early discoveries in radar and other communications technologies, use of these technologies in World War II, early oceanographic studies and the like.
US Science Policy to be Redefined:
On Oct. 23, Congressman Vern Ehlers (R-MI), Vice Chairman of the House Science Committee, began an effort to redefine U.S. Science Policy for the next century. The project was initiated by Rep. Newt Gingrich, who requested that the House Science Committee develop a new, post-Cold War paradigm for national science policy. Ehlers convened a meeting of science policy experts to set some of the parameters of the year-long study. Some members of the public have called on Ehlers to included more grassroots involvement in addition to the policy "bigwigs" who for the most part have risen to their posts under the old paradigm. Ehlers has set up a website with more information at http://www.house.gov/science/science_policy_study.htm
"Son of CDA" is introduced Nov 8. Sen. Dan Coates (R-IN) has introduced S. 1482 which applies criminal penalties for provision on websites (e-mail, chat rooms, etc. are not included) of material that is "harmful to minors." The ALA and ACLU have indicated that the bill still infringes on constitutionally protected speech.
The Library of Congress is beginning plans for its Bicentennial Celebration in 2000 with the theme "Libraries, Creativity, Liberty." Look for more information at http://www.loc.gov/bicentennial
Names in the news:
Francis J. Buckley, Jr., Director of the Shaker Heights Public Library in Ohio and SLA member, is being proposed for the position of Superintendent of Documents. Buckley s many years of active support of access to government information through chairing the ALA Government Documents Round Table (GoDoRT) and related committees eminently qualify him for this position.
Robert T. Mansker has been appointed Deputy Public Printer of the United States. The appointment is the second highest position within the U.S. Government Printing Office. Mansker, a native Texan with degrees from UT and Texas A&M, has served many years on Congressional staffs, most recently as Minority Director for the Joint Committee on Printing.
Census issues:
Funding for the Department of Commerce hit some snags this fall as concerns about the use of statistical sampling techniques planned to result in a more accurate accounting of minorities in the 2000 census came under scrutiny by some members of Congress. Others in Congress are concerned about the cost of the long form census (which already is a sampling technique) and have tried to restrict funding to gather only the short form information - another concern to many who rely on the more detailed information for a variety of planning needs, e.g. transportation planners. Dress Rehearsal Census trials will commence in March 1998 and will include a survey on data privacy.
The Study of Privacy Attitudes (SPA) will be used to help the Bureau devise ways to mitigate the general decline in response rates on Census surveys. A national component will compare current attitudes to those revealed two years ago as the Internet and issues of the erosion of individual privacy have become more prevalent. The Dress Rehearsal component will include pre- and post-tests to measure the effectiveness of a Bureau information campaign to help the public understand the confidentiality and other data privacy steps taken by the Bureau to protect citizens' rights.
What do you think "information technology literacy" [or "what everyone needs to know about information technology"] should encompass? The National Research Council wants to know. Their Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) has developed a series of questionnaires for four different constituencies, one of which includes librarians, in an attempt to define what "everyone", "know" and "information technology" mean. The questionnaire has circulated on some SLA discussion lists. Short position papers in response to the questionnaires are requested. Those who wish their responses included in the final report have until February 1st to submit their papers. For more information, see http://www2.nas.edu/cstbweb/549a.html
An Expanded Definition for Librarian. Due to the efforts of SLA Government Relations Director John Crosby and others, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Revision Policy Committee has recently incorporated an expanded version of its definition of librarian in the proposed revisions of the Standard Occupational Classification Manual. The new definition draws heavily on a proposal from SLA to incorporate language defining an "information professional" which included emphasis on the research, synthesis and database development aspects of information workers.
If you're interested in further details on these topics and others, may I suggest the following:
1. visit the following web sites:
http://www.sla.org/govt/ for SLA Govt Relations info
http://www.ala.org/washoff/ for ALA's Wash Office
http://www.dfc.org/ for the Digital Futures Coalition
http://www.txla.org/html/govt_aff.html for Texas Library Association Government Affairs
http://www.acm.org/usacm/ for the Association for Computing US public policy committee - especially privacy and cryptography issues
2. subscribe to the following e-mail lists:
sla-gr e-mail to: lists@lists.sla.org with message: subscribe sla-gr your name
alawon e-mail to: listproc@ala.org with message: subscribe alawo your name
ACM Washington update : e-mail to: listserv@acm.org with message: subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE
TEXLINE e-mail to: marks@tla.org with request to be added to TLA-Texline
EPIC alert e-mail to: pic-news@epic.orge with subject subscribe
Until next time - Adios! Comments always welcome: Erika Mittag at 512-984-3236 or ecmittag@mmm.com.
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µ µLetter from the Editors
Happy Holidays and best wishes for a great New Year!
While it is true that Chapter members are able to communicate using the Texas Chapter discussion list and by reading the great Chapter website (both thanks to Larry Enoch), we see this newsletter as the ONLY way that many of our members stay informed about the Chapter activities.
In order to make sure that LSL serves your needs, we would like to request your help this coming year. We need your contributions, comments, and input.
Your editors are enjoying the quarterly challenge of collecting the material for the Lone Star Librarian and creating the design and layout. But we cannot "create" news and we cannot be everywhere.
If you have contributions such as member news, articles, letters to the editor, suggestions or comments -- please send them along! We also would really appreciate photos from your LPG activities, whether educational, business or social. If you are an officer or chairperson, the bylaws require a report of any activities to be published in the newsletter. Please send those to us by the first of March and first of June for the remaining 2 issue of this volume.
Thanks to all of you in advance for your help!
IAC contributes toward Texas Chapter holiday gatherings
Texas Chapter holiday parties were even more cheerful than usual this year, due in part to a generous donation from Information Access Company. The Chapter split the $1000 gift among the 3 local planning groups based on the number of attendees at the holiday events.
Houston LPG held their Winter Social at Majors Scientific Books on Fannin St on Dec. 4 from 5:15 to 7:30. New Houston LPG Chair Rick Feldmiller and Majors Bookstore manager Kris Naylor welcomed members for refreshments, entertainment and browsing. Majors also offered attendees a 10% discount on purchases made during the event.
Ristorante Bugatti on Northwest Highway in Dallas was the site for Dallas/Ft Worth LPG's elegant dinner celebration in an Italian atmosphere. The group met on Wed. Dec. 10 at 6:30 for the 4 course dinner including chicken parmesan or pasta trio.
Austin LPG members met Dec. 16 at 6:30 at Tandem Computer Corp. in the Executive Dining Room for a beef tenderloin dinner. After the meal attendees enjoyed a gift exchange.
Thanks also go to the party organizers for each group and the businesses who agreed to lend facilities for our parties.
UT Workshop Report: How to Find Out What Users Really Want
Workshop presenter: Dr. Brenda Dervin,
Prof. of Communications, Ohio St. Univ.
Sponsor: UT Austin GSLIS
Place & Date: Thompson Conference Center,
UT Campus, Nov. 6, 1997, 9 - 4:30
Dr. Brenda Dervin, a pleasant, humorous and down-to-earth woman, seemed uncomfortable with the extremely formal lecture hall venue for her Nov. 6th presentation. The room was freezing cold and rather dark and the crowd of about 75 attendees were dispersed around the large, steep auditorium, making both hearing and audience participation problematic. It was not the ideal setting for a workshop on facilitating communication. But physical problems aside, Dervin brought her wit and knowledge to the topic and made sure the participants came away with a better understanding of their role as the interface between library users as people and the library itself as a system, unfamiliar and even scary to the people who use it.
Dervin pointed out that most of the common ways (context clues) of trying to understand how people will use information will actually hit the mark only about 5% of the time! Some of the common categories librarians use to understand the customers' needs include assumptions or questions about demography, personality, literacy, access, location, role, control, network, channel, content and evaluation. Even if we had all this information about every patron, we could seldom hope to guess what the customer's information need is at any given time, without getting more information from him. We librarians often see our users as buckets ready to be filled with "information bricks." When we are unable to fill our user-buckets with useful information bricks, we often blame the bucket for being leaky (not retaining what we give them, unable to understand it or to use it properly). Or we may feel that the bucket is stubborn, has slammed its lid shut, and does not accept our help, thereby wasting the useful information which we were bestowing upon it. This attitude leads to frustrated librarians and even more frustrated users.
We must understand, says Dervin, that the typical user (especially in public libraries and some academic libraries) has gone far out of his usual routine, raised his anxiety level, and undertaken to confront an unfamiliar, hostile-seeming, system: the library. If the ordinary user has to gather this much courage to approach our system, the least we can do is make the system less hostile and impenetrable for them.
This we do by conducting sensible, sensitive, Sense-Making reference interviews. We throw out all guesses and preconceptions about what the person may want. We keep a neutral expression on our face and a quiet mind (no guessing about what he wants). This attitude, along with suppressing our urge to talk too much; Dervin terms "neutral positive regard." In the attitude of neutral positive regard, we ask Sense-Making questions to arrive at what the person really wants.
The Sense-Making approach (tm) involves getting the user to talk and to explain what he wants. Even a request as simple as "Do you have 'The Black Stallion'?" can require several questions before the user gets what he really wants -- the name of the horse who is the title character. This requester did not want to read the book or watch the video or look at the pictures. He just wanted the name of the character. The audience practiced with this sample and several other specific examples from Dr. Dervin's research. These practice exercises reminded us yet again that the art of asking questions is a major key to having satisfied library users.
The questions we ask should focus on action verbs which will help us see what the user will do with the information, rather than nouns, which just serve to find synonyms for the request and which still leave room for misunderstanding. In the example above, if the librarian had asked the man, "Which version of the Black Stallion do you want, book ,video, picture book, etc.," the answer would have been, "Any of those would be fine." But the customer would have had to take out a library card, check out the item, and take it home to find the answer to his question, bring it back, and so on. He probably would have quit long before getting the answer he REALLY needed - a simple one-word answer.
But of course one can seldom just respond to an information request with, "Why do you want that?" It would be seen as a part of the intimidating, scary, foreign system, which the user has managed to approach, but from which he is ready to flee at the slightest sign of hostility.
Sense-Making questions, on the other hand, will help the user think through his own needs and thus assist you in providing help.
Sample questions include: "How do you hope we can help you?" "What led you to come here today?" "How do you hope to use the information?" "If you could wave a magic wand and get exactly the information you want, what would it be?"
The object is to get the user to describe the events which led to the decision to use our system as he tries to solve his problem or as she tries to satisfy her information need. Again, using the above example, the librarian thought to ask the person, "We have several versions of 'The Black Stallion.' How to you hope to use it?" He said, "I need to look up the name of the horse to win a contest." The answer was quickly forthcoming, and he left very satisfied.
A system which is user-centered and user-friendly will be more responsive and thus more helpful. Overall the Sense-Making approach considers the user's situation, the solutions and the gap between these two. Such questions are discussed more fully in "Neutral questioning: A new approach to the reference interview."[RQ Summer 1986: 506].
Useful questions include:
Understanding the Situation: What aspect of the situation concerns you? Where would you like to begin" What brought you to this point? What are you working on?
Understanding the Gap: What seems to be missing? What are you trying to understand? What would you like to know about it? What are you trying to make sense of?
Understanding the Help Wanted: What would help you? What are you trying to do? If this could turn out any way, how would you want it? How do you plan to use this?
Dervin says that the users who come away from our library systems the happiest are those who get some set of the following 'sense-making helps': good ideas, understanding, directions, skills, contact with sources, feeling of connection, support or affirmation, motivation, emotional control, reached goal, rest/ relaxation, happiness.
She also suggests that the Sense-Making style of questioning can help in other situations besides library reference desk contacts, for example: understanding our own questions and information needs, getting answers from others, designing and testing our own messages, contributing to better meetings. She plans a website, to be operational in the near future, to discuss Sense-Making strategies for communications. µ µ µ
Librarians Talk to Search Engines
Internet Librarians '97 Conference Session Report
by Olga Wise, Tandem Computers
I found this to be one of the best sessions at the Internet Librarians '97 Conference held November 17-19, 1997 in Monterey California. Nothing can substitute for looking on the net yourself, but hopefully my summaries will help you see differences you've not noticed before as you use search engines.
Alta Vista -Louis Monier, Primary Developer (www.altavista.com)
Alta Vista gives you the ability to choose one or several languages for your search results. The search engine has been very well received and is responsible for about 10 percent of the worldwide web traffic. Alta Vista is even hotter in Europe than in the United States. Monier says the ability of the search engine to process queries via dynamic categorization means that if your search fails, it deserves to do so. Alta Vista will display retrieval within .02 seconds. Depending on activity at the site when you start you search, the retrieval will vary.
He stressed that users need to familiarize themselves with the details of the search engine they're using. For instance, Alta Vista has excellent utilities for refining your search. The advanced features include Boolean and proximity operators, dates range, case sensitivity. Alta Vista contains about 10 million pages and has around 25 million queries per day.
Hot Bot - Ed Anuf, Director of product marketing. (www.hotbot.com)
Hot Bot looks upon the web as an information resource. You can access around 10 million web pages through this search engine. Hot Bot says it is the best source for most recent academic, technical and business information. Since most information is not organized and difficult to find, Hot Bot had as its goal to design a search engine for the serious searcher.
The search engine was launched in May 1996, using parallel processing and scalability to give users fast results and recent additions to the database. At the same time the designers wanted to create an easy point and click interface to save users time.
The Hot Bot database is updated every 2 - 3 weeks. Full in-text indexing provides for special depth of coverage. You can initiate Boolean searches using the point and click interface. Other features include phrase searching, data range searching, media by type (only database to provide this feature) enabling users to drill down into the database. Hot Bot is working on plans for dynamic categorization of web pages, to provide real time indexing of the database.
InfoSeek - Sue LaChance Porter, Director of Technology Products (www.infoseek.com)
InfoSeek positions itself as the resource for people who are not trained searchers. Navigation combines search and browse features, so that a search simulates a reference interview. Their use of channels allows people with a specific interest to search a specific area (and also enables them to sell targeted advertising). She made no bones about the fact that commercial interests help drive the net (the only vendor to do so). InfoSeek processes hundreds of queries per second. Often optimization of search queries is based on the number of users at a given time. Like Alta Vista, you'll get a better answer if there aren't too many people on the search engine when you are.
InfoSeek also has advanced search features - fuzzy Boolean logic, proper name recognition, results clustering to eliminate duplicate pages. They index the complete text of web pages including meta tags. However, InfoSeek does not allow you to do media searching (images, sound, graphics) as you can on Hot Bot. URLs are integrated into the InfoSeek database as they are added. Relevance ranking is based on proprietary algorithms. Many factors contribute to the ranking of pages, but there is a "separation between church and state" on all search engines, so that advertising does not influence which URLs are ranked in the "top ten".
Northern Light - Joyce Ward, Director of Content Classification (www.nlsearch.com)
This search engine began development in winter 1996. The assumption here was that since the web is disjointed and many of the information sources are artificial, undesirable and unnecessary, they decided to develop a search engine that can combine the web and other full text resources. They also wanted to classify information at the document level and deliver it in real time. The Northern Light database has now about 50 million web pages and one million special collection documents, having licensed journals, encyclopedias, newswires and other resources from their owners. The content is updated daily. In NL's study of user search behavior, they found that only about 10 percent of all searchers use Boolean operators correctly. For that reason they've developed enriched classification hierarchies for subjects, source type, and language. Search output will fall into folders. Try "eniwetok" as a search term, and examine the folders to see how NL places information into folders.
Yahoo - Srinija Srinivasan, Director of Surfing (www.yahoo.com)
For many of us the information that Yahoo stands for "yet another hierarchical officious oracle" was an illuminating insight into how this search engine operates. Yahoo has as its goal to make a search engine become a fun path into the chaos of the internet. If AltaVista provides an index to the Internet, Yahoo provides the table of contents. Yahoo is good for starting a search or finishing it. Other search engines will provide the meat in between them.
Yahoo wants to build community through the use of chat, e-mail and message boards. It views itself as a media company rather than a high-tech company. Yahoo strips Alta Vista of complex mode, and uses that search engine to run Yahoo. Yahoo knows that Internet surfers are diverse, eclectic group of people, and they try to address that community in their web site.
µ µ µ
SLA Educational Programs
Building Monuments for the Future
1988 Winter Education Conf. Jan. 25-27, Arlington,
VALooking to move your information center forward with the latest in information technology? Not sure how to get started? Learn how to make a monument of your library with the latest in information technology at the SLA Winter Education Conference.
BY POPULAR DEMAND, SLA IS BRINGING BACK:
Interactive Multi-Media
Distance Learning Courses:
The Seven Keys to Highly Effective Web Sites
Creating Your Own Homepage: HTML Essentials
Advanced HTML
Plus a brand new course on using JAVA!
Delivery format still includes online instruction, discussion groups, video, textbook, and handouts and are available to anyone in the world. Remember, due to the interactive nature of the courses, class size is limited to 30 attendees each, so get your name on the waiting list now by contacting the SLA Professional Development Department
.________________
For more information on any educational program, contact the Professional Development Department at 1/202/234-4700, ext. 649, or email to profdev@sla.org
Making the Internet Your Legal Research Partner
(Texas MCLE approved) Date: January 9,1998Location: Thompson Conference Center, UT-Austin
Fee: $125 Speakers: Dr. Mary Lynn Rice-Lively
and Jesus Campos
Introduction to Book Repair Date: January 31, 1998
Location: Collection Deposit Library, UT-Austin
Fee: $195 Speaker: Catherine Aster
How to Find Latin American Business Resources on the Internet Date: February 6, 1998
Location: Thompson Conference Center, UT-Austin
Fee: $160 Speaker: Maria Sacchetti
Abridged Dewey for the 21st Century
Date: February 21, 1998
Location: Thompson Conference Center, UT-Austin
Fee: $55 Speaker: Dr. Joanna Fountain
How to Index using CINDEX Date: March 6, 1998
Location: Thompson Conference Center, UT-Austin
Fee: $195 Speakers: Hermina Anghelesqu
and Linda Webster
Book Repair II Date: March 28, 1997
Location: Collections Deposit Library, UT-Austin
Fee: $TBA Speaker: Catherine Aster
_______________
For more information on UT GSLIS seminars, contact David Terry, GSLIS, SZB 564, UT Austin , TX 78712-276. Phone: 512-471-8806. Fax: 512-471-3971.
Email:
dterry@uts.cc.utexas.edu
SLA Special Notice:
Need Research Funds?Application materials for the 1998 Steven I. Goldspiel Memorial Research Grant are NOW AVAILABLE! The amount of the 1998 award will be approximately $20,000.
Applications are evaluated based on the purpose and objectives of the proposed project, the significance of the topic to the profession, the project's methodology, qualifications of staff, and the appropriateness of the project's budget and timetable.
According to SLA's Research Agenda, the following topics are of particular interest:
• Futures
• Current/User issues
• Measures of productivity and value
• Client/user satisfaction measures
• Staffing
The deadline for submission of proposals is February 27, 1998.
For further information, visit the SLA website at www.sla.org or contact Director, Research Ruth M. Arnold, Ph.D. at 202/234-4700 ext. 615; fax 202/265-9317, or email ruth@sla.org.
µ µ µ
Austin LPG fall meeting features Eugenie Prime video
Austin Local Planning Group enjoyed a dutch treat supper on Nov. 14 at West Lynn Cafe after meeting to view the SLA video of Eugenie Prime's inspirational keynote talk from the 1997 SLA Annual Conference. Attendees pictured below include (Front) Kathy Fowler (MCC), Linda Clement (Austin Community College), Renee Daulong (Information Resource Services); (Back) Dell Johnson (SEMATECH), Prof. Julie Hallmark (UT Austin, GSLIS), Mary Wolcott (UT Austin )
1997/98 Texas Chapter SLA Officers and Advisory Council
Executive Board
President
Margaret Carroll
Librarian
Microsoft Corp.
1212 Corporate Dr.
Irving, TX 75038
(972) 756-7778 - v
(972) 753-6113 - fax
mcarroll@microsoft.com
1st Vice Pres./President Elect
Michael Zimmerman
Library Administrator
Federal Reserve
Bank of Dallas
2200 North Pearl
Dallas, TX 75201
(214) 922-5219 - v
(214) 922-5222 - fax
mike.c.zimmerman
@dal.frb.org
2nd Vice President
Ann Griffith
Sr. Information Specialist
Nortel
2201 Lakeside Blvd.
Richardson, TX 75082
(972) 684-5688 - v
(972) 684-3742 - fax
anng@nortel.com
2nd Vice President-Elect
Dell Johnson
Sr. Research Analyst
Sematech
2706 Montopolis
Austin, TX 78741
(512) 356-7626 - v
(512) 356-7008 - fax
dell.johnson@
sematech.org
Secretary
Olga Wise
Technical Librarian
Tandem Computers Inc.
14231 Tandem Blvd.
Austin, TX 78728-6699
(512) 432-88330 - v
(512) 432-8037 - fax
olga@austx.tandem.com
Treasurer
Blaise Turney
Deloitte & Touche'
2200 Ross Ave. Suite 1600
Dallas, TX 75201
(214) 777-7045 - v
(214) 777-7050 - fax
bturney@dttus.com
Past-President/
Operations Chair
Susan Yancey
Director of Research
InfoScope Partners, Inc.
6631 Main St. Suite 300
Houston, TX 77030
(713) 796-1444 - v
(713) 796-1888 - fax
syancey@infoscope.com
Advisory Council
Advertising Mgr./Vendor Liaison
Richard N. Fletcher
Practice Information Mgr
Booz, Allen & Hamilton
901 Main St. #6500
Dallas, TX 75202
(214) 746-6563 - v
(214) 712-6660 - fax
fletcher_richard@bah.com
Bylaws Chair
Carolyn Ernst
Vice President -
Consulting
F1 Services
3141 Hood St., Suite 610
Dallas, TX 75219
(214) 528-9895 - v
(214) 528-9819 - fax
f1srvcs@ix.netcom.com
Archivist
Mindy F. Klein
Exxon Production
Research Co.
Information Ctr
PO Box 2189
Houston, TX 77252-2189
(713) 966-6171 - v
(713) 965-4157 - f
Consultation Chair
Karen Deakin
Information Specialist
918 Kipling St.
Houston, Texas 77006
(713) 520-1347 - v
deakin@neosoft.com
Employment Chair
Ann Spoth
Electronic Data Systems (EDS)
5400 Legacy Dr. MS-B5-1B-02
ann.spoth@exsc01.exch.eds.com
Plano, TX 75024
(972) 604-3898 - v
(972) 604-7997 - fax
Government Relations Chair
Erika Mittag
Supervisor
3M Austin Information Services
6801 River Place Blvd.
Austin, TX 78726
(512) 984-3236 - v
(512) 984-3237 - fax
ecmittag@mmm.com
International Relations
Chair
Una Gourlay
Rice University Library
MS 44-C
6100 Main St.
Houston, TX 77005-1892
(713) 528-3553 - v
(713) 523-4117 - fax
gourlay@rice.edu
Affirmative Action
Liaison Open
Local Planning Group Chairpersons
Austin - Open
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Chris Dobson, Pres.
F1 Services
3141 Hood St. Suite 610
Dallas, TX 75219
(214) 528-9895 - v
(214) 528-9819 - fax
f1srvcs@ix.netcom.com
Houston
Rick Feldmiller
Account Manager
RoweCom
2303 Country Place Dr.
Richmond, TX 77469
281-238-9650
281-239-0270 fax
rfeldmiller@rowe.com
San Antonio
Judith Kraatz Johnson
PG&E Gas Transmission Texas
Resource Center
PO Box 400
San Antonio, TX 78292
(210) 246-2869 - v
(210) 246-2272 - fax
johnsonj@pge-texas.com
Membership Chair
Tracy Williams
Information Specialist
Taylor & Company
201 Main St. Suite 3300
Ft. Worth, TX 76102
(817) 339-7123 - v
(817) 339-7194 - fax
t.williams@airmail.net
Networking Chair
Lawrence M. Enoch
Lawrence M. Enoch
Consulting
618 Mimosa Dr.
Denton, TX 76201
(940) 382-9586 -v/fax
lenoch@iglobal.net
Nominations Chair/Committee
Denise Chochrek - Chair
Manager of Information Research
Taylor & Co.
201 Main St. Suite 3300
Ft. Worth, TX 76102
(817) 338-2024 - v
(817) 339-7194 - fax
dcsnowball@earthlink.net
Peggy Shaw
Rice University
Jones Graduate School
PO Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251
(713) 527-6062 - v
(713) 285-5251 - fax
pshaw@rice.edu
Gail Wilson
Deloitte & Touche LLP
333 Clay St. Suite 2300
Houston, TX 77002
(713) 756-2416 - v
(713) 756-2001 - fax
gwilson@dttus.com
Parliamentarian
Margaret A. Aycock
Environmental Librarian
Gulf Coast Environmental Library. Lamar University
PO Box 10671
Beaumont, TX
77710-0671
(409) 880-8897 - v
aycock@library.lamar.edu
Procedures Chair
Ernestine Chipman
Winstead Sechrest & Minick. 5400 Renaissance Tower. 1201 Elm
Dallas, TX 75270
(214) 745-5487 - v
(214) 745-5390 - fax
echipman@winstead.com
echip@unicomp.net
Public Relations Chair
Renee Daulong
Information Resource
Services, Inc.
PO Box 200563
Austin, TX 78720-0563
(512) 320-8354 - v
(512) 320-8841 - fax
rdaulong@aol.com
Strategic Planning Chair
Paula Day
Information Specialist
McKinsey & Company
2200 Ross Ave. Suite 5200
Dallas, TX 75201
(214) 665-1212 - v
(214) 665-1607 - fax
paula_day@
mcKinsey.com
Student Liaisons
Denton
Janice Findley
Siemens Business
Communication Systems
2220 Campbell Creed
Richardson, TX
75082-4420
(972) 997-7588 - v
(972) 997-7476 - fax
jhfindley@
siemens-wireless.com
Austin
Valerie (Val) Magno
Librarian. Motorola
3501 Ed Bluestein Blvd.
Austin, TX 78721
(512) 933-6089 - v
(512) 933-5993 - fax
ra5871@
email.sps.mot.com
Houston
Kristin Ahlerich
Research Librarian
BMC Software
2101 CityWest Blvd. Houston, TX 77042
(713) 918-2091 - v
(713) 918-2380 - fax
KRISTIN_AHLERICH@bmc.com
µ
µ µ Upcoming Events µ µ µJan. 22-27, 1998. SLA Winter Meeting & Education Conference, Arlington, VA
Feb. 16, 1998. Texas Chapter Spring Meeting, San Antonio, TX
Feb. 28, 1998. Submissions for Lone Star Librarian, March 98 issue
June 6-11, 1998. SLA Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN
Local Planning Group Events
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