SLA Geography and Map Divisiona Division of the Special Libraries Association, established in 1941 |
The Geography and Map Division 1982-1997Bulletin No. 187, Fall/Winter 1997 - Fiftieth Anniversary Issue by Mary Murphy In 1981 the Geography and Map Division of the Special Libraries Association had 326 members. About 45% were in academic libraries, 20% in government libraries, 20% in private industry or societies, 8% retired, and 8% students. By 1996 the total number of members had declined to 235, with somewhat similar proportions. The decrease in membership was probably due to several reasons, among them the increased costs not only of membership but also of conference attendance and other activities; and increased competition for time, money, and interest from other professional associations such as the Western Association of Map Libraries, the Map and Geography Round Table of the American Library Association, and the North American Cartographic Information Society. At least sixteen active members of the Division have died since 1981. In spite of the declining membership, the Division has been very active. Annual conferences have been well attended. Programs have covered a wide range of cartographic and geographic subjects often concerning the region where the conference was held and always including a geographically oriented field trip. Topics discussed have included traditional aspects of map librarianship such as map conservation, publicizing the map library, the physical condition of a map collection, map use, etc. There has been an increasing emphasis on new technologies and the impact of computers', geographic information systems, and digital cartography on map collections. There have been visits to and descriptions of map libraries, discussions of individual maps or collections, and a number of joint meetings with other divisions of the Association. The Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Geography and Map Librarianship was presented in 198" to David Carrington, in 1983 to Kathleen Hickey, in 1985 to Mai Truede, in 1997 to Alberta Woods, in 1992 to Johnny Sutherland, in 1993 to Chris Baruth, in 1995 to Mary Larsgaard, and in 1996 to Alice Hudson. Two members of the Geography and Map Division have received the Special Libraries Association John Cotton Dana Award for exceptional services to special librarianship: Mary Murphy in 1990 and Dorothy McGarry in 1991. Two members of the Division have been members of the SLA Board of Directors: Charlene Baldwin and Dorothy McGarry. The Geography and Map Division Bulletin was edited through the June 1989 issue by Mary Murphy, from September 1989 through December 1994 by Joanne Perry, and since then by Pat Allen. In 1996 frequency was changed from four issues a year to three. The Division has been involved in many professional activities between 1982 and 1987. Division publications have included, in addition to the Bulletin, a brochure on the Division; a slide/tape Introduction to Map Librarianship; the fourth edition of Directory of Map Collections in the United States; Standards for University Map Libraries; and the Index to the Bulletins 103-158: The Division published the Map Cataloging bibliography in November of 1997. The Geography and Map Division has cooperated with many other professional organizations. Representatives of the Division regularly attend meetings of other associations and report matters of interest to the Division. Among these organizations are the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), the American Library Association Map and Geography Round Table (MAGERT), Association of American Geographers Committee on Southern Map Libraries (COSML), the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA), the Cartographic Users Advisory Committee (CUAC), the International Federation of Library Associations and Organizations Geography and Map Section (IFLA), and the International Society of Curators of Early Maps (ISCEM), the Map Online Users Group (MOUG), the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), the North East Map Organization (NEMO), the Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML), and many local or regional map societies. One of the major cooperative professional activities sponsored by the Geography and Map Division is tile Congress of Cartographic Information Specialists' Association (CCISA). A meeting was held in November, 1988, at the Newberry Library in Chicago to further cooperation among the many organizations whose members work with cartographic materials. The meeting was co-sponsored by the SLA G&MD NACIS, MAGERT, ACMLA, WAML. ACSM, and COSML It was attended by twenty-seven delegates frorn eleven organizations and three national map collections. One of the goals of the Congress was to encourage greater communication among cartographic specialists. As a result, in June of 1991 an international computer conference dealing with cartographic information was founded by John Sutherland and Jim Minton after discussion with member of G&MD, COSML, NACIS, and delegates to CCISA. Called the "Map and Air Photo Systems Forum" or "Maps-L" it continues to provide information to cartographic information specialists. A second goal of the Congress was to hold an international conference to address the challenges imposed oil map collections by the introduction of digital spatial cartography. In October, 1993, a joint conference was sponsored by tile Congress and the Library of Congress. Organizations participating in the meeting were ACSM, ACMLA, COSML, SLA G&MD, ISCEM, MAGERT, MOUG, NACIS, NEMO, and WAML. There were over 100 attendees. Participants felt it was a very productive conference and hoped to have another meeting in three to four years. In February 1997, representatives from a number of information society publications met at the Library of Congress to discuss concerns about the quantity, timeliness, and consistency of cartographic information publications and the possibility of more cooperation among them. No consensus was reached, and another meeting was planned for fall 1997. At the Geography and Map Division conference in Seattle in June, 1997, much attention was focused on the future of the Division and its Bulletin. A committee consisting of Pat Allen (chair), Jim Walsh, Jim Gillispie and Lisa Wishard (formerly Recupero) was appointed to look into the matter. Options that suggested were: 1) Merge with another division of the Special Libraries Association; 2) Become a section within an existing division; 3) Become a caucus; 4) Do nothing; and 5) Dissolve the Geography and Map Division. A decision was made that the Bulletin would cease publication after number 187 until the future of the Division can be decided. Pat Allen is to edit numbers 185 and 186, and the Publications Advisory Committee will be responsible for the final 50th anniversary issue, number 187. In spite of all the problems faced by the Division, Bruce Obenhaus was elected chair-elect and Anita Oser as secretary. Plans are underway for a 1998 conference in Indianapolis. About the Author: Mary Murphy is the former chief of the Indexing Branch for the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/Topographic Center, now retired, and a long time member of the Geography and Map Division. |
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Librarian, University Libraries, Virginia Tech |