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Spring 2005

 

 

 

 

     

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Deadline for submitting articles for the Fall 2005 edition of the Bulletin is August 15, 2005.

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Greetings from the Chair

Happy Spring!

Although the snow accumulation in DC never reached above our boots, it still seems to have been a long and very cold winter. To those of you in the Midwest and New England, my sympathies about all the shoveling that you have had to do over the past few months. This weekend, the winter weather here seemed to finally have taken a hiatus, just in time for the snowdrops, crocuses, and daffodils to welcome in the first early robins.

Linda Richer, Iris Anderson, Terry Hill, and I spent several January days in Tampa, FL, at the Leadership Summit. Though Floridians were not happy about weather in the upper 50s and low 60s, it felt glorious to us all. Many important issues were on the agenda, from changes in the dues structure to consideration of how to match up the calendar year and the association year. We also were introduced to the new SLA Online University, and the exciting opportunities this will offer us in the near future. See all the details in Linda Richer’s review of the conference.

Since that meeting, many other newsworthy events have occurred, most notably the announcement of SLA award winners, including several from our own Division: Susan Fifer Canby has won the Factiva Leadership Award, Brandy King has been awarded an SLA Innovations in Technology Award, and Sylvia Piggot was named the winner of the John Cotton Dana Award. (For more details, see the article below.) Congratulations to all!

And speaking a awards – this is the year for our Thomson Gale - Murray Wortzel award, so if you have been planning to nominate someone, please do so! You can find details about this award on our Division’s website: http://www.sla.org/division/dsoc/Wortzel%20Award/wortzelaward.html. The winner will be announced at the annual conference in Toronto.

And speaking of Toronto, now is the time to register! Take advantage of the early bird discount and save a few dollars on your registration fee. We have a really stimulating roster of programs – which Iris Anderson is detailing elsewhere in this issue – designed to meet the needs of our Division members. Iris and Terry Hill have been working very hard to create these programs and make them all happen, so our heartfelt thanks to them both. Be sure to mark June 5-8, 2005 on your calendar and plan to attend. It’s up to you to take advantage of this chance to enhance your skills, bring back ideas to share, and make an impact! Believe it or not, Terry is already hard at work on the Baltimore Conference for 2006. So if you have ideas for programs for 2006, please let him know as soon as you can. You can reach him via e-mail at: terry_hill@ncsu.edu.

Here’s an idea to share – why not take your early bird registration discount ($50) and contribute it to the Annual Campaign for Professional Development? This is an association-wide undertaking to help make SLA the premier provider of continuing professional education services. Learn more about this effort at: http://www.sla.org/content/learn/annualcampaignPDC/index.cfm.

One of the keys to our success is the strength of our volunteers. So, I'm very pleased to have an opportunity to introduce a couple of new ones we've recruited. Elana Broch has agreed to become the new Chair of our Public Policy Section. Elana is the Assistant Population Librarian in the Donald Stokes Library at Princeton. She is presently the Membership Chair of the Princeton-Trenton Chapter of SLA, and joined our Division in 2003. You may reach Elana at ebroch@princeton.edu or call her at (609) 258-5517. Tara Murray will be taking over the responsibilities of Discussion List Owner. Tara is the Information Core Director of the Population Research Institute at Penn State University. She is also the current President of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of SLA, and has been a member of the Social Science Division since 1998. You can reach Tara at murray@pop.psu.edu or via phone at (814) 863-7547. I sincerely thank both of these Division members for agreeing to assume these positions.

Let me leave you with a final thought: at SLA 2005, we’ll be talking impact. How to develop it. Keep it. And, yes, how to flaunt it. See you all in Toronto!

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Four DSOC Members Among SLA "Info Heroes" Selected for SLA Awards

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has selected 22 outstanding individuals and one team of information professionals as recipients for its 2005 Awards and Honors. Four of these are Social Science Division members. SLA Honorees will be saluted at a special reception and ceremony on June 5, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. during the SLA 2005 Annual Conference in Toronto. SLA President Ethel Salonen (Cambridge, Massachusetts USA) declared, "Our 2005 honorees reflect the heart of the profession now and into the future. These 'info heroes' consistently deliver value for their organizations and the profession. They also live the values of our community: leadership, service, innovation and continuous learning, results and accountability, collaboration and partnership. They set the standard for information professionals worldwide." The 2005 DSOC Honorees are:

John Cotton Dana Award, conferred upon an individual member in recognition of exceptional service to special librarianship, was awarded to Sylvia Piggott (Global Information Solutions Group, Montréal). Sylvia has distinguished herself as a passionate advocate for the information profession, while growing a highly successful career. Her work at the Bank of Montreal, the World Bank/International Monetary Fund, and as a consultant to major multinational corporations combined with her deep commitment to SLA as illustrated in her résumé of volunteer efforts, reaching the pinnacle when she was elected to serve as the association's president in 1996, is proof that she personifies the spirit of John Cotton Dana, a founder of SLA.

SLA President's Award, awarded to a member for a notable or important contribution that enhanced the Association or furthered its goals and objectives, was presented to Barbie Keiser (Washington, D.C.) in recognition of her work with libraries and library school students in developing nations. She organized, promoted, and led the Washington, DC Chapter's twinning program. Her efforts resulted in donations for the purchase of archival supplies required for the restoration of the National Library and Archives of Iraq, and collected library and other for the library schools in Croatia, Cuba, and Zimbabwe that were adopted by the chapter.

Factiva Leadership Award, awarded annually to a member whose personal and professional competencies exemplify leadership as a special librarian, was presented to Susan Fifer Canby (National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.) for her embodiment of the SLA Competencies for Information Professionals. During her career at the National Geographic Society, Susan has transformed a traditional, print-based library into modern, technologically advanced operation that includes an internal university, intranet portal services, and a knowledge management team. Her vision and dynamic leadership style resulted in her selection as a vice president at NGS.

SLA Innovations in Technology Award, presented by LexisNexis granted to an individual member for innovative use and application of technology in a special library setting, was awarded to Brandy E. King (Center on Media and Child Health, Boston). Tasked with finding a way to streamline and simplify the Center’s searchable content for access by a wide audience, Brandy immediately saw that she could combine information technology and library science to eliminate users’ confusion around keywords and subject headings. She deployed a special search platform designed to search based on ideas and concepts.

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SLA Leadership Summit Report
January 26-28, Tampa Florida

Submitted by Linda Richer, Chair-Elect

The SLA Leadership Summit gave Division leaders the opportunity to meet, address leadership issues, participate in business meetings, and attend training sessions to improve leadership skills. Those in attendance as officers from our Division included Nancy Minter, Linda Richer, Iris Anderson, and Terry Hill. Others from the Division attending in other capacities included Lynne McCay, Rebecca Smith, and Tara Murray.

The SLA University – Coming Soon

The most exciting innovation coming from SLA is the new SLA University, a web site providing access to a wide variety of educational offerings. John Lowery, SLA’s Director of Professional Development, introduced the new initiative which will premier at the Toronto conference in June 2005. This effort charts new continuing education territory for professional organizations and will provide considerable support to members of SLA and the staff members of their organizations.

This web site will host a wide variety of virtual continuing education possibilities including the following:

Watch for further announcements from SLA in the near future.

Restructuring of Governance Year

One of the most significant changes within SLA this year involves the restructuring of the governance year to match the fiscal year, effective in January 2007. At that point, both governance and fiscal issues will function on a January to December year. Divisions are required to implement a fiscal year governance structure by 2007. Each division will determine the process and details for movement to this structure. Two viable options include 1) 2005-2006 officers continue their office through December 2006, or 2) 2007 officers begin their work in June of 2006.

Change in Dues Structure

The Finance Committee hosted a discussion of the proposals for a change in dues structure for SLA. Two proposals were presented and discussed. The Kentucky Chapter initiated the discussion and requested a structure for dues based upon salary level, because salaries in Kentucky are significantly lower than in other areas. The Finance Committee prepared two proposals for consideration.

Proposal 1. Based on the member’s ability to pay, this possibility would include a tiered structure based on salary. This proposal would require a bylaws change to allow for a greater than 12% increase at the higher levels. The cost of an extra chapter or division would increase by 5% to $15.75 for Chapters & Divisions and $10.50 for Caucuses.

Proposal 2. Based upon annual dues increases, this proposal would add a dues category for those individuals making less than $35,000 annually. After an initial dues increase of 4%, all membership dues would increase by the same rate as the consumer price index (CPI) plus one half of one percent (.5%), allowing for very modest growth in programs and services. A 12% cap or safeguard over each three year span would prevent huge increases should we experience a period of skyrocketing inflation.

After a long discussion, both proposals were sent back to the board. More work by the Finance Committee and more input from the membership is needed before the proposal can move forward. A link outlining the proposals and the discussion is at: http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/pressroom/duesstruc.cfm

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Learn More About Our Twins!

At the annual conference in Nashville in June 2004, the Social Science Division decided to participate in SLA's Twinning program. Under the program, a librarian in a developing country is paired with a unit within SLA. We identified three prospective twins, contacted them to ask them to join us, and were accepted by all three! Here's some more information about these terrific librarians:

Mohamed Diarra was born April 13, 1970, in Sikasso in the third region of Mali. He completed high school in Sikasso before going to the former Soviet Union where he received his Masters in Library Science at the University of the Culture in Belaruss in 1994.

Upon returning to Mali, he worked as a research librarian both at the Regional Center for Agronomic Research of Niono (1996-2000) and at the headquarters of the Institute for Rural Economics (Bamako, 2000-2001) where he was the Director of the Documents and Information Section.

In 2001, he became the curator of the library of the Freedom Forum (Maison de la Presse du Mali). He manages training for journalists in new technologies for information and communication.

Mr. Diarra has received much training in library science and in Web site development in Bamako (Mali) and Bouaké and Abidjan (Ivory Coast). As a consultant in organizing and managing libraries, he has worked to reorganize libraries and research centers in Mali, including the Office of Niger, the Section for Planning and Statistics in the Ministry of Rural Development, the Center for the Excellency of Women, and others. While teaching research technique courses at the Modern Institute of Training of Sogholo (l’Institut Moderne de Formation Sogholo, 2002-2003), he trained researchers and librarians on research and information techniques at the Institute for Rural Economics.

Mr. Diarra likes reading and writing. He writes poems and novellas, but hasn’t yet published. He speaks French, English, and Russian. Please contact him at:
Bibliothèque Freedom Forum / Maison de la Presse
Rue 617, Porte 19,
Darsalam Bamako
BP E 24 56
MALI
Tel : 222-19-15
Fax : 23-54-78
Cell : 679-08-01
mohadia2001@yahoo.fr

My name is Ozioma Ijeoma Orji, a Librarian from Nigeria. I hold a Higher National Diploma in Library and Information Science and an MBA in marketing from the Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri and Lagos State University Ojo, Nigeria respectively. I am 39 years old. I work for Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), on a fixed-term contract for 3 years (February 2003-February 2006). Before this, I worked for 12 years with United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA Plc).

I am an active member of the Nigeria Library Association and Councilor-elect of the National Association, the youngest councilor ever elected from the oil industry. I am the Chairperson for the Special Libraries Section of the Nigerian Library Association. I was a twinned member of the Hudson Valley Chapter and now am twinned by Social Science Division of SLA. I was also a Global 2000 Fellow. I was a pioneering Director in the Sub-Saharan Chapter of Special Libraries Association. I was an ETD awardee for 2003 and was sponsored by UNESCO for the Networked Libraries of Thesis and Dissertation Conference in Berlin, Germany in 2003. I also won an Info Share one-year and two-year membership to ASIS-T in 2001 and 2004 respectively. I was the Women International Networking scholar and attended the WIN Conference in Geneva in October 2004. The Los Angles Chapter of ASIS-T hosted me at California State University Fullerton during my short visit in California in December 2004.

The International Information and Library Review selected my paper, submitted to the ASIST International Paper Competition, and Elsevier Publishers published it in December 2002. My other works are also on web capacity building in Nigeria.

I am married to a legal practitioner; we have a seven-year old daughter. My hobbies are reading edifying literature, writing, traveling, networking, and charity works.

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My name is Gloria Akua Sarku and am 38 yrs old. I obtained a Masters in philology at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples Friendship University in Moscow in 1992. After graduation, I proceeded to work in Ghana. I have been working with the Ghana Parliamentary Service since 1996 as a Researcher.

Currently, I have a post graduate Certificate and Diploma in Public Service Administration and am a Member of the Chartered Institute of Administration and Management Consultants. I am also a student member of the International Professional Managers Association (IPMA). I am due to be awarded an Masters in Philosophy in Governance and Leadership.

I provide background information for the work of Members of Parliament generally. I am in charge of the socio-cultural unit and I really love my work!

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DIVISION ANNOUNCES CONTINUING EDUCATION GRANT WINNER

Pamela A. Osborne, Digital Librarian at Mercy Corps in Portland, Oregon, has been awarded the Social Science Division Continuing Education Course Grant for 2005. Pam will be attending the course entitled “Building a Knowledge-Exchanging Culture” on June 5 at the SLA Conference in Toronto. Mercy Corps is an international relief and development organization that works in thirty developing countries throughout the world. Pam’s work involves creating and maintaining a digital library of internal documents, relevant web links, and photographs to help staff locate information from any location in the world. She has been active on the task force that seeks to strengthen the organizational commitment to continued learning for all staff members.

Pam is currently the President of the Oregon Chapter of SLA. She has been active in SLA since 1998. Prior to that, she was active in the Medical Library Association. Pam has served as a health sciences library specialist and as a media specialist for over thirty years in Oregon and Washington. She has been with Mercy Corps since 2001.

At SLA's 2004 annual conference in Nashville, the Social Science Division Board created this grant project to promote professional growth and to assist division members who are able to attend the conference but who might not otherwise be able to take advantage of a continuing education class. The Division seeks to promote continued learning among its members and is pleased to support the cost of registration for this course. Congratulations, Pam!

What's Happening in Toronto?

There are a lot of exciting DSOC programs and activities planned for the 2005 Annual SLA Conference in Toronto, June 4-9. Once you read about them, you won't want to miss out!

 

 

Taking Care of Business: Yours and Ours

Taking care of business can be serious and/or fun and a whole lot more. Just ask the board members of the Social Science Division or any other SLA division or chapter, for that matter. Where else can you work with and learn from professional peers without worrying about a performance evaluation? Where else can you acquire job skills without a peering boss, excessively long hours, recriminations, or workplace-related fears? This is the place, a friendly and welcoming place, to hone your organizational skills, work on committees, plan programs, build websites, master accounting, write articles, improve presentation or communications skills, and generally have a positive and rewarding learning experience.

All this is prelude to asking you to take a second look at our list of board meetings and receptions for the annual conference in Toronto. Try one. I promise you will like it. For those of you who can’t make it to Toronto, our names and contact information are just a click or page away. The important thing is to participate in any way you can. You will reap the rewards, professional and personal, for years to come. Taking care of business is not optional.

Take another look at our business meetings:
Sunday, June 5, 2:30-4 pm – Opening Board Meeting. Current board members review the past year’s events, discuss the upcoming conference, and take care of a little business. The curious, shy or new members are especially welcome. Some of us usually go out to dinner, Dutch style, afterwards.

Monday, June 6, 7:30-8:45 am – Annual Breakfast Meeting (ticketed $15, event #430) Don’t let the early hour keep you away from this one. All welcome to join us for a gentle, eye-opening meeting and nourishing breakfast! It’s the best way to begin your conference experience.

Wednesday, June 8, 7:30-8:45 am – Closing Board Meeting. Again, all welcome. If you have something to share about the conference, a concern, an idea, a care, please join us again. It may be a whole year until we can meet again.

Come to a reception or Open House:
Monday, June 6, 5:00-7:00 pm, International Reception, Fairmont Royal York Hotel, free. Join us for this always popular, elegant gathering. Excellent refreshments and unparalleled networking with colleagues from around the world.
Sponsor: Factiva

Tuesday, June 7, 7:30-8:45 am, Meet the Chair, Invitational Breakfast for new members. If you receive an invitation, please accept. We are excited to meet and greet you! Breakfast will be served, of course. Meet the current Chair and Chair-elect.

Tuesday, June 7, 8:00-10:00 pm – Joint Open House sponsored by the Education Division; Museum, Arts & Humanities Division; and Social Science Division – Drop in to our friendly Open House before you drop off to bed! Pleasant dreams will result.

Submitted by Iris W. Anderson, Co-planner, Toronto Annual Conference
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Networking, Networking, Networking!
2005 International Reception

Conversation, connection and c-c-c-o-o-o-l Canadian canapés will fuel this year’s International Reception: THE place to network. On Monday, June 6, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm in the Fairmont Royal York Hotel’s convention-level ballroom (shown above), sip wine, meet the 2005 SLA Europe Information Professional of the Year (EIP), and welcome international attendees. Join Social Science Division, European Chapter, & International Information Exchange Caucus members at our annual global swirl.

Sue Henczel of CAVAL, Ltd., and International Information Exchange Caucus Convenor will highlight the Twinning Project. European Chapter President Elizabeth Blankson-Hemans of Dialog will introduce Factiva CEO Clare Hart, who will present the EIP Award.

Learn about other SLA international activities and mingle with those who’ve journeyed thousands of miles to attend the Conference.

The reception & EIP Award are generously sponsored by Factiva, a Dow Jones & Reuters Company.

Submitted by Ann Sweeney
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And Don't Forget Professional Development...

Geography & Map Programs
Have an interest in maps, but little time to keep up in this area? Wondering what the latest scoop is on map collections in special libraries? The Toronto conference will feature three programs sponsored by the Geography and Map Section. Take this opportunity to update yourself about what’s going on with maps and cartographic information.

On Monday, June 6th, the G & M section will have the Mary Murphy Contributed Papers Session from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. This session will concentrate on GML – Geography Markup Language. The featured speaker will be Ron Lake, President of Galdos Systems, Inc., and the author of the latest book on GML. Geography Markup Language is an XML application that provides a specialized vocabulary for working with geographic data. The main purpose of GML is to provide a standardized means of representing information about geospatial features. Mr. Lake will demonstrate the latest developments in Geography Markup Language and its uses for map collections.

On Tuesday, June 7th, the G & M Mapping Update will be held from 8:00 – 9:30 am. With the dramatic rate of change in the world of mapping, librarians need to keep up with the latest developments in national and international mapping. David McQuillan, Map Librarian at the University of South Carolina, will speak on international developments from the most recent map meetings at IFLA. Current issues and trends in Canadian mapping will also be covered.

On Wednesday, June 8th, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be the focus of the third G & M session being held from 3:30 – 5:00 pm. GIS is a vital and ever-changing tool used in many special libraries. To bring us up-to-date with the latest developments in GIS, this session will feature two speakers from ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.) Angela Lee, Libraries and Museums Manager of ESRI, will speak on the latest products ESRI is developing. Colleen Raymond, Education Industry Manager from ESRI Canada, will speak on the application of ESRI’s newest programs in Canadian GIS initiatives.

Please join your colleagues in the Geography and Map Section for these programs in Toronto and take advantage of these opportunities to bring yourself up-to-date on the most recent developments in map libraries.

Submitted by Vanette Schwartz, Chair, G & M Section

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Will you be attending the SLA Annual Conference in Toronto this June? If so, be sure to attend the latest installment of the One-dot Shopping series, Finding Government Statistics on the Web and Having Fun Doing It, Monday, June 6th, 3:30 to 5:00.

Mary Ellen Bates (Bates Information Services) will be presenting this session. If you are wondering why this name sounds so familiar, you've probably read one of her books, or attended one of her other conference presentations. Mary Ellen is considered a super searcher, a contributor to the Business Librarians Discussion List, and a well-known presenter, and writer of numerous research/online searching books.

Luckily for all of us, the U.S. government continues to provide access to authoritative statistical information on the web. For example, you can create a customized table of employment data by industry; analyze childhood obesity rates over the last 30 years; or find out how many Baby Boomers will be living and retired by the time you retire. Mary Ellen will navigate through and highlight what's available from the major portals: firstgov.gov; fedstats.gov; census.gov and more.

A session that will certainly be both useful and beneficial to all levels of information professionals!

I'll be moderating this session, so contact me if you have any questions,
Greta Ober-Beauchesne
International Monetary Fund
202-623-6413
goberbeauchesne@imf.org

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Collections Issues: Building on the Past to Improve the Future
Presenters: Terry B. Hill & Bonnie Tijerina

Could you use your collection budget more effectively to meet user's needs? Are you spending your budget on multiple resources that satisfy similar information needs? When users submit inquiries, are you unsure if you have the resources to answer them? If you answered yes to any of the above, attend this session to hear how the work of two librarians may help.

For librarians who have both reference and collections responsibilities, there is often too little time to evaluate and effectively build collections while meeting the information needs of users. A Reference Librarian and Collection Management Librarian are collaborating to expand the functionality of traditional tutorials to build an “information matrix” that will serve as both a guide to resources for librarians and users as well as a collection evaluation tool. The goal is to provide a tool that will lead users and librarians to needed resources while simultaneously indicating if current resources are meeting user’s needs. From this, more effective, timely collection decisions can be made as user’s needs evolve. Due to their complexity and overlap, electronic business resources will be used as an example.

Submitted by Terry Hill, Co-Planner, Toronto Annual Conference

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Spotlight: Urban Sprawl, Community Information Programs, Evaluation, Tuesday, 1:30-3:00.
The session, co-sponsored by the Transportation and Environment Divisions, will first look at two nonprofit urban programs that work to improve our natural and social environments. We’ll end the session with a review of resources for program evaluation—always a topic of interest in the nonprofit world.

The first speaker will be John Wilson, chair of the Task Force to Bring Back the Don. The Don River runs through the heart of Toronto. Urban sprawl has profoundly altered the river. Watershed has been paved over; feeder streams lined with concrete, and wetlands filled. The Task Force is a very active citizens' group sponsored by the City of Toronto that has been working since 1989 to "bring back" a clean, green and accessible Don. You can check out their web page http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/don/ .

Our second topic turns more to the social environment: library-based community information programs (CIPs). Community Information “helps people cope with the problems of daily living and facilitates community participation” (Online Community Information, ALA, 2002). John McDonald, database manager of the Community Information Program of the Peninsula Library System in northern California, will discuss these programs that provide information on a wide variety of nonprofit and public resources. If you want to get an idea of what they involve, read “Community Information, Electrified” in the January, 2005 issue of Library Journal http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA490058, or, better, join us in Toronto!

Finally, Lisa Abbott, of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation will speak about resources for evaluation of these and other nonprofit programs. With the philosophy that evaluation is a tool for learning how to do work better, the Kellogg Foundation is noted for their work in program evaluation. Lisa, a research librarian at the Foundation’s Learning Center, will outline the kinds of resources available on the web and in print for program evaluation both at Kellogg and beyond.

In all, this should be a great program, full of interesting and useful information. My thanks go to the Open Text Corporation for their sponsorship of the session. I hope to see you there.

As always, if you have any ideas, questions, concerns, or comments about the Nonprofit Section, please let me know.

Submitted by Liz Green, Chair, Nonprofit Section

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THOMSON GALE MURRAY WORTZEL AWARD: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS


The Social Science Division will award the Thomson Gale Murray Wortzel Award for the third time at the Special Libraries Association’s annual conference in Toronto in June 2005. The Thomson Gale Murray Wortzel Award was established by the Social Science Division in cooperation with Thomson Gale, www.galegroup.com, to honor the memory of Murray Wortzel, a long-time member of the Division whose dedication and commitment to both the Division and the Association exemplify the consummate information professional. The winner is presented with a check for $1,000 and a citation. Roger Haley, librarian emeritus for the U.S. Senate, and Michael Kolakowski, research librarian at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, were the first two recipients in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

Specific achievements and/or sustained excellence may be recognized. Nominees should demonstrate achievements in one or more of the following areas:

This is an open invitation to recognize deserving members for this biennial award. Any member of the Social Science Division or the Special Libraries Association may make nominations. Nominations should take the form of a letter directed to the chair of the Murray Wortzel Award Committee, which should include a description of the nominee’s outstanding contribution(s), pertinent biographical data on the nominee, and the nominator’s name, address, telephone number, and email address. Optional documentation might include supporting letters from persons knowledgeable about the nominee’s qualifications for the award and/or examples of the nominee’s work. Members of the Division Executive Board and members of the Award Committee are not eligible to be nominated. The Award Committee will make a recommendation concerning a recipient to the Division’s Executive Board who will make a final decision.

Letters of nomination, either in hard copy or by email, should be sent to:

Susan Berg, Chair
Murray Wortzel Award Committee
The Library at The Mariners' Museum
100 Museum Drive
Newport News, VA 23606
sberg@mariner.org

Nominations must be received by April 1, 2005. Members of the Award Committee, in addition to the chair, are Laura Bender, University of Arizona, and Lyle Minter, Library of Congress.

Thomson Gale is a long-time and generous sponsor of the Social Science Division and the Association.

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Forthcoming Conference on Map Collections

On May 12-13, 2005 the Map and Geographic Information Collections in Transition conference will be held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The conference is a joint effort of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress and the Cartographic Users Advisory Council (CUAC). SLA is supporting the conference through the Social Sciences Division, Geography and Map Section. The DSOC G & M section has two representatives on the Cartographic Users Advisory Council. The conference will feature sessions on the future of the paper map, the development of digital cartographic collections, the distribution and archiving of digital spatial information, the future of cartographic information collections and data copyright, licensing and access issues. Speakers from government agencies, colleges and universities and private industry will address the myriad number of issues currently confronting map collections. The conference will also include time for discussion and networking during break-out sessions.

The conference will be limited to 150 registrants on a first come, first served basis. The registration fee is $125. For more information and registration forms, see the CUAC website at http://cuac.wustl.edu/.

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Some Interesting Web Sites

Manybooks.net
http://www.manybooks.net/
The Jan. 21 issue of Scout Report recommends a great place to find e-books to download. Adapting the e-texts created by the Project Gutenberg DVD, Manybooks.net placed the books online in various formats, including pdf, eReader, and as Palm document files. There are numerous access points to identify the books, including authors, titles, and languages. The staff also makes recommendations. The extensive list recently included such classics as The Odyssey, Crime and Punishment, The Awakening, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You can also find Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and Nietzche’s Ecce Homo. Stop by and browse.

MrSapo
http://www.mrsapo.com
MrSapo is a useful place to begin your searching. It allows you to search over 85 of the top search engines and to limit your sources by seven categories: basic search (search engines include Google, Alltheweb, Teoma, MSN, and many others), images, audio/video, academic, news, weblogs, and shopping. I searched Social Security and got news stories, links to government and private websites, audio from political speeches and town meetings and from news broadcasts, and some very interesting pictures and graphs.

Answers.com
http://www.answers.com
The January 6 issue of Research Buzz describes the new service from GuruNet Corporation that provides instant reference information on over a million topics -- Answers.com. Rather than providing links to pages where you can look around for your answer, Answers.com searches through more more than 100 authoritative encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries, and atlases and displays the answers. I asked “When did dinosaurs live?” and got complete results from sites like Classzone, science teachers in Montana, and the BBC. Searching for “Mona Lisa,” I got lengthy, clickable articles from Wikipedia and Who2.

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