Greetings from the Chair

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another exciting year for the Social Science Division!

It’s been a busy time since our last bulletin, with a lot of work taking place to make our division better and brighter for the years ahead. As you know, the last two years have witnessed the process of restructuring our division from roundtables to sections. The surveys conducted under Hetty Barthel’s tenure as chair in 2001 told us that division members wanted greater visibility and programming for their specific interests, so in 2002, under the able leadership of past-chair Ann Sweeney, the process of conversion was set in motion. Ann worked closely with SLA leadership and the division cabinet to make sure that all the nuts and bolts were nailed down, and early this year she presented to the membership scope notes for three new sections: nonprofit interests, international relations and public policy. It is my pleasure to report that these were unanimously approved at our business meeting in New York and are now official. If you’ve not done so before, please look at them and see which fit your interests. There is no charge, and you can sign up for any of them, for all of them, or for none of them, as you wish. Simply let SLA know of any additions to your profile via an e-mail to membership@sla.org, or list them on your upcoming renewal form. These sections are meant to reflect your interests and concerns; they will be the basis for our annual conference programming and will constitute the core subjects around which division activities will revolve.

Another major event of the year past has been our merger with the Geography and Map Division, which we hope will result in a fourth section for the Social Science Division. Past division chairs Ann Sweeney from DSOC and Anita Oser from DGM have worked extremely hard to determine the most viable way of ensuring Geography and Map’s future contributions to the association, and our members have overwhelmingly endorsed the merger as a wonderful way to expand our array of interests. We are so happy to have them join with us and bring their distinctive and informative programming to our table! The petition for this merger will be brought before the SLA Board at its October meeting, so final confirmation will not be available until then.

There are plenty of other exciting things happening this year as well. The discussion list is up and running and we do hope that you will take advantage of it to share your thoughts and concerns, not only with division leadership but with your other social science colleagues around the world. Our web site (http://www.sla.org/division/dsoc) is also being updated in order to present division news to you in a lively and timely manner. But the success of both depends largely on you: use the discussion list, check the web site, read the bulletin, and let us know what you think. If you have certain subjects you’d like to see addressed, mention it to the listserv and see what happens; it may generate a discussion that turns into a popular session at the next annual conference!

I do hope that many of you made it to this year’s annual conference in New York. The sessions were instructive, the keynote speakers informative and engaging, and the ambience of the city most energizing. Although it rained during our tour on Saturday night (relegating everyone to the inside of the double-decker buses,) the power stayed on the entire time we were there, which in retrospect is something to appreciate! Division programs were very successful, and reviews of them are found elsewhere in this issue. Now we continue our planning for the 2004 conference in Nashville, which will be here before we know it!

On behalf of the entire division, many thanks go to past chair Ann Sweeney and the 2002-2003 board for taking on the many large tasks of the last year and executing them so wonderfully. Now it’s time for us to build on those accomplishments in the months to come.

Best wishes to everyone!

Beth Hansen
Chair, 2003-2004

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The Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award

Michael Kolakowski, Librarian in the Government and Finance Division in the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, received the Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award at the International Reception, sponsored by the Social Science Division and the European Chapter, at the Special Libraries Association annual conference in New York City on June 7, 2003.

The Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award honors Murray Wortzel, a long-time leader in the Social Science Division - chair of the Division, archivist, member of numerous committees, and very active in the Association. Murray was inducted into the SLA Hall of Fame in 1989 and received the Education Division’s Professional Excellence Award in 1993. He was a Renaissance man, devoted to the profession, a lover of music, theatre and art. He was an extraordinary and generous mentor. Murray died in 1997.

The Award is given to a member of the Social Science Division who embodies the spirit of Murray Wortzel and who has made outstanding contributions through accomplishment and service to the profession and the Division. The Gale Group generously sponsors this biennial award. Roger Haley, Librarian Emeritus of the United States Senate Library, was the first winner of the Award at the San Antonio conference in 2001.

Michael Kolakowski was honored for his many years of service to the Social Science Division and for his dedication and commitment to the profession. He chaired the Social Science Division twice, in 1995 and 1996, served as the Division’s representative to the Government Relations Committee, and served on the Division’s Nominating and Fund Raising committees. Mike was the inspiration behind the invitation to Doris Kearns Goodwin for the Division’s 75th anniversary celebration and was instrumental in the fund raising effort to support the project. Mike was the initiator of the “Meet the Social Science Division” programs at the Association annual conferences, and the creator of many successful Division programs at various conferences. Mike has been a promoter of collaborative efforts with other divisions within the Association which has been a boon to the fiscal and intellectual health of the Social Science Division. He is a founding member of the Gay & Lesbian Issues Caucus.

Mike has also been an active member of the Washington, DC Chapter, and has been instrumental in publishing significant publications in the field of special librarianship. He compiled and edited the successful SLA publication, Sampler of Forms for Special Libraries (2nd ed., 1991), and he is currently serving on the editorial committee for the Washington Area Library Directory (3rd ed.). In 2000 Mike distributed over 600 free copies of a key CD-ROM for political science and government collections, The Annenberg/Pew Archive of Presidential Discourse.

Murray’s spirit and dedication live on in Mike Kolakowski. The many letters of nomination attest to his professionalism, high standards, generosity, compassion, diplomacy and scholarship. As one letter put it, “One other qualification for the award that Michael holds in spades is his character … Michael is the best representative of a special librarian that the profession could have.” Amen to that!

Terry Dean, Chair
Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award Committee
June 23, 2003

And Mike's gracious response...

The Social Science Division has greatly honored me by awarding the Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award to me this year. Many thanks are in order.

Thank you to the Gale Group. Their generous support to Social Science Division makes the award possible. We all depend on the Gale Group’s publications to help us find the name, phone number, or profile to solve the riddles that cross our desks daily.

Thank you to Murray Wortzel - his spirit is with us - for teaching me about Special Libraries Association. Murray reached out to make sure people felt welcome at SLA. Lately we have been seeking to "brand" the association, but years ago Murray already had the brand we want. His brand was "Welcome, I’m glad to meet you, join in with us." That’s the brand I’d like my association to have.

Finally, thank you to Social Science Division for being a wonderful group of talented friends. Every time I work on a division project or read discussion list questions, I’m reminded that Social Science Division has given me friends across town, across the country, and around the world.

Thank you.

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Social Science Division
Special Libraries Association
Annual Business Meeting
Monday, June 9, 2003
Marriott Marquis Hotel
Columbia Room
New York, NY

Present: Iris Anderson, Hetty Barthel, Cy Behroozi, Susan Berg, Bruce Calvin, Vicki Dawson, Terry Dean, Joann Donatiello, Roger Haley, Beth Hansen, Sally Henderson, Joe Hovish, Ann Kelly, Michael Kolakowski, Lynne McCay, Cybele Merrick, Ashley Mibbare, Lyle Minter, Nancy Minter, Tara Murray, Takako Nagumo, Daille Pettit, Jean Porter, Linda Richer, Alix Salinas, Karen Shaines, Marcia Sprules, Ann Sweeney, Pamela Tripp-Melby, Chengshi Wang, Jan Watterworth, Heidi Yacker. SLA Board Proctor Karen Kreizman Reczek.

The meeting was called to order at 7:40 a.m. Over a delicious breakfast, Chair Ann Sweeney welcomed the attendees. She thanked everyone for all their hard work and assistance throughout the year and for their dedication and enthusiasm.

The minutes from the 2002 Annual Business Meeting in Los Angeles were approved.

Treasurer’s Report. Heidi Yacker submitted that, as of May 31, 2003, there was $13,466.73 in the treasury. She proposed two possible budgets (one which assumed a merger with the Geography and Map Division (DGM) and one which assumed no merger), both of which would result in a balance in excess of $9,000. After a discussion, the budgets were accepted. She reported that, at the Board Meeting on Sunday, we had named a committee to investigate possible opportunities to make use the part of this money once an appropriate amount is set aside as a cushion against unforeseen expenses. The committee members are Beth Hansen, Linda Richer, Ann Sweeney, and Heidi Yacker.

Membership Report. Chair-Elect Beth Hansen reported that, as of December 31, 2002, our membership stood at 346. Although the numbers decreased slightly in January and February, they had risen to 349 by April 2003. Personal welcome letters were sent to 80 new members that included a survey form, information on the discussion list, and information on our possible restructuring. About 35% of the surveys were returned; half of those were student members. Those forms which indicated interest in holding office or writing for the Bulletin were forwarded to the appropriate people. Prior to the Annual Conference, Beth personally invited many of the 35% to attend DSOC events at the conference and to remind them to consult the Web site and discussion list.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Fundraising. Past Chair/Fundraising Chair Hetty Barthel expressed thanks to our vendors for their sponsorship of our events at the conference. Beginning next year, fundraising will be a “team” operation, including the new section chairs as members of the fundraising committee.

New York Conference Planning. Conference Planner Nancy Minter handed out a listing of DSOC programs at the conference and reported that our Division had 128 people registered as attendees. This was up from 56 in 2003 and 73 in 2001. The International Reception held Sunday night had approximately 400 attendees (100 more than we had expected). Due to its popularity, we had to raise the allowed number of participants for the Vestpocket Parks Walking Tour from 40 to 70. A number of great sessions were planned, including the third annual One Dot Shopping and the first of what we hope will be an annual session: Spotlight: The Best Social Science Web Sites. We anticipated a successful conference.

Social Science Division Discussion List. List Owner Linda Richer reported on the past year’s activities. A new software (Lyris) was introduced by SLA last summer to which all lists were converted. In September, Linda made sure all of our members were included on the list and in October, Ann Sweeney sent the first message to the 377 subscribers announcing the list and encouraging discussion. There was debate on whether to post job openings and resumes on the list; we decided that openings could be posted, but not resumes. The list was used to conduct a survey regarding the establishment of sections within the Division to replace the roundtables. Our list parameters were set so that survey replies went only to Ann Sweeney. In January the parameters were reset so that replies go to everyone on the list. As of June 2003, there are 324 subscribers. Linda plans to update the list to include all members, and add DGM members if the decision is made to merge with them.

Nomination/Election of 2003/2004 Officers. Nominations Committee Chair Michael Kolakowski introduced the nominee for the 2003-2005 Chair-Elect/Chair: Nancy Minter. He highlighted her extensive accomplishments in our Division as well as those at the Chapter and Association levels. Her professional life and community activities have demonstrated a commitment to the social sciences and especially urban issues. Ann Sweeney asked for nominations from the floor; there were none. Nancy was unanimously elected to office.

NEW BUSINESS

Decision on Creating Sections. Ann Sweeney reported that she has received sufficient petitions from the membership to consider the creation of three new sections to replace the current roundtables. Scope Notes and sign-up sheets for each section were on the tables. The new sections would be International Relations, Nonprofit Sector, and Public Policy; scope notes describing the sections were available for everyone. A discussion of the issue followed. Each section would have a chair, but no board. The chair would assist in fundraising and program planning. The sections, unlike the roundtables, would be listed on the SLA Web site and would provide potential members with a better understanding of what our Division’s interests are. We voted unanimously to create the new sections. Sign-up sheets for each section were circulated.

Merger of Geography Map Division (DGM) into Social Science Division. Ann Sweeney introduced Karen Kreizman Reczek, the SLA Board Proctor, who discussed the merger. In recent years, DGM has experienced some financial problems and a drop in membership. They face the possibility of ceasing to exist. Some felt that a merger with DSOC would be a good fit, and Ann approached Anita Oser, chair of DGM, and extended the invitation for DGM to become the fourth section within DSOC, the Geography and Map Section.
At this meeting we had to vote on whether to send a ballot to all the DSOC members regarding whether to go forward with the merger. A discussion of this issue ensued. There has been indication that some DGM members might prefer to merge with a pure science division, rather than ours. That issue will be resolved at the DGM annual business meeting, scheduled for Monday afternoon, where they will also vote on the ballot question.
A motion was made to instruct the DSOC Board to send a mail ballot to the membership to decide on merging DGM into our Division as the new fourth section. The motion was carried unanimously.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The highlight of the International Reception was the presentation of the Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award to Michael Kolakowski in recognition of his tireless efforts and accomplishments within the Division. At the meeting, Anne recognized and congratulated Mike for winning the Award.

Two of our Division members are running for office within SLA. Lyle Minter is running for a seat on the Board of Directors and Daille Pettit is running for President.

Terry Dean is looking for a new Chair and another member for the Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award Committee. Laura Bender from the University of Arizona will remain on the committee.

Archivist Joe Hovish will retire from his position soon and needs a replacement. He will stay on to partner with the new archivist. He sees challenges ahead in archiving the electronic data we are accumulating, such as our emails and our Web site and Bulletins.

REMARKS OF INCOMING CHAIR

Ann Sweeney passed the gavel to our new Chair, Beth Hansen.

Beth remarked that Ann would be “a difficult act to follow” and acknowledged her accomplishments in establishing the new sections and beginning the procedure for merging DGM into DSOC.
She looks forward to:
• A smooth transition with the sections
• More involvement with the Discussion List
• Possibly initiating a Twinning Project. Our Division has strong international ties and we could build on this.
• Archiving our electronic materials
• Merging the Geography and Map Division into ours
• Expanding the Bulletin
• Revitalizing the Web site

Her watchword will be to “try to make the Division irresistible” to potential new members. She sees herself as sandwiched between outgoing and incoming stars.

Further announcements:

We need someone to chair the International Relations Section. Iris Anderson, Chair of the former roundtable, will step down due to her new duties as DSOC Program Planner for the 2004 Annual Conference in Nashville.

The programs for Nashville are well set. The keynote speakers will be Carl Ledbetter with Novell who will talk about information technology issues and Bill Ivey, a copyright expert. The events will be held at Opryland, a huge facility housing conference facilities, hotels, and shopping.
DSOC programs planned so far are:
• One-Dot Shopping, covering China, India, and the U.K., cosponsored with Business and Finance Division
• Best Social Science Web sites (Nancy Minter will arrange this program)
• Three Pillars: managing the library, archives, and records
• International education policies and issues, cosponsored with Education Division
• An Open House cohosted by Education and Museums Divisions
• International Reception on Monday evening
• Archiving e-journals
• Tours: the Hermitage, cohosted by the Military Division
All new sections are encouraged to plan additional programs.

Jean Porter, the DSOC representative to IFLA, will be attending the meeting in Berlin this summer. She welcomes any input from the membership. She will be rotating out of this position in August.

We want to revitalize our public relations efforts. We have one volunteer to serve on a committee and need others.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 a.m.

Heidi Yacker
Secretary

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Reports from Selected DSOC Programs in NYC

New York was THE place to be from June 7-12. The weather (for the most part) was lovely, the restaurants were fabulous, the tourist attractions were breathtaking! But most important, the 94th Annual SLA Conference was great! Monday's keynote address by David McCullough was fascinating. He told us so many interesting stories about the lives of the great men he has chronicled, including a moving story about the young Theodore Roosevelt. He provided insights into the lives of the Founding Fathers, stressing how they thought of themselves as men cast in a great drama, and how they rose to the events of the day. Tuesday's theme was "Future Directions" and the keynoter was, appropriately, futurist Stuart Brand. He told us that, whereas the past is knowable and unchangeable, the future is unknowable and changeable. He urged us to take the long view, to think about the next 10,000 years as if it was next year. He asked, "What are our duties as librarians when the client is civilization?" And Wednesday's theme was "Globalization." Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held us spellbound with her descriptions of issues of the day during the Clinton Administration and of the importance of technology and information sharing. She emphacized that the threat of terrorism cannot be used to shut down the flow of information, and she applauded information specialists for their role in encouraging the spread of information.

The Social Science Division had some excellent programs. Following are summaries of some of them.

Taming the Non-Paper Tiger shook the rafters on Tuesday morning with a great panel, full house, and a probing and energetic Q & A. Moderated by Terry Dean, Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley, the panel consisted of David Martin, Pomerantz Business Library, University of Iowa; Lyle Minter, Serials and Government Publications Division, Library of Congress [and a candidate for SLA Board of Directors (shameless plug)]; and, Iris Anderson and Karen Eggert, Joint World Bank/International Monetary Fund Library. Those attendees who felt they were up for the “Future Track stream/ Intermediate B Case Study”, were rewarded with an excellent and timely evaluation of several systems used to manage the proliferation of electronic journals.

But first - humor. David Martin shared some of his favorite typos from the University of Iowa’s Printing Dept.:

Muscle spams
Gradual school
Head & nick surgery
Henry David Thorough
Paper clops
Shrink warp

Mr. Martin also shared his success story in managing a collection of 5-6,000 online economics and business titles using a combination of the library’s OPAC, an Ex Libris product, SFX, including some aggregators, “InfoLink”, the library’s brand name for their journal resolver, major publisher packages such as Elsevier and Kluwer, and journal aggregators such as ABI, Ebsco, Factiva, BE Press and others. Mr. Martin also discussed the issues that will determine decisions to retain or discontinue print subscriptions in the increasing online user environment he is experiencing - in-house usage dropping drastically, demand for fulltext desktop delivery, and demand for remote access. He also discussed implications for service delivery, staff time and physical logistics. For more information on the Pomerantz Business Library’s e-journals’ management system, contact David Martin, 319/335-3078,
j-martin@uiowa.edu.

Lyle Minter, Head, Newspaper and Current Periodical Room, Serial and Government Publications Division of the Library of Congress, and candidate for SLA Board of Directors [shameless plug], described early attempts at managing e-journals at the Library of Congress - an alphabetic list of journal titles on their gopher server and hyperlinks in the 856 MARC tag of the catalog record. However, current practice is a sophisticated use of aggregators including Project MUSE, ProQuest, Gale Group InfoTrac OneFile, and EBSCOhost, and the Library’s adaption of TDNet to provide current awareness and fulltext access. Mr. Minter also described access via two consortial partners, EZB (Elektronische Zeitschriften Bibliothek) and Lund University Directory of Open Access Journals. For more information on the Library of Congress’s e-journal management system, contact Lyle Minter [candidate for SLA Board of Directors] (another shameless plug), 202/707-5181, lmin@loc.gov.

Iris Anderson and Karen Eggert described the development of “E-TOCs” [e-table of contents service], the Joint World Bank-IMF Library’s electronic current awareness and delivery system for journal articles. After much investigation of commercial products the library decided it would build its own system to accommodate the several libraries in the Joint Fund/Bank network. The system needed to enhance former toc delivery and photocopy services, it needed to be web-based, and it needed to offer easy access with e-mail alert capabilities. With a team of 8 from across the IMF/Bank libraries working on the technical, content and delivery issues, “E-TOCs” was launched in Oct. 2002. “E-TOCs” successfully fulfills the requirements of managing e-journals contents by providing users with an efficient current awareness and article delivery service -- an easy-to-use web-based platform offering electronic full-text links to a broad subject array of journals, user self sufficiency and easy administrative maintenance. For more information on “E-TOCs” contact Iris Anderson, 202/623-6403, ianderson@imf.org or Karen Eggert, 202/623-6419, keggert@imf.org.

But before we leave, a few more typos courtesy of the U. of Iowa Printing Dept:

Cod of federal regulations
Protect your skin from hun damage
Summer respiratory theater
Swelling may be reduced by icepicks
Discharge patiently by wheelchair
Time to update our ailing list

And, of course:

We’ve got to keep this think going!

Terry Dean and Iris W. Anderson

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Another Successful One-Dot Shopping: Best International Business Websites Program – Focus on NAFTA , June 11, 2003

For those of you who were unable to attend the SLA Annual Conference in New York City this year, we wanted to share the valuable resources that were uncovered by our three expert researchers for this year’s presentations. For this program, we aimed to uncover the best and most useful, mostly free websites that meet high standards for accuracy, authority, currency, useability, and depth. All presentations and handouts are being posted to the Social Science Division’s website at SLA: http://www.sla.org/division/dsoc/

Congratulations to our presenters who did such an excellent job!

1.Covering the best international business sites for Canada:
Greta Ober-Beauchesne, Research Librarian, Joint World Bank-IMF Library, Washington, D.C.

2. Covering the best international business sites for the United States:
Kerry Prendergast, Manager, Information Resources, NBC Information Center, New York.

3. Covering the best international business sites for Mexico:
Benita Weber Vassallo, Chief of Library Services, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, D.C.

Many thanks to our co-sponsor, the Business & Finance Division, and also to DIALOG for their program funding.

Iris W. Anderson

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The program Spotlight: The Best of the Social Science Web Sites was held on Monday, June 9 from 11:30 to 1. Four speakers showed and described their Web collections on the following topics: Education Administration and Policy (Deborah Garson); Health Policy (Joann Donatiello); Criminal Justice (Cybele Merrick); and Philanthropy, Nonprofits and Grantmaking (Kief Schladweiler).

The Education Administration and Policy Web sites, which were compiled by Deborah Garson, are part of the Monroe C. Gutman Library Web Links page (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~library/web-links.html). The Monroe Gutman Library serves the Harvard Garduate School of Education. The featured Web sites on this page include: the AACTE Education Policy and Clearinghouse (http://www.edpolicy.org/) which is organized geographically and has a good search engine; the Brown Center on Education Policy (http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/gs/brown/brown_hp.htm); the Education Policy Analysis Archives (http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/) which has a good search engine and includes the full text and abstracts of articles; the Institute for Higher Education Policy (http://www.ihep.com/) which focuses on best practices; the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (http://www.highereducation.org/) which has annotated Web sites and an archive of news releases; and the Organization of US Education (http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/international/USNEI/us/index.html).

Joan Donatiello, from the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy (http://www.cshp.rutgers.edu/) provided an in-depth look at five organizations’ sites that were selected based upon the following criteria: unique information; less obvious; current; contains full-text documents; state-oriented; analytical as well as factual; easily navigable with a good search function; and reputable in the field. The highlighted Web sites included: the Kaiser Family Foundation (www.kaisernetwork.org and www.kff.org), the National Conference of State Legislatures (www.ncsl.org), Assessing the New Federalism – Urban Institute (http://www.urban.org), the Commonwealth Fund (http://www.cmwf.org), and AcademyHealth (http://www.academyhealth.org). In addition, a list of “runners up” was provided, as well as instructions for accessing the CSHP Resources Web page which contains over 350 links to health policy Web sites.

Cybele Merrick, from the Vera Institute of Justice (http://www.vera.org) described her organization’s Web site and featured seven other Web sites on criminal justice. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (http://www.ncjrs.org/) is a resource supported by federal agencies to provide justice and substance information. The Forum on Corrections Research (http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/forum/index_e.shtml) is a full-text research publication of the Corrections Service of Canada. The State and Local Government on the Net (http://www.statelocalgov.net/) has links to the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services (http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/) and other state sites. Other sites include the Urban Institute Justice Policy Center (http://www.urban.org/content/PolicyCenters/Justice/Overview.htm), the Rand Web site on Civil and Criminal Justice (http://www.rand.org/justice_area/), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Crime Programme (http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_cicp.html), and the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics (http://www.europeansourcebook.org/esb/index.html).

The final presentation, on philanthropy Web sites, was given by Kief Schladweiler of the Foundation Center (http://www.fdncenter.org/). The presentation was divided into five parts: The Foundation Center’s Web Sites; Grantmaker Resources; Nonprofit Accountability; Corporate Giving Information; Government Funding Resources; Researching Individual Donors; Nonprofit News and Publications; and Miscellaneous Resources. The Foundation Center Web site has many online databases including Foundation Directory Online (subscription-based), Foundation Grants to Individuals Online (subscription-based), and the Foundation Finder (free). The Foundation Center also has online tools for obtaining Forms 990-PF (http://www.fdncenter.org/funders/grantsmart/index.html) which are the tax returns for foundations, an extensive list of foundation Web sites (http://fdncenter.org/funders/grantmaker/index.html), and a virtual classroom of online teaching and learning materials (http://fdncenter.org/learn/).

The four presentations contained a wealth of information and links to Web sites. The PowerPoint presentations will be linked from the Social Science Division Web site as they become available.

Karen Shaines

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The Dollar$ and Sense of the Federal Budget program went a long way in explaining the ins and outs of how the budget and appropriations processes operate and the best sources for following these complicated procedures. Speakers Mary Bley and Justin Murray of the Congressional Research Service, with an illuminating slide show and voluminous handouts, demonstrated how the Congress manages each year (well, almost each year) to come up with a budget -- to set targets for themselves -- and then to pass the 13 appropriations bills that provide the money to run the federal government's programs. Did you know that two thirds of the funds in the budget are pre-determined, or mandatory, spending (including Social Security and Medicare)? That leaves one third that can be manipulated -- discretionary spending. One half of that usually goes to defense. This means that only one sixth of the total funds in the budget have to be spread around to cover education, agriculture, foreign aid, housing, environment, transportation, etc. So out of the $2 trillion budget, only $700 billion is debated.

When Congress doesn't manage to get all 13 of the bills passed by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, they pass a continuing resolution to provide temporary funds to keep the government in operation. Sometimes a number of these "CRs" are required before the appropriations bills are completed. Another tactic Congress uses is, rather than passing 13 individual bills, they roll several or many of them into one large "omnibus" or "consolidated" appropriations bill. These massive documents, with no pagination, make nightmares for those following the process.

Mary and Justin suggested a number of useful web sites. Among them was the Appropriations page on Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/approplink.html). Here you can find links to the 13 bills appropriating money for the government's departments and agencies, the accompanying reports which detail the appropriations, the status of the bills, and votes in the House and Senate.

The House Rules Committee (http://www.house.gov/rules/) has appropriations/budget documents available before they appear in the Congressional Record. While you're there, you can check the many Congressional Research Service reports (some of which were included in the handouts) on the budget process (http://www.house.gov/rules/crs_reports.htm).

Something that everyone is concerned about are "earmarks"-- or money set aside for specific programs. They provide things like that highway in a Member of Congress's district, or funds to build a hospital or community center. They're a boon to some people, but others might consider them "porkbarrel spending." Citizens Against Government Waste keeps track of these earmarks. You can visit their site at http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer.

Finally, Justin and Mary mentioned several paid sites that budget-and-appropriations followers might be interested in subscribing to. They included the Bureau of National Affairs' Daily Report for Executives (http://www.bna.com) and Congressional Quarterly's cq.com (http://www.cq.com)

A lively question and answer period followed the presentation. We all walked away with a much clearer picture of the labyrinthine budget and appropriations processes.

Heidi Yacker

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And just in case you thought we were All Work and No Play:

Champagne, Sorbet, Internationalism, & Urban Oases

International Reception

Underwritten by the ever-generous sponsorship of Factiva, this year’s International Reception glittered on Sunday, June 8. The New York Marriott’s candlelit Astor Ballroom bustled with over 400 attendees, come to mingle with non-US Annual Conference registrants. While the assemblage sipped champagne and sampled grapefruit, coconut, mango, and lemon sorbet, SLA President Bill Fisher welcomed everyone. Others on the program included Transportation Division Chair Roberto Sarmiento introducing a group of EU transport librarians; LMD Chair Sylvia Piggot speaking about the International Information Exchange Caucus (KIIE); Washington, DC, Chapter International Relations Committee representative Eileen Rourke describing the Twinning Project; US Department of State Professional Development Officer Ann Holland presenting her party of US embassy librarians plus 10 Thai librarians; and members of the SLA Global Strategies Task Force. European Chapter President (and co-host with DSOC) Kate Arnold introduced Factiva CEO Clare Hart, who bestowed the 10th Annual European Special Librarian of the Year Award on Peter Clarke of Oliver Wyman (UK). DSOC member Terry Dean introduced Gale Group Special Library Sales Vice President Eleanor Michniewicz, who conferred the 2nd Biennial Gale Group Murray Wortzel Award on Mike Kolakowski of the US Library of Congress (see separate story). Terry also recognized the first recipient of the Wortzel Award, Roger Haley. In addition, a handout prepared by KIIE listing all SLA international-related conference activities was distributed.

Vestpocket Park Walking Tour

Sculpture by Jim Dine, Jesús Bautista Morales, Isamu Noguchi; fountains; waterfalls; ginko, magnolia, and honey locust trees; pergolas; a section of the Berlin Wall; sunken terraces; courtyards; ivy; bamboo all greeted astonished Walking Tour ticketholders on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 10.

These tiny sanctuaries, spliced between skyscrapers and constituting urban planning for the soul, revealed a subtle aspect of midtown Manhattan's sparkle to the 70 hearty hikers. The 13 indoor and outdoor locations visited spanned the design genius of William Hamby, Hideo Sasaki, Gordon Bunshaft, and Robert Lewis Zion.

“Providing some moments of serenity in this busy world”—as the legend on the exterior wall of Greenacre Park proclaims—vestpocket parks originated with 1966-74 New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay. Built on the site of the famous Stork Club, Samuel Paley Park was the first constructed and was featured on the tour’s itinerary.

St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, home of the Sallie Franklin Cheatham Memorial Garden, also houses Café St. Barts, which provided a luscious snack for all. Led by Ann Sweeney and Cybele Merrick, the Walking Tour provided a brief pastoral respite from the technology-rich Annual Conference.

Ann R. Sweeney, M. L. S.
Immediate Past Chair
Social Science Division

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Electronic Journals: Facts, Fallacies, & Frustrations - June 10, 2003

This was a lively panel question and answer session. Panelists were from Wolters Kluwer, Swets-Blackwell, EBSCO, American Chemical Society, and Elsevier

Trends Observed:

1. The pay-per-view model for full-text article retrieval turns out to be not as popular with end users as had been predicted by the industry. Most end-users (except for serious researchers) skip articles for a fee and use free ones instead. However, the model is fairly popular within libraries as a source for document delivery to end-users.

2. Publishers are slowly evolving into selling articles instead of whole journal issues and/or subscriptions. Resistance to the idea continues to be highly evident.

3. Some publishers are permitting purchase of electronic journals without requiring a purchase of the print equivalent. This is changing very slowly, however.

Main Frustrations of the Library Community:

1. Loss of traditional print journal subscription service models where the library decided what journals to purchase and the subscription agent handled the rest: order, invoice, payment, renewal, claiming, etc. Librarians are exhausted from negotiating complex licenses with every publisher from whom they want to purchase a journal. Some libraries have had to add one or two professional positions just to accommodate this need. This is crazy.

Question: Is there still a role for the subscription agent?

Answer: Yes, agents continue to play a role and are increasingly being asked to handle electronic journal fulfillment. The hurdle is that publishes insist on negotiating highly individualized licenses with each library, something that agents cannot do for them, at least not yet. Publishers claim this is necessary due to complexities of providing electronic access.

2. Pricing escalations and variances in electronic access for the same e-journals.

Question: Why can’t publishers have a price list for e-journals the way they did for print journals? It is way too complicated now for librarians to determine periodicals budgets.

Answer: Cost to publishers can be quite high in developing electronic access especially with the technology changing all the time. Each library’s situation is different –therefore, e-access has to be highly tailored to each environment. (As described by the publisher panelists.)

3. What are you actually buying when you negotiate an e-journal license?

Question: If a library decides to cancel an e-journal after 1-3 or more years, it is then left with nothing to provide to users. Considering the cost, how can this be possible?

Answer: Panel members from the publishing side claimed that in 75% of cases, a library can maintain access to back years for an e-journal title to which it formerly purchased access. However, there is usually a 4-year limit on such provision.

Conclusion:
Many problems, No easy answers!

Reporting from SLA’s Annual Conference, by Iris W. Anderson

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And here are a few interesting Web sites...

Ask Jeeves (http://www.ask.com/) has expanded its "Smart Search" tools to include weather information (including information about local conditions, surf reports, and even flight delays) and numerical conversions listed in "natural language" such as the number of "dashes in a tablespoon."

Media Post’s All Media Directory (U.S)
http://www.mediapost.com/ Get free access to information on about 13,000 stations, 8,000 publications, 3,000 sites and networks. The Media People-Finder provides names, numbers, and addresses of (primarily advertising and sales) people working in the media industry. Start with the Knowledge Base search box or select a category. You can identify television or radio stations in a particular market (by city, for example) The magazine category is organized by subject.

Look-Up Databases
If you're looking for an address, postal code, place name, or similar information try Melissa Data's Lookup Directory http://www.melissadata.com/Lookups/index.htm. There are links to 18 free look-up databases.

Maps
Need maps? Check out Mapsarea http://www.mapsarea.com/ for world maps and atlases. There are also links from here to map companies, magazines, discussions, historical map resources, and weather maps. There are a number of search options, including keyword.

Uncle Sam's Refernce Shelf: County and City Data Book
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ccdb.html This resource provides detailed 2000 Census data for population, housing, and business statistics for all US counties, cities with populations of 25,000 or more, and places with populations of 2,500 or more.

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Diversity Leadership Development Program Committee Co-Chairs: Terri Brooks and Wei Wei
Members: Montrese Hamilton, Debbie Jan, Diana Gonzales (Staff Liaison)

Today's information professionals are found in many work settings, with many titles, but all with one focus…putting knowledge to work. As an SLA member, you realize the value and benefits of SLA membership for your career, for professional networking…and to advance your profession. Now, SLA is asking you to spread the word and recruit others to join the SLA community of professionals all dedicated to putting knowledge to work! Participate in the 2003 SLA Membership Campaign - "SLA Keyword…Recruit" and for each new member you refer who submits a complete SLA application no later than December 31, 2003 you will be eligible to win the Grand Prize! Get search specific…find new members for SLA and you, your Chapter and Division can be eligible to win prizes! Members…start your search engines!

Professional Development

In October 29, 2003 join Michael Kull for the riveting course: Knowledge Management: The Role of Storytelling (http://www.sla.org/content/Events/distance/virtsem2003/oct29virtsem.cfm). We know this will prove to be another interesting and educational event. If you are interested in the other virtual seminars taking place this year, check out this link:
http://www.sla.org/content/Events/distance/virtsem2003/index.cfm

If you were unable to attend past seminars you can still gain information on the topic through the V-Pak series (http://www.sla.org/content/Events/distance/virtsem2002/index.cfm). The series is available on a variety of virtual seminars from 2002 to present. For further information contact Shelva Suggs at shelva@sla.org

Conference

Special Libraries Association will host the 95th Annual Conference in the music city, Nashville (http://www.sla.org/nashville2004). Those who were unable to join us this past June can recap some of the courses presented by the divisions available at the 2003 Conference Presentations page (http://www.sla.org/content/Events/03confpresentations.cfm). If your presentation is not listed, send email the information to Tamara Coombs at tamara@sla.org.

Contributed papers which we have received are also available on the web. If a paper is not listed, do check back during the month.
(http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/2003annual/slacontribpapers.cfm).

Knowledge Exchange

Information Portals

SLA's Knowledge Exchange maintains over 40 Information Portals at http://www.sla.org/infoportals.cfm on topics from Content Management to Vendor Products: Reports and Reviews. Visit the information portal area for our newest addition on Blogging.

CONSULT Online at http://www.sla.org/consultonline/ is SLA's online directory of SLA member consultants. A search on this database is free and is available to members and nonmembers interested in locating a consultant who may assist, on a normal commercial basis, with such areas as library management, technical services, and subject specialty. It is a great resource for keeping your outsourcing within the SLA family or for promoting your own services.