Special Libraries Association
Upstate New York Chapter Bulletin
Vol 54, Number 2, Winter 2000
Contact the Executive Board / Advisory Council
Partnership with Lithuania Library School
Affirmative Action Committee Seeks Nominations
Seeking Nominations for UNYSLA Chapter Award
Proposals Wanted for Research Grant
New Members Appointed / New Service
A New Service for Prison Librarians
by Boodie McGinnis, Cornell University
Five...four...three...two....one...the ball has fallen and a new millennium has begun! It's a thrilling time to be alive and a thrilling time to be an information professional. Thrilling....but perhaps sometimes overwhelming, too, as the pace of change continues to increase beyond our wildest imaginings.
I recall something I once read that put the pace of change into an interesting context. I cannot remember the specific source, but I believe it was one of my husband's engineering publications suggested several years ago that we think of the scale of written human history as if it were the face of a clock. On this clock, there were no significant changes in communication media for the first three thousand years. Then, nine minutes ago on our clock, a revolutionary event occurred - the printing press was invented. During the last three minutes, the telegraph, photograph, and locomotives came into being. Two minutes ago, we started using the telephone, rotary press, motion pictures, automobiles, the airplane, and the radio. One minute ago, talking motion pictures were developed. In the last ten seconds, television appeared. Five seconds ago, computers appeared. The laser appeared just about a half second ago, followed by fiber optics in the last 30 milliseconds.
Think about this. In the course of time in this analogy, the printed page did not even exist until nine minutes ago. Libraries as we know them did not exist until less than three minutes ago. OCLC and the beginnings of library automation just came about in the last second. The Internet appeared less than 15 milliseconds ago. Neither Beanie Babies nor Pokemon came on the scene until about one millisecond ago. And the rate of change in the future is going to increase! No wonder I feel so overwhelmed!
I can't begin to predict what will come in the next few minutes on the face of this imaginary clock, but I personally do not agree with those who predict that libraries as we know them will go away, at least not in the next ten minutes. The nature of our libraries will continue to evolve, of course, and the formats we use and delivery systems will continue to change. But even so, librarians will continue to have an important role to play long into the future.
Navigation among the myriad of available resources, and identification of those most suited to specific needs, is already a daunting challenge for our clients. Think of it like walking on a 3,000 mile beach. You could walk the entire 3,000 miles and still not find the shell you wanted if you did not know exactly where to look.
Our role in helping our clients find the right shell will continue to be key. But, if we are going to keep up, we are going to have to be willing to adapt to change rapidly and to sometimes think radically. Ongoing training and development will be critical, and so will networking and collaboration with our colleagues. And that's where SLA comes in. Educational opportunities, networking, and collaboration are the key reasons that most of us joined SLA in the first place, right?
The coming year promises to bring some excellent opportunities for our chapter members. The Spring program, scheduled for May 3 in Syracuse, will focus on Knowledge Management and will feature Susan DiMattia, SLA President, as keynote speaker. This "official SLA presidential visit" will provide us a chance to interact with our association president "up close and personal," so please plan to come and take advantage of this unique educational and networking opportunity. For more information on the program, see page 4, or contact Lisa Carbone, President-elect, who is coordinating the program planning (716) 505-3954, email lisa.carbone@actstesting.com).
President
Boodie McGinnis
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
Tel: 607/255-0309
mmn3@cornell.eduPresident-Elect
Lisa Carbone
ACTS Testing Labs, Inc.
Amherst, NY 14228
Tel: 716/505-3594
lisa.carbone@actstesting.comPast-President
Jill Hurst
Hurst Associates, Ltd.
Fairport, NY 14450
Tel: 716/388-0881
hurst@hurstassociates.comSecretary
Barbara Watson
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
Tel: 607/255-7536
blw6@cornell.edu
Treasurer
Marsha Shea
Schenectady International
Schenectady, NY 12309
Tel: 518/347-4401
marsha.shea@siigroup.comDirector (1998-2000)
Janice B. Hood
Honeywell
Buffalo, NY 14210-1523
Tel: 715/827-6229
janice.hood@honeywell.comDirector (1999-2001)
Vacant
Advisory Councils
Awards Chair
Pat Oliver
Ballston Spa, NY 12020
Tel: 518/395-4918Bulletin Editor
Allison Perry
Gaylord Information Systems
Syracuse, NY 13221-4901
Tel: 800/272-3414, ext. 615
perry@gaylord.comBusiness Manager for Bulletin
Richard (Rich) Dreifuss
Corning, Incorporated
Corning, NY 14832
Tel: 607/974-3359
dreifussra@corning.comBusiness Manager for Programs
Karen Kreizman Reczek
ACTS Testing Labs, Inc.
Amherst, NY 14228
Tel: 716/505-3592
karen.kreizman@actstesting.comChapter Archivist
Jill Hurst
Hurst Associates, Ltd.
Fairport, NY 14450
Tel: 716/388-0881
hurst@hurstassociates.comConsultant Chair
Karen Kreizman Reczek
ACTS Testing Labs, Inc.
Amherst, NY 14228
Tel: 716/505-3592
karen.kreizman@actstesting.comGovernment Relations Chair
Deb Joseph
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
Tel: 607/254-4914
dj13@cornell.eduInternational Relations Chair
Mary Van Ullen
University @Albany, NY 12222
Tel: 518/442-3559
vanullen@cnsvax.albany.eduList Manager
Susan W. Price
Syracuse University Library
Tel: 315/443-9518
swprice@library.syr.eduLibrary School Liaisons
Albany
Barbara Beverly
NY Dept. of Economic Development
Albany, NY 12245
Tel: 518/292-5238
bbeverley@empire.state.ny.usSyracuse
Sara Miller
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
sfh4@cornell.eduBuffalo
Renee Bush
SUNY Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14214
Tel: 716/829-3900 ext. 109
rbbush@acsu.buffalo.eduLocal Area Meetings Coordinator
Lori Micho
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel: 607/255-0389
lm62@cornell.eduLong Range Planning
Jeannette Smithee
CNY Library Resources Council
Syracuse, NY 13224-1690
Tel: 315/446-5546
smitheej@clrc.orgMembership Chair
Rachel Covington
Buffalo General Hospital
Buffalo, NY 14203
rcovington@kaleidahealth.eduNetworking Chair
Vacant
Nominating Committee Chair
Sara Miller
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel: 607/254-4503
sfh4@conrnell.eduParliamentarian
Pat Oliver
Ballston Spa, NY 12020
Tel: 518/395-4918Webmaster
Angela K. Horne
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
Tel: 607/255-3389
akh8@cornell.edu
LIS EDUCATION IN LITHUANIA
By: Audrone Glosiene, Ph. D.
Head, Department of Library Science
Faculty of Communication, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Editor's note: Mary Van Ullen, International Relations chair, contacted Audrone Glosiene from Vilnius University in 1999 to develop a professional relationship with a library school. The Chapter has agreed to pay for a subscription of a library related journal for the school. Contact Mary Van Ullen if you have other suggestions the Chapter can do to for Vilnius University. Below is the history of the library school provided by Audrone Glosiene.
Where IS Lithuania? Lithuania is one of the three independent Baltic States and is part of the region which is referred to as Central and Eastern Europe. It has ancient and dramatic history that was often determined by its geographical situation – on the crossroads between the East and the West. As a politically active state Lithuania appeared in the history of Europe in the 13th century. The first Lithuanian book was printed in 1547. In 1570 the first academic library – nine years before the academy itself! – was established in Vilnius.
In the 19th century Lithuania lost its independence and was able to restore it in 1918 and lost it again after the Soviet occupation in 1940. It was regained again in 1990. After half a century of occupation and international isolation Lithuania has re-joined the world community as a sovereign country.
Development of librarianship, library science and education. For a long time librarianship in Lithuania – as well as in the other countries – had no theory or education system. As an independent area of studies it started in the 19th century in the context of and under the influence of the humanitarian sciences: bibliography, history, philology, etc.
In the inter-war period the number of different libraries grew up significantly and the need for education of librarians became evident. It was partly compensated by manuals and short courses that were organized by the Lithuanian Librarians’ Association. Lectures on the history of Lithuanian book and bibliography were delivered at Kaunas University by Professor Vaclovas Birziska, prominent Lithuanian bibliographer and book historian, director of Kaunas University Library. He promoted the idea of establishment of special academic education for librarians but it was not until 1940 that the Department of Bibliology was organized at Vilnius University. Because of the Soviet and Nazi occupations it was soon transferred to Kaunas University where it functioned till 1943.
After World War II, Levas Vladimirovas, then director of Vilnius University Library, revived the ideas of university education for librarians. Thanks to his efforts the Section of Library Science was opened within the Faculty of History and Philology at Vilnius University in 1949. It was a start of regular university education for librarians at Vilnius University.
The lack of qualified teaching and research staff was one of the greatest problems of that period. Resisting the pressure to employ teachers from Russia (former USSR), Professor Vladimirovas invited librarians to be part-time teachers and was looking for prospective students to become teachers. Soon the body of LIS educators was formed and the tradition to search for potential staff members among the best graduates continues nowadays.
More should be said about professor Levas Vladimirovas (1912-1999) – most prominent librarian, book historian, researcher and educator in the field in Lithuania and internationally. He initiated university education for librarians at Vilnius University in 1949 and was the first Head of the Department of Library Science in 1952-1964 until he was elected the Director Dag Hammarskjöld library at the United Nations Organization in New York. Professor Vladimirovas worked in this position for two periods until 1970. He was active in IFLA in the 1970s where he was elected Secretary IFLA committee on Library Education and Chairman IFLA Section for Library Schools.
In 1964 Library Journal published an interview with Levas Vladimirovas who is truly characterized as "a competent, capable man, willing to serve the UN with dedication to its goals, and trying hard to cram into that experience all the knowledge he can. At the same time he is a man with strong opinions, a personal and national pride, and a fine mind". After he was back from the USA, he modernized the LIS studies and research at Vilnius University.
In Soviet times there was very little information available about the librarianship in the western part of the world. If it reached us, it was "filtered" or ideologically colored, so one had to be able to read between the lines and have good imagination. Professor Vladimirovas always encouraged his students to learn languages, to read about the libraries in other countries, to do research and thus be less isolated from the world librarianship. I remember him supervising my research project on MARC format that had no practical application in 1980s in Lithuania but remarkably widened my professional horizon.
Already since 1959 the growth of technical libraries and information services has raised new requirements for librarians. New courses were introduced in the curriculum (e.g., Automation of libraries and information services in 1963). The staff of the Department of Library Science was involved in the projects of computerized catalogues, library systems design, etc. The new trends were reflected in the second curriculum of 1968. It comprised new courses like Informatics, Mathematics, Information systems design, Work with audiovisual material. This curriculum became a model for many Institutes of Culture that were the main educational institutions in the Soviet Union.
In 1988 new curriculum was introduced. It took into account the changes in the society (Perestrojka): teaching of ideologically indoctrinated subjects was diminished. The curriculum of 1990 signified the transition to the two level education: bachelors’ and masters’ study programs.
The separate Faculty of Communication (FC) at Vilnius University was founded in 1991. Faculty was established on the basis of two earlier existing majors – Library Science and Journalism. The main reason for creation of a separate faculty was intensive growth of knowledge, information and research in the emerging new field of information and communication as social interaction and foundation for knowledge-based society. This creates an integrated background for library, information and communication studies and research at the FC.
In addition to existing programs in Library Science and Journalism, a new program in Informology/Information Management was started at newly established FC. At present, FC offers Bachelor and Master programs in Library Science, Information Management and Journalism, BA in Business Information Management, Archive studies; MA in International Communication, Public Relations. The Faculty publishes two collections of research papers: Knygotyra (Book Science) and Informacijos mokslai (Information Sciences).
The mission of the FC is to train professionals who are able to organize and manage information in all spheres of human life, to build information policy and to use information in the most effective and flexible way. In 1997 the Board of the FC has approved the strategic plan where staff development and international relations are seen as the main strategic priorities. We are involved in many European and international programs and projects.
Since 1991 libraries and librarianship has endured severe crisis. Lithuania was mostly influenced by problems of transition, however, crisis of the professional education has been visible at many universities in the world. On the other hand, we feel that significance of information and the potential of libraries in creating open and democratic society will be understood.
During 1949-1999, almost 4000 librarians graduated from Vilnius University. They work in academic, public, special, national and other libraries and information services. This is a big and highly potential professional community – our pride and hope. In 1999 we celebrated together the 50th anniversary of LIS education at Vilnius University. The International Scientific Conference, International Bookplate exhibition, meeting of all graduates and teachers, two books and collection of research publications were dedicated to this occasion.
Being the youngest faculty at the old Vilnius University the FC aims to be flexible, modern and innovative structure. We are lead by integrated approach to information and communication. Libraries, information centers, mass media are the vital parts of the society communication processes. Information and communication sciences focus on the role of knowledge in the society, and cover philosophical, social, economical, political, legal and technological aspects of information activities. The FC seeks to reach highest academic standards. LIS are among the most prospective fields of studies and practice and maintain strong position at VU.
UNYSLA Spring Conference: Knowledge Management
Date: Wednesday, May 3, 2000
Place: Wyndham Syracuse Hotel
Join Upstate New York Special Libraries Association, Central New York Business Journal, along with the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) and Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA.) at the spring conference on Knowledge Management.
This may be the first time we are inviting business professionals, from Buffalo to Albany, to join us for our conference. This is an exciting and unique opportunity for UNYSLA to take a leadership role in educating business owners and managers about knowledge management and the role we play as information professionals.
Susan DiMattia, SLA president, who is slated to deliver one of two keynote addresses at the meeting stated "What an interesting idea. The readers of the Central New York Business Journal are just the folks we are trying to reach, to convince them of the value of corporate librarians. I'm all in favor of the change."
Between UNYSLA chapter attendees, the other professional association attendees, and the members of the business community, we are hoping for about 200 participants. Also in the planning stages is a dinner or networking event for the professional association attendees (UNYSLA, AIIM, ARMA, & possibly Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals) on the evening of the 2nd, following what I would anticipate to be a late afternoon board meeting for UNYSLA. You will have to pre-pay and pre-register for this event, so please do not plan on registering on site for this.
In addition to the two keynote addresses, there will be three conference tracks with four segments each. Tracks for information professionals, information systems professionals, and executives will run simultaneously. We are looking at slotting Susan DiMattia in the afternoon keynote address and then asking her to moderate a panel discussion on the Changing Roles for Information Professionals. Participants we hope to include are librarian, records/information security manager, lawyer, competitive intelligence representative, and possibly a human resources representative.
There is a previously scheduled Business Technology seminar, also sponsored by the Central New York Business Journal, being held in the same location (Wyndham Syracuse) on May 2. Discussions are underway to bridge the two events, as the potential audience for both may be the same. Meeting registration will most likely be handled by the Business Journal, so there may be some noticeable differences in the procedure. As soon as there is more information, I will make it available. I do recommend that you pre-register when the materials become available to do so, as I am not certain that we will be able to accommodate on site registration.
SLA members will be paying a discounted registration fee for this conference, in comparison to the non-affiliated attendees. Register early if you plan to stay overnight for the Knowledge Management Conference in Syracuse. Rooms are reserved at the Wyndham Syracuse. You must reserve prior to April 18th and specify "Knowledge Management" in your request. The rates are
$95.00 single occupant, $99.00 double occupancy.
Please feel free to send comments and questions to Lisa Carbone, President-elect at lisa.carbone@actstesting.com
Affirmative Action Committee seeks Outstanding SLA Members
Do you know an outstanding SLA member who would agree to be interviewed for popular magazines such as Essence, Latina, etc. to promote the profession of librarianship among people of non-white ethnic backgrounds?
If so, please ask that individual to contact SLA member Lilleth Newby of the New York Chapter who serves on the Affirmative Action Committee. She plans to write an article which would be an overview of the profession, options and opportunities, brief bios of librarians of color and descriptions of the work they do. The article would include pictures of the librarians in their work environment.
Lilleth would need about ten names and hopefully end up with 4-5 for the article. Lilleth is an adjunct at NYU Bobst Library and can be contacted at The HIV Resource Library 212-447-2686, Fax 212-447-8239 or ornewbyl@elmer4.bobst.nyu.edu.
Nominations for Upstate NY Chapter Award 2000
At the annual Chapter meeting, an award is usually presented to a Chapter member who has exhibited dedication to Chapter activities "beyond the call of duty," or who has made an outstanding effort on a Chapter project, or has contributed to the development of the library services in their community. An engraved momento is presented in recognition of the winner's efforts.
If you would like to recognize a member of this chapter for their contributions, please send a short justification with members name to Pat Oliver, 1266 Saratoga Road, Ballston Spa, NY 12020. Nominations should be mailed by April 15, 2000.
by: Boodie McGinnis, Cornell University
Plans are also underway for a local area meeting in the Southern Tier (Ithaca-Binghamton-Elmira-Corning). Lori Micho, our recently appointed Local Area Meetings Coordinator, is planning a program for late March or early April which will feature a tour of the Cornell Hotel School's Nestlé Library. Look for an announcement on the chapter e-mail list in the near future, or contact Lori (607/255-0389, e-mail lm62@cornell.edu) for more information.
Speaking of local area meetings - for a chapter as geographically dispersed as ours, local area meetings are very important networking opportunities, and Lori and I hope that we can find others who will be willing to host or help organize meetings in their cities or regions during the spring months. Lisa Carbone organized a very successful local area program in Buffalo in November, and this might be a model for programs in other areas. The Buffalo program featured a videotape of Eugenie Prime's keynote speech from the 1997 SLA convention in Seattle; this video can be made available for other local area meetings in the future. Or, if you have other program ideas, or even if you just want to organize a group of SLA colleagues for dinner or lunch, please don't be shy. Contact Lori and/or me and we will do our best to help you put something together for members in your area.
If you cannot come to a chapter-wide program or local area meeting, you still have opportunities for networking and communication with colleagues across the region. Use the chapter e-mail discussion list, visit and contribute to our website, pick up the phone and call a colleague, send an e-mail to introduce yourself, ask someone for help or advice on a project, or volunteer to help even in a small way. Not everyone has the time, energy, or even the inclination to chair a committee or run for chapter office. But if each of us would take the initiative to make even one new contact within the chapter, or do one thing aimed at helping to improve communication among chapter members, just think what a difference that could make during the coming year. None of us stands alone - we need each other, and we need to communicate with each other, if we are going to survive the rapid pace of change that we will face in this new millennium!
Proposals wanted for Research Grant
The Special Libraries Association is soliciting proposals for the 2000 Steven I. Goldspiel Memorial Research Grant. Available to both practitioners and academics internationally, including Ph.D. students, the purpose of the grant is to support projects which promote research of interest to information professionals and special librarians. Recent awards have been close to $20,000, though projects with smaller budgets are also encouraged. Membership in SLA is not a prerequisite.
Goldspiel applications are evaluated by SLA's Research Committee based on the purpose and objectives of the proposed project, the significance of the topic to the profession, the project's methodology, the qualifications of the researcher, and the appropriateness of the project's budget and timetable. The deadline for the SLA Research Director to receive applications is February 28, 2000.
Application materials may be received from SLA's fax on demand service in North America (toll-free: 1-888-411-2856) or internationally (toll-charge: 1-415-278-3910), items #1401-1406. Alternatively, you may visit SLA's website at www.sla.org/research/index.html or contact SLA's Research Director at 1-202-939-3665; fax: 1-202-265-9317: e-mail: Ruth@sla.org.
The Goldspiel Grant has provided funding for cutting-edge research in the field of library and information science. Recent projects seek to create metadata standards for classifying moving images, to understand how users develop and utilize cognitive patterns when using digital resources, and to determine the ways in which special librarians provide needed information to telecommuters. These are all exciting projects, and endeavors from which all information professionals will benefit. This year, SLA hopes to receive a proposal from you!
Two Members Appointed to Advisory Council
We are pleased to announce two new members to the Advisory Council, Sara Miller and Angela K. Horne.
Sara Miller of the Nestle Library at Cornell (School of Hotel Administration) has agreed to serve as Nominations Chair for the current year.
Angela K. Horne, Public Services Librarian at the Johnson Graduate School of Management (JGSM) Library at Cornell University, has volunteered to be the Chapter Webmaster!
Angela is a Public Services librarian at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Prior to moving to New York in 1998, Angela was the Webmaster and Librarian for Electronic Initiatives at the Nova Scotia Department of Labour in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the 1998 CLA Annual Conference in Victoria, British Columbia, she was presented with the inaugural "OCLC / CLA Promoting Technology in Libraries Award". This recognition honored her development and implementation of an electronic management system for a steadily growing body of information pertaining to workers' compensation appeals and labor issues.
In her non-academic life, Angela is a member of the Wordsmyth Collaboratory, a non-profit organization that administers the Wordsmyth Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus, http://www.wordsmyth.net. The Collaboratory has developed the dictionary-thesaurus into an innovative andevolving language reference source, one that provides the user with powerful and flexible search capabilities. If you visit the site, try the crossword puzzle solver in The Foundry -- your Sunday Times puzzle ritual may never be the same…
Feel free to e-mail Angela your ideas for expanding our website! She's eager to hear from you, and can be reached at akh8@cornell.edu
A New Service for Prison Librarians
by: Jeannette Smithee
There was interest in the chapter in services to prison librarians. Here is a new resource for communication among prison librarians.
Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies List (ASCLA) has just set up a discussion list for prison librarians. Instructions for joining the list are available on the ASCLA website at: http://www.ala.org/ascla/ascla_lists.html
Fall Program: Metrics – Measuring and Valuing Information Services
In order to provide quality programming to our members, we are partnering, once again, with professional colleagues. The Toronto chapter of SLA is joining us, along with the Upstate New York Ontario Chapter of the Medical Library Association (UNYOC) for the Fall meeting.
The Hamilton Sheraton in Hamilton, Ontario, will be the venue for this very exciting meeting dealing with the methods of using Metrics to measure and value our services within organizations.
The tentative outline for the program is as follows:
Wednesday, October 18th:
Continuing Education Seminar (optional)
UNYSLA Board meeting
Welcome Reception in the evening is tentatively scheduled for the Museum of Art in Hamilton.
Thursday, October 19th
Full Program – main speaker
Friday, October 20th
Half Day
(UNYOC Business meeting is generally this morning)
Details will be available in the next issue of the newsletter! Please reserve the dates and plan to join us for this educational and timely seminar.
by Deborah Joseph, Cornell University
Child Online Protection Act (COPA)
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals began hearing arguments November 4 in the controversial Child Online Protection Act. Signed into law by President Clinton on Oct. 21, 1998, COPA has been dubbed CDA II by its opponents in reference to the similarities to the Communications Decency Act of 1996. As it stands, COPA would require commercial Web sites to obtain proof of age before delivering material considered harmful to minors. Violations would be punishable by fines up to $50,000, and jail terms of up to six months. Critics said the act also could apply to news and informational Web sites that did not consider themselves pornographic but carried some sexually explicit material.
C. James Schmidt, a professor at the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science, has been appointed to the Commission on Online Child Protection by Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.). The commission was established with the passage of the Child Online Protection Act last year, and is charged with identifying "technological or other methods that will help reduce access by minors to material that is harmful to minors on the Internet." In the past, Schmidt has served as library director at the State University of New York at Albany and Brown University. He is also a past of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and has served on the Technology and Access Committee of ALA’s Library and Information Technology Association.
Injunction Against New Mexico Law Upheld
A federal appeals court has upheld an, injunction against a New Mexico law that would make illegal the the online delivery to minors of materials that "in whole or in part depicts actual or simulated nudity, sexual conduct, or sadomasochistic abuse, and that is harmful to minors." The American Civil Liberties Union argued the case on behalf of 20 plaintiffs, including ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation and the New Mexico Library Association. The court affirmed a lower-court’s ruling that stated the law was a block to adults’ free-speech rights by not being limited to the deliberate transmission of harmful matter to one specific minor. The panel also ruled that the law violated the Commerce Clause by attempting to regulate activity outside New Mexico state lines.
New York State Virtual Library
New York State education officials are seeking $12 million in state funds in 2000 for a New York Online Virtual ElectronicLibrary, or NOVEL. A special e-library card would allow New York State residents to access a variety of databases and documents including government regulations, health information, historical documents, and more. Many of the databases are fee-based, but with the new electronic library card, users will be able to access the information for free. The cards will be issued by local libraries and will be protected by an assigned password.
National Digital Archive
A report from the National Research Council has called for policymakers to create a system of electronic depositories in the interest of preserving digital information for the future. The report, The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age, addresses online intellectual property issues and recommends the formation of a task force to resolve the legal, economic, and technical issues that may arise from such an effort. It further proposes that Congress enact legislation permitting the copying of digital information for preservation purposes.
The United States Information Agency
The functions of the United States Information Agency have been transferred to the U.S. Dept of State. The USIA was shutdown following the passage of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998. USIA Information Centers libraries will continue to operate as usual, but will now be under the direction of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
Proposed NTIS Closure
House Science Committee's Technology Subcommittee meet on Sept 14th to hold an oversight hearing on the proposed closing of the National Technical Information Service. Testimony was heard from several parties including Caroline Long of George Washington University Library who testified on behalf of ALA. The proposal is to remain under study for the time being.
School Media Bill
A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965" to provide up-to-date school library media resources and well-trained, professionally certified school library media specialists for elementary schools and secondary schools, and for other purposes" was introduced on October 4th by Rep. Major Owens (D-NY) H.R. 3008 is coupled with S. 1262, the Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources, Training, and Advanced Technology Assistance Act. The bill is presently in committee.
Collections of Information Antipiracy Act (H.R. 354)
HR 354, the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act, sponsored by Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C), makes it a crime "to extract or use in commerce, all or a substantial part of a collection of information gathered, organized, or maintained by another person through the investment of substantial monetary or other resources." Several universities and library associations are fighting to block HR 354, in the belief that a law such as this would restrict the free flow of information.
A similar measure, H.R. 1858, Consumer and Investor Access to Information Act of 1999, was introduced by Congressman Tom Bliley (R-VA), states "it is unlawful for any person to sell or distribute to the public a database that was collected and organized by another person and is sold or distributed in commerce in competition with that other database." While H.R. 1858 would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to prevent people from obtaining and distributing databases without permission, H.R 354 would allow individuals to sue alleged database pirates in the courts. Discussions of the two measures are currently underway and a full vote in the House of Representatives is expected in December. Final action on a compromise measure is not expected until early 2000.
The Association mandates that the chapters and divisions maintain archives. In addition, every Chapter and Division must have an archivist. The rules state where the archives can be housed and what types of documents should be kept in them. For example, the archives cannot be housed in a home, garage, or office. The rules intend that the archives be maintained in a proper storage (archive) facility. Many chapters and divisions have been able to store their archives with members who work at such facilities (e.g., a college archive).
In 1998, when our archivist moved outside of the region, we were faced with the dilemma of how to maintain the archives. In 1999, after reviewing the rules from Headquarters and investigating our options, we contracted with Rogers Service Group in Binghamton, NY to house our archives. Rogers is professional document storage and archive facility that has processes in place to track stored items. Since we indexed all of files at the folder-level, we are able to request from Rogers specific items when needed and have them shipped to the appropriate officer. We can also add to the archives at any time.
A benefit of sending the archives to a storage facility was the preparation that needed to be done before the files were sent. Each box was gone through, organized, and indexed. An index is now available electronically, making it easier for us to know what files exist. Long-term, the index can be used in weeding the files, while ensuring that the proper items are maintained.
Obviously cost was an issue in our decision process. We were able to reach an agreement with Rogers for a trade of services that benefits both organizations, but does not impact our budget.
The Chapter is in need of an archivist who will oversee the Rogers contract, maintain the index, and work with the Board to ensure that new documents are sent to the archives. Because the Chapter currently does not have an archivist, the past-president has taken on the role of archivist. If you know of anyone who would be interested in being the Chapter Archivist, please have them contact Boodie McGinnis at (607) 255-0309 or mmn3@cornell.edu.
Request for Articles: Capital Region ARMA - Tech Valley
Capital Region ARMA - Tech Valley chapter offers $25 honorarium for articles to be published on its web site: www.catskill.net/arma, and invites the submission of articles for consideration. It is hoped that the publication of local articles on topics related to records management will encourage local scholarship and add depth to local understanding of the field.
So dust off that college paper, write up that case study, or research a topic that has always held your interest. ARMA members as well as non-members are encouraged to send in papers. Deadline for submission is January 31, 1999.
Articles should be 1,000 to 3,000 words in length, and address an area of records management. They should also show original insight and/or conclusions. Articles should be in plain text and pasted directly into the text of an e-mail message. Special arrangements can be made for transmitting pictures or graphics. Articles may be sent by e-mail to armainfo@yahoo.com.
Submitted articles will be reviewed by a panel selected from the Capital Region ARMA.
Martin P. Catherwood Library,
School of Industrial and Labor Relations,
Cornell UniversityThe School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) at Cornell University was established in 1946 by an Act of the New York State legislature as the first university-level institution to study and teach industrial and labor relations. ILR today remains the only institution of higher learning to offer a four-year undergraduate program in this field. Since its founding, ILR has been expected to gather and furnish information to individuals and groups affiliated with both labor and management. That broad mandate has guided the development of the Martin P. Catherwood Library, which was founded with the school in 1946 and has grown since that time into a comprehensive national resource on workplace issues.
Catherwood today holds exceptional collections in the fields of collective bargaining, human resource management, international and comparative labor relations, labor economics, labor history and contemporary unions, legal aspects of the employment relationship. The library’s print resources currently include 200,000 books, journals, pamphlets, and related materials – including over 4,000 serial titles – and its $1.5 million annual budget supports a staff of thirty. Catherwood is one of nineteen libraries that make up the Cornell University Library (CUL), one of the 12 largest academic research libraries in the United States.
Besides providing what might be considered traditional academic library services to the staff and students of ILR and the Cornell community, Catherwood staff members are involved in development and delivery of innovative products and services to bring information to the desktop, making it easier than ever to conduct a virtual visit to the collection in Ithaca. Catherwood’s web site, www.ilr.cornell.edu/library is recognized as a leading site on the topic of the employment relationship, offering a variety of useful services, including access to the Cornell University online catalog, exhibitions of historical information, distribution of selected government documents, and links to relevant Internet sites.
For example, Catherwood is the official archival site for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) report, Futurework: Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century (www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/e_archive/futurework/default.html). This report, created by DOL for Labor Day 1999, marks and reviews key issues concerning the workplace as we enter the next millennium. Catherwood is also an official Internet archive site for DOL’s Glass Ceiling Commission’s reports and for the DOL Child Labor Study Office. More than 1,000 web sites include hot links to Catherwood’s site. In partnership with Human Resource Executive Magazine, Catherwood also produces www.workindex.com, a gateway to workplace-oriented web sites.
Catherwood extends its services beyond the Cornell campus via its Outreach program and through ILR:Access, a fee-based research and document delivery service. External clientele include corporate and union researchers, government analysts, lawyers, lobbyists, historians, reporters and editors, documentary filmmakers, and international scholars.
Librarians are also actively involved in ILR’s educational programs , teaching analytical and research skills through course-based library instruction as well as through credit-based courses. Stuart Basefsky, Senior Reference Librarian team-teaches, with another ILR faculty member, a 3-credit graduate-level course, HR664: Human Resources Online Research and Reporting Methods. Graduate students in this course learn how to make quick and effective use of the Internet and other electronic resources to tackle genuine research questions posed by corporations. A similar course in Labor Research will be team-taught by librarian Deb Joseph and Kate Bronfenbrenner in the future.
The library’s special collections in its Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives are among the most important resources of their kind in the country. Manuscripts, pamphlets, oral histories, collective bargaining agreements, and other primary materials including photographs, recordings, and films are preserved for research purposes. Holdings include the records of thirteen international unions, New York State locals of special note, lobbying groups, and educational associations; an extensive collection of rare books and pamphlets; personal papers and reminiscences of 260 prominent individuals in the labor movement; and over 300,000 photographic images that vividly portray the history of industrial and labor relations in North America. The center also mounts virtual exhibits, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Exhibition (www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire), from its web site.
SLA members from Cornell include:
Stuart Basefsky, Information Specialist and Senior Reference Librarian, smb6@cornell.edu
Suzanne Cohen, Coordinator of Reference Services, sac29@cornell.edu
Deborah Joseph heads the Outreach Program dj13@cornell.edu
Deb Lamb-Deans, Access Services Coordinator dsl6@cornell.edu
Gordon Law, Director, gtl1@cornell.edu
Boodie McGinnis, Assistant Director, mmn3@cornell.edu
Barbara Watson, Serials Cataloger, blw6@cornell.edu
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Omission: In the Fall 1999 issue the authors of the article "Marketing Ourselves as 21st Century Professionals" were not acknowledged. The two authors were Erin Hanley and Raymond Wang, students at School of Information Science and Policy, SUNY Albany.
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