August
2000 v. 23, no. 1
Table of Contents:
FROM THE CHAIR – Ed Walton
It seems that in the beginning of any project there are high expectations
that usually fly in the face of stark reality. In my address to
the PER members as the PER Business Meeting, I had some very lofty
goals. The goals are still in place, but the reality of the hard
work required to obtain the goals are beginning to set in. There
were three things on the agenda for this year, improve communication,
increase networking opportunities and increase member participation.
Improved communication is the area that still needs
some work. We are still trying to sort out the details for internet
communications and the discussion list operations. This will takes
some time to get everything in place. Everyone is running into time
constraints with work taking precedence over SLA. Quite understandable,
I'm feeling the same crunch.
There has been some headway made in the networking
plans. The Annual Conference in San Antonio has two networking events
planned to enhance the opportunity to network. See the Conference
"tentative" agenda below. In addition, Janice Anderson,
the PER Chair-Elect has put together some excellent guidelines for
establishing regional meetings. We plan to progress the efforts
to get some regional meetings in place in the next few weeks. Some
steps have already been taken in some regions to get this going.
I need patience to wait for the right timing for the events. If
you have not heard any news in your area by the end of the year,
contact me.
Increasing member participation is by far the most
difficult to obtain. Obviously, the better programming the better
the turn out. For the Conference, we have tried to have a balanced
program between energy related topics and petroleum related topics
and to be overbalanced in networking opportunities. These were some
of the main concerns express in the PER Survey last year. In reviewing
the agenda, I believe that we have accomplished this goal. In addition,
hopefully the regional events will be instrumental in improving
participation. Finally, communication is the key. We have a long
way to go in this area, but were working on it.
Back to Table of Contents
TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR SLA 2001 CONFERENCE IN
SAN ANTONIO
Sunday, June 10
3:00 - 4:30 pm
2000-2001 Board Meeting
Moderator: Ed Walton, PER Chair
6:00 - 9:00 pm
DPER Party!!
St Paul Suite at the Sunset Station
Ticketed Event
Moderator: Ed Walton, PER Chair
Monday, June 11
7:30 - 8:45 am
Breakfast Meeting: PER Division Dreaming: Where are we going?
Moderator: Janice Anderson, PER Chair-Elect
Tuesday, June 12
7:30 - 8:45 am
Breakfast Meeting: Electronic Document Management Systems
- Converting
Historical Records to Electronic Format: a Case Study in Historic
Well Records
Speaker: Susan Cisco, PH.D., CRM
Moderator: Janice Anderson, PER Chair-Elect
Co-sponsor: Communications
12:00 - 1:15 pm
DPER Business Meeting
Ticketed Event
Moderator: Ed Walton, PER Chair
7:00 - 9:00pm
DPER Dutch Treat Dinner
Hosted by PER Board Members
Wednesday, June 13
7:30 - 8:45 am
Breakfast Meeting: Deregulation: Utilities / Telecommunications
Moderator: Janice Anderson, PER Chair-Elect
11:30 - 12:45pm
Issues & Trends in Information Management
Moderator: Ed Walton, PER Chair
Dr. Herman Totten, Regents Professor and Associate Dean, University
of North Texas
2:30 - 4:00 pm
2001-2002 PER Board Meeting
Moderator: Janice Anderson, PER Chair-Elect
Back to Table of Contents
INFORMATION SPECIALIST POSITIONS AVAILABLE
McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Electric Power/Natural Gas Practice
This position in the Houston office is an exceptional opportunity
to join a well-respected group of research and information professionals
who support consulting teams throughout the world. Specifically,
you will be supporting McKinsey's Electric Power/Natural Gas Practice.
Qualifications
At least 2 years of business experience
Advanced degree in library science, business, or economics (preferred)
Knowledge of the electric power/natural gas industries or energy
industry (preferred)
We are an equal opportunity employer offering excellent salary
and benefits. For immediate consideration, forward your resume to:
Carolyn Loos
Practice Information Coordinator
McKinsey & Co., Inc
909 Fannin, Suite 3500
Houston, TX 77010
Fax: (713) 751-4652
Email: carolyn_loos@mckinsey.com
Back
to Table of Contents
SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE
PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 10-14, 2000
SESSION NOTES BY CONNIE BIHON
Monday, June 11
Negotiating Tips and Techniques
This session covered negotiating enterprise-wide vendor contracts.
The reason why contracts must be negotiated is because the information
resources industry is in chaos; the new cost models designed by
the vendors are often irrelevant to your situation; there are many
new competitors; and technology has completely reshaped products,
delivery, markets, and sales. Jill Mason of Pricewaterhouse Coopers
emphatically stated the need for a special procurement expert for
electronic information. This specialist needs to:
"Develop an overview of information patterns,
to learn where there is application, to look at the information
content, and to keep up with new information products. This expert
will be responsible for vendor relations and terms of negotiation-no
two contracts are alike and this variation demands a systematic
approach."
Ms. Mason emphasized the need to centralize the operation
in order to obtain both local and global support for the purchase,
to enhance communication, to do an annual review of all contracts,
to consolidate purchasing, to reduce redundancies, and to achieve
better leverage for cost saving.
The procurement expert also does an information audit to identify
users, to survey current information tools, to examine usage patterns,
to identify what is really needed versus what people say they need,
and to identify the content that is missing in the organization.
Before negotiating, the negotiator needs to know:
1. The
applicability of the product
2.
Vendor reputation and history
3.
Cost issues and expense sharing
4.
Depth and coverage of the information
5.
Cost to be saved or benefits to be generated
6.
What technology is needed-delivery format and global access
7.
Comparison with other products
8.
Focus of the content
9.
Merger and acquisition activity in the industry-rumors that
the vendor may disappear
Jill suggests that the procurement experts should:
1. Establish
operating procedures that include a contract template and testing
methods
2.
Build a team of advisors
3.
Conduct ongoing usage surveys
4.
Analyze usage to use in renegotiations based on facts gathered
The centralized approach to vendor contracts for information products
can provide more highly relevant products and obtain the most for
the least. The process will identify how much is really being spent
versus a process where the costs are mostly hidden. Jill's specific
tips were: eliminate "evergreen" clauses, always have
a free trial first, analyze usage and use those facts.
Seymour Satin, formerly with Atlantic Richfield, had additional
remarks to note. First, be prepared; second, remember that everything
is negotiable; third, get a clear, signed contract; fourth, understand
the vendor's point of view and maintain good relationships, and
fifth, prepare for future negotiations through usage monitoring
and client surveys.
National Geologic Map Database
The speaker at this session was David Soller from the US Geological
Survey. He discussed the database available at http://ngmdb.usgs.gov
. The scope of the database is to include a bibliographic
record of every map irregardless of form. Most of the USGS maps
are now in the catalog, and they are nearly 50% along in entering
the state geological maps. (In addition, there are mapping projects
in Australia, England, France, and Germany; and the National Defense
Mapping Agency has a cartographic imagery project.)
Hurdles that the project managers had to overcome included the
need for standardization of map symbols and the development of a
map data model for people who make databases. They also endorsed
the Adobe Illustrator software as the product for digitalizing maps.
These achievements make it possible for the database to be maintained
by the publishing agencies as they issue new maps. Searching the
web catalog for a geologic map will retrieve records that have embedded
URLs for digital maps or contact information to purchase the map.
There is also a link to completion status, which will show coverage
of map series.
Thumbnail raster scanned maps are available on the web from a variety
of sources including USGS, Library of Congress, state and other
libraries, and the Microsoft Terraserver where the National Mapping
Division supplied the imagery and Microsoft handled compressing
the raster data.
Business Toolkit for Technical Librarians
A panel of three experienced librarians covered a broad range of
basic business tools and easy techniques for company overviews and
industry profiles. Renee Daulong discussed major print sources,
such as the Encyclopedia of Associations, Thomas Register, Hoover
handbooks, Statistical Abstracts, Washington Information Directory,
World of Learning, the AIIP Directory, and Online Competitive Intelligence
by Helen Burwell. She also recommended using publist.com and mediafinder.com
to uncover more resources.
Elizabeth Farly discussed using the two major commercial
database vendors: Dialog and Dow Jones (Factiva). She discussed
an industry overview as containing a list of major companies, product
sales, market share, market leaders and other players. She recommended
Dow Jones Company and Industry Center, where you will find analyst
reports, E/U country reports, and newsletters; and she recommended
Dialog files 93, 516 and 518, and 545 (Tablebase, Worldscope, Investex
and D & B).
For a company overview, she recommends Dow Jones Publications Library
(for articles, wire services and newspapers) and Dialog files 916
& 148, and Companynews in Dialindex. She mentioned custom clips
in Dow Jones recommending the use of "custom" to set up
your own specific search; she also recommends having Dialog set
up your search for free. Liz cautioned that vendors say you can
get good basic reports with a couple of clicks but this is not true;
there are severe limitations: the Dow Jones Quick Company Profile
is only recent news and stock quotes and Dialog's Smart report is
mostly recent articles and patents. Neither of these products is
anywhere near a complete picture.
Liz said that when you present your findings to your client, the
least you should do is write a summary paragraph stating what your
findings are and highlighting the major pieces of information that
your client needs to look at for himself. If you compile a report,
start with the highlights (including important people, companies,
associations and experts). Call to verify your information or get
more up to date information. Do a summary that organizes the data
and answers the client's questions. Use templates that collect and
organize data. Company templates include: what it is (background),
financials (D&B or pages from an annual report, etc.), current
products and services, biographical info about executives, clients,
recent news, and an analyst report, or analyze the data to see yourself
where they are going. Industry templates include: US Industrial
Outlook, dominant players (in D&B 516 & 518 use SIC codes
and rank and sort by sales), size, sales/shipments, state of the
art, trends (use quotes and state sources), top publications on
the industry, and regulatory issues.
A key to writing a valuable summary is knowledge of why the client
is asking so that you can talk about impact based on requester's
question. Margaret Carr discussed competitive intelligence, pointing
out the "competitor intelligence" comes from formulating
an opinion or drawing a conclusion from the implications of the
data. For companies, that means their strategy (President's letter
in annual report), the products and their strengths, weaknesses
and opportunities, financial performance (profit margins), and human
resources needs, and growth (monitor want ads).
The Distributed Sci-Tech Librarian
Bill Johnson from Arizona State University discussed their web
product called Environmental Education Online, designed to educate
students about information resources in the field of environmental
science. The web site included journals (with links to full-text
whenever possible, either free or subscription-based), books, libraries,
indexes and additional resources (organizations, government agencies,
associations, institutions, universities). A major design factor
of this web site is the use of pop up windows.
Mary Schlembach of the University
of Illinois talked about web-based access to local databases. A
valuable tip that she gave is to use one form with enough fields
to accommodate several databases.
Karen Spence from the US Department of Energy discussed
energy information at the desktop. She talked about the new Energyportal,
which is the distributed search mechanism for the database in Energy
Files. Those databases are the DOE R&D Project Summaries (current
research), DOE R&D accomplishments (outcomes of past research),
DOE Information Bridge (grey literature), PubSCIENCE (Scientific
journal literature), and the PrePRINT Network (preprints for DOE
and other government agencies). Find Energy Files at www.osti.gov/energyfiles. This portal enables
users to search 27 databases at 500 web sites, including web sites
at DTIC, NASA, NLM, and EPA. A new product is PubSCIENCE, available
in collaboration with the Government Printing Office. It is a database
of journal citation and abstracts in the physical sciences. It is
developed by the National Library of Physical Sciences along the
lines of PubMED from the National Library of Medicine. It covers
approximately 1,000 journal titles at this time. The PrePRINT network
unveiled only 5 months ago is a gateway to over 1,000 preprint sites
covering over 300,000 preprints.
In closing, Ms. Spence discussed the DOE National
Library Initiative. These DOE products serve as the foundation for
a DOE National Library focused on energy, science and technology
which offers public access to billions of dollars of federally funded
energy-related research.
Back to Table of Contents
PER CONFERENCE PROGRAM SUMMARY
by Ed Walton and Pam Weaver
Monday, June 12, 2000, 7:15am-8:30
am
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY INFORMATION RESOURCES
Speaker: Mary Berger, Engineering Information, Inc.
Mary is the Vice-President, Databases with Engineering Information.
She gave a brief introduction of EI and the services that they offer
in the energy sector. She gave an overview of the resources available
on EI Compendex, the primary energy resource available from EI.
EI Compendex includes documents from 43 conferences and 46 periodicals
from various energy industries. It is categorized into many sections,
including oil field equipment, energy, petroleum products, refining,
fuel technology, transportation and environment.
EI is planning to release an Energy Village on their website in
the future. If you are familiar with EI's website, this will be
like the other villages on the site. It will have extremely flexible
search capabilities. It will include both proprietary information
from vendors like the Thomas Register, industry standards, patents,
etc. and it will include links to industry specific websites.
The website will be hosted by the powerful Oracle database system
that will allow for desktop access to information. The Encompass
databases will be fully accessible on the site. Transparent linkages
to other vendors will be available. Cross-linked files and links
to full-text articles will be available where possible. These are
just a few of the features that will make this system very user
friendly, yet powerful at the same time.
Monday, June 12, 2000, 1:30-2:45
pm
NATIONAL GEOLOGIC MAP DATABASE
Speaker: David Soller, USGS
The National Geologic Map Database was established by the
1992 Geologic Mapping Act, and was reauthorized in 1997 and 1999.
It is a cooperative project by the US Geological Survey and the
American Association of State Geologists.
The Database is a three-phase process. Phase 1 was to populate the
map catalog with bibliographic data, over 23,600 USGS maps, and
1,400 state geological survey maps. The goal is to have all state
geological survey maps in the database by 9/30/00. Phase 2 is standards
development. The development team needs to inventory the existing
data, link to it from the map catalog, and develop standards
and guidelines for creating and serving the map data. Phase 3 is
the online database. The proposed characteristics include that it
is built from edge-matched geologic maps at various scales, managed
and accessed as a coherent body of map information not as a set
of map products; it adheres to standard data; and it is easily updateable.
Tuesday, June 13, 2000, 7:30
am-8:45 am
MODERN HISTORY OF ENERGY CONSERVATION: AN OVERVIEW FOR INFORMATION
PROFESSIONALS
Speaker: Donald R. Wulfinghoff, PER Secretary
Don is the Principle for Wulfinghoff Energy Services, Inc.,
a consulting company devoted to improving the energy efficiency
of all types of facilities. He gave a very detailed overview of
the Energy Conservation movement and where to locate information
on energy conservation. His presentation included the history of
energy conservation, the geography of energy conservation information,
the main information sources, the best ways to search for information,
how to identify the appropriate information rather than giving misinformation,
and a starter set of useful internet sites. Don provided attendees
with a white paper covering this subject in detail.
Tuesday, June 13, 2000, 9:00-10:15
am
NEGOTIATING WITH VENDORS
Speakers: Gina McCue, SilverPlatter and Ellen Wells, NPS Pharmaceuticals
Gina spoke from a vendor's perspective of negotiating with
consortia. She defined a consortia as a strategic alliance of institutions
that have common interests. Customer benefits of negotiating as
a consortia include access beyond the library, access to remote
branches, shared access among separate institutions, customer choice,
lower average cost per user, access to expanded portfolio of products,
and less overall administration. The vendor benefits as it can grow
business in market segments that often can't afford the products,
and they can negotiate one license for the consortia instead of
several for the individual members.
Ellen addressed the issues that affect negotiation from a librarian's
viewpoint. These include (1) what is an institution or a site; (2)
traditional corporate vs. non-profit labeling; and (3) vendors are
changing pricing from simultaneous users to registered users. This
prompted significant discussion among participants. The consensus
was the key is partnering with vendors for a win-win situation.
Wednesday, June 14, 2000,
7:30 am-8:45 am
TEMPORARY LIBRARIANS: WHEN, WHY, AND HOW TO UTILIZE
Speakers: Chris Dobson and Carolyn Ernst, F1 Services, Inc.
Chris is the President and Carolyn is the Vice-President
of F1 Services, Inc., a consulting company that provides consulting
services in all aspects of library issues, including library staffing.
They gave a summary of when, why and how to use temporary librarians.
Topics covered included: How do you decide it is necessary to hire
a temporary librarian. How much will it cost? What is the advantage
of using a temp agency? How do you find a staffing company? Generally,
who are temporary librarians? How to identify what skill you will
need? How do you convince your management to hire a temporary? How
are you going to pay for the temporary staff? How to you keep temps
happy and productive?
Wednesday, June 14, 2000,
11:30am-12:45 pm
NTIS UPDATE
Speaker: Wally Finch, NTIS
The NTIS was established by law in 1950, and is the only
government agency mandated by law to be financially self-supporting.
Its mission is "to collect and disseminate technical information
produced by U.S. Government
and foreign sources in order to support the nation's economic growth
and job creation." Finch detailed the events, which have brought
NTIS more to the public's attention over the past year. In January
2000, the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information
Science (NCLIS) conducted a study assisted by a broad group of public
and private stakeholders. This study concluded NTIS should be retained
through FY201 to give NCLIS time to study alternatives. NTIS continues
to conduct business in anticipation of continued authorization.
For additional information, see http://www.ntis.gov.
Back to Table of Contents
Petroleum and Energy Resources Division
Special Libraries Association
1999-2000 Board Meeting, 11 June 2000
Room 414, Marriott Hotel
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
MINUTES
(Minutes prepared
by Donald Wulfinghoff, Secretary.)
In attendance were:
·
Pam Weaver, Chair
·
Ed Walton, Chair-Elect
·
Edna Paulson, Treasurer
·
Donald Wulfinghoff, Secretary
·
Dorothy Eska, Financial Development Chair
·
Nancy M. Bourque, Nominating Committee Chair
·
Janice C. Anderson, nominee for Chair-Elect
·
Connie Bihon, nominee for Treasurer
·
Lynn P. Meininger, Division member
The voting members at this meeting were the Chair,
Chair-Elect, Treasurer, and Secretary, together constituting a quorum.
1.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Pam Weaver, at 4 PM,
in a conference room of the Marriott Hotel.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The agenda was distributed, and unanimously approved.
3. INTRODUCTIONS
All attendees introduced themselves.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 1999 EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
The minutes of the previous Executive Board Meeting, held in Minneapolis on 9 June 1999,
were unanimously approved.
5. OLD BUSINESS
(a) PER Membership Survey
Pam Weaver distributed copies of the results of the PER Member Survey, and stated
that the results had earlier been distributed on the PER Web site.
Pam stated the survey indicates that communications is the main concern of respondents
to the survey.
Pam suggested that there was a radical drop in member participation when the
discussion list changed from a moderated list to an unmoderated
list, which occurred approximately two years ago. The question was
raised whether statistics exist to support this correlation. However,
no statistics to this effect appear to exist. It was then suggested
that the putative drop in participation was the result of the turbulent
conditions of employment that existed in the petroleum industry
at that time.
Ed Walton reported that approximately 25% of PER members had posted questions
to the discussion list. There was discussion of dissatisfaction
of members who post questions with lack of response to their questions.
It was reported that Linda Musser has begun the practice of posting message
to all members of the discussion list to announce new issues of
the PER Bulletin.
Ed Walton stated that it will be an initiative of his administration to enroll
all members of PER Division as subscribers to the discussion list.
This was discussed. Janice Anderson raised the prospect of dissatisfaction
of some members with receiving unwanted email in this manner. This
point was discussed generally.
The solution will be to make to make it easy for members to unsubscribe. Also,
Ed Walton will send one or more email messages prior to the commencement
of this practice announcing the action, and promoting the value
of participation in the discussion list. Nancy Bourque said that
she is not allowed to receive email at her place of employment.
This type of problem was discussed, but it was not resolved.
MOTION: A motion was made by Ed Walton, seconded by
Wulfinghoff, and passed unanimously to: automatically subscribe
all PER members, present and future, to the PER discussion list,
with an option to unsubscribe.
Ed Walton will ask the Networking Chair
of his administration to implement that action.
6. NEW BUSINESS
(a) Proposal of Wendy Foster for Meeting of PER
Members at Global 2000
Wendy Foster had previously made a proposal
to Pam Weaver, which Pam forwarded to the Board by email, to arrange
a meeting in the vicinity of London for PER members who may be attending
Global 2000. Discussion of this invitation ensued.
Pam Weaver stated that she did not feel it appropriate to ask anyone to attend
without providing financial support to the individual. There was
no sentiment within the assembly for doing this. It was observed
that there are few European members of PER.
Ed Walton and Janice Anderson stated that they have marginal interest in going
to Global 2000. Janice proposed asking at the Business meeting
whether anyone would be interested in attending.
(b) Projects Suggested by SLA
The Chair reported that the leadership of SLA encourages each Division to prepare
a Procedures Manual and a Strategic Plan. Accordingly, she had previously
sent the participants copies of the respective models for these
documents.
Procedures Manual
Pam Weaver expressed a positive impression of the Procedures Manual that was
prepared by the Upstate New York Chapter, which had been distributed
to the attendees previously by email.
Pam said that the task of preparing and maintaining the Procedures Manual is
part of the responsibilities of the Chapter’s Past President.
Pam Weaver volunteered to prepare a Procedures Manual for the PER Division.
Don Wulfinghoff asked how the guidance provided by a Procedures Manual would
compare to the guidance provided by the Bylaws. Pam replied that
a Procedures Manual can be revised easily within the Division itself,
whereas revision of the Bylaws requires approval by the SLA Bylaws
Committee and the SLA Board.
MOTION: Upon suggestion by the Chair, a motion was made by Edna Paulson and
seconded by Ed Walton for a Procedures Manual to be prepared for
the PER Division in accordance with the Bylaws of the Division.
All votes were aye, with Wulfinghoff abstaining.
Strategic Plan
Pam Weaver stated the suggestion that the Division prepare a written strategic
plan. There was extensive discussion. The Strategic Plan that had
been selected by Pam Weaver as an exemplar was viewed by some attendees
as lacking substance.
Don Wulfinghoff stated that, in general, the planning of the Division’s
activities is a function that should be conducted by the governing
Board, with reference to the conditions existing at the moment,
and that any pre-existing plans not in conformance with the feelings
of the contemporary Board will be ignored in any event. Wulfinghoff
further stated that the Division is in a state of crisis, and that
necessary action should be implemented within the time frame of
the Philadelphia meeting, rather than deferring action to a long-term
plan. He noted that the long-range plans for various entities historically
have a poor record of success.
No concurrence on the issue was reached among the Board members. The issue of
preparing a Strategic Plan was tabled.
(c) Multi-Year Officer Positions
Pam Weaver recited the difficulties encountered in getting Division members
to volunteer for officer positions. It was presented as particularly
difficult to acquire volunteers to accept the three-year commitment
to the sequence of Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past Chair (each position
individually being of one year duration). One suggestion put forth
as a possible solution is to unlink this sequence, making it possible
to elect a Chair without prior service as Chair-Elect or other office,
and presumably, to eliminate the duties of a Past Chair.
There was extensive discussion. Wulfinghoff objected to the idea, stating that
it was essential for the Chair, in particular, to have prior experience
in preparation for the position, and to allow the Division to observe
the suitability of the individual for the office.
Ed Walton pointed out that the position
of Chair-Elect involves responsibility for Conference programming.
Pam Weaver asked Nancy Bourgue what reasons were given by individuals
approached for declining to accept nomination. She replied that
uncertainty about employment was the major reason. There was other
discussion of the difficulties of getting people to serve in Division
offices.
In the end, Pam Weaver concluded that it seemed to be the consensus to leave
the present arrangements intact.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(a) Time and Location of
the 2000-2001 Executive Board Meeting
The location for the 2000-2001 Board meeting was fixed
as the hotel room of Pam Weaver, to occur on June 13 at 9 PM.
8. ADJOURNMENT
A motion for adjournment being made, seconded, and
passed unanimously, the meeting adjourned.
***************************************************************************
Petroleum and Energy Resources
Division
Special Libraries Association
2000 Business Meeting, 13 June 2000
Room 412, Marriott Hotel
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
MINUTES
(Minutes prepared
by Donald Wulfinghoff, Secretary.)
Officers of the Division and others attending with an official
interest were:
·
Pam Weaver, Chair
·
Ed Walton, Chair-Elect
·
Edna Paulson, Treasurer
·
Donald Wulfinghoff, Secretary
·
Dorothy Eska, Financial Development Chair
·
Nancy M. Bourque, Nominating Committee Chair
·
Janice C. Anderson, nominee for Chair-Elect
·
Connie Bihon, nominee for Treasurer
Also in attendance were other members and guests of
the Division, the total attendance being approximately 27.
The meeting commenced at noon with lunch for all present.
The meeting was called to order at 12:30.
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by the
Chair, Pam Weaver, at 12:30 PM, in a conference room of the
Marriott Hotel.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The agenda was distributed, and unanimously
approved.
3. INTRODUCTIONS
All attendees introduced themselves.
The Chair thanked Questel-Orbit for contributing
to the expenses of the meeting.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 8, 1999
BUSINESS MEETING
The minutes of the previous Business Meeting,
held in Minneapolis on 8 June 1999, were unanimously approved.
5. TREASURER’S REPORT
The Treasurer’s report was submitted
and reviewed by the Treasurer, Edna Paulson.
MOTION: Upon suggestion by the Chair,
a motion was made by Don Wulfinghoff and seconded by Connie Bihon
to accept the Treasurer’s report as printed. The vote was unanimous.
6. (OLD BUSINESS) SUMMARY OF ACTIONS FROM JUNE 11, 2000 BOARD MEETING
The Chair presented highlights of the
actions and discussions of the Board at the preceding Board meeting,
which had occurred in Philadelphia on June 11, two days earlier.
The Chair summarized the Division Member
Survey, stating that deficient communications within the Division
is the major theme running through the results of the survey.
The Chair stated that Linda Musser has
been sending email announcements to the discussion list whenever
a new edition of the PER Bulletin is issued.
The Chair announced that Ed Walton will
work with the Networking Chair (whose function is the maintenance
of the PER discussion list) to subscribe all Division members to
the discussion list.
The Chair stated that a decision was made
to prepare a Procedures Manual for the Division, and that she had
volunteered to prepare the Manual.
The Chair stated that preparation of a
Strategic Plan was discussed, but that no action will be taken at
present to prepare one.
The Chair reviewed the issue of multi-year
officer appointments, and stated that the present terms of office
of Division offices will remain unchanged.
The Chair stated that Linda Musser has
been serving in the roles of Bulletin Editor, Networking Chair (responsible
for the discussion list), and Webmaster. Linda has expressed a desire
for the roles to be separated so that she can surrender one of them.
7. COMMITTEE REPORTS
The Chair referred to handouts for the
Committee reports, aside from Treasurer’s report previously
given. She commended the Committee Chairs for their efforts.
8. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Nancy Bourque, the Chair of the Nominating
Committee, presented the slate of candidates due for election at
this meeting. The slate consists of Janice Anderson as the sole
candidate for the office of Chair-Elect, and Connie Bihon as the
sole candidate for the office of Treasurer.
MOTION: Upon suggestion by the Chair,
a motion was made by Frank Lopez and seconded by Linda Musser to
elect the slate of nominees as presented, in accordance with the
Bylaws of the Division. The vote was taken, and was unanimous.
9. NEW BUSINESS
No new business was brought forth.
10. COMMENTS OF THE CHAIR-ELECT
The Chair ceded the microphone to Ed Walton,
the incumbent Chair-Elect, to discuss his plans for the coming year.
Ed thanked Pam Weaver and Edna Paulson
for their efforts during the preceding year.
On behalf of the Division, Ed presented
an ornate ceramic picture frame to Pam Weaver in recognition of
her dedicated service to the Division.
With respect to where he feels the Division
is going, Ed stated that the experience of the past year led him
to three conclusions: (1) the members of the Division desire
more opportunities for networking; (2) communications within
the Division have broken down, primarily because of the decision
to communicate exclusively by electronic means; (3) there is
a lack of participation by the members, largely due to a downturn
in petroleum industry employment.
Ed announced the initiatives that he expects
to undertake during his tenure as Chair: (1) providing more
opportunities for networking; (2) setting up local events around
the country to attract members to the Division; and, (3) adding
all members of the Division to the discussion list.
11. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The time of the 2000-2001 Board meeting
was announced as 9 PM tonight, 13 June 2000. The location is
to be at the hotel of Pam Weaver, the Clarion Suites at 1010 Race
Street.
The PER-sponsored events remaining during
the Conference were also announced.
12. ADJOURNMENT
A motion for adjournment
being made, seconded, and passed unanimously, the meeting adjourned.
*************************************************************
Petroleum and Energy Resources
Division
Special Libraries Association
2000-2001 Board Meeting, 13 June 2000
Clarion Suites Hotel
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
MINUTES
(Minutes prepared
by Donald Wulfinghoff, Secretary.)
In attendance were:
·
Ed Walton, Chair
·
Janice C. Anderson, Chair-Elect
·
Pam Weaver, Past Chair
·
Connie Bihon, Treasurer
·
Donald Wulfinghoff, Secretary
·
Edna Paulson, previous Treasurer
The voting members at this meeting were the Chair,
Chair-Elect, Past Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, together constituting
a quorum.
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by the
Chair, Ed Walton, at 9 PM, in Room 312 of the Clarion Suites.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The agenda was distributed, and unanimously
approved.
3. INTRODUCTIONS
Formal introductions of the attendees
was omitted, the parties being acquainted with each other by this
time.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 11, 2000 EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
The minutes of the Executive Board Meeting
on June 11, two days earlier, were not yet prepared. Approval
was therefore tabled.
5. OLD BUSINESS
There was no further discussion of the issues covered at the 1999-2000 Board
meeting of 11 June 2000, two days earlier, with the following exceptions.
Regarding attendance of PER members at the Global 2000 meeting in England, Pam
Weaver met with Wendy Foster since the previous Board meeting. The
two agreed to leave any meeting or meetings in England on an opportunistic
basis.
On the same subject, Ed Walton mentioned that the headquarters of his present
employer is located in Brighton, England, which by coincidence is
also the home of Wendy Foster. In light of this serendipity, Ed
plans to ask permission to attend Global 2000.
6. NEW BUSINESS
(A) Filling Committee Chair Positions
(1) Filling Archivist Position; Also, Related Issues of Archiving
The incumbent archivist, Jan Hagy, has
requested relief for the past three years. No candidate to fill
the post was immediately apparent. At the end of the discussion,
Pam Weaver suggested to Ed Walton that he attempt to recruit Lynn
P. Meininger, a Division member who had attended the 1999-2000 Board
meeting two days earlier.
The discussion of filling the archivist
role segued to a discussion of the stowage of the archives, the
belief being stated that the archives of the Division presently
consist of four or five boxes of material.
It was reported that SLA has specific
requirements for the storage of archival material, although responsibility
for storage may reside with the individual archivist. It emerged
during the discussion that the employer of the present archivist,
and the employers of future archivists, may object to the use of
their facilities for storage of SLA material, an expedient necessitated
by the SLA storage requirements.
This in turn gave rise to the thought that the preservation of the Division
archives is one of the fundamental aspects of the position. The
archive may simply be lost, piecemeal or in toto, if it must
be relocated repeatedly.
Don Wulfinghoff offered the idea of digitizing
all the archival material, thereby allowing all the material to
be stored in very compact form. It could also be stored on the Web
site. Wulfinghoff raised the issue of the cost of doing this, and
others raised the question of the longevity of the digital storage
media.
Janice Anderson offered the idea of letting
SLA archive the material. This idea was enthusiastically supported
by Don Wulfinghoff, who stated that this approach would provide
the greatest security for the material over the long term.
(2) Bulletin Editor; Also, Issues Related to Bulletin Content
Linda Musser is continuing to serve as
Bulletin Editor.
Ed Walton expressed the desire to add
more content to the Bulletin. Don Wulfinghoff asked why not let
the discussion list take over the function of the Bulletin. Ed Walton
replied that he wishes to enhance the content of the Bulletin so
that the Division can sell advertising in it.
At present, anyone can access the Bulletin,
whereas only SLA members can join the discussion list. The broader
usage of the Bulletin makes it more attractive as an advertising
vehicle.
(3) Financial Development Chair
Dorothy Eska agreed to continue as the
Financial Development Chair.
She was commended enthusiastically for
raising approximately $5,000 during the past year to support Division
activities.
(4) Membership Chair
Ed Walton reported he has encouraged an
employment associate of his, Beverly Clyde, to accept the position.
However, Ms. Clyde will soon be moving to other circumstances,
which clouds the prospects for her tenure.
It was reported that Nancy Bourque had
volunteered to assist in the work of the Membership Committee.
(5) Networking Chair
It was reported that Richard Behling has
volunteered to serve as the Networking Chair. It was stated that
the role of the Networking Chair is primarily to maintain the allimportant
discussion list. Janice Anderson stressed the need for specialized
skill to fulfill this position, as it involves working with the
complexities of Web page and Internet programming. Ed Walton and
Linda Musser will provide training for Mr. Behling.
(6) Strategic Planning
Because it was previously decided to table the development of a Strategic Plan,
the issue of a person to develop the plan was rendered nugatory.
(B) Strategy for 2000-2001
Ed Walton asked for response to the initiatives
that he had announced at the preceding Business Meeting, which had
occurred at noon of the same day.
Don Wulfinghoff replied that he felt that
all the proposals were essential and well targeted. He added that
one additional issue needs to be addressed as a primary consideration,
namely, that the Division must provide substantial tangible value
in order to retain present members and to recruit new members.
Don proposed that the Division can offer
the following valuable services: (1) professional information,
primarily in response to queries on the discussion list; (2) employment
information, and (3) important news. The discussion then moved
to the following items on the agenda.
(1) Increasing Networking Opportunities
Ed Walton stated that people want to meet
informally. Ed Walton and Pam Weaver presented two ways of doing
this, an informal meeting large enough to accommodate all Conference
attendees and a series of Dutch treat dinners. These possibilities
were discussed at length. The sense of the assembly was to pursue
them.
(2) Improving Division Communications
As discussed previously during the 1999-2000
Board meeting and the Business Meeting, all members of the Division
will be added to the discussion list.
The idea was also raised of disseminating
the Bulletin as an email message on the discussion list. There was
extensive discussion of the format in which this might be done.
Ed Walton favored PDF format because it provides for attractive
formatting. Others expressed concern that dissemination of the Bulletin
as an attachment on the discussion would make list members reluctant
to open the attachment for fear of virus contamination carried by
the attachment.
(3) Increasing Membership Participation
Ed Walton suggested that everyone should
recruit PER members from among their colleagues.
Don Wulfinghoff once again warmed to his
theme that the Division must provide valuable services as a requisite
of attracting new members, and that recruiting efforts in the absence
of offering substantial value will eventually be futile.
(C) San Antonio Program
(1) Suggestions for Breakfast Series
Topics for the breakfast series were discussed.
The idea of devoting one session to an open-ended brainstorming
session was generally accepted. The concept is to allow all Conference
attendees to contribute their thinking about ways the Division can
provide value for them.
Don Wulfinghoff suggested that the breakfast
in question should be a full breakfast, probably a buffet, in contrast
to the ubiquitous and unappetizing Danish pastries that have been
served up throughout the Conference. Pam Weaver reported that the
marginal cost of offering a real breakfast would be relatively small.
This issue was not resolved.
The question arose of the number of breakfast
sessions. The San Antonio Conference will have the same daily sequence
as the Philadelphia conference. The main issue was whether to have
a breakfast session on Wednesday. Statistics of past Conferences
reveal that the turnout at the Wednesday sessions is substantially
lower than for the other two days. However, in the past, there had
been no third day of exhibits. Ed Walton reported widespread physiological
collapse by Wednesday, suggesting that a Wednesday meeting would
have relatively small turnout regardless of the presence of exhibits.
The number of sessions was not resolved.
(2) Suggestions for General Sessions
Many topics were suggested for the general
sessions. One was for a session on utility deregulation. Another
as for a summary of what energy industries are doing now, and what
they plan to do in the future. Connie Bihon spoke in favor of non-technical
topics, such as stress management. Ed Walton had an amusing professor
for one of his dull library subjects, and suggested that the professor
would be an attractive speaker. No selection of specific topics
was made.
7. ADJOURNMENT
A motion for adjournment being made, seconded, and
passed unanimously, the meeting adjourned.
Back
to Table of Contents
INTERNET CORNER –Aggregators – Alligators or Concrete?
By Anne Coppin
New buzzwords can be interesting. The mind makes associations
with either similar sounding words or the concept which is most
familiar. So, building upon the definition of aggregate - the mineral
materials used in making concrete - I arrive at a library definition
of “aggregators” as a gathering together into a mass of
electronic journal offerings. Actually there is no one term used
by all for third party access providers of electronic journals/periodicals
- think also of jobbers, suppliers and wholesalers, subscription
services, online services, information/journal services, database
vendor, and one-stop Web destination. But aggregator seems to becoming
more prevalent. The basic two kinds of online journal publishing
are defined by Born and Ketcham-Van Orsdel as e-journal publishing
by the publisher or through an aggregator.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1273/7_125/62052462/p1/article.jhtml
Pushing Toward More Affordable Access. (affordable access
to electronic journals) (Statistical Data Included) by Kathleen
Born and Lee Ketcham-Van Orsdel, Library Journal, April 15 2000.
Finding online sources for journals may be as challenging as finding
sources for print subscriptions. Carol Tenopir provides a review
of two publications, Fulltext Sources Online
(www.infotoday.com)
and Net.Journal Directory (www.hermograph.com),
which help identify what is available where. The term “aggregators”
is again used in this review.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1273/6_125/61755734/p1/article.jhtml
Finding Full Text for Articles. (library online publications)
by Carol Tenopir, Library Journal, April 01 2000.
The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries provides a portal to
periodicals available in full-text on the Web. In the definition
of “Electronic Journal” they explain that the focus is
upon e-journal sites as they are offered by the publisher and exclude
those that are presented by aggregators. Yet their definition of
publisher includes some that others would consider aggregators.
JSTOR is included in their Directory of Major Publishers of Electronic
Journals.
http://www.coalliance.org/ejournal/
Electronic Journal Access
Periodicals are listed in alphabetical order by title, but
can be searched by Library of Congress subject headings.
Another source for finding out about periodicals is hosted
at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at the Yale University School
of Medicine.
http://jake.med.yale.edu/
JAKE (Jointly Administered Knowledge
Environment) is a
reference source which provides which databases a periodical is
indexed in, which vendors provide it, the period covered for indexing,
and if full text is available. Over 23,000 prominent journals are
included in this resource.
Some aggregators
are (in alphabetical order):
http://www.catchword.co.uk/
CatchWord currently hosts 740 journals for 46 publisher clients
and is based in the UK. The site allows guest login to explore the
periodicals and services offered. Services include a Table of Contents
alerting service. They state when a subscription lapses the subscribing
institution shall continue to have access to the volumes for which
it has paid.
http://www.ebsco.com/ess/services/online.stm
EBSCO Online
Provides access to thousands of electronic journals. A choice
of authentication methods is offered. It includes the ability to
search across journals for a specific article. A recent article
about linking cataloged journal records to online electronic journal
articles is: Putting it together just right: CSUN library links
its electronic holdings through EBSCO by Doris Small Helfer, Searcher,
v. 8, no. 5, May, 2000.
http://www.ingenta.com/
Ingenta is another global research gateway based in the UK.
It provides access to over 2,300 full-text journals from over 35
publishers and to the UnCover database of articles. In March 2000
it merged with the Colorado based UnCover Company.
More information about ingenta and the merger with
UnCover is found at: http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb000124-1.htm
Ingenta Merges with UnCover by Paula J. Hane, infotoday NewsBreaks,
January 24, 2000.
http://www.jstor.org/
JSTOR
The Journal Storage Project was originally a grant project
of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. JSTOR is now an independent,
not-for-profit organization about 70 publishers participating. JSTOR
was created to provide access to the full text of articles from
the first issue of a journal to within the last three to five years.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1273/5_124/54272946/p1/article.jhtml
JSTOR (electronic reference)(Software Review)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
by Christine Oka, Library Journal, March 15, 1999.
JSTOR and the University of Michigan: An Evolving Collaboration
by Guthrie, Kevin, Library Hi Tech 16 (1) (1998): 9-14.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/home
ScienceDirect is provided by Elsevier. While the core collection
consists of the Elsevier Science journal collection other publishers,
such as American Institute of Chemical Engineers and CRC Press,
are included. In addition, ScienceDirect offers subscribers the
opportunity to link from secondary database records directly to
the full-text article collection.
When acquiring electronic journals the issues to consider include
access (how, who is included, what happens when no longer subscribe
to a particular journal, etc.), authentication (IP address, password
and/or user ID based authentication), format of delivery (PDF, ASCII,
etc.), archiving commitment, licensing terms, etc. Some articles
which address various aspects are:
http://www.onlineinc.com/database/DB1999/mckay4.html
Accessing Electronic Journals" by McKay, Sharon Cline,
Database 22 (2) (April/May 1999):17-23.
Article includes list of aggregator services and other organizations
providing access to e-journals.
http://member.sla.org/pubs/serial/io/1999/nov99/andersen.asp
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0FWE/11_3/57785864/p1/article.jhtml
TO BIND or NOT TO BIND: Pros & cons of Maintaining Paper
Periodicals in the Library's Collection by Iris W. Anderson, Information
Outlook, November 01 1999.
This article is available through either the SLA for FindArticles
web sites. The SLA access requires your PIN but retains the original
formatting. FindArticle’s version is reformatted.
http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL1999/majka3.html
The Seven Deadly Sins of Digitization by David R. Majka,
Online, March 1999.
This article discusses print plus pricing, partial conversion, all-or-nothing
approach, authentication oddities, confusion about what is offered,
archiving commitment, and vapor content.
http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL1998/bates5.html
How to Implement Electronic Subscriptions by Mary Ellen Bates,
Online, May 1998.
http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/04-04/phillips.html
Ensuring Long-Term Access to Online Publications by Margaret
E. Phillips, JEP: The Journal of Electronic Publishing 4, no. 4,
June 1999.
http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/feb00/pace.htm
Digital Preservation: Everything New Is Old Again, by Andrew
K. Pace , Computers in Libraries, v. 20, no. 2, Feb. 2000.
http://www.sla.org/membership/irc/electlic.html
Selected References on Electronic
Licensing.
SLA Information Resources Center electronic information
packet on electronic licensing.
http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/sharedcoll/toolkit/
CDL Licensing Tool Kit
California Digital Library information about licensing databases.
http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/techreq.html
Guidelines for Technical Issues in Request for Proposal (RFP)
requirements and Contract Negotiations
The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) published
these guidelines in January, 1999.
Related Sites
for Journal Access
http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml
FindArticles.com
This free online article-search service is a content-distribution
partnership between LookSmart, which provides the search infrastructure,
and the Gale Group, which provides the published editorial content.
Constantly updated, it contains articles dating back to 1998 from
more than 350 magazines and journals. Library Journal and SLA’s
Information Outlook are included in this service. Note that the
formatting of the original article is not retained.
http://www.hermograph.com/njd/freemags.htm
Free Magazine Archive Web
Sites!
These sites offer free online articles--- no per-article
fees, no subscription charges. The list is a subset of data from
Net.Journal Directory, a publication of Hermograph Press. It was
current for the sixth edition.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/~emorgan/morganagus/index.html
IndexMorganagus
A full-text index of library related electronic serials which
is searchable by keywords. This site provides links to indexable
articles in more than 80 online titles including American Libraries
Online, Australian Library Journal, Computers in Libraries, Current
Cites, and TER (Telecommunications Electronic Review). Yet not all
articles from all serials listed are indexed.
http://info.lib.uh.edu/indexes/indexes.htm
Indexes, Abstracts, Bibliographies,
and Table of Contents Services
University of Houston Library provides this listing of services
that will help you find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles;
research papers; preprints; proceedings and transactions; book chapters;
and similar materials. Some include the full texts of the papers.
http://www.osti.gov/eprints/
Preprint Network
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Scientific and
Technical Information (OSTI) now provides this site for searching
and accessing a collection of existing preprint servers in
the physical sciences and other energy-related disciplines. The
PrePRINT Network complements PubSCIENCE, DOE's tool for searching
across journal literature, and the Information Bridge, DOE's vast
production of full-text R&D gray literature issued since July
1995.
http://pubsci.osti.gov/
PubSCIENCE
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Scientific and
Technical Information (OSTI) now provides this site for searching
and accessing peer reviewed journal literature in the physical sciences
and other energy-related disciplines. The focus of PubSCIENCE
is on those journals where DOE researchers report their scientific
discoveries. Abstracts are provided at no cost. The article
is available if the user or his/her organization has a subscription
to the journal.
http://www.ecmag.net/EC2000/web2.html
Web Wanderings: PubScience: Evolution or Devolution by Greg
R. Notess, Econtent, February, 2000. This is a review of PubScience.
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/home.html
Information Bridge
DOE Information Bridge, a component of EnergyFiles, provides
free, convenient, and quick access to full-text DOE research and
development reports in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental
sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information
science, renewable energy, and other topics.
http://www.academicpress.com/
Academic Press
Academic Press offers full-text electronic access of its
175 journals on the Internet at http://www.idealibrary.com/
IDEAL, the International Digital Electronic Access library. Full-text
requires a subscription, but they claim you can log in as a guest
and get free search and access to abstracts of all the journals
in the database.
Sites of Interest
http://staff.philau.edu/bells/keepup/
Keeping Up Web Page
Steven Bell designed this site to help library and information
science professionals develop and maintain a program of self-guided
professional development. This service is targeted to individuals
working in higher education, but some of the resources will be applicable
to the needs of library professionals in other sectors.
http://www.lisnews.com/
LISNews.com
Librarian Blake Carver and helpers post excerpts from news
stories relating to libraries and technology that they collect from
the Web and from users of the site.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/LibraryLand/
LibraryLand: Index to Resources
for Librarians
This is an indexing service for major library resource sites.
It is maintained on the Digital Library SunSITE, by Jerry Kuntz,
librarian at the Ramapo Catskill (NY) Library System.
http://www2.msstate.edu/~kerjsmit/trl/
The Researching Librarian
This resource is helpful for librarians doing research and
is intended as a supplement to the print resources available in
library collections. It has sections for freely searchable citation
databases, funding information, relevant journals, statistics and
statistical methods, useful research tools, current awareness sources,
and a discussion board.
http://www.libraryspot.com/
LibrarySpot.com
Information portal of the library and reference resources
on the Web Published by StartSpot Mediaworks, Inc.
http://www.hanszell.co.uk/navtitle.htm
Electronic African Bookworm: A Web
Navigator
The Electronic African Bookworm
is a quick-access guide to Internet sites on Africa, African and
development studies, and on African publishing and the book trade.
It also provides links to the home pages of African and Africanist
journals, African newspapers, to Web sites of libraries in Africa.
It is by Hans Zell Publishing Consultants in Oxford as part
of their Web site.
http://www.hanszell.co.uk/ajlink.htm
African & Africanist Journals
http://virtuallibrary.euro.ru/
All-Russian Virtual Library
Electronic document delivery and
translation services for Russian scientific journals, monographs,
dissertations, patents, and other materials.
http://www.energy.wsu.edu/eic/
Energy Ideas Clearinghouse
EIC is a source for answers to energy efficiency questions
about renewable energy, including solar, and conservation for industrial,
commercial, and residential buildings. An Energy Jobs database and
an Energy Events calendar are available. It is operated by the Washington
State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program (WSU-EP) with
funding from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
Identity Theft
The Federal Trade Commission maintains
this web site for information about identity theft. It includes
links to the three main credit bureaus.
http://www.privacyrights.org/
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
The PRC was established with funding
from the Telecommunications Education Trust, a program of the California
Public Utilities Commission. It is now affiliated with the San Diego
non-profit consumer organization, Utility Consumers' Action Network
(UCAN). It also has basic information about identity theft.
http://www.minerals.net/
The Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom
A searchable guide to minerals
and gems providing a multitude of sorting options, including alphabetical,
chemical or crystal group, color, streak, hardness, elemental affiliations,
and Dana or scientific classification.
http://www.wolinskyweb.com/measure.htm
Measure 4 Measure
A collection of sites that estimate,
calculate, translate, evaluate, etc. organized into Science/math,
Health, Finance, and Everything Else.
http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
North American Industry Classification
System
NAICS was developed in cooperation
with the US Economic Classification Policy Committee, Statistics
Canada, and Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia
e Informatica. The site includes a list of 1997 NAICS codes and
tables showing correspondence between NAICS and SIC.
http://www.transparent.com/languagepages/languages.htm
Language and Culture
This site covers more than thirty
languages, from Arabic to Finnish to Tagalog to Ukrainian. Choose
a language and then check out Survival Phrases. Each language has
about two dozen commonly used phrases - in the language, in English
translation, and as a sound file.
http://telecommuting.about.com/smallbusiness/telecommuting/
Telecommuting (About.com)
About.com has put together
this site about telecommuting. It includes how to become a telecommuter.
http://webbrain.com
WebBrain
This subject directory emphasizes
visual access. Using WebBrain is simple. Click on the topic you
are interested in and WebBrain centers itself on your selection,
with related topics branching out around it. Click another topic
and the process repeats itself. It is provided by TheBrain Technologies
Corp. TheBrain claims to give people the ability to organize disparate
pieces of information into one meaningful structure that conveys
valuable relationships in an easily understandable display.
Back to Table of Contents
Petroleum
and Energy Resources Division
Special Libraries Association
1999-2000 Treasurer’s
Report
Checking account opening balance June 1, 1999 $10,276.54
Income 1999
Meeting income 28.00
Sponsorships for 1999 750.00
Sponsorships for 2000 2,550.00
1999 Total income $3,328.00
Expenses 1999
Meeting expense $3,876.68
Student award expense 585.00
Bank charges 107.00
Miscellaneous expense 202.39
1999 Total expenses $4,771.07
Checking account closing balance December 31, 1999 $ 8,833.47
Income 2000
Dues allotment (323 members) 3,230.00
Sponsorships for 2000 5,000.00
2000 Total income $8,230.00
Expenses 2000
[No expenses to date] $ 0
Checking account closing balance May 31, 2000 $17,063.47
_________________________________________________________________
Money market account opening balance June 1, 1999 $ 5,786.72
Income 1999 (interest) $ 233.24
Money market account closing balance December 31, 1999 $ 6,019.96
Income 2000 (interest) $ 87.69
Money market account closing balance May 31, 2000 $ 6,107.65
_________________________________________________________________
Total Division assets as of May 31, 2000 $23,171.12
Respectfully submitted,
Edna W. Paulson, Treasurer 1999-2000
Awards Committee
The Awards Chair accomplished the following for the 1999-2000
year:
Drafted the Achievement Award Nomination Form and had it posted
at the PER Division web site.
Drafted the Student Stipend Award Form and had it posted at the
PER Division web site.
Had a brief description of the PER Student Stipend Award posted
under a listing of awards at the SARC web site (www.sla.org/committee/SARC/scholarinfo.html)
Announced the PER Student Stipend Award to student members of SLA
and to the PER membership
Announced the Annual Achievement Award Nominations to the PER membership.
No applications were made for the Student Stipend Award or
the Achievement Award.
Respectfully submitted,
Elizabeth Black
PER Awards Chair
1999-2000
Financial Development
In brief, PER events are being sponsored in full or co-sponsored by the following
organizations:
Questel.Orbit
EBSCO
Editions Technip
Engineering Information
Inc.
Factiva, A Dow Jones and
Reuters Company
Hart Publications
IHS
Petroleum Abstracts, The
University of Tulsa
Majors The Bookseller
Questel. Orbit is our most generous contributors and were very approachable.
I hope that this continues in the future. On the whole, this was
an interesting assignment which provided contact with a broad spectrum
of very nice and interesting people. Thanks for volunteering me
to do it.
Submitted by
Dorothy Eska, Chair
Networking Chair/Bulletin Editor/Webmaster
The responsibilities of the networking
chair are to maintain the mailing list for the SLA-DPER discussion
list. This year membership was broadened to include any SLA member.
After some initial password difficulties, I was able to access and
edit the SLA-DPER mailing list. My activities consisted primarily
of adding, changing and removing people's emails from the list with
an average activity of 10 requests per month. We had requests from
ten to fifteen non-SLA members to join the list. Other activities
involved updating the welcoming message and list instructions as
well as updating the list information on the SLA website.
Four issues of the PER Bulletin were published this year, v.22 nos.1-4.
Regular contributions were received from Ann Coppin and Pam Weaver
to whom the editor extends a sincere "thank you"! As Webmaster,
I worked on not only adding new material to the PER website but
also editing the pages for accuracy and ease of updating. While
I was not able to make as much progress as I wished (again experiencing
some password difficulties), I tried to streamline the site so that
links to officer and committee chairs would need to be edited only
once rather than on multiple pages. An Awards page was added with
links to nomination forms and lists of past recipients. The 1999
Member Survey results were also added to the website. The History
page has not yet been created. I recommend that a person be appointed
or small committee be formed to write the history of the Division.
Alternately, some brief historic data could be added to the page
by the Webmaster.
Based upon my experience of these three roles, I recommend to the
Board that they be considered as separate duties and therefore volunteers
should be sought to assume these roles. Taken individually, the
time commitment is small; as a sum, it is a rather larger job. The
least time consuming task is that of the Networking Chair. With
an average of 10 requests monthly, the duties consume less than
15 minutes per month. Conceivably, the Networking Chair might even
have time to be more proactive about alerting members to breaking
news and opportunities.
The Bulletin Editor responsibilities are also not onerous. A standard
format for the Bulletin is already established and new content is
easily added each quarter. Members have been very generous in providing
content. With only four Bulletins each year, it is a very seasonal
task requiring a few hours of editing every three months. Again,
it is conceivable that with more time available for the task, the
Bulletin editor could seek out additional content of interest to
the members.
The position of Webmaster holds the greatest opportunities for creativity
of these three positions. I was unable to devote much time to the
website this year given my other duties but I had many ideas about
pages that might be useful to our members. In summary, with a smaller
time commitment members may be more willing to volunteer their time
to the division. If no volunteers can be found, I am willing to
continue to fulfill these three roles.
Respectfully submitted by Linda Musser
June 2, 2000
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee would
like to report the following candidates for Division office for
the 2000-2001 term:
Chair-Elect/Chair: Janice C. Anderson (Access Information Association,
Inc.)
Treasurer: Connie Bihon (Sperry-Sun Drilling Svcs)
A special thank you to everyone who suggested names
to the committee.
PER Nominating Committee
Nancy Bourque
Anne Krum
Julie Lemerond
Submitted by Chair,
Nancy Bourque - Information Resources
Imperial Oil, Research Department
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comments, corrections, and submissions to PER Bulletin editor Linda Musser
105 Deike Building, University
Park PA, 16802; Lrm4@psu.edu.
PER DIVISION
