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The Advertising and Marketing Division and SLA assume no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors to this site. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official position of SLA. Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the advertiser's product(s) by SLA. Links established from this site does not imply endorsement of the site's products and services by SLA. SLA will not be held liable for damages resulting from any errors, omissions, information contained beyond this site, or use of the information at this site. |
Co-chair reports from Savannah
By Lynn Strand-Meyer>DAM Co-Chair Hello from Savannah! I’m writing this from the SLA 2009 Leadership Summit. I’m here representing DAM as your 2009 co-chair and chair-elect for 2010. So far, the event has been informative, positive and enlightening. The economic woes of our country (and the world) have been at the forefront of my mind lately. This downturn has affected co-chair Alisa Coddington and me personally as we have been laid off from our jobs. I’m happy to say SLA has taken steps to help members who are struggling (and even those that are not). The new dues structure allows those making less than $18,000 a year to join SLA for just $35. Since that was implemented, SLA has added 100 new members from outside the United States. We are now able to say we are truly an international organization! An additional member benefit that was announced at the Leadership Summit – Click University sessions are now FREE! That’s right, free professional development. Now that’s value. I’m excited about our Annual Conference and Centennial Celebration June 14-17 in Washington, D.C. Alisa and I have been working hard at bringing you some great programming. One of our most exciting offerings is a talk by the founder and editor of The Onion, Scott Dikkers. His presentation is sure to be funny and fascinating as he discusses the changes in media and its consumption. Also in Savannah, I’m beginning to work on the 2010 conference in New Orleans. If there is programming you want to see there, please reach out to me. That leads me to my final thought, our division is small and we need some new energy and enthusiasm. SLA offers an abundance of opportunities to interact virtually. I would like to challenge our membership to come into the light. Let’s start some discussions, get a wiki going of resources pertinent to our division and get some volunteers moving us into the next century. I look forward to hearing from all of you. I mean it, really. Let’s reach out and get some DAM good stuff going on!
Upcoming FCC requirement affects serious news (and information pros) Following on the heels of the federal law requiring television stations to broadcast only in digital format, the FCC announced earlier this year that starting Feb. 17, 2010, all television news must be funny. Print news must follow suit within three months. Many broadcasting insiders expressed dismay at what they saw as a rushed timeline. “This doesn’t give us adequate time to become funny,” said Jim Lehrer, host of the vaunted NewsHour on PBS. Like many of his non-profit colleagues, Lehrer has been quietly studying improvisational comedy for some time. “We have to learn the more demanding ‘long form improv’ because our show runs an hour without commercials,” said a visibly embittered Lehrer. “Our educated audience won’t put up with more than two fart jokes per week and an over-reliance on puns will kill us.” He added, “A pun, or paronomasia, is a phrase that deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect.” By far the most outrage over the FCC decision is voiced by recent graduates of journalism schools, many of whom feel they wasted tuition money studying now irrelevant topics. “It’s not fair at all,” lamented a 2006 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism while preparing a foot-long chicken pizziola at a Subway sandwich shop. “While I was boning up on the obligation to the truth and the verification of facts, people like the writers of The Onion were boning everything else. But now they are getting all the good jobs in the news industry.” FCC Commissioner Roger Wurtleby has mixed feelings about the new ruling but said something needs to be done to save the news. He points to two recent studies by the Rand Corp. and Pew Charitable Trust, both concluding that non-funny news only reaches two relatively small demographic groups, pathetically lonely social outcasts and marketing executives for pharmaceutical companies. “One group is your basic losers, and the other is just checking to see if their ads are running,” Wurtelby said. “The only thing keeping serious news on the air is these two groups need each other.”
Scott Dikkers Okay, this is a farce, but we wanted to catch your attention! DAM is thrilled to announce that Scott Dikkers, founder and editor of The Onion, will be speaking at SLA’s 2009 Annual Conference June 14-17. The DAM session (co-sponsored with the News Division) will focus on the changing media consumption habits of consumers. It promises to be a highlight of the week.
DAM archives reorganized as part of class project
By Peggy Watkins I had the opportunity and pleasure to create an archive for DAM during the fall of 2007. As a result, I was asked to write about the experience for the bulletin. I should take a step back and explain who I am and how this came about. I have worked at Interpublic’s Center for Marketing Intelligence (CMI) for many (enough said) years. Currently, I am manager of Growth Services, Content Integration & Administration. Despite being a long-time employee in one of the best corporate information departments in advertising and marketing, it was only recently I became an SLA and DAM member. I joined because I am in the first graduating class of a new master’s program in information and archive management at the Columbia University School of Continuing Education. One of the program’s core classes is Records and Archive Management: Principles and Practices. The class is intended to be a survey course of the guiding principles of these fields. It’s a lot to cover in a semester, but our instructor, Rebecca Altermatt, not only gave an excellent overview of records and archives management, but is an energetic teacher and a practicing archivist who passed on her love of the field. After acquiring this appreciation for archival work, I thought to combine my class project with something relevant to my employment. Not really having a clear idea of what I could do, I approached my manager, Robin Feuerstein, about a way to incorporate the class project with a CMI need. I was thinking I could help organize some CMI historical files. I told Robin about the project, and she responded, after a meaningful pause and a raised eyebrow (uh oh, alert, alert, alert) with, “Well you know,” casting an eye towards a heap of sagging boxes in her office, “I am the Advertising and Marketing Division archivist and we do need the archive reorganized.” I cautiously responded with, “Well, sure, why not. But, let me check with my instructor and see if that is an appropriate project for this class.” I wasn’t sure I could (or should) handle the DAM archive. It felt like a very big responsibility. I did speak with Rebecca and she thought it was a wonderful idea. And with that, I began my journey through the history of DAM. It quickly became apparent I did not need to create a history of DAM. I found in the collection fine historical articles that had been written by members. That proved to be helpful because they provided a context for going through the documents in the collection. I went through all the boxes and determined the best way to organize everything was to organize the documents first functionally, and within function, chronologically. This was possible because there wasn’t a lot of overlap between types of documents. It also seemed to make the most sense based on how members would need to find materials. Once that was decided, I was able to go back through the documents and while sorting for functional organization it was easy to identify duplications that could be discarded. In total, the collection was reduced to one-third of its original size. The documents are organized around these primary functional series types (in chronological order):
There are a number of gaps in the different series, most notably in Annual Reports. And while it is sad some documents are missing, overall there is a great wealth of material in these archives. The Bulletins and What’s New publications are filled with details about the advertising industry and its trends. DAM was uniquely positioned to track the history of television broadcast advertising since it began about the same period as commercial broadcast television. Certainly newspapers and radio had advertising for many years before television, but television really brought the discipline of advertising awareness into the mainstream. And with it, DAM was born. It is exciting to know the division is once again positioned to chronicle the ongoing changes in advertising and marketing in the digital world. I would like to close by mentioning the announcement on page 346 of the November 1942 issue of the SLA journal, Special Libraries, about the formation of the National Advertising Section. It can be found on the SLA Web site at http://www.sla.org/content/Shop/speclibs2.cfm where Special Libraries issues from 1910-1996 are posted. Peggy Watkins plans to graduate in May with a master’s in information and archive management from Columbia University. Member News
Deb Rash is featured in a sidebar of Rachel Singer Gordon's new book, "What's the Alternative: Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros," which is published by Information Today Inc.
Link to information about the book at
http://www.infotoday.com/books/books/WhatsTheAlternative.shtml.
Tesse Santoro changed jobs in October and is an account manager for Practical Law Company. She is based in New York City. The company is a new U.S. division of a U.K. legal know-how business.
Kristine Spanier, who served as DAM chair in 2001-02, received the gavel at the Minnesota Chapter's annual membership meeting on Oct. 28. She'll serve as president in 2009.
Book offers librarians
tips on teaching adults
The Accidental Technology Trainer: A Guide for Libraries
“The Accidental Technology Trainer” is an accessible and practical book full of tips to use in your information instruction classes.
It’s geared to information professionals without teaching backgrounds who find themselves conducting technology training – and what library instruction nowadays doesn’t involve technology.
Author Stephanie Gerding has worked as a trainer for Sirsi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She generously shares her own teaching experiences and those of other library trainers throughout the book.
The book focuses on developing and implementing learner-centered training for adult learners, stressing flexibility and the importance of establishing a learning community where participants feel safe to ask questions, fail and explore.
“To be learner-centered, find ways to enjoy what you are doing, share this enthusiasm, and put the people first,” Gerding writes. “It isn’t what the trainer says that influences the amount of learning; it is how learners are helped to create their own knowledge. Your most important goal is to involve participants, getting them to talk, think, share and act.”
There are chapters highlighting training principles and trainer skills, learning styles, workshop design ideas, and tips on dealing with difficult participants and training situations.
Grace Villamora wins DAM award
We received some wonderful nominations this year, but there was one that stood above the rest. This year’s Award of Merit winner, Grace Villamora, is someone who has contributed to DAM in a multitude of ways: as a skilled speaker, constant contributor and innovative thinker. She has expanded our division’s influence throughout the information professional community. Grace, DAM’s international relations chair, epitomizes the idea of sharing knowledge. As both an accomplished presenter and an author, she has shared her professional expertise at several SLA conferences. She received the Illinois Author Award in 2004 from the SLA Illinois Chapter for her book “Super Searchers on Madison Avenue” that was published in 2003. The book was well reviewed and received in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. More information about the book is at http://snipurl.com/anxuz. Grace, senior vice president and director of research at the brightresearch group in Chicago, has served DAM many times as director and chair of the awards, international relations and vendor relations committees. As a division leader, this winner established an international travel grant to provide opportunities for qualified international members to attend the SLA Annual Conference. The grant has helped create an international community within DAM and SLA. Her advertising experience includes work in Sydney, Manila and parts of Europe. Grace was a director of knowledge management at Euro RSCG Tatham and a vice president at DDB Chicago. She helped established libraries from the ground up at Wieden + Kennedy, Ogilvy & Mather, and Tatham Laird & Kudner. Big changes are coming to global markets By Krista Pegnetter DAM Vendor Relations Chair Captivated by consumer market research, entertaining video clips and a timely subject, the SLA Conference audience for DAM’s program,“Global Market Update and Trends,” stayed overtime to hear speakers David Gudgin of Euromonitor and David McCaughan of McCann Worldgroup. Gudgin, presenting data from Euromonitor’s new database Countries & Consumers, provided the context for global consumer and population trends:
In contrast to Gudgin’s talk of trends and forecasts, McCaughan of McCann Worldgroup’s Tokyo office brought to life cutting-edge Asian culture and its staggering implications. He pointed out India’s Bollywood is hugely popular in Japan; India’s new cricket league drew an audience of 1.3 billion to its final match; and Korean musician Rain is the world’s largest-selling performer. His point -- none of that is based on Western brands. Demographically, both Western and Asian markets have aging populations and focus on young consumers. The difference is that now, as McCaughan paraphrased, Asian audiences say, “We want what Americans have, but we don’t want to be Americans.” That is a dramatic shift from the past. Asian markets are the new frontier. McCaughan shared a fun video of a child-sized train carrying shoppers through a Chinese supermarket, and ads for mystery-flavored soft drinks. The clips represent the current “anything goes” climate in Asia. In particular, McCaughan said the trend driving markets is that young Asians are used to -- and crave -- dramatic change. This need for change challenges businesses to come up with new and better ideas at a frantic pace. One benefit, though, is that product innovation leads to high brand loyalty. Although they will try everything, through choice comes loyalty, at least for now. That differs from how the U.S. reacts to change. When asked, both Gudgin and McCaughan agreed North American and European markets deal with dramatic change by trying to simplify and refine, whereas in Asia, people expect markets to add more, different and improved options. As marketers, it’s crucial to understand how markets react differently, because no matter where you live, big changes are coming, and soon. The session was sponsored by WARC.
Question research: How did they measure that? By Kristine Spanier DAM Member
Elana Broch began her SLA Conference presentation, “Introduction to Research Design,” by providing two alternative titles: “How Did They Measure That?” and “Correlation Doesn’t Imply Causality.” Her primary message was when looking at studies, first figure out how variables are defined, such as what’s the difference between “lower class” versus “middle class” children. Studies contain physical variables that are usually unambiguous, and demographic variables such as occupation and education. There are also achievement variables. Opinions and attitudes are, of course, the hardest to measure. They are oftentimes wholly dependent on the interpretations of the study participants, which can be idiosyncratic. They suffer from a lack of true scale and are also dependent on the question design. For instance, if a mother is asked, “How many children did you want to have?” will she really admit to two when she has four kids? The answer changes with reality. Broch, a Princeton University librarian, stressed she wants people to immediately question, “How did they measure that?” every time a study is presented. Another interesting example she used was “Does media cause aggression?” Questions to ask when reviewing the results are: What media is included? Were hours self-reported or was a Nielsen meter used? Does all TV count? Does sleeping by the TV count for media consumption? How is “aggression” defined -- two boys fighting, bullying, road rage? Good research tries to eliminate alternative explanations by controlling for other possible causes of results. One must consider the decisions the researcher had to make when designing the study. Most are made for “sound research-based reasons” but time and financial constraints often enter into the decision as well. Broch said perfect research doesn’t exist, however good research is applicable, relevant, ethical, reliable, valid and generalizable. All research falls somewhere on a continuum for each of these hallmarks so have skepticism and appreciation for any research. Broch has a Ph.D. in psychometrics and an MLIS. She is the assistant population research librarian for the Donald E. Stokes Library for Public & International Affairs and Population Research at Princeton University. Broch can be reached at ebroch@princeton.edu. The session was presented by DAM and the Social Science Division.
Libraries can use information architecture to improve Web sites By Alisa Coddington, DAM Co-Chair Elect and Dru Frykberg, DAM Bulletin Editor
Information architect Dan Klyn discussed how libraries can optimize their Web sites during the standing-room-only SLA Conference presentation, “Is What You See What You Get.” Klyn teaches information architecture at the University of Michigan School of Information and describes himself as being obsessed with the display, design and organization of information on the Internet. He works as an information architect for Flannel, a nonprofit film production company in Grand Rapids, Mich. His other clients have included American Girl, TimeLife.com and T.J. Maxx. Librarians can learn Web design and structure techniques from the e-commerce world, said Klyn, who has an MLIS but has never worked as a librarian. In addition, he said these traditional librarian skills are central to information architecture:
“Good information architecture enables people to find and do what they came for,” Klyn said, quoting Jeffrey Zeldman, author of “Designing with Web Standards.” “Great information architecture takes find out of the equation: The site behaves as the visitor expects.” Klyn said librarians should consider these structural design principles for their Web sites:
Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger Information Architects by Peter Bradford and Richard Saul Wurman Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld Klyn’s presentation slides are available at http://danklyn.com/sla/slides.pdf. This program was presented by DAM and the Education Division, and was sponsored by Thomson Reuters.
Today’s consumers come in various shades of green By Dru Frykberg DAM Bulletin Editor
Mandy Levenberg, DAM’s conference speaker on green marketing, drove her 1983 Mercedes that runs on biodiesel to the Washington State Convention & Trade Center. She confided to her audience time constraints kept her from taking public transportation, a more eco-friendly choice. But she drank from her reusable, aluminum SIGG water bottle rather than the plastic disposable water bottle provided by the conference center. Levenberg, who follows green consumer behavior for Iconoculture Inc., exhibited behaviors typical of a society with a growing interest in being green. People want to make environmentally friendly choices, but they prefer those choices be convenient and practical. Levenberg delivered “The Green Consumer" June 18 at the SLA Annual Conference in Seattle. She is a Seattle-based senior director and consumer strategist specializing in cause and sustainable living for Iconoculture, a cultural trend research company based in Minneapolis. She studies consumers, such as eco-Moms, by following discussion groups and sponsoring the blog, “Being Green and Seeing Red,” at http://mandylevenberg.com. 2007 was a banner year when green consumerism and cause consumption became mainstream and marketers started paying close attention, Levenberg said. She credits this change in part to the success of the Al Gore documentary on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth," and the attention given to celebrities promoting green products, such as the Toyota Prius. Consumers that marketers want to reach come in all shades of green and many want "greenvenience," affordable and accessible products, straightforward information about the eco-friendliness of products, and simple tips to affect meaningful change for the planet. She noted some strategies companies are using to connect with consumers:
SLA survey: Salary increases outpace inflation SLA announced in November the results of its annual Salary Survey and Workplace Study that showed the average salaries for SLA members in the U.S. and Canada have increased yet again. Based on salaries as of April 2008 for U.S.-based respondents, salaries increased 5.3 percent from 2007 with an average U.S. salary of $ 71,812. The average for Canadian respondents was CAN$ 69,971 compared with CAN$ 67,171, a 5.4 percent increase over last year. Competitive intelligence on the rise The 2008 study includes for the first time a full chapter focusing on the functions of CI and online business research and analysis, growing areas of responsibility and interest for information professionals. Nearly 20 percent of all survey respondents are now in positions covering these functions. These findings reflect the changing roles of information professionals across the enterprise. The median salary for CI professionals and others in this category is $69,000, compared with $66,000 for all respondents. European data For the second year, the survey included respondents from Europe. The European report is separated into two categories, responses from the U.K. and responses from other European SLA members. The average salary for U.K. respondents was £42,674, a 4.2 percent increase over the previous year. For other European members, the average salary was €64,986, a 7 percent increase. The data for U.S, Canada, U.K, and other European countries are reported in the local currency in the published report. However, below is a comparison of global mean salaries converted into U.S. dollars based on April 1 exchange rates.
SLA has developed a salary calculator as an online interactive tool to analyze salaries based on multiple characteristics, rather than the two dimensional print version. This tool is available to purchasers of the report. The SLA Salary Calculator only includes data for Canada and U.S. Pricing and availability The 2008 SLA Annual Salary Survey & Workplace Study can be purchased in various forms at http://snipurl.com/8555n. The full print version is $80; electronic and network versions are also available at different price points. Results from the U.K. and other European countries can be purchased for $10.
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