News Library News - NewsliBlog

NYT's Deep Dive

2012-01-24T14:53:00.002-05:00

Interesting piece from the Nieman Journalism Lab on Deep Dive, a project from the New York Times that is still in demonstration mode.

It uses the Times' "massive cache of metadata from stories" to help pull archived stories related to the one a reader is currently looking at. I'm curious to know about the metadata itself: who came up with it, who applies it, how it is applied, etc.

--Julie Domel

Newsroom Wikipedia contingency plan

2012-01-17T18:12:00.004-05:00

Let me preface this by saying, this should always be the Wikipedia contingency plan...

One of our reporters tweeted the following:

--Julie Domel

Another Way to Look at the Congressional Record

2011-12-30T21:53:00.003-05:00

I'm going to start this Tech Tips post by assuming that, unlike me, most people don't love reading the Congressional Record. But newsrooms often like to know what's in it, and when their elected representatives said it.

The tried and true route for answering such questions is to search via Thomas, the Library of Congress legislative site, or you might try C-SPAN's Congressional Chronicle. Now there's another way to see what members of the House and Senate say in the Record from the folks at the Sunlight Foundation, called Capitol Words.

Capitol Words is a search engine for the Record with some nice extras built-in. For example, you can find out the popularity of particular words or phrases over time, or popular words or phrases. The site allows you to narrow the focus to lawmakers from a particular state or party, too. For example, here's what a comparison of the terms "bailout" and "big banks" looks like.

The site also allows you to browse by date, where you can see popular words and phrases month by month or even day by day. Individual terms have their own pages, so you can see the history and popularity of words such as "preexisting", for example.

Sunlight gets the text of the Record straight from the Government Printing Office, so it's the official version. Capitol Words just applies a bit of structure to it by attempting to definitively identify every speaker and index every word. See what you can learn about your state's delegation by exploring it.

And by the way, if you haven't checked out that C-SPAN site I referenced, it's a great way to isolate video or find recordings of a particular speaker - not just in Congress but of any C-SPAN appearance.

Notes from the Chair: Preoccupations for 2012

2011-12-13T17:20:00.018-05:00

It has certainly been a very intense year in media: sometimes I wonder if it is the nature of the topics, our times or that there is so much more coverage and awareness. At present I think it is all of these.

As you read this post, massive, visible struggles continue all over the world, most recently this past weekend in Russia, where voters disenchanted with their leadership adopted the slogan: "We Exist." And since January, countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa have just as fervently been demanding freedom. This Arab Spring movement has some success stories to report, but how these developments will take shape is still unclear. Americans, Canadians and other nations joined the "Occupy" movement to protest economic inequality, some literally occupying the streets and public spaces of their cities, starting their own libraries and newspapers, perhaps feeling that the only way they could achieve change was to establish these societal pillars anew and sit with others under rain-spattered tarps, as many more of their fellow citizens shrugged or sympathized.

Some say the news depresses them. Though this has been a very challenging year in many ways, I am still very hopeful. And as far as all of this outward discontent: it's hard to imagine people would be so angry, if they didn't feel hopeful too.

"Person of the Year: The Protester," TIME magazine cover, announced December 14, 2011

As we wrap up the year, and my term as News Division Chair, I have very much appreciated these tests and lessons learned. I took on this position as it is a good leadership opportunity, and in the process was shown its challenges. Some of the most provocative moments came from hearing directly from members seeking suggestions on, among other issues: advice on keeping a team motivated and guidance on careers. Speaking of teams, we're fortunate to have one of the finest I've worked with in our board and volunteers who have in turn been working for you -- in addition to all of us observing and experiencing firsthand the changes in the information ecology and media business.

As I mentioned in this column back in June, it is almost pointless to try and predict the future. So here are three important lessons for any news librarian. These are largely common sense, but I've tried to live by these lessons this year and carry them forward into the next, and I thought they would be good for the information / knowledge professional -- or anyone.

1. Get on the team(s).

Leadership is about building and continuing relationships, as well as constructing and working in teams. The innovative, successful company is flexible, always learning and doing work within these teams. This should include media entities and their information professionals. If these last two are absent, then I would be very worried. As a potential team member, it's important to be visible and demonstrate your abilities and knowledge base. We have all heard about developing that "Elevator Speech." It turns out you need several of these to call up, depending on what needs to be done. But overall, being part of any team will give you good experience in project management - and leadership.

2. Be part of the "pipeline."

Our managing editor coached me that the library should be as "close to the pipeline as possible." We worked very hard on that. Clearly for an editor that means: writing and creating content for posting and publication. That's something we're doing much more of.

Certainly the development of new ways of thinking and opportunities for archival content as to additional editorial use, context and revenue sources is essential. News librarians should be involved in this process. (I have to give Lany McDonald credit for encouraging me in this area; she's a terrific leader, team builder and news professional who received the News Division's highest honor.)

"Engagement" with citizens means listening, employing their ideas, following up on their suggestions and direct conversation and contributions. This has emerged over the past year as a top priority in media. News organizations need help with this. How are you fitting into this (two-way) pipeline?

A company getting some buzz as being an evolving news entity is the Journal Register Company. This past month one of their properties, the New Haven Register, announced a reorganization around investigative and local journalism, as well as an emphasis on engagement. Angel Diggs, the news librarian, was cited as being part of the Engagement Team. I called Angel to ask her about this new direction. This had just been announced, and it isn't clear how this will work yet, but she said that there's plans for a physical move, as well as direct engagement -- face to face -- with citizens in person, quite possibly in conjunction with the public library.

This is a continuation of a digital first, "open newsroom" strategy, within this chain that launched at the Torrington, (CT) Citizen. This paper, that welcomes the public into the building, utilizes open news meetings, crowdsourcing of factchecking and other forms of transparency and inclusion.

3. Own the idea. And do it.

If you attended the SLA Conference in Philadelphia this past year, or followed along online, you may have heard about Tom Friedman's keynote address. It is always great to have a journalist headlining this forum, and he spoke engagingly about the many changes in society -- including media -- and offered some strong and thought-provoking recommendations. He said: anything that can be done, will be done. If you don't do it, someone else will. The question is: will it be done by you, or to you?

I watched this commencement speech given by inventor Dean Kamen a few years ago. In it he emphasized how everyone is looking for new, applicable ideas and energy. While there's more receptivity after what hasn't worked -- to the point where companies and industries in business for over a century suddenly no longer exist -- there's also been a corresponding pragmatism and reliance on analytics to aid in decision making. Bottom line: keep the ideas flowing, but be prepared to say "I would support this," test it, and provide results. If it doesn't seem worth it, move on. But be sure to follow up, and steward it.

It has been a great privilege to lead our group of dedicated, versatile professionals perservering in a very challenging environment. Thanks to everyone for your friendship, hard work -- often for years at a time -- by our fantastic board and volunteers, and ALL of those ideas. I look forward to continuing our conversation together in the new year.

I hope your holidays are merry and bright, and all best wishes for a fulfilling 2012.

--Leigh Montgomery
2011 Chair, SLA News Division

Santa Fe librarian Rebekah Azen has passed away

2011-12-05T14:57:00.002-05:00

Thanks to NPR's Laura Soto-Barra for alerting the newslib community about the passing of Rebekah Azen, who had served as a librarian and consultant for the Santa Fe New Mexican for 15 years.

An obituary for Rebekah can be found here.

--Julie Domel

Aside Bar - From the Editor

2011-11-13T18:20:00.004-05:00

Is it November already? I am already feeling left behind by whirls of activity and the holidays are not yet upon us.

And I don't just mean in my personal life. Professionally, I'm feeling as if the rest of the world is moving on without me while I'm putting out the fire of the day (or fires, on some days) and not making any headway on the pile of archiving on my desk and other tasks on my to-do list.

Are the days moving faster? Am I moving slower?

How do I push my way back out front of the rush? I don't like to say no to a reasonable request because that just discourages reporters and editors from asking the next time. Plus, as a colleague on our online staff said the other day: no one has free time for anything anymore.

Am I less thorough in my work? Sorry, but this is a definite no.

Do I hand off work to a colleague? As I mentioned earlier, no one else has free time either -- and we all have backlogs. I am doing more push back, as in getting a reporter to a certain point and having him or her make the phone calls. Plus, when I'm the only one who knows the best ways to soothe a savage archive, I have no choice but to pull the burr from the tiger's paw myself. But having unique skills has its own rewards.

Lately, I've been trying to embrace the backlog. I can't change the nature of the work or the daily addition to the pile, so I focus on what I can do at that moment. I climb it, bit by bit. Some days there are lulls and I make headway, and others where I slip down the rocks a bit. But I will still get there eventually.

What are you doing to make headway as you make do with less? Leave your ideas in the comments.

--Julie Domel

Washington Post ombudsman lauds paper's researcher

2011-11-04T09:27:00.006-05:00

In his blog, Omblog, Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton corrects a previous post where he neglected to mention the work of Post researcher Alice Crites in the debunking of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's embellished past. Personally, I was impressed that the reporter himself took Pexton to task for the omission.

Pexton then goes on to praise the work of the entire Post research team: "Without them, Post stories, particularly investigative ones, would not reach the quality that they often do."

So true!

--Julie Domel

2011 News Division Candidates

2011-09-12T14:06:00.003-05:00

Votes for the 2001 election for News Division candidates can be cast using SurveyMonkey. The link to the ballot is URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NewsD2011

The slate of candidates is listed below.

Chair Elect: Debra Bade
Debra Bade is currently beginning work as a part-time consultant on product development and user needs for Image Fortress and looking for a full-time job after being part of a reduction in force at the Chicago Tribune in July. She had been at the Tribune for almost 10 years and was the Editor of News Research and Archives. In that role, Debra led research, text and photo archiving efforts and most notably was involved with moving forward plans to digitize the Tribune’s historic photo collection and developing new revenue streams based on the collection’s print and digital assets.

Prior to joining the Tribune, Debra held a number of positions with CNN in Atlanta from 1989 – 2001 including Director of Online Training and Development, Director of News Research, Manager of News Research, and Researcher. During those years her focus was on improving research services, developing end-user research tools and overseeing training for both library and newsroom employees. She also worked as a researcher with the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis, getting her first taste of news research there from 1981-1988.

Debra holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1988 and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She considers her service as a Peace Corps volunteer in a health education program in Gambia, West Africa, to be a big part of her real-world education and something that still influences her in many ways.

She has been a member of the American Library Association, Special Libraries Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society for American Archivists. Debra was a Snowbird Leadership Institute honoree in 1992 and wrote a chapter on news research published in 1999 in “Information Sources for the Press and Broadcast Media.” She joined SLA and the News Division in 1988 and has been active in a variety of positions. She helped to create a special interest group for broadcast librarians, served on the Education Committee, and as chair of the Nominations Committee. She was Director of Education in 1994-1995, bringing Roger Fidler, Howard Rheingold and Kare Anderson in as notable News Division conference presenters. She was News Division Chair in 2000-2001 (making this an encore of sorts) and Past Chair in 2001-2002. Debra received the Ralph J. Shoemaker Award of Merit Award in 2001 and the Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor Award in 2007. She has been a contributor to News Library News and a presenter at SLA conferences, SLA Illinois Chapter meeting events, and at the Online Information conference in the UK. She also served as a member of the Advisory Board for the School of Information Studies at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville from 2006-2009.

Director - Education/Professional Development: Nina Johnson
Nina has been in news librarianship since 1992; first as a solo librarian at the Columbia Daily Tribune and since 1997 at the Columbia Missourian. The Missourian is the only city newspaper produced by journalism students. The Missouri School of Journalism provides real-world training for journalism students in its various “labs” such as the newspaper, KOMU-TV and KBIA radio. It is now also home to the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Nina has been a member (non-continuously) of SLA since 1990 and served as board secretary for 2010-2011.

She earned her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science in 1990 at the University of Missouri.

She is interested in possible collaboration with the Reynolds Journalism Institute in developing some non-conference workshops, especially in the area of archiving online news sites and digital preservation.

She finds News Division members an incredibly talented and interesting group and looks forward to continued involvement with the Division.

Treasurer: Catherine Kitchell
Work Experience
Bureau of National Affairs, Washington, DC
Editor, BNA’s Directory of State and Federal Courts, Judges, and Clerks, since 2001
Reference Librarian, December 1990 - Present
Marin Independent Journal, Novato, CA
Head Librarian, August 1989 - August 1990
USA TODAY/Gannett Co., Arlington, VA
1983- July 1989

Education
MLS, University of Maryland, May 1986
BA, Art History, University of Virginia, May 1982

SLA: SLA member since 1991. Managing Editor of News Library News, 1996-1998. Treasurer, Washington Chapter, 1999–2002. Received DC/SLA Board of Directors Award 2001-2002. Treasurer, News Division, 2001-2003, Director of Publications, 2008-2010, Currently Treaurer, News Division, 2010-present.

Director - Publications: Julie Domel
After a year as a business and science librarian at the Houston Public Library, Julie Domel joined the news research staff at the San Antonio Express-News, her hometown paper, in 2000. When not doing research, she serves as the super-user for the NICA photo archive and works on entries for her blog, "From the Vault." She has a long history of contributing online content to mysa.com, the paper's website, including a defunct online column and blog. She currently contributes to "The Potato Report," the Express-News' blog for TV watchers, and tweets via @askresearcher. Julie won the Express-News' 2010 Philip True Journalism Award for Researcher/Copy Editor of the Year.

Julie has served as managing editor of the News Division's News Library News since 2008, and maintains the division's LinkedIn group. She is also the treasurer of the Texas Chapter. Julie earned a bachelor's degree in Finance and an MLS from the University of Texas at Austin. In her spare time, she keeps plants alive in a drought, watches way too much TV and would rather bake than cook.

Meet Deb Hunt: Candidate for SLA President-Elect 2012

2011-09-06T12:50:00.027-05:00

The candidates for 2012 SLA President-elect, David Cappoli and Deb Hunt, were interviewed by e-mail for NEWS LIBRARY NEWS, so members can get to know them as voting takes place September 7 - 28, 2011. Deb Hunt's responses follow in their entirety.

Deb Hunt

1. Why are you running for president of SLA?

I bring proven leadership skills to this position. I have prior experience as a Director on the SLA Board of Directors, as Chapter President and in many other leadership positions in the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter and in SLA divisions. I’m an innovator as the creator and team leader of SLA’s 23 Things. The 23 Things contributed to a mindset change for SLA members and enables us to embrace new technologies, new tools, get ahead of our users and to lead rather than follow. For this effort, I was awarded an SLA Presidential Citation by Stephen Abram.

I know how to get things done, grow new leaders, and create and strengthen programs for our members.

I’ve demonstrated my adaptability and flexibility as my career has taken many turns. A few years ago, I was laid off from my job at the Exploratorium after 14 years of working there. I was able to ramp up my consulting firm, but it was still a big adjustment. Over the years, my consulting work has evolved in a way that I think mirrors what I see happening in the job market for us as information professionals. When I started consulting many years ago, I mostly did value-added research and library design and automation. Soon my library automation clients asked me how they could organize their internally created content so it would be as easily accessible as the library collection. That is how I added document and enterprise content management to the services I offer. Most of my clients are not libraries.

2. You are elected the leader and the public face of SLA, and you've been invited to a regional roundtable forum of C-suite executives, nonprofit heads, and other leaders. This is a chance to introduce the organization and members. What do you tell them?

What keeps you awake at night?

In today's fast-paced world, the need for information is an invaluable commodity. Information, both internally- and externally-produced, is the lifeblood of an organization and essential for innovation and survival. Information sharing, finding and reuse are also essential for any organization that is attempting to understand and manage its intellectual capital and thrive in these trying economic times.

Information professionals play a unique role in gathering, organizing and coordinating access to the best information sources for the organization, understanding the critical need of turning that information into usable knowledge.

A study conducted by SLA found that eighty-five percent of the companies ranked in the top 100 on the Fortune 500 list employed information professionals, compared to less than fifty percent of the companies ranked in the bottom 100. SLA is a global professional association of 9,500 innovative information professionals and their strategic partners who are ready to put your organization over the top. What steps are you taking to differentiate your business from the next and maintain your company's sustainability?

3. The News Division: what are your impressions? What would you like to see us address?

Over the years, I’ve been most acquainted with my News Division colleagues at the San Francisco Chronicle and have been saddened to see them go from some 18 staff down to 2. I know the News Division has experienced a drop in membership, but I believe that those who are left form the new core of this division, which will be the community for info pros in any of the news-related industries and organizations.

There are two things I’d like to see the News Division address:

An updated division website. As a web project manager at the Exploratorium in San Francisco for 12 years, with our team winning 4 Webby awards, I know that an engaging and up-to-date website can keep members engaged and encourage new members to join. Daniel Lee and his WordPress team can work with the News Division to make a new site a reality. I encourage you to consider this as a marketing, retention and community tool for division and potential members.

A more difficult issue that I see the News Division (46% decline in membership since 1994) and all SLA members facing, and I’m sure you are all aware of this, is the downturn in organizations feeling the need to hire and retain librarians and information professionals.

One of our News Division colleagues was recently profiled in a two-part professional development workshop which I co-presented to SLA colleagues in the San Francisco Bay Area. We named a group of our colleagues “Famous Front Runners” who have successfully navigated the job upheavals going on all around us. That Front Runner is Leigh Montgomery, whose personas include:

Artful Dodger

Chameleon

Future Ready

Shape Shifter

Survivor

Leigh was able to survive and even thrive by deploying a combination of strategies:

Finding new revenue streams for her employer

Applying new technologies to improve productivity

Reinventing and repositioning herself

Demonstrating and increasing her core value to the organization

We can build on our past, but we must look ahead to the future. I see my colleagues struggling with layoffs and job insecurity. Yet there are vast opportunities for information professionals and I want to see us benefit from those opportunities. We must think outside the box, continually honing our skillset so we can go wherever there is opportunity to ply our trade.

Photo courtesy SLA

Meet David Cappoli: Candidate for SLA President-Elect 2012

2011-09-06T12:30:00.022-05:00

The 2012 candidates for SLA President-elect, David Cappoli and Deb Hunt, were both interviewed by e-mail for NEWS LIBRARY NEWS so members can get to know them in advance of voting, which takes place September 7 - 28, 2011. David Cappoli's responses follow in their entirety.

David Cappoli

1. Why are you running for President of SLA?

I am running for President of SLA because I can lead this association into its somewhat uncertain near future with my consensus-building skills, experience with students, knowledge of the continuing education needs of information professionals, and a strong willingness to confront the changes that SLA must consider, such as the conference revenue model. I continue to be excited about information professionals and feel strongly that I can work to advance SLA's reach within the profession.

2. You are elected the leader and public face of SLA, and you've been invited to a regional roundtable forum of C-suite executives, non-profit heads, and other leaders. This is a chance to introduce their organization and members. What do you say?

Besides giving an overview of SLA and our members, I would showcase real-world examples of how our members have directly contributed to the success of their organizations. I would also tie their contributions to the leadership and professional development opportunities that SLA has provided to them. For example, if one of our members acquired knowledge via SLA, e.g., at conference, in a virtual seminar, etc., and integrated it into his/her work to the significant benefit of the organization, I would emphasize this connection and compare what the state of the organization would be without the member's contributions.

3. The News Division: what are your impressions? What would you like us to address?

During my time as a member of the News Division and working at the L.A. Times, and at the L.A. Herald-Examiner prior to the Times, division members discussed and implemented initiatives focused on better integrating their work into the success of their organizations well before other units did so. By participating in editorial board meetings, members have been able to feature the resources and expertise of their libraries and information centers. News librarians have been embedded within specific news departments well before the issue of embedded librarianship became an important topic; and, they have been at the forefront in the development of full-text and image archiving systems. I have also been impressed by how news librarians employ their network in times of disasters. I see news librarians continuing to be leaders in these areas, as well as in the burgeoning field of digital archiving, the reuse of organizational assets and how to succeed while enduring staff and budget cutbacks.

Photo courtesy SLA

New 2010 Census Data Project from IRE

2011-08-30T20:20:00.007-05:00

We all know that the 2010 Census data has started to come out, giving newsrooms updated demographic information from the once-every-10-years count of the American population. The Census Bureau website has detailed information and a schedule of new releases. But what if you just want to quickly download population figures and do some simple comparisons?

A new project by Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri offers quick access to 2010 Census data in a variety of formats and ranges. The project, built by volunteers from the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, allows users to browse data from states, counties, places and even individual tracts, providing 2000 Census data for comparison.

For example, data from Alachua County, Fla., shows that the total population grew some 13.48 percent from 2000 to 2010 (the project helpfully includes raw numbers and the percentage change). And each page can be downloaded as a CSV file that can be opened in Excel or another spreadsheet program for analysis, although you'd be best-served to have a reference to Census data headers handy. Luckily, the IRE Census project provides one.

Developers who want to use Census data directly in Intranet or Internet applications can also get their fix via the project's JSONP files, which make it easy to read the data programmatically. You can even download a shapefile of geographic data, and the project allows you to compare multiple geographies (such as a five-county area) if you want to.

The Census Bureau is still your source for reports and in-depth releases based on the 2010 Census data, but if you want to play with the data yourself and don't want to download the entire set (which can be very large and hard to manage), IRE's project is a great way to dip your toes in the Census pool.

--Derek Willis

Notes from the Chair: Exchanging Ideas

2011-08-29T12:16:00.010-05:00

Considering there are so many online platforms and outlets these days for communication and socializing, meeting for an in-person conversation seems a comparatively rare and refreshing event. Earlier this month, librarians from the SLA Boston chapter got together for an idea exchange -- very much resembling a salon discussion, though more focused and including multiple subjects suggested by attendees.

This was truly some of the most valuable conference programming I've ever experienced. The idea for it originated with Journalism That Matters, an organization that travels around the country holding these "convening conversations" for the purpose of sharing ideas and skills. In March, they held one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to discuss how journalists and librarians could work together.

Other than participants and time, the only other requirements are markers, paper and a video camera if you wish to document the session. Attendees post questions about the top issues facing either their profession or their own work. These are then displayed on the wall, and the audience decides on which topics they want to talk about; those that are similar are combined.

The conversation concludes with a couple of key ideas or conclusions. One person from each discussion then reports the conclusion. Some of the conferences I've attended actually had us get up and physically stand with the idea we thought resonated most. And some have even agreed to keep in touch to help put the ideas or goals into place.

It was great to witness the enthusiasm that the SLA Boston president-elect, Khalilah Gambrell, exhibited in hosting this program. Additionally, the date on which it was held was selected so that two special guests could join us: David Cappoli and Deb Hunt, the candidates for president-elect of SLA, who were on the last leg of their East Coast campaign trail - following whistle-stops to visit with SLA members in Washington, DC and New York.

We grabbed our markers and in short order stuck paper slips expressing our concerns and questions on the wall; Khalilah very adeptly sorted them into several categories: Professional Development, Information Overload / Value of the Profession, Transitions / Retirement, Budget issues and Vendor / Publisher concerns. We then broke out into smaller groups to discuss these various topics.

I participated in the Information Overload / Value of the Profession discussion. The latter is a constant issue in our industry as well as others: with the ease of creating information it is difficult for users -- even information professionals -- to manage it all. It is always interesting to see where these discussions go; our conversation largely centered around cultivating relationships, reaching out to those 'we don't always hear from,' and the value of extending oneself outside of his or her regular routine.

One librarian said she had success in casual conversation 'just having coffee in the mornings with engineers' when she was at an engineering firm. Another attendee suggested 'identifying what's sexy'; that is, the department in your company with most interest and activity around it. This librarian mentioned she learned this while working at Credit Suisse First Boston when there was a lot of interest in energy markets at the time. I added that interviewing colleagues personally but casually had been successful; that is, finding out what their needs and goals were, and how the librarian might support them with your own recommendations and by developing a kind of informational template around them.

David and Deb circulated to all of our groups, and definitely added some great ideas and success stories from their own experiences.

The time went by quickly and we could definitely have used more of it. A video of the session was made that hasn't yet been posted; but I will do so once it is live. Here's another account of our evening by Paula Cohen, another attendee.

We were kindly hosted by Dee Magnoni, the librarian at Olin College of Engineering, at their campus, which also included dinner and a library tour.

It looks likely we'll do this again in the future; and hopefully this account will give you a sense of the format one might use to host a conversation like this. It's a great way to get feedback and ideas on questions and concerns you're seeking solutions for from some very engaged and involved members of the information profession.

-- Leigh Montgomery

Aside Bar - From the Editor

2011-08-13T16:29:00.007-05:00

I overheard an editor and reporter the other day discussing coverage of upcoming events in the reporter's beat. She had looked through all of her materials and couldn't find a thing going on: "It's August. Who would want to get out in this heat?"

This is the month when everything slows to a crawl. We're used to the heat in South Texas, but it's been brutal even for us. We're even running out of ways to describe it; I recently saw the phrase "still very hot" on our weather page --after three days of "very hot."

However, I don't think it ever gets truly "slow" for any of us anymore. It just means that perhaps we have a chance to get to all the tasks we had been putting off while the daily workload was heavy. Now, we just have to remember what all those tasks were...

Go through your task list. Or more likely, excavate the pile of stuff on your desk or in your to-do bin. Confront your inner procrastinator by doing the one thing you've been putting off the longest. Check your Favorites on your Internet browser and look at some blogs or websites you haven't visited in a while. See what they are talking about.

Navel-gazing has its benefits. We can become more efficient, troubleshoot problems, find a new resource, analyze our methods and more... if we would take a moment and do it. Of course, if you have the attention span of a gnat, like I do, try not to get too distracted (or click on too many unrelated links).

Since we're not getting out in the heat, curl up with your circular fan and contemplate! Let the whirring of the blades become your white noise against all the distractions and pressures of your worklife.

Or call up a colleague at another library -- one you haven't talked to in awhile or would like to know better. Have a virtual back-porch-swing chat (some iced sweet tea might help too). Talk about a project or problem that's been at the back of your mind but which you've been too busy to tackle. Let the conversation take you where it takes you. Perhaps you'll learn a few things or solve some additional problems.

--Julie Domel

Forbes editor's ode to news research

2011-07-27T14:24:00.003-05:00

In a new blog entry, Forbes editor Tim Ferguson praises the skills of news researcher Susan Radlauer, who has recently been promoted to director of research services.

He goes on to discuss how invaluable she is, how she can't be replaced by Wikipedia or Google, and even links to Michelle Quigley's list of News library layoffs and buyouts.

Well put!

--Julie Domel

2011 Conference Planner’s Report from Philadelphia

2011-06-28T13:36:00.003-05:00

Via NewsLib...

For SLA 2011, the News Division held or co-sponsored 12 events, on- and off-site. There were 2 tours during the weekend: one of the Philadelphia Inquirer, led by Michael Panzer, and the other of the Rosenbach Museum and Library, organized by Kathryn Pease. We also held our regularly scheduled events: a meeting of the executive board & the annual business meeting. There was also the News Division Open House and Silent Auction, held in the Philadelphia Convention Center Marriott.

As we have moved away from offering a CE course, this year’s ticketed session was held Monday morning, and was led by the Division’s Derek Willis, on the top of linked data and newsroom archives. There were 10 tickets sold as of the week before the conference and attendance was over that.

We had four other topical sessions that were well-attended -- two required either breaking down airwalls or shifting the set-up of the room to accommodate more chairs. Those sessions, and their co-sponsors, if any, were:

Intentional Misinformation on the Internet (co-sponsored by the Advertising and Market Division)

Researching Privately-Held Data (co-sponsored by the Competitive Intelligence Division)
Taxonomies and News (co-sponsored by the Taxonomy Division)

Opening Up the Special Library

In addition, News was one of a number of co-sponsors of a Spotlight Session: Creating Your Future the Peter Drucker Way.

There was also the delightful News Division Awards Reception, held at the College of Physicians (which also holds the famous Mütter Museum of medical curiosities): award recepients included Peter Johnson, Kee Malesky, Shira Kavon, Amy Disch (in absentia), Michelle Quigley (in absentia), and Donna Scheeder. The reception was well-organized by Kathryn Pease.

Thanks especially to Leigh Montgomery, Kathryn Pease and Catherine Kitchell for providing incredible amounts of support, thanks to all of the presenters, and thanks to all of you, those who were able to attend the conference and those cheering on from home. Next year’s conference will be in Chicago, IL, and I hope to see many of you there.

Eli Edwards
News Division 2011 Conference Planner

SLA Session -- Using the Internet to Research Private Companies

2011-06-21T09:03:00.009-05:00

Using the Internet to Research Private Companies
Presented by August Jackson of Verizon
august (at) augustjackson (dot) net
Tuesday, 14 June 2011, 8 a.m.

Practical tips for finding info about private companies

Slides (complete with appendix and additional resource links) for this presentation can be found at augustjackson.net

This was an informative useful session and August was an entertaining speaker. Twenty minutes into this session, the walls came down! The session was packed; they had to add the adjacent room!

The tools for private company research August Jackson showed the SLA attendees were tools we could use right away and those that were free and easy to access.

After adjusting the volume on his mike (I had to control myself to keep from saying: “Yes! We can hear you now!”), Jackson logically started with the best place to begin in a CI project:

Start with “requirements”: define the business decision to be supported & choose analytical framework that best matches the business decision (SWOT etc.). Jackson highly recommended this book to help with this: Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods by Craig S. Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan

Plan your research strategy: primary and secondary research. You’ll be collecting information which will take the form of data vs. intel.; facts vs. interpretation/analysis.

Build your secondary research plan: keywords and identify sources.

Execute and evaluate the plan: this where you choose the sources we’re looking at today: Company websites, public records, local and industry news, industry groups, social media, plus any premium sites you might have access to.

Next, why we’re really here, Jackson listed the types of free sources for private company research:

Premium sources: Hoovers, BRC, FACTIVA, LexisNexis

Company websites: content, meta tags, link analysis

Legal filings: jurisdiction specific

Local news sources: location specific

Social networks: Twitter, Linked in, Slideshare, specialized networks

Industry Groups: Associations, trade publications

Job sites: general job boards, industry specific job boards

Google maps

And then, using Raynor Garage Door of Dixon, IL as a use case, he went over what each resource would offer.

Hoovers - Jackson views Hoovers as a good starting point, providing searchers with a ball park of what kind of company you are dealing with in terms of revenues, employees, history etc. Some audience members suggested info pros check the private company databases on Gale or LexisNexis.

Mining the company site can yield a lot of information about the private company being researched, such as descriptions, office locations, partners executives, job postings, press releases, sales channels and corporate histories. Jackson also recommends checking the source codes of company pages. Here meta tags show the key words the company uses to describe itself, or hopes to be associated with. Dates in the code could indicate a company’s interest in its web presence.

Jackson also recommends using link analysis tools like Yahoo! Site Explorer or the link command in Google to find out about a company’s online presence. Find partners, former employees, fans, critics, bloggers, user forums, newscoverage and philanthropic ventures.

Legal and regulatory filings, can also be of use, yielding regulatory filings, environmental information, permits (building, export), shipping records, legal filings and decisions, patents and trademarks, securities, government contracts and proposals. Jackson cautioned the time commitment to search these sources needs to be weighed vs. the actual results you might get. Keep in mind these sources are jurisdiction specific, you might need to search on national/state or local levels and not all legal info is internet-accessible.

Jackson will search Google for this kind of information using commands like:

jurisdiction

"public records"

probate

"legal records"

One SLA participant suggested Free Public Records Search Directory, which aggregates links to free public record searches in every state and county in the United States.

Other public records sources include patent searches using resources like the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and an audience member also suggested Free Patents Online.

For product pricing strategy or ballpark numbers, Jackson suggested turning to sources providing information on state and government contracts and proposals. On a federal level try the GSA and start with State and Local Government on the Net at the state/local level.

And don’t forget to check the Federal Election Commission for campaign contribution information.

Searching local and industry news sources can provide a myriad of information on a company, such as location, openings, site growth, people, events, issues, employees, employment situation, management changes or company profiles. For industry sources search for trade papers or journals and for associations, organizations or user groups, as well as searching on theproduct or technology. For the latter resources, search the site or use the Google site operator to search for your company. An audience tip was to look for and follow bloggers who follow an industry or company. To find to find home city pubs/industry sites or trade papers, Jackson might search with these kinds of terms +city +newspaper or +industry +journal

Social networks: Jackson uses Twitter.com, LinkedIn.com and Slideshare.com to mine for company information. He suggests checking out his podcast: “CIP 023: Using Social Media for CI Interview with Suki Fuller, CI and Social Media Evangelist.” Direct download

LinkedIn can provide locations, organizational chart information, targets for primary research, hints of business initiative, employee skill sets and perspectives of customers. Don’t forget to check the Groups or the company search on LinkedIn.

Ning.com is an online platform for people to create their own social networks, similar to the groups onLinkedIn. Good place to look for company or industry specific information.

To find other industry specific social networks, Jackson uses Google and the search terms: +industry +”social network”

Slideshare.net is sort of like a YouTube for PowerPoint presentations. People often post their business presentations there.

On Twitter, Jackson suggests going to the Advanced Search and searching on the company name. You’ll find people to follow, opinions, events, news…and well, whatever else is out there on twitter… ;-) He suggests setting up RSS feeds of your company twitter searches to monitor.

Because of the wall coming down, we didn’t specifically get to 7) Job Sites or 8) Google Maps. The job boards, general or industry-specific can indicate changes or products and services being developed by the skillsbeing sought or the numbers of employees being sought. Google maps can offer the CI practitioner a bird’ eye view or street view of the facility: count parking spaces or see expansion, etc.

Great session. I’ll definitely be checking out his blog (augustjackson.net) and podcasts! Thanks August!

--Mari Keefe, Editorial Project Manager, Computerworld

Notes from the Chair: Ready for the Unpredictable Future

2011-06-09T17:01:00.018-05:00

When I was growing up, I had a science book with an illustration that fascinated me: a vision of Paris in the year 2000 from a century ago showing flying streetcars and aerial cafes. At the time, flight and electric trains were cutting-edge technology that fascinated the public in how they would lift the average person off terra firma. This seems a quaint steampunk fantasy to us today.

Credit: Mydelineatedlife.blogspot.com

It's a reminder that it is natural to always be thinking about what the future might be, and that even with all the reaching, refining and adapting of those ideas, future visions don't materialize in quite the ways we think they will.

I enjoy reading about futurists' meetings in which scientists from various disciplines convene and form their predictions; one in particular said that in the future, journalists would have a small camera affixed to a contact lens, and narrate their observations in a hands-free, unfettered, real-time fashion. This didn't mention anything about an editor, or a filter. Perhaps this gadget was obsolete before being invented, since now there is wide awareness of Twitter.

Now that there are many more observers, reporters and storytellers, it's said that any every company is a media company -- there's much more information being produced than a person can make sense of. As journalists, we've participated in this, and know of the critical need for skills and tools to synthesize meaning from these random units of information. We may talk about the decline of manufacturing, but we're just making different things -- one being information, and lots of it.

The Special Libraries Association has had a 'Future Ready' theme which continues this year. Four areas have been identified in order to be future-ready:

1: collaboration;

2: an adaptable skill set;

3: alignment with language and values;

4: building a community.

Thinking specifically about our news library colleagues, they are some of the most adaptable professionals I know, since many perform numerous functions in their constantly evolving companies. Along the way we've developed skills that have us well-positioned for the kinds of changes applicable to other industries. We realized years ago that collaboration provides more opportunities, as well as learning and growth, which are also essential, as the workplace has become leaner and changes in technology more rapid.

Alignment is identifying the needs and goals -- whether they are content goals or revenue goals -- and seeing what's emerging that might solve some of these problems. It is also awareness of language being used by managers, decision makers and industry leaders. Applying ideas to needs is true innovation.

Lastly, we have a great community of professionals. In a very demanding publishing environment we offer to help someone a world away either with their concerns or by providing an article. With our extensive network we know we can start a conversation or pick up a phone to ask a colleague how they would either approach an issue or make a recommendation. We renew ties at these kinds of face-to-face meetings, at annual and regional events or as one of our members remarked: 'All year long, no one knows what you do. Then you come here, and everyone knows.' It's nice to be able to participate in that, as those who are attending this week's SLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

Just like information, change is relentless. We may not yet have video cameras affixed to our eyeballs or be hurtling through space in our jetpacks, monorails and silver unitards, but as professional stewards of information, we're ready for whatever the future may bring.

--Leigh Montgomery

Division Chair-Elect wins SLA diversity award

2011-06-06T13:24:00.003-05:00

According to an SLA press release:

News Division Chair-Elect Elizabeth "Eli" Edwards, a temporary research librarian at the Seattle-based law firm of Foster Pepper PLLC, is the recipient of SLA's 2011 Diversity and Leadership Development Program Award, sponsored by EBSCO.

Eli is quoted in the release as saying "SLA has been an invaluable resource for me since I joined as a new MLIS student. But SLA is not just a resource; it’s a community of passionate, dedicated professionals who have served their clients and peers ably and are resolved to meet the challenges of 21st century librarianship and information management. I am exceptionally pleased and honored to be awarded by SLA and I look forward to contributing as a leader, to SLA and the profession at large."

Congratulations, Eli!

--Julie Domel

SLA 2011 Schedule of Events

2011-05-29T14:15:00.005-05:00

Here is a list of the News Division programs at the 2011 SLA Conference in Philadelphia. For more information about the conference, check out the Conference Planner on the SLA website.

Saturday, June 11
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tour of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Sunday, June 12
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
News Division Executive Board Meeting

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
News Division Open House and Silent Auction

Monday, June 13
7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
The Useful Archive
Speakers: Ed Summers, Information Technology Specialist, Library of Congress, and Derek Willis, Researcher, The New York Times
The Linked Data movement is an effort by W3C, the Library of Congress, and others to link heretofore unconnected data and make it findable on the Semantic Web. The session panelists will explain the purposes and goals of linked data, how it works, and how it can make your archives more useful for internal users and external information seekers.

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Intentional Misinformation on the Internet
Speakers: Anne Mintz, DeskSet Intelligence, and Elizabeth Edwards, Independent
This session will focus on consequential examples of intentional misinformation and remedies for those who are caught unawares.

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
News Division Business Meeting

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
News Division Awards Reception

Tuesday, June 14
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Researching Privately Held Companies: Information Sources and Techniques That Work
Speakers: August Jackson, Market Intelligence Analyst and Project Manager, Verizon
A key issue facing information and CI professionals is obtaining information on privately held companies. Attendees will learn how to solve one of their biggest information challenges.

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Taxonomies and News
Speakers: Keith DeWeese, Director, Information and Semantics Management, Tribune Company, and Seth Earley, CEO, Earley & Associates, Inc.
The panel will focus on the automated indexing of news content in the context of ontology development and with taxonomy, controlled vocabulary management, and algorithms/logic/axioms implicit.

Wednesday, June 15
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
"Opening" the Special Library: Open Source, Open Content, Open Data and More
Speakers: Mike Linksvayer, Vice President, Creative Commons, and Amanda Hickman
This session will feature an interactive discussion of the merits and drawbacks of implementing and using these new technologies and protocols. Is “open” reliable, authenticated and trustworthy? Are management and IT on board? The session will include a demonstration by DocumentCloud, an open source document repository/OCR resource for journalists and others working with primary documents.

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Mining Public Records
Speakers: Bridget Gilhool, Head Librarian, Antitrust Library, U.S. Department of Justice, and Jennifer McMahan, U.S. Department of Justice
Moderator: Marie Kaddell, LexisNexis
This program will cover sites and strategies useful in public records research. We will demonstrate creative ways to use (mostly) free sites on the Web to find location and real property data, birth/death and marriage/divorce records, company affiliations, professional licenses, court records, and more.

--Julie Domel

Visiting the City of Brotherly Love

2011-05-22T17:10:00.005-05:00

To help conference-goers prepare for their trip to Philadelphia, News Library News offers a few resources.

"The City of Brotherly Love" was founded by William Penn in 1682, so named because of the easy exchange with the Swedish settlers and others already occupying the land granted to him. Penn had become a Quaker, much to his father's dismay, and hoped to find a place where all could live in peace.

Philadelphia holds an important place in our nation's history. It was where:

The Continental Congress met

The Declaration of Independence was signed

George Washington was elected our first president

The first mint was located

The Bank of North America was established

The city also served as our nation's capital until 1800 -- when it was the largest city in the U.S. -- and is where the famous Liberty Bell is located.

Get in touch with the history of Philadelphia with ushistory.org from the Independence Hall Association. At PhillyHistory.org, you can view historic images from the city's photo archive with contributions from several archives and libraries.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is "a civic project to increase understanding of one of America’s greatest cities." The site contains a collection of essays on topics about the history and culture of the city.

The official visitor site can help you find things to do and see during your free bits of time away from the conference.

In addition to the information found on the Convention and Visitors Bureau's site, they also offer an online version -- and a downloadable one for the iPad -- of their Visitors' Guide.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's philly.com offers their own Guide to Philly.

If anyone has any suggestions of not-to-be-missed attractions, restaurants or other places of interest, please leave them in the comments.

--Julie Domel

Aside Bar -- From the Editor

2011-05-15T17:32:00.005-05:00

At this time last year, I was pouring over the SLA conference materials and debating which sessions to attend (little did I know what additional obstacles would soon come my way). In New Orleans, we decided to move News Library News over to a blog format, and this year's conference marks the first one we will be tackling that way.

While I wish I could be there with all of you in Philadelphia, I want to try some new things to bring a little bit of the conference to those of us who are unable to attend. I have three volunteers (and would be happy to have more) who will be our eyes and ears at the sessions and events. We will also be thrilled to post any slides or other materials from moderators, presenters and panelists (so send those files and links!). Or you can send us a photo or two from your adventures.

In the coming days we'll be bringing you some additional materials to help you plan your schedule of events -- or perhaps just a list to drool over for those of us attending in spirit.

If you can't make it to Philly, don't lose hope. Summer is a great time to take a moment to learn something new. Perhaps things slow down -- even a little bit -- in your library for you to peruse some new websites; learn how to use something more efficiently, like a new formula in Excel or the search language in your archive system; or a new skill, e.g., a programming language or wiki coding.

Even if vacationing co-workers or unsure interns keep the pace fast, take the time anyway. Just like we all need a vacation from the daily grind to keep us fresh, your brain may like the "fresh air" of something new.

--Julie Domel

News researchers recognized with IRE awards

2011-04-08T15:25:00.011-05:00

Congratulations to several of our news research colleagues recognized alongside coworkers for their contributions to investigations winning 2010 IRE Awards:

John Martin, St. Petersburg Times, for "Under the Radar"

Maloy Moore, Los Angeles Times, for "Breach of Faith"

Barbara Van Woerkom, NPR, for "Prison Profiting: Behind Arizona's Immigration Law"

Carolyn Edds and Shirl Kennedy, St. Petersburg Times, for "The Perfect Pension Fund," which was a finalist for the FOI Award

A Tech Tips Roundup

2011-03-13T16:02:00.014-05:00

It has been a long winter here in the mid-Atlantic where I am, which means I had plenty of time indoors to check out some great new tools and utilities for libraries and librarians. There's no theme or organization to these, but they represent some of the best things I've seen in the realm of creating and managing information. Let's get to it!

CAR Conference

This year's Computer Assisted Reporting conference by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) was loaded with good ideas and tutorials. Chrys Wu has collected a lot of them on her blog, and many of them have applications in the library, such as:

NodeXL for Social Network Analysis by Peter Aldhous of New Scientist. Shows how an Excel plugin can be used to create a network analysis. Great for projects that involve keeping track of many people.
Google Refine tutorial and datasets by David Huynh of Google. If you ever have to clean up or standardize some information, Google Refine might make your life much easier. It runs on your desktop, too.
A Gentle Introduction to SQL using SQLite: slides, full tutorial and steps only by Troy Thibodeaux of the AP. If you want to get started learning databases, this is a great way to go. SQLite is most likely already on your computer.

Linkypedia

With the rise of Wikipedia, many researchers are interested in how often and where links to external sources appear in the volunteer-edited encyclopedia's article references. Ed Summers, a developer at the Library of Congress who will be speaking at the Special Libraries Association conference in June, has a project that tracks references in Wikipedia.

Called linkypedia, the project can be set up and run on a local computer. It accepts one or more domain names or URLs (nytimes.com, for example) and scans Wikipedia for links in article references. Here's a screenshot of the results for a search on http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/, which is our congressional database at The Times:

Ed is working on making a public, hosted version available for others to use, but if you have administrative rights on your PC and are feeling adventurous, you can try to set it up yourself. I'll be glad to walk anyone through the process.

New FOIA Resources

For those of us who deal with public records requests, a new site from the Department of Justice may come in handy. FOIA.gov launched in March as a portal site for news and statistics about the processing of federal Freedom of Information Act requests. It shows percentages for full, partial and denied requests by agency along with other reports. Good reading for people who want to learn how to become a better FOIA submitter.

A few days before, the folks at the Investigative Reporting Workshop, based at American University, launched a new blog called Exemption 10 that covers federal FOIA issues. It is primarily written by Wendell Cochran, the Workshop's senior editor.

A Basketball Database

This being March, basketball is a big topic. And while it's not college-focused, the Los Angeles Times recently took the information it had collected about the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and compiled it into a searchable and browsable database that should inform and entertain fans. It also is a great internal resource for reporters, since they'll have a single place to look up facts and refer to when trying to settle those all-important sports desk debates.

Notes from the Chair: What is the SLA News Division?

2011-03-02T16:27:00.012-05:00

...And why should I join?

These are questions I've been answering for librarians, LIS students and many other curiosity-seekers. As the new Chair and a longtime member of the News Division, I am well-suited to spreading the word about the advantages of getting involved. When reviewing our 297 members, I've noted we have varied titles and responsibilities and regularly discuss the evolving roles.

The latter is key. News librarians -- information professionals involved in creating, managing, archiving or curation -- are some of the most versatile professionals I've known in any industry. A decade ago, when the Internet was finally being adopted in newsrooms, we were performing analytic journalism and working with data. In that spirit, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web said in a recent speech that data analysis would be the future for journalists. It turns out the future was already here.

Many of us have been involved in creating wikis -- websites that allow the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a browser -- and have endured repeated questions about their practicality. In the ten years since the editable online encyclopedia Wikipedia was created, and after issues of centralizing and sharing critical information raised by the release of global intelligence information through WikiLeaks grabbed the public's consciousness, this phenomenon is slowly starting to be understood. Knowledge-management professionals know full well that information, documents or other media have to be both searchable and actionable -- something Peter Drucker, the management theorist and originator of the term 'knowledge worker' anticipated fifty years ago.

Over the past few years as these resources have become easier to use and creating and sharing information is approaching second nature, we've built such tools for our organizations -- whether for managing electronic resources or keeping details of a complex issue or news topic in one place.

Additionally, digital archiving, training colleagues and creating content directly --or more likely all of these things -- are major components of the information professional's evolving responsibilities. These are just a few examples of what many of our colleagues do. But the News Division is for anyone who belongs to SLA and is concerned with news and media in their job -- or is considering a career in this field. So here are a few reasons why you should join:

1. We need you. The Division exists because so many of our former colleagues considered joining organizations essential to training the next generation. They believed strongly in volunteering, assuming leadership positions, soliciting and circulating ideas and conceptualizing learning opportunities in the form of annual conference programs, regional events and innovative techniques of virtual education. Put simply, our group is better when it is larger, and it grows when people are curious enough to check off the box for the News Division when they join or renew their SLA membership.

2. A professional association membership is advantageous to you. Good managers look for employees who are active in their own professional development. In addition, many look for qualities that indicate a professional who's not only working to make the industry better, but who also is concerned about something larger than him or herself. It also puts your colleagues on notice that this is an important profession within the information industry. This benefits all of us.

3. Networking and community building. Joining and being active within the News Division increases the division's visibility and efforts, as well as enlarging our circle. You create connections with members who could help open a door in many ways.

4. You'll learn continuously. Derek Willis, one of our colleagues who is an evangelist for programming and database journalism, has said of the SLA Annual Conference: "It's great for learning many things in one place." We're extremely fortunate that Derek agreed to serve as the News Division's Director of Education and Professional Development. Identifying directions we should be moving in and providing practical information that can be immediately applied is our goal. (Derek's blog, by the way, is another opportunity to learn about this kind of journalism in one place.)

In coming weeks we'll be talking more about what you'd like to see. Over my term I look forward to getting to know every single one of our members, where we're headed, and what's on the horizon.

- Leigh Montgomery, 2011 Chair

2011 News Division Awards

2011-02-22T11:29:00.004-05:00

From News Division Past Chair Amy Disch:

On behalf of the News Division Awards committee, it is my great pleasure to announce this year's recipients of the various News Division Awards.

Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award: Donna Scheeder
Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor Award (two recipients): Peter Johnson and Shira Kavon
David Rhydwen Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contribution to News Librarianship: Michelle Quigley, for compiling updated information for the census of news librarians
Certificate of Appreciation and Recognition: Kee Malesky for her service to the News Division and for her book All Facts Considered

The awards will be presented at the News Division's Awards reception during the SLA annual conference in Philadelphia. The banquet will be held on Monday, June 13, at the College of Physicians. (More details coming soon.) Many thanks to Kathryn Pease for organizing this year’s reception.

I want to extend my deepest appreciation to the awards committee members: Charlie Campo, Angelica Cortez, Linda Deitch, Julie Domel and Celia Donnelly.

Join me in congratulating this year's awards recipients!

The Aside Bar - Notes from the Editor

2011-02-13T17:10:00.004-05:00

The old saying is that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, but it seems to be applying very much to February.

If I'd been writing this during the early part of the month, I could have said "from snowy San Antonio," which is a bit unheard of in these parts. The winter has been harsh and gardeners are facing the effects of continued freezing temperatures. However, cutting back the dead bits uncovers small mounds of green -- hope for a Spring to come.

Likewise, we've seen thousands of Egyptians (and peoples of other countries in the region) coming together to protest peacefully for changes in the way their countries are governed. Anger has given way to hope for a new tomorrow -- and inspiration to others. Feeling ownership once again of their homeland, protesters who tore apart sidewalks are now putting them back together, sweeping the streets and picking up trash.

On the drive home the other night, I heard a story on NPR about British townspeople protesting the closing of their public libraries. One group went so far as to check out every single book in their local library! The worry is that if they close now, they won't ever re-open. I hope the protests are as successful as those in Egypt, but it sounds as if everyone is open to creative solutions.

While I hope that one day the news libraries that have closed during these terrible economic times will reopen, I also realize that our world has changed. Those of us who have managed to survive what has been a long "winter" have fought difficult battles, do more than we probably thought possible, are discovering new applications for our skills and are finding creative solutions to new problems.

Here's hoping we all flower with the coming warmth of Spring.

--Julie Domel

Call for Division award nominees

2011-01-24T14:44:00.005-05:00

Just a reminder...

Nominations for the News Division’s Joseph F. Kwapil and Agnes Henebry awards are due to Amy Disch by February 15.

Please include the name of the person, the name of the award and your reason for the nomination.

For more information on the awards, visit the division’s website.

New Library Profiler

2011-01-12T16:48:00.003-05:00

Please welcome Brian Fulton, the library manager of the Scranton (Pa.) Times Tribune, to the News Library News/NewsliBlog staff. He will be taking over as our library profile writer from NPR's Hannah Sommers, who had to step back from NLN due to some new SLA responsibilities.

If you have ideas for a news library to be profiled, please contact Brian at bfulton[at]timesshamrock.com

New Year News

2011-01-03T12:33:00.004-05:00

Shira Kavon of CNN reported on NewsLib that the Virginian-Pilot's Jakon Hays received a research credit on "the breaking story about incoming Commander Owen Honors of the USS Enterprise, whose suggestive humorous videos, which included anti-gay slurs, implied lewdness, and profane language, made with equipment from the carrier’s public relations unit, have come under official scrutiny. The videos were shown to service members assigned to the Enterprise."

In other news, Kate Bird of the Vancouver Sun sent NewsLib readers a link to a story by one of their reporters about the gems in their photo negatives collection. Also mentioned in that story is the assistance given by the Sun's news researchers.

Happy 2011, everyone!

Maudie Lawson, 1955-2010

2010-12-13T12:54:00.003-05:00

Maudie A. Lawson, news librarian at the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader, has passed away from colon cancer at the age of 55. She once worked as an obituary writer, and took the unique opportunity to write her own obit.

She asked that memorials be sent to the Hart Cemetery C/O Pattie Ayers, HC 2 Box 2794, Theodosia, Mo. 65761; Community Christian Church of Springfield, 4806 E. Cherry, Springfield, Mo. 65809 or Hospice & Palliative Care, 1538 S. Enterprise, Springfield, Mo. 65804.

Library Profile - Sandi Fox

2010-11-15T23:18:00.010-05:00

Tell us about where you work. Do you work mostly on a team? Solo? What are your deadlines like?
I am the Research Librarian for The PBS NewsHour, a national television and digital/online/internet news and analysis program broadcast over many PBS stations and overseas via various satellite networks. I am part of the Research and Archives Unit. My job is to provide research, reference and information services to the reporters, producers, production assistants and other staff members. Because we are a daily news show, deadlines are usually pretty quick. Sometimes, deadlines are longer for special projects -- such as working on a research file for a correspondent’s future overseas trip.

What drew you to this job?
I have always been a news junkie, even as a child. I knew that I was the right fit for a news library. I wanted to work for an intelligent and serious news program, so when The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer (as it was then called) advertised for a librarian, I jumped at the chance. As for what drew me to this particular “type” of job -- I like to do research. I like to find things. It is like solving a mystery or being a detective.

Is it what you expected? How so, and how not?
In some facets, it is what I expected. I knew I would be answering queries about politics, foreign affairs and current events. What I didn’t expect was not having a “lending library” where people could actually take out books. When I first joined The NewsHour I put together a basic library of books -- fully expecting people to “check them out” or browse (this was in 1995). But the fact that I was in a different building than most of the reporters and that the Internet really took off around this time meant that reporters were able to get their information online. Several of the basic reference materials were online as well.

How does the medium (television) impact the work that you do?
One basic way it impacts my work are in the types of queries I may receive. For example, I may be asked to find possible guest names for a segment. Does this guest have prior tv exposure/experience? I may be asked to find when a newsmaker said something on a TV show so we can incorporate it into a set up piece. On occasion I am asked to find graphics that can be used on air. Another major impact that I can think of is the deadline -- our show starts taping at 6 p.m. everyday, so all the information a reporter needs should already be in his hands.

What advice would you have for someone who sees your name in The NewsHour credits and says, “I want a job like that!”?
Be curious! Dare I even say...nosey? Read/Watch/Listen to the news and opinions in all formats. Also, be skeptical (not necessarily cynical, just skeptical). Have an open mind about what you read and hear and watch. Especially if you want my job -- The NewsHour prides itself on accuracy over flash -- it is more important to have the correct facts than just to have data to fill air time. On the extremely rare occasion that I can’t find a statistic, or if there are discrepancies, I will let the questioner know I don’t have a definitive answer.

How is your job going to change in the next 5 years? What would you like to change about it?
Technology will have an even bigger role than it does now. I also think (and hope!) that the intranet page we put together will be utilized more and more -- especially to answer simple queries. If the simple requests are taken care of, it will allow me to concentrate on bigger and more complex requests. I also hope to one day have the flexibility to work out of my home on occasion. With all this technology it is no longer necessary to be in the same physical place as your patron. This being said, sometimes I do miss having everyone in one building (the Research Department of The PBS NewsHour is in a different building than most of the correspondents and producers). I think there is something to be gained from personal face-to-face interaction. You can pick up cues from a person’s body language and demeanor. Are you understanding what the patron needs? Does the patron feel confident that you will get the information requested? Sometimes getting requests by phone or email doesn’t give you a chance to have a real conversation with the patron.

What I hope doesn’t change (and it won’t because The NewsHour will always be a serious, thoughtful and intelligent news organization), is being able to contribute to The NewsHour’s core mission: providing people with straight-forward news reporting and analysis.

Your question about how the job is going to change in 5 years got me thinking about the future of the news librarian and news library in general: For the last few years we have been reading about news libraries ceasing operations and news librarians losing their jobs. What, if anything, can be done to stop this? I don’t know how to answer this, but perhaps we can brainstorm about it and come up with a solution. Perhaps there can be a new way to think about news librarianship -- a new paradigm?

One idea that has been floating in my head is to have a News Library Consortium. This would be One Big Central Library-- located, say, in downtown D.C. The library would house all the physical materials needed for a good, well-stocked news library, including computers and other electronic resources. News librarians could have offices there. When a news organization needs someone to conduct research for them they could call and make a request -- then they would either get a librarian exclusively for the day, or contract with that person for a longer period of time. Once the time period is decided, the librarian would then be under exclusive contract with a specific news organization.

Another idea would be to have librarians grouped according to specialty. A news organization could call and request help from a business librarian or from the foreign affairs librarian. There are problems with this idea to be addressed. For example, news organizations, especially commercial ones, may have stories they are working on that are exclusive. But librarians are known for being discreet and respecting the privacy of their patrons; public librarians do this all the time. They don’t tell one patron the requests they receive from other patrons. Perhaps another way to approach this is to make it an online News Library Consortium with access to various news databases, business databases, health databases, etc. News librarians from around the country (or world) could access it and use the information for their clients.

--Hannah Sommers

Toronto Star librarian wins award

2010-11-02T20:39:00.003-05:00

Toronto Star librarian Peggy Mackenzie won an Online Journalism Award for best online video journalism (large site) for her work with Star colleagues on William Kamkwamba, a Malawian man who used junkyard finds to harness the wind for energy.

The original story is here.

Congratulations, Peggy!

Tech Tip: DocumentCloud for Librarians

2010-09-22T21:45:00.012-05:00

Documents - and the information they contain - are the lifeblood of news organizations. We read them, write about them, discuss them. And, every so often, we do the right thing and let our readers and listeners do the same. DocumentCloud is a project that could change the way that newsrooms deal with primary source materials such as government reports or court decisions. And news researchers should take full advantage of it.

First, a disclosure: DocumentCloud is run by a group that includes my current boss, Aron Pilhofer, and when I'm in New York I sit near the site's developers. So I've got a bias. But I think that when you look at what other journalists have been able to do with it, and consider the internal newsroom uses as well, you'll agree that it's a valuable tool.

One of DocumentCloud's great strengths is freeing information from file formats like the PDF, allowing it to be read and searched as you would almost any Web page. In this way, documents become a seamless part of the story, not a distracting trip away from it. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal recently used DocumentCloud to help present its project on civil rights era photographer Ernest Withers, who was also an FBI informant.

DocumentCloud made it easy not just to view the FBI reports, but also simple for reporters to draw readers' attention to the important bits via its annotation feature (it's the part in yellow here). That static PDF can now be a more interactive document, more Webby, if you will. The Arizona Republic used it to help explain SB1070 and the impact of a federal judge's ruling on it, inviting two attorneys to add their expertise.

These are two examples of public projects, but DocumentCloud can also be used to store documents that newsrooms might not want to share externally (yet). It's a great way to maintain a set of files that anyone from the newsroom can access and annotate, making it a good candidate for long-term project work. And when you're reading to show that work to the world, you can make any or all of the files public.

So how does it work? If you have, say, a PDF, you can upload it to DocumentCloud's servers, where it will be scanned and have the text extracted (electronic PDFs yield a better result, but DocumentCloud tries its best for images using Optical Character Recognition software). Then you can annotate the finished document. For more details, check out the FAQ.

DocumentCloud is free to use, so there's not much stopping you from giving it a try. Contact the folks there to get an invite; they love working with news organizations.

Notes from the Chair

2010-09-02T22:01:00.004-05:00

I can hardly believe summer is coming to an end and that the SLA annual conference was over two months ago.

In addition to the conference, my summer was consumed with a huge project at work: the simultaneous migration of our text and photo archive to a new system. I was however able to get in a 10-day vacation back home in Wisconsin, where I celebrated the “big birthday” I mentioned in my initial chair column, with family and friends.

In a past chair column and messages posted to NewsLib, I mentioned that the News Division was facing some serious challenges to its future, namely a marked decrease in our membership.

At the division’s annual board meeting in New Orleans, I introduced the idea of exploring an alignment with IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors). I had a conversation with IRE’s executive director, Mark Horvit, prior to the conference, and he was very excited about the possibility of working with our membership in either a formal or informal partnership. An enthusiastic conversation with one of our paper’s projects reporters, a long-standing member of IRE, made me even more excited about the idea.

Like many of you, I hold membership in both SLA and IRE and find both to be an equally important part of my professional development goals. One of the things about IRE that I found particularly appealing is the many workshops held across the country throughout the year and the organization’s increased emphasis on Web-based training, both attractive ideas for those of us who rarely get the opportunity to attend the SLA annual conference or are able to take advantage of training opportunities.

I appreciate the attendees at our business meeting letting me present my idea and sharing their thoughts. Concerns were voiced about an arrangement with IRE, namely the feeling that the organization would fail to meet the needs of some of our division members who work as full-time text or photo archivists or who work outside news organizations. I appreciate those concerns, but I also think some type of collaboration with IRE would be beneficial for us and provide growth opportunities.

A suggestion was made to survey our membership about their chosen professional memberships and about the IRE idea. I intended to create an online survey for that purpose after the conference, but as I’m sure you can appreciate, things got crazy at work with vacations and the migration project and my best intentions went awry. Look for the survey soon, I promise.

* * * *

In the meantime, our Chair-Elect-Elect and SLA 2011 conference planner Eli Edwards has been hard at work planning division programming for next year. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the conference, which leads me to a request. Since I won’t be in Philadelphia, I would deeply appreciate a volunteer to take over the role of planning the News Division’s Awards Reception. If you’re interested, please send me a message at adisch[at]dispatch.com. Thanks.

--Amy Disch

Extra Aside Bar -- From the editor

2010-08-29T15:54:00.008-05:00

The immediacy of a blog makes the subject of this post seem a little outdated, but we'd normally be addressing the SLA conference in New Orleans in the Summer issue and I didn't want it to go unmentioned.

My SLA experience was largely colored by the fact that I was wheelchair-bound thanks not to a parachuting accident but sheer clumsiness the week before. A special thanks to Amy Disch for helping me get around, as well as the random librarians I met along the way who volunteered to help push me here and there.

This year, the sessions to me seemed more informative than full of whiz-bang ideas to take back to your shop. Not that this is a bad thing; I still learned a lot.

The conference really started up Sunday night with the annual News Division Silent Auction and Networking Reception -- if you could find it. Just like rumors on the internet, news researchers had to separate tales of the real room number from the false reports. We thought we could just follow the noise, but with fewer of us present than in years past, we had to get to the right floor first. Then, the fun began and the goodies were bidded upon and won.

Bright and early on Monday, at Reality Check: Adapting to changes in media and dissemination, Angie Holan told us about Politifact.com and then Marcus Zillman told us about his bots and deep web research. Later, Tom Corbett, executive director of Cushing Academy's library, discussed how his facility went all-electronic at The All-Digital School Library: Managing Electronic Resources.

I moderated Evolving Roles: Conversations in the Round, a session co-sponsored with the Knowledge Management Division. Karen Huffman of the National Geographic Society, Cindy Hill of Hill Information Consulting Group, Jessica Baumgart (lately of Needle) and I all discussed how the role of librarian has changed over time and what we see for its future. We also took questions from the audience and had a great discussion. Thanks to Jane Dysart and Donna Scheeder for helping get the conversation started.

Despite the rain Monday afternoon, we were still able to celebrate our award winners that night at the News Division Banquet in the beautiful atrium of the St. Louis French Quarter Hotel. We enjoyed fabulous food and drink, networked with our colleagues and heard great speeches and stories about Linda Henderson, winner of the 2010 Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award, and Justin Scroggs and Jennifer Evert, winners of the 2010 Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor Award.

Tuesday morning, Brian Hamman of the New York Times taught us a little about programming and APIs at the mini-CE course, Introduction for Computer Programming for Info Pros. I would have loved to have had more time on this topic.

Next was a discussion of a newspaper digitization project at Louisiana State University in the Louisiana Newspapers: Microfilm Digitization Project session. Then, famed presenter Mary Ellen Bates shared ideas and strategies for Enabling Inherent Knowledge. I loved her descriptions of wikielves (general maintenance), wikifairies (make things pretty) and wikignomes (keep things tidy). But how about wikitrolls, who just like to post negative things?

Making us all feel old, the enthusiastic Ben Ilfield and Geoff Samek, co-founders of Sacramento Press, an all-local and all-electronic news organization, discussed how their site came to be and their methods of news-gathering. Their community presence is to be commended, even if it is a little more casual than our corporate parents would probably prefer.

New Orleans was a welcoming city, even if it rained a lot (but that is June for you). If you weren't able to attend SLA, I still suggest you visit New Orleans. I was there about a year after Katrina, and given that it's the fifth anniversary, I can tell you that the condition of the city has greatly improved. The tourist areas are fine and everyone is so friendly and happy to see you.

--Julie Domel

Aside Bar -- From the Editor

2010-08-15T17:37:00.007-05:00

Welcome to the next incarnation of News Library News!

With the troubles in our industry, the News Division has been shrinking, and with it our budget. As a result, we cannot afford to publish News Library News, even as a pdf anymore.

When the Division board met at SLA in New Orleans in June, they decided to try moving the content to NewsliBlog, whose content had become less regular over time.

Your Summer 2010 issue would be coming out about now, so here I am with the editor's column to start us out. Instead of receiving all of your content at once in a newsletter format, we'll be posting all of the usual features on a rotating basis. The content can be more timely and our contributors can even post more often, if they choose.

Plus, if you have an idea for content -- one-off posts are fine! -- you are welcome to run it by me and become a contributor yourself. Since this is a blog, it'll be a little less formal in style and length and more conducive to links and other such techie stuff.

I'm specifically interested in content from SLA in New Orleans. If you went to a cool session, especially a News Division program, and want to tell us about it, let me know ASAP. I'll be posting my own comments about SLA in the days to come.

--Julie Domel, NLN Editor

NewsliBlog becoming News Library News

2010-07-13T13:29:00.003-05:00

Coming soon! NewsliBlog will soon be the home of content for News Library News. More information to come, but if you are interested in contributing or have links, etc., to add to our lists on the right, please contact Amy Disch or me.

2010 IRE conference blog

2010-06-14T10:59:00.003-05:00

Doug Haddix, training director (and a former colleague and current friend of yours truly) at IRE, passed along this link to the 2010 IRE conference blog. Lots of interesting information that I believe would appeal to my fellow news librarians.

Also check out Twitter and use hashtag #IRE10 to see what was tweeted by IRE conference attendees.

News Division program for 2010 SLA annual conference

2010-04-07T13:02:00.001-05:00

The list of programs being put on by the News Division at the 2010 SLA annual conference in New Orleans is now posted on the division's Web site.

Many thanks to Chair-Elect Leigh Montgomery, who did a great job planning the events and Webmeistress Alice Pepper for posting the schedule.

News Library News: Winter 2010

2010-02-09T12:26:00.000-05:00

The Winter 2010 News Library News is online. What's there: Library profile of Beth Shankle, National Press Club; Two elected for News Division offices; Tech tips: Web Frameworks; and more.

Reception at the Library of Congress & Discounted Newseum Tour

2009-05-21T16:27:00.002-05:00

SLA News Division conference planner Amy Disch reminded us of the reception at the Library of Congress' Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room and offered a potential discounted Newseum tour based on interest. RSVP to her by June 1.

She writes:

"The News Division’s last scheduled event during the SLA conference is a reception on Tuesday evening, June 16 in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Room of the Library of Congress from 6 to 8 p.m. Our host will be Georgia Higley, Head, Newspaper Section, Serial & Government Publications Division. Many of you have sent me your RSVPs, so thank you! If you’re interested in attending and haven’t contacted me, please send a message to adisch at dispatch dot com by June 1.

I have decided to add one more item to your conference to-do list, a tour of the Newseum on the morning of Wednesday, June 17. With a group of ten or more, we can get a discounted admission rate of $16 per person.

Please let me know if you would be interested in attending the Newseum tour by June 1 and if you have any other conference questions, please let me know."

Cool Conference Programming, Early Bird Registration Ends Soon

2009-03-31T12:14:00.003-05:00

As conference planner Amy Disch pointed out in her message to Newslib about News Division programs during the SLA Annual Conference (Lyris might require you to log in to view the message), June 13-18, 2009, there are many fabulous reasons to attend this year's event in Washington, DC. If the tour of NPR hosted by its librarians or the open house in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Room at the Library of Congress don't get you excited, perhaps the continuing education course Doing More with Less might pique your interest. Learn about negotiating, time management, dealing with the census, using social networking sites for research, and the humor publication The Onion through other conference sessions. Network with colleagues. Celebrate 100 years of the association.

Take advantage of SLA's early bird discount by registering no later than Friday, April 3!

ATTN STUDENTS AND RECENT GRADS: Free Money for the SLA Annual Conference!

2009-02-24T17:53:00.003-05:00

The News Division of the Special Libraries Association invites graduate students and December 2008 graduates interested in a career in news librarianship to apply for the Vormelker-Thomas Student Award.
The award, co-sponsored by the News Division and ProQuest, is a $1,500 stipend to assist students attending their first Special Libraries Association Annual Conference. The 2009 Annual Conference will be June 14-17, 2009 in Washington, DC.
Selection Criteria:
1. Applicants must be members of the Special Libraries Association when they apply for the stipend.
2. Applicants must be attending their first SLA conference.
3. Applicants must be graduate students or December 2008 graduates interested in a career in news librarianship.
4. Applications must include:
• a word-processed essay (500-1,000 words) addressing an issue in news librarianship
• a letter of reference from a news librarian, a news editor, or a faculty member
• a resume
• a list of course work undertaken
• a statement of professional goals
• a statement of what the applicant expects to gain from attending the conference
5. Applications must be e-mailed no later than Wednesday, March 4th at 5 p.m.

E-mail applications to:
Justin Scroggs
Phone: 239-601-9065
Email: jscroggs[at]newsbank.com

A Word document with these stipend application guidelines is available via the SLA News Division Web site.

Obituary for Liz

2008-12-10T22:53:00.004-05:00

A nicely written obituary for Liz has been published on The Miami Herald Web site at http://www.miamiherald.com/news/obituaries/story/807999.html

Liz Donovan

2008-12-10T15:37:00.007-05:00

Liz Donovan started this blog in May 2003. It seemed appropriate to post here the message about her death that has been shared today on NewsLib and NICAR-L from Megan Waters at The Miami Herald.

From: Waters, Megan
To: The NewsLib mailing list
Date: Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 10:15 AMjavascript:void(0)
Subject: [newslib] FW: Liz Donovan

All -- We're sad to report that Liz Donovan has passed away. -Megan

-----Original Message-----
From: Hirsch, Rick - Miami
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 10:06 AM
To: .MIA Newsroom
Subject: Liz Donovan

Staff:

Liz Donovan, longtime news researcher at The Miami Herald and a good friend to many in our newsroom, died at a hospital in Gainesville, Ga. Liz had been battling lung cancer.

Liz worked with Woodward and Bernstein on the Watergate story (she is thanked in the book credits) at the Washington Post before joining The Herald in 1981. Here, she assisted hundreds of reporters on projects ranging from routine to investigative, before retiring in 2004 to Murphy, N.C.

She was a pioneer in database reporting and research, and her Infomaniac Blog was one the first of its kind. On it, she explains the name:

The "Infomaniac" title comes from a 1994 article about a new kind of news researcher by John Ullman in The Database Files newsletter. They named me Infomaniac of the Year that year.

We don't have more details yet, but will share them when we do.

Rick and Anders

Rick Hirsch
Multimedia Editor
The Miami Herald
www.MiamiHerald.com

New library/research bloggers

2008-09-27T10:32:00.001-05:00

Several have been added to the sidebar, including, today, Lu-Ann Farrar's Kentucky News Review, and Ask Us.

Catching up on the Conference

2008-06-19T01:47:00.002-05:00

Great session today on the future of news libraries. With all the recent announcements about buyouts and layoffs, some of us expected this to be a depressing session. Conversely, I think most of left encouraged and optimistic about the future. I believe we got the full audio recorded on this session. Amy will be posting that once she has caught up on sleep.

The session this morning on "There's gold in them thar files" also received great comments. You can view Elaine Raines presentation here.

The banquet Tuesday night had great food, drinks and company. Amy Disch presented the Vormelker-Thomas Student Award to Heather Cottle of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Chris Hardesty presented the Agnes Henebry award to Leigh Poitinger. Justin Scroggs presented the other Agnes Henebry award to me and also presented the Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award to Ginny Everett.

This Tuesday session, Using blogs, podcasts and newsgroups for competitive intelligence research, was pretty interesting. It was a session shared with the Competitive Intelligence Division and this presentation will not be posted to the Web. May have more information later about this.

I think there will be handouts forthcoming to the Web site from the other sessions on Tuesday that were not shared with other divisions, in particular the session on Web 2.0. Lots of interesting information from this session.

Although we had a smaller crowd at the conference this year, the silent auction on Monday night was quite successful. I don't remember hearing who won the pair of underwear from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer so I'm guessing some lucky person got that in the raffle of leftover items at the banquet on Tuesday night.

Jessica had already posted on her and Derek's great session. Keep checking the news division program for presentations and handouts. Several are up on that page.

And many pictures to come!

Technology Free-for-All

2008-06-17T10:37:00.002-05:00

The links and some notes for Technology Free-for-All with Derek Willis of The New York Times and me are on j's scratchpad and forjournalists.com.

Gas Prices Across North America

2008-06-16T11:56:00.003-05:00

With people gathered here from so many different places, I thought it might be interesting to compile a list of how much people paid for gas the last time they purchased it back home. List is below and I'll add names post-conference.

Wisconsin State Journal/The Capital Times $3.97 per gallon
Detroit Free Press, $4.05 per gallon
San Antonio Express-News, $3.89 per gallon
The Columbus Dispatch, $3.98 per gallon
St. Petersburg Times, $3.93 per gallon
San Diego Union-Tribune, $3.56 per gallon (a few weeks ago)
San Francisco Chronicle, California--$4.79 per gallon, Oregon $4.19 per gallon (fewer taxes in Oregon), Washington per gallon $4.39 (this person drove here)
The Ottawa Citizen, $1.29 per liter
Los Angeles--$4.59 per gallon
Tulsa World, $3.79 per gallon
San Jose Mercury News, $4.54 per gallon
Naples, Florida, $3.96 per gallon
Muskegon, Michigan, $4.18 per gallon

Sunday Evening in the Suite

2008-06-16T11:51:00.002-05:00

On Sunday night, we had the meet and greet of the mentors and mentees in the News Division Suite. Shira Kavon, who does an excellent job organizing this event, provided gift bags to the mentors and mentees. The bags included many items such as coffee from Pennsylvania, M&Ms, a coffee mug and small magic 8 ball to ask questions about the future. When asked about the future of news libraries, a magic 8 ball responded with "Ask again." It was an opportunity for newbies to meet experienced conference attendees. We got to catch up with colleagues we knew and meet some new ones. Heritage Microfilm provided some great appetizers and beverages, dinner for some of us.

Sunday afternoon CE Course

2008-06-16T11:45:00.003-05:00

On Sunday afternoon, several people attended the CE course, learning about researching social connections using Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Attendees learned how social networking services must become a crucial part of news research. Meg Smith, from the Washington Post, gave a great presentation in person and then Catharine Skipp, from Newsweek, joined virtually for the second half of the class. Smith's handout is here, also found on the SLA News Division Program page along with presentations and handouts from other sessions. Pictures from this session to come.

Suite times at SLA!

2008-06-15T20:06:00.003-05:00

The News Division suite is in room 3315 of the Sheraton, just a short walk from the convention center. On Sunday night at 7:30 p, it opens for the mentor/mentee meet and greet. Monday is the silent auction. See you there for some sweet suite times!

Tour of The Seattle Times

2008-06-15T16:41:00.002-05:00

About 20 to 25 people met at The Seattle Times early Saturday evening. We enjoyed a virtual tour of the intranet followed by a tour of the newsroom. We also enjoyed some light refreshments. Miyoko Wolf, a Seattle Times news researcher whose desk is in the newsroom, welcomed us. Katherine Long, Research editor/Weekly Review editor, provided the tour of the Seattle Times intranet, which is called the Cafe. Items on their intranet include the upcoming story plan/budget, forms for making requests from different newsroom departments, telephone directories, database lookups, an experts list and resources for reporters. After learning about the Cafe, Katherine and Miyoko took us on a tour of the newsroom. All of the newsroom staff are located on the same floor, but the floor is not a wide open newsroom as it is in some other shops. Different departments are in different corners. Two librarians share the library with the investigative team. It was an interesting and great evening! See a slideshow of pictures from the tour here.

SLA's Innovation Laboratory

2008-06-15T10:45:00.002-05:00

So far, I think the best thing about which I've learned by coming to the SLA Annual Conference is that SLA has an online space where we can play with and learn about all kinds of technology called the Innovation Laboratory. It's just the thing we need to get our fingertips wet with the latest and greatest. There are learning videos, sandboxes where we can play, and a look at cutting edge technology. Daniel Lee, who like me is a candidate for director, told me a little bit about it during one of the board activities. One of the women who worked on it gave a presentation about it during the Leadership Development Institute Sunday morning.

News Division members Richard Geiger and Regina Avila worked on the 23 Things portion of the new online tools. It's a 9-step program to help us adjust to different technology.

Yay! What great resources!

Conference Time

2008-06-09T11:53:00.003-05:00

The annual Special Libraries Association conference starts this weekend in Seattle. The News Division has a great program planned. Are there any conference attendees interested in blogging the conference? Space is available here. Just email me or NewsDiv webmaster Amy Disch to get set up with a password.

Or, if anyone's blogging separately, Twittering, or any other form of communication from the conference, send a link and we'll post it here. There is a new News Division Facebook page, which you can join if you're a Facebook member (or join Facebook).

Internship at CNN Chicago

2008-05-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

CNN's Chicago bureau has a need for an intern this
summer to work with its video collection. If
interested, please send appropriate materials by June
15th to Jennifer Turner, CNN Library at
Jennifer.Turner@turner.com.

Internship - CNN Library – (Chicago)

Please Note: Internships are UNPAID and structured to
last approximately 10-12 weeks, generally in the
format of typical college semesters. A resume and
cover letter are required for application. Please
include days/hours of availability in your cover
letter and three references at the end of your resume.
Students should have a strong academic record (a 3.0
GPA or higher) and good character. Students must
currently be enrolled in and pursuing a Master of
Library Science (MLS) or some variation. Note to
International Students: All international interns will
be required to provide documentation of proper visa
paperwork prior to arrival. Only J1 or F1 student
visas will be accepted. Deadline is June 15th.

Internship Description: The CNN Library functions as
both as a research center and video archive, and
supports worldwide newsgathering and production for
CNN networks and web sites, as well as other Turner
companies.

The Chicago Bureau manages coverage in a 12-state
region that includes Dallas, Denver and all points in
between. It covers a wide range of stories, both
breaking news and scheduled features.

This internship will focus on video cataloging -
assessing the Chicago Bureau’s video for archiving and
then cataloging selected video in the Library content
management system.

Qualifications: Candidate must currently be enrolled
in and pursuing a Master of Library Science (MLS) or
some variation, with an interest in or focus on
journalism or special libraries preferred. Candidate
should have knowledge of Chicago/Midwest current
events and recent history. Candidates should be a
highly motivated self-starter who is detail-oriented
and able to work independently. Effective written and
verbal communication skills are a top priority.

Again, if interested, please send your resume, cover
letter, three references, and hours of availability to
Jennifer Turner, CNN Library at
Jennifer.Turner@turner.com

Database producer opening, Chicago

2008-04-25T18:23:00.000-05:00

Company: Chicago Tribune Interactive
Job Title: Database Producer
Description: Chicago Tribune Interactive is looking for someone with a great nose for data and a knack for helping present that data to online users in compelling, innovative ways. This person should be a hybrid journalist-techie -- at home in both worlds and ready to lead its online database efforts.

The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation in online media and a proven ability to execute complex editorial database projects. This is not exclusively a programming position, but it will likely require a great deal of hands-on coding.

The position requires excellent communication and team skills, and a flair for explaining complex concepts and procedures to others in clear and compelling ways.

Duties:

-- Oversee development of useful public interfaces to local data collected by Tribune journalists and third parties. Key content areas include real estate, crime, education and sports.

-- Imagine novel ways for users to interact with information and, where appropriate, contribute to and edit information.

-- Work with the newspaper's database experts, Web editorial staff and product-development teams to plan and execute online database projects

Qualifications:

-- 2-4 years experience with database programming, preferably in a media environment

-- Bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical degree preferred

-- HTML/ DHTML/CSS

-- SQL/MySQL

-- PHP/Perl/Python

-- Web Scraping

-- Basic knowledge of Flash

Additional (nice but not required):

-- JavaScript/XML/AJAX

-- PostGreSQL

-- WEB Frameworks (Django or Ruby on Rails)

-- Google Maps/Yahoo! Maps API

If you are interested in applying, or know someone who would be a great candidate for this position, please direct resumes and cover letters to Ben Estes at bestes@tribune.com.

Student Stipend Applications Sought: $1500 to attend SLA. Deadline: Wed., 4/16

2008-04-11T08:52:00.003-05:00

Hey LIS graduate students and recent grads interested in news librarianship: want $1500 to help fund your first trip to the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference? We members of the Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award Committee eagerly await your applications! Complete application instructions are at: http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/about/vormelker2008.htm.

Selection Criteria:

Applicants must be members of the Special Libraries Association when they apply for the stipend.
Applicants must be attending their first SLA conference.
Applicants must be graduate students or December 2007 graduates interested in a career in news librarianship.
Applications must include:

a word-processed essay (500-1,000 words) addressing an issue in news librarianship
a letter of reference from a news librarian, a news editor, or a faculty member
a resume
a list of course work undertaken
a statement of professional goals
a statement of what the applicant expects to gain from attending the conference

Applications must be e-mailed no later than Wednesday, April 16 at 5 p.m.

Yes, it seems like applying for the award is a lot of work, but it's worth it. The money really helps defray the cost of the conference and the award looks pretty on a resume. Few people apply, so your chances of winning are very good. Past winners include a lot of folks who go on to do great things for news librarianship.

Job notice

2008-03-28T12:50:00.001-05:00

I haven't been cross posting job offerings from the NewsLib listserv, but got a direct request to post this one:

The Sports Illustrated library has an opening for full-time research librarian. The library provides both reference and in-depth research for Sports Illustrated reporters and writers.

Requirements:

--M.L.S. from ALA accredited school preferred.

--Experience working in a news or special library.

--Extensive experience using various databases (including Nexis, Dialog, Factiva, Autotrack and Accurint) and the internet.

--Knowledge of standard print reference sources.

--Familiarity with cataloging, database design and construction (specifically Inmagic or Filemaker Pro) and archival preservation are also a plus.

Applicant should have excellent communication skills, be creative, flexible and have a broad knowledge of sports.

Please send resumes to:

Joy Birdsong

Sports Illustrated

1271 Ave. of the Americas, 32-318

New York, NY 10020

e-mail: Joy_Birdsong@simail.com

Fax: (212) 522-1719

Going to Internet Libraria 2007?

2007-10-27T23:14:00.000-05:00

A few SLA News Division members usually turn up at Internet Librarian. Raise your hand if you're going and keep an eye out for some division members. The conference is from Monday, October 29, through Wednesday, October 31, in Monterey, California. It features a lot of the latest Internet technologies and why librarians should pay attention to them.

Blogging the conference

2007-06-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

Thanks to J for posting about the conference. J has also posted some on her own blog.

Here's what I posted on my news research blog a couple days ago:

The News Division blog I started a few years ago for one of the SLA conventions is still available for posting from attendees, but no one has updated the blog in a long time. I've been tempted to at least add job postings there but since I'm not really a member any more (despite occasional contributions to the listserv), have hesitated to do it. If anyone attending the conference is reading this and wants to post to the blog, email me and I'll set you up.

The News Division, however, has a great program for the annual meeting. Hope everyone's having fun! (I would love to be a fly on the wall at this morning's Future of News Libraries seminar just to hear Mark Hannan, Jr, Reference Desk Director at USA Today. His father was my beloved boss, research director at the Washington Post, long ago.)

For news of the meetings, InfoToday's Blog is again covering the convention from inside. The buzz from yesterday and today is mostly about Al Gore, who did a book signing and a keynote speech. Of course there's also an SLA blog by attending members, including, I hope, some News Division members.

SLA Update: Monday

2007-06-05T12:20:00.000-05:00

The Special Libraries Association Annual Conference is filled with lots of News Division goodness. I've spent lots of time in News Division sessions, hanging out in the suite, and catching up with our fellow News Division colleagues.

The Denver Post tour last night was terrific. Their new digs are gorgeous. I think we spent more time talking on the 10th floor balcony than we did touring the library, oohing and aahing over its index cards and old photos. Thanks to our colleagues there for hosting us!

Afterward, I walked up the capitol and stood on any number of steps that might or might not be exactly one mile above sea level.

The Future of News Libraries session yesterday might be my favorite session so far. We're in times of great change and we need to learn how to adapt and cope. Learning what our colleagues have been through was inspiring. Nora Paul's review of technology and images was fabulous.

I know quite a few of you are really eager to find out what's happening at the conference. I've got too many balls in the air right now to do an adequate job of covering everything in real time, but I hope to be able to post notes here and on j's scratchpad eventually.

Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award

2007-02-01T14:44:00.000-05:00

Each year, the News Division of the Special Libraries Association and ProQuest generously contribute $1,500 toward the Vormelker-Thomas Student Stipend Award, which is presented to a recent graduate or graduate student interested in pursuing a career in news librarianship. The money enables that student to attend their first Special Libraries Association conference, which this year is being held June 3-6 in Denver, Colorado. This is a wonderful opportunity to attend some terrific sessions and to meet and network with your future colleagues.

Deadline is Friday, March 23, 2007.

Library recognition

2007-01-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Nice tribute to the CBC's library in the Inside the CBC.com blog: Our Secret Weapon: The CBC Reference Library with nice staff photo.

Also, last month, in case you missed it, here's another nice note for news librarians: Credible and Credited: the rise of Newspaper Librarians (PDF) study from the UK of The Guardian's library.

Dispatches from Internet Librarian

2006-10-23T16:15:00.000-05:00

I'm at Internet Librarian, along with some of our news library colleagues. If you'd like to read along, I've been posting notes from the sessions. Some of the rooms have wireless Internet connections, so I'm blogging live when I can.

Summer 2006 News Library News is up

2006-08-15T21:01:00.000-05:00

The Summer 2006 issue of News Library News is now posted on the News Division's Web site. It's full of interesting articles detailing the goings on within the News Division at the annual SLA Conference held in Baltimore in June.

This is also editor Kathryn Pease's last issue. Kathryn did a terrific job and it was a pleasure working with her the past two years.

Our new editor is Leigh Montgomery of The Christian Science Monitor. Welcome Leigh, we look forward to working with you.

On researchers

2006-07-31T09:45:00.000-05:00

American Journalism Review has a nice article by an editorial assistant, Alia Malik, about news researchers: Beyond the Byline. Several news researchers are quoted or mentioned here, including the Sun-Sentinel's computer assisted reporting expert, John Maines.
The others: The Union-Tribune's Erin Hobbs, Denise Davidson, Peter Uribe and the late Cecilia Iñiguez; Columbus Dispatch's Jim Hunter; Anne Holcomb of the Kalamazoo Gazette; National Geographic's Ellie Briscoe; Michael Panzer of the Philadelphia Inquirer; and Raleigh's Denise Jones.

Nice quote from Maines:

"I'm in the back of the airplane," he explains. "I'm the navigator, I'm the bombardier. I'm not the person who's flying the plane, but my job's extremely important, and they're relying on me to make sure we get where we're going and that we don't drop a bomb on a church."

One more in a growing list of recognition for news researchers.

Atlanta job

2006-07-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

This job is no longer posted.

2 jobs in NY

2006-07-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

Job title: Senior Information Specialist

Salary: Open

Location: New York, New York

Employer: Forbes, Inc.

Type: Full Time - Experienced

Category: Arts, Entertainment, Media

Required Education: Masters in Library or Information Studies

Forbes Inc. seeks an experienced Information Specialist to join our staff. The primary responsibilities will include but are not limited to performing research upon request from the editorial and other staff. This includes research that is performed online, with print resources, and via telephone. Responsibilities include recommending acquisitions for the collection, both online and print.

The requirements for this position include an MLS from an accredited program, coursework in advanced or specialized reference, and a minimum of five years related employment experience with online database searching. Familiarity with automated library environment is required. Some technology related work is included in the responsibilities (e.g. catalog maintenance). Experience in business or social science research preferred. Minimal managerial experience required.

Note: No relocation costs, local applicants preferred. Please email your cover letter, resume and salary requirements to careers@forbesinc.com. No phone calls.

Forbes is America's leading biweekly business magazine, reaching over 4.9 million readers. Since 1917, its mission has been to provide access to information and insights that ensure its readers' success. Faithfully fulfilling that promise is what draws today's most influential business leaders to Forbes.

Anne P. Mintz

Director of Knowledge Management

Forbes Inc.

amintz -- at -- forbes.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I am looking for a temporary researcher to fill in until a full time
researcher is in place.

This can be from 25-30 hours per week. The position will last from July
31 probably through Labor Day or perhaps a bit beyond.

Please send resume and cover letter to my attention via e-mail only,
with minimum hourly requirements (I think what we have in mind is quite
fair).

Requirements are: MLS or equivalent degree, experience in online and
print research in business and/or social science environment. Nexis and
Factiva fluency required.

Forbes Inc. is the publisher of Forbes, Forbes Asia, ForbesLife,
Forbes.com, American Heritage, American Legacy and other publications.
It is located near several major subway stops in Manhattan.

Anne Mintz

Anne P. Mintz
Director of Knowledge Management
Forbes Inc.
amintz -- at -- forbes.com
212-620-2499- phone
212-620-1811 - fax

Conference photos

2006-07-19T09:29:00.000-05:00

Barbara Semonche has created a page of photos from the SLA News Division awards dinner at her Park Library at UC website. A blast down memory lane to see Kwapil award winner Nora Paul after her several years away from news libraries, and nice to see the Miami Herald's Rafael Fernandez, a fellowship winner, well deserved. Several other favorite news librarians from years past -- and present -- too.

Conference presentations

2006-06-18T16:54:00.000-05:00

Presentations from the majority of Division-sponsored programs at the SLA annual conference are now available on the Division's 2006 conference page. Podcasts of each will be forthcoming.

Mary Ellen Bates has requested that her presentation be removed from the site after two weeks, so you may wish to print it out or save it to your computer.

Change is Constant: Tuesday's sessions

2006-06-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

Handling change in our industry was the theme at several sessions on Tuesday. Mary Ellen Bates talked about Special Library challenges, including the graying of the profession; special libraries competing with other departments with the organization; and attracting Generation Y.
She also said that library schools are not teaching some critical skills for special libraries: value-added online searching; post-processing analysis; marketing the library; leadership skills; communication & collaboration skills; teaching & speaking skills.
I hope there will be more on this session posted on the News Division web site, I plan to go back and catch up with the second half of her presentation since I had to leave early.
In another session called "Pumping Iron," News Division members reviewed results of a survey sent to members in April. About 70 members responded. The presentation gave loads of specific numbers for staff reductions and hiring practices in recent years. The librarians discussed how essential it is to be proactive in offering services to the newsroom and to the public.

Anne Holcomb, a solo librarian at the Kalamazoo Gazette, said she keeps on target by scheduling her day. Mornings for archiving, afternoons for long-term research, with deadline requests breaking in as needed.
Ginny Everett of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said libraries need to be poised to meet unanticipated demands. Her example was a film clip that was on the AJC web site. When readers started asking to buy it as a DVD, she was able to respond quickly.
Michael Meiners of the St. Louis Post Dispatch mentioned keeping his researchers front and center in the newsroom by seizing opportunities for researchers to train the newsroom.
Debra Bade of the Chicago Tribune talked about working with other librarians in a chain of newspapers to share ideas and info.

I expect more on this session to be posted to the Intranet as well.

Derek's Handout

2006-06-13T20:02:00.000-05:00

Here's the link to the brief handout from my session today that mentions some of the open source tools of the trade that I use. Thanks to everyone who came and asked great questions!

Podcasting to come

2006-06-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

Jim Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch told me he has been digitally recording most of the News Division presentations here in Baltimore. He said podcasts will be available on the News Division web site once the conference concludes. Very cool!

Fear not programming!

2006-06-13T09:40:00.000-05:00

News librarians need not fear programming, says Derek Willis of the Washington Post. He showed us how he uses programming like Python to create easy-to-use databases. To get a quick grasp of what he's doing, check out this Congressional votes database. This database is available to the public, but Derek has created similar databases on different subjects (Washington mass transit, the Pillsbury Bake-Off) for reporters to use inside the newsroom.
We should view this type of programming as not altogether different from Boolean searching, he said. It's just another way for us to capture and view information. It may seem intimidating, but it gets much easier the more you get into it.
Derek said he'll be posting notes on his presentation later today at his website, thescoop.org.
My two cents: I would have found this presentation near incomprehensible over a year ago. What helped me "get it" a little more easily was learning to blog with Blogger software and using an RSS reader, that helped get me more familiar with html and ways of manipulating it. Programming in Python seems like a couple of steps up from blogs and RSS -- hard but not inconceivable. So if you're clutching your head at the idea of Python, you might want to look at those two things as a way of getting comfortable with some of the terminology. Plus it's fun!
This post waaaaaaay oversimplifies things but I'm blogging this on the public workstations at the conference, and there's a 10-minute time limit.

Wiki wiki! Monday's sessions

2006-06-13T06:14:00.000-05:00

I liked Monday's wiki presentation a lot too (see Derek's post below). Wiki means quick, I learned, and describes how easy it is to contribute to a wiki. I was impressed by the different uses the news libraries found for a wiki.

The Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer uses theirs to share documents during breaking news stories.
The Columbus Dispatch has created a city almanac of people, places and timelines -- a geographic specific ready-reference resource.
At the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the library uses a wiki to host a department handbook that includes best practices, i.e. how to background a person, how to distribute the daily papers, etc.

The panelists said their Power Point presentations would be available on the News Division web site in about a week. I'll definitely be checking those out.
I also heard great reviews of the digitization panels they had yesterday, though sadly I did not attend.
Monday night, the highlight of the Proquest reception was the auction of a T-shirt from that said Times-Picayune: We publish come hell or highwater. (It sold for $80!) The whole room applauded after remarks about the work of news librarians and journalists during Katrina.

Newsroom Wiki Session

2006-06-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

This morning's session on newsroom wikis featured demonstrations of several research wikis in use at papers from St. Louis, Columbus and Raleigh. MediaWiki seems to be a popular choice for newsroom wikis, in part because it's very customizable and visually familiar. In most cases, newsroom wikis are being edited only by researchers; broader newsroom access doesn't seem to be very widespread yet. Thanks to Jessica, Mike Meiners, Susan Ebbs and Jim Hunter for a great session.

Sun tour

2006-06-12T09:57:00.000-05:00

Note Eli Edwards has a posting about the tour of the Baltimore Sun newsroom on the SLA blog.

Gwen Ifill at Opening General Session

2006-06-12T09:33:00.000-05:00

Gwen Ifill of PBS's Washington Week and Jim Lehrer's The NewsHour was the keynote speaker at last night's opening session. She started out to cheering when she revealed, "Once upon a time, I wanted to be a librarian." She said she learned to love reading at the library, and it was a place to meet boys and gossip with her girlfriends. She discussed how researchers at the NewsHour help her look good by prepping her for each day's unexpected topics.
She then reflected on how journalism is seeing highs and lows right now.
The good: Journalists are in all parts of the world reporting on international events. Recent investigations have exposed secret prisons and wiretapping programs. Sept. 11 has renewed interest in government, and people want to now how government works, and what happens when it doesn't work.
The bad: Journalists are under attack. Sometimes it's reasonable and sometimes it's not. She mentioned the U.S. Justice Department seeking the late columnist Jack Anderson's papers, and the Wen Ho Lee case, where news organizations settled because they feared the courts would force them to reveal confidential sources.
Also, the proliferation of news outlets has led to an increase in "infotainment" style news. People know who TomKat's baby is, but they don't know what's going on in Darfur. This development puts some responsibility back on the audience. "You have to take greater responsibility to get the news you need."
Gwen also said that many of the politicians she's met are "honorable people" trying to do good public service. The media does not do a good job of showing this, because it's not usually news when people do the right thing.
Nevertheless, Gwen said she remains idealistic. "Are we under fire? Probably. And I think that's a good thing. How else are we to be held accountable?"
Afterwards, Gwen took questions from the audience. On PBS's independence, she said she feels like it is solid. The wall between journalism and underwriting has not been punctured. She also discussed her moderation of the vice presidential debate. She said she had to be very, very careful not to tell anyone what the questions were or what order she would ask them. (Jim Lehrer gave her that advice, she said.) She also said the audience knows when the candidates don't answer the questions, as when Cheney and Edwards avoided her question on growing AIDS cases among heterosexual black women in America. Their non-answers speak for themselves, she said.
She spoke before a huge audience in the main ballroom, there were four giant video screens so everyone could see.

The News Division Suite is in 1502 at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel.

2006-06-10T17:51:00.000-05:00

The News Division suite is in room 1502 of the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel. Please join us there! Don't forget to pay your $25 suite fees.

To see what exciting events are happening in the suite, visit the News Division's conference schedule. If I recall correctly, the suite is open every night, though later on Tuesday because of the banquet. Don't forget about the fun Silent Auction Monday night and mentor and mentee night on Sunday--a great opportunity to meet some first time conference goers.

Come for the networking, stay for the view! (Don't forget your camera!)

An Intro to My Session

2006-06-05T21:32:00.000-05:00

Newslibbers, please forgive the shameless plug, but I wanted to give an introduction to my session next week at SLA. Somehow, the title got a little muddled, so it reads as "News Researchers: News Research in the Newsroom," which could only have been envisioned by the Department of Redundancy Department. At 7:30 a.m., perhaps a snappier title would be better.

What I'm hoping for is a conversation, which requires two things: an audience, and an idea of what I'm talking about. So here it is: for the past year I've been writing a series of essays about using technology to improve reporting and research in the newsroom. Next week, I'll be showing some examples of the stuff I've written about and explaining how researchers can implement them in their newsrooms. Hope to see you there -- your questions and comments are welcomed.

- Derek Willis

Conference blogs

2006-06-05T14:54:00.000-05:00

For more sources of news about the conference as it happens, don't forget to check the SLA 2006 Conference Blog, and the blog from Information Today.

Blogging the conference

2006-06-02T10:14:00.000-05:00

I want to remind everyone who will be attending the SLA conference in Baltimore next week that this blog can serve as a news source for those of us who won't be there. In the past, I've blogged the News Division happenings at the conference, and so has Jessica Baumgart and a few other members.

I won't be there this year, but J says she will be blogging some. Anyone is welcome to add posts, too. Just send me an email and I can set you up with a login to become a NewsliBlog contributor. If you don't want to log on to Blogger, you can send me an email with your news and/or photos, and I'll post it.

We'd love to see updates on the sessions, and anyone's photos!

(For examples, see blogging on the 2004 conference in the June archive, and from 2005. Our first blogged conference was 2003 in New York.)

Membership Directory and News Library News

2006-05-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note about two additions to the Special Libraries Association News Division Web site:

The 2006 SLA News Division Membership Directory is now available to members for downloading, thanks to Membership Chair Alice Pepper, the members of the Membership Committee, and Newsbank, which provides support for the directory. Information about how to access the directory is available on the Web site.

The Spring 2006 News Library News, which went online Sunday, contains several articles about Baltimore (the site of the 2006 SLA Annual Conference), a profile of The Baltimore Sun, some info about XML feeds, a bit about Gary Price's talk at Simmons College, and the newsletter's regular features. I'd say "check it out," but since you can download it, you don't need to borrow it from a library. <rim tap>

2 Travel Articles about Baltimore

2006-05-03T17:43:00.000-05:00

One of my SLA Boston Chapter colleagues posted links to two Boston Globe travel articles about Baltimore to the chapter discussion list. They give good suggestions about where to go, what to do, and where to eat, especially for literary types.

A read on Baltimore: A literary trail worth the legwork

Baltimore itinerary

Miami opening

2006-05-02T16:18:00.000-05:00

***JOB ANNOUNCEMENT***
The Miami Herald Newsroom Library in Miami, FL seeks a full-time English-language News Archivist to update and maintain the text-based database of published Miami Herald stories stored in the electronic archive SAVEWeb in conjunction with other newsroom Library staff. Other tasks are assigned as necessary such as photographic image digitization, digital image archiving, and adding English-language content to the online Newsroom information portal NewsNet.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Daily archiving of articles that ran in all Miami Herald editions, including Neighbors.
- Acts as a liaison to the Miami Herald Newsrooms; communicates archiving policy and procedure to/from the Library
- Helps maintain reading room and arrange archives
- Assists newsroom staff with the retrieval and use of Miami Herald archives in print and electronic formats
- Conducts occasional archival research
- Other duties as necessary to assure the smooth running of the department

REQUIREMENTS:
- English fluency required; Spanish language skills a plus
- Strong attention to detail, grammar, and typing skills
- HS Diploma; Associates or Bachelor's degree preferred
- 2 years database or data entry experience required
- Experience using Windows & MacIntosh applications
- HTML/PHP experience welcome
- Interest in current events, American history, and popular culture
- Ability to learn and continuously apply new knowledge
- Flexible, open-minded and comfortable with working on various tasks

Hours are Monday-Friday or Sunday-Thursday 40 hrs per week; days

Please forward a cover letter and resume via CareerBuilder.com
http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobseeker/jobs/jobdetails.aspx?pf=true&Job_did=J8A1FQ66RZFHXVHTWGT

News Division Activities during the SLA 2006 Annual Conference

2006-05-02T11:56:00.000-05:00

The Special Libraries Association News Division has lots of great and useful activities planned during the SLA 2006 Annual Conference. As in years past, the schedule will be in flux a bit going into the conference, but the details are there. Nowhere else can you find a better list of division activities, including committee meetings, than on the division's Web site. Links to conference presentations, etc., will be available through the Web site during and after the conference. Check the blog periodically, too, because some folks at the conference will be writing posts here, too. If I recall correctly, that means this blog is about three years old because Liz Donovan cranked it up in time for the 2003 Annual Conference and it's still going. Yay!

The News Division Suite, by the way, is in the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel. The exact location is still unknown.

Need a little cash to go? Don't forget that applications for the 2006 Hayden Fellowship are due Friday, May 6. The fellowship provides funds for professional development activities.

Palm Beach Post opening

2006-05-02T10:39:00.000-05:00

The Palm Beach Post has an opening for a News Research Librarian excited about journalism and information. The position is responsible for providing research services to the newsroom, bureaus, and business units. Knowledge of standard reference works, in-depth research services, public records, and current events necessary. MLS and previous news research experience required.

The primary responsibility of the News Research Librarian is to provide daily research and reference service to the newsroom, bureaus, and business units of The Palm Beach Post, La Palma, and the Palm Beach Daily News, which includes attendance at news meetings

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

- Online and traditional research and reference

- Stay abreast of new research, public records sources, and technologies, and confer with library director about them

- End-user training on specific topics and staff orientation

- Become active member of appropriate professional organizations

- Develop and maintain close communication with other library staff members and the newsroom

QUALIFICATIONS

- Master of Library Science

- Previous news research experience

- Online, internet, and traditional research skills

- Knowledge of public records’ use

- Excellent communication and writing skills

- Ability to work independently and prioritize research needs

- Strong computer skills including PC, Macintosh and web knowledge

- Familiarity with word processing, spreadsheet and database programs

- End-user training skills

- Reading and writing knowledge of Spanish a big plus

HOURS

Monday through Friday with some evenings, weekends, and holidays

Application deadline is May 31, 2006

The Palm Beach Post offers a competitive compensation and benefits package. Qualified candidates should send a resume with salary history and cover letter to:

Human Resources Dept.

2751 South Dixie Highway

West Palm Beach, FL 33405

Or Fax: (561) 820-4192

For information on our application process please call (561) 820-4145

Work in academia in Miami

2006-04-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

JOB POSTING - Miami, Florida

University of Miami

School of Communication Liaison / Reference Librarian.

The University of Miami Libraries invites applications and nominations for an enthusiastic and imaginative liaison reference librarian to provide library and
information services to School of Communication faculty and students and the greater university community. This is a new position.

For full details see: www.library.miami.edu/employment/employment.html.

Required:
ALA accredited master's degree or equivalent; minimum two years professional experience in an academic, research or special library; expertise in collection development, reference service, and library instruction/information literacy; demonstrated subject expertise in communication studies, advertising/public relations, journalism, broadcasting, video/film or related field. 12-month faculty appointment at librarian assistant or librarian associate professor rank; excellent
compensation and benefits.

Send letter of interest, curriculum vitae,
and the names of three references to Rudy Montejo, Personnel
Administration, University of Miami Libraries, P.O. Box 248214, Coral
Gables FL 33124-0320, e-mail: richter.recruiting@miami.edu.

The University of Miami is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Work at Sports Illustrated

2006-04-28T12:47:00.000-05:00

The Sports Illustrated library has an opening for a temporary (could become permanent)full-time research librarian. The library provides both reference and in-depth research for Sports Illustrated reporters and writers.

Requirements:

--M.L.S. from ALA accredited school preferred.

--Experience working in a news or special library.

--Extensive experience using various databases (including Nexis, Dialog, Factiva, Autotrack and Accurint) and the internet.

--Knowledge of standard print reference sources.

--Familiarity with cataloging, database design and construction (specifically using Inmagic or Filemaker Pro) and archival preservation are also a plus.

Applicant should have excellent communication skills, be creative, flexible and have a broad knowledge of sports.

Please send resumes to:
Joy Birdsong
Sports Illustrated
1271 Ave. of the Americas, 32-318
New York, NY 10020
e-mail: Joy_Birdsong@simail.com
Fax: (212) 522-1719

St Petersburg, FL position

2006-04-25T13:51:00.000-05:00

Missed this one earlier....

The position of Research Editor is available at Florida's best newspaper.

The St. Petersburg Times (FL) is seeking a replacement to manage one of America's top news libraries.

Under our current structure, this editor directs the work of our research librarians and the staffers who archive our stories and photos.

The editor oversees a budget, negotiates with vendors and takes a lead role in news department technology.

The editor is part of the paper's senior editor corps and works closely with departments outside news. While this structure has served us well, we are taking this opportunity to re-examine it and explore other options. All ideas welcome.

We are seeking someone with an MLS, supervisory experience, and prior newsroom experience. Top research skills are essential, as is familiarity with major commercial databases. Exhibiting grace under pressure and a sense of humor are also minimum requirements. Knowledge of the area or of the state of Florida is a bonus as is experience as a trainer.

Please send resumes and letters to Rob Hooker; Deputy Managing editor:

hooker -- at --sptimes.com

-or-

Rob Hooker
Deputy Managing Editor
St. Petersburg Times
490 1st Ave S
St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Position at New York Times

2006-04-21T09:32:00.000-05:00

(I thought I posted this yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared. If anyone else deleted it by request, please let me know.)

Researcher/ metadata specialist

The Times is seeking a researcher with specific skills in designing, editing and maintaining metadata for its multimedia resources.

Specifically, we are inviting a replacement for a job that we have known as a cataloger in our editorial library, but that now must include someone who selects, evaluates and relates various types of information resources in a comprehensive, logical and searchable system. Traditionally it covered books and magazines. It now covers reports, documents, video, DVDs, CDs, databases, web links, audio, books and magazines and whatever else comes down the pike that potentially contains useful, relevant, reliable information.

The Times has invested in a new cataloging system, capable of relating multimedia resources in ways we haven’t done before.

And it needs a driver...someone who can take a ‘document of the day’ relate it to other holdings, point to what can readily be obtained to amplify a story; someone who can monitor enterprise and add perspective. We seek someone with a demonstrated desire to seek out, vet, organize and share information in ways that make it easy, effective and more valuable to the end-user, in ways that capitalize on our existing print resources and combine them with new formats.

Duties would include developing and maintaining appropriate metadata for shared electronic access, cataloging electronic and print resources, and migrating print resources to digital access; keeping one eye on expanding resources of long term significance and the other on costs. The Researcher/metadata specialist, using good news judgment, will cull, collect and manage data, sources, links, and reference materials regardless of format, with the aim of sharing it all across a mobile newsroom with a continuous news cycle, the IHT, the Web, broadcast and other forms of publication.

If interested, contact ..

Barbara Oliver
Director of Research
New York Times
229 W 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036

barbol -- at -- nytimes.com

Researcher librarians and Pulitzers: another one

2006-04-21T09:19:00.000-05:00

Via NewsLib, the San Diego Union-Tribune announces that their researchers were part of their Pulitzer series. Congratulations to all. It's good to see that nearly every year, at least one Pulitzer includes a researcher component lately:

We want to point out that four staff librarians from The San Diego Union-Tribune received published credit on several stories in the entry that received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (as well as the 2006 George Polk Award for Political Reporting.) The reporting exposed the bribery and influence peddling by Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham that resulted in his resignation and prison sentence.

In addition to writers Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer of Copley News Service and Dean Calbreath, Bruce Bigelow and Onell Soto of Union-Tribune, the librarians are Cecilia Iniguez, Erin Hobbs, Denise Davidson and Peter Uribe.

Sadly, Cecilia passed away on April 19. We salute her spirit and dedication. We would also like to recognize the contributions of Erin, Denise and Peter and the rest of the library staff for this important watchdog journalism effort.

Sharon Reeves, Library Manager
Merrie Monteagudo, Library Research Supervisor
Anne Magill, Library Administrative Supervisor
The San Diego Union-Tribune

Another blogger

2006-03-23T11:47:00.000-05:00

Julie Domel, in San Antonio, maintains the Ask the Researcher blog at MySA.com.

Temporary job, Chicago (2 years)

2006-03-16T15:49:00.000-05:00

The Chicago Tribune has an immediate opening for a resident in its Research Center. This residency is a temporary two-year (but full-time) position based in our Chicago office. Primary duties for the resident will include: technical support of the Editorial intranet site, assisting with computer assisted reporting database work and other research projects as assigned.

Required: Master's degree in Library and Information Studies or equivalent; experience using research databases (LexisNexis, Factiva, Dialog, Autotrack, Accurint); experience with web content building (html, Dreamweaver, Contribute desirable) including familiarity with the server side of those applications and expertise working with SQL; Excel and Access skills; high level of accuracy and attention to detail; previous news or other corporate library experience a plus. Applicants must be comfortable working in a demanding news environment, quick thinkers and creative types that are also at home crunching numbers in spreadsheets and databases. Hours for this position will be primarily days but may include some weekend or evening work.

Please email your resume and cover letter by April 10 to:

Debra K. Bade
Editor, News Research and Archives
Chicago Tribune
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
email: dbade@tribune.com
No telephone inquiries please.

Temporary job at NBC

2006-03-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

The NBC Universal Information Center, located in Secaucus, NJ, has an immediate opening for a long-term temporary Assistant Librarian. This position presents an excellent opportunity for a librarian interested in gaining experience in a media library.

Recent MLS graduates will be considered.

Major responsibilities include:
--Assist Music Librarian in providing music research services to NBC programs
--Assist Research Librarians in providing research on deadline to NBC reporters, writers and producers
--Assist in management and distribution of digital and hard copy library materials
--Assist staff in maintaining InfoCenter and Music Library intranet sites

Our ideal candidate will be an enthusiastic learner, with a broad knowledge of music and a keen interest in media.

Excellent computer skills, including knowledge and expertise in internet searching, are essential. Expertise with online databases such as Lexis-Nexis and Factiva preferred. Candidates should also be flexible in terms of scheduling (some evenings, weekends and holidays required), and have excellent interpersonal skills.

To apply, or to request further information, please email infocenterposting@nbcuni.com

Please, no phone calls. We will only reply to those candidates in which we have an interest.

Sports Illustrated library assistant position

2006-03-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

The Sports Illustrated Library is offering an exciting opportunity for an MLS student. Read on for details.

The Sports Illustrated library is seeking a MLS student to fill a library assistant position. The job will last 5-8 months, is 20-35 hours per week and starts in April.

The student should be very organized, self-motivated and able to work on projects independently and have some knowledge of current events in the sports world. In addition some proficiency with online services (specifically Factiva, Nexis, Accurint and Autotrak) and a working knowledge of the internet is a plus.

The library will provide the student with first-hand working experience in a corporate library setting.
Send resumes to:

Joy Birdsong, Manager
Sports Illustrated Library
1271 Ave. of the Americas, 32-319
New York, NY 10020

e-mail: Joy_Birdsong@simail.com

Fax #: (212) 522-1719

Jobs roundup

2006-02-27T14:26:00.000-05:00

Title
Web Developer
Harvard University
Office of News & Public Affairs
Location
Cambridge
URL: http://jobs.harvard.edu/jobs/summ_req?in_post_id=28896
Duties And Responsibilities
Office of News & Public Affairs. Provide primary applications support for the Harvard University homepage (http://www.harvard.edu), the electronic front door to the University. Maintain and update content of the homepage's entry page daily, and of the second-level summary pages as necessary. Maintain and update other sites as needed in real-time and on a long-term basis (www.emergency.harvard.edu, www.president.harvard.edu, www.researchmatters.harvard.edu, www.news.harvard.edu). Must have knowledge of php interface for mysql database-driven web site. Work as part of News and Public Affairs team on site design and presentation as well as graphics and/or producing multimedia content as needed for existing and future web presentations. Work closely with UNIX systems administrators and operations staff to ensure maximum performance and reliability. Also work collaboratively with technical staff in other University departments. Some after-hours availability required. Other duties as required.
Required Education, Experience and Skills
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. Excellent interpersonal skills required plus an appreciation for the role, structure and importance of higher education. Demonstrated experience with Mac & Unix platforms, Unix servers, Apache Experience with: html (manual code, not wysiwyg editors), Flash, Photoshop, mysql, php; perl or similar scripting languages, Web-based graphic design/multimedia skills. Experience with XML, Javascript, BBEdit, Quark, Final Cut Pro desirable. Previous experience in or working with large and complex institutions helpful.

Harvard University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

To apply, upload application materials through the Web site at: http://jobs.harvard.edu/jobs/summ_req?in_post_id=28896.

The Orange County Register / Freedom Orange County Information is looking for a part-time news archivist to join a hard-working, dedicated staff. The news archivist works with other archivists, news and research staff to preserve content for daily paper, 22 community papers, two web sites and two magazines. Primary responsibilities include archiving and administrative tasks. Archive work includes proof-reading and assigning subject headings.
We are looking for an archivist with strong computer skills, typing skills of 50 wpm, excellent spelling and grammar, ability to quickly analyze content, and a good eye for detail.
Candidates must have excellent knowledge of current events and popular culture. Applicants must have a Bachelor's degree; MLS education is preferred.
Work week is Monday – Friday. Occasional weekends and holidays possible.
Excellent benefits. Position available immediately.

Send resume with cover letter to:

Sharon Clairemont
Director of News Research
Orange County Register
625 N. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92701

The Morning Call Newspaper in Allentown, PA has an opening for a ibrarian/Researcher. We have a retirement coming up soon and I have been given the green light to hire a replacement.

Here are a few facts along with the attached job description advertisement.

* Allentown is located 60 miles north of Philadelphia and 90 miles west of New York City.
* The paper is part of the Tribune Co.
* We are a small staff of 5 so you know the drill ... everyone is a jack-of-all-trades.
* Our digitized library is DocCenter/Unisys but by the end of the year we will have a Merlin text/photo archive.

If you are interested please send your resume to me.

Lois A. Doncevic
Manager of News Research & Library Services
Morning Call Newspaper
Allentown, PA 18101
610-820-6523
lois.doncevic@mcall.com

Summer 2006 Intern – Tape Library (DC)
Turner Broadcasting
United States - District of Columbia - Washington
Intern

Please Note: Internships are UNPAID and structured to last approximately 10-12 weeks. Resume and cover letter are required for application. Please include days/hours of availability in your cover letter and a college reference contact at the end of your resume. Students should have a strong academic record and good character. Students must have completed their sophomore year in college prior to the start of the internship. In addition, students may not have graduated college or graduate school prior to the start of the internship (i.e. students must still be enrolled in school during the time of the internship). Students must be receiving course credit for DC internships. Note to International Students: All international students will be required to provide documentation of proper visa paperwork prior to arrival if accepted to the program. Only student visas J1 or F1 visas will be accepted. Deadline to apply for summer internships is March 8, 2006.

Internship Description: The CNN DC Bureau Library provides video and information in support of CNNs DC Bureau. It functions as both an archive and a research library. The library develops, manages and stores collections in an expanding variety of formats; provides access to information and knowledge held in those collections using appropriate storage, access and computer technologies; preserves the information for future use; and assists the bureau in the use of library resources. Additionally, the library provides research in support of the bureaus production needs, utilizing the most current technologies available – Lexis-Nexis; KRs Dialog, Factiva and the Internet.

There are two CNN DC library internship opportunities available. Both internships will provide a great opportunity to learn various aspects of librarianship and television production in CNNs fast-paced library. One of the internships will be filled with a student pursuing a Master of Library Science (MLS) degree. Interns will assist the library staff in preparing for digital conversion by learning how to evaluate a section of the tape library and deciding which videotapes will be cataloged and saved as part of the permanent collection. This also includes learning to create library records for each saved tape and appropriately indexing those records for future retrieval. Interns will learn to use online resources to assist in evaluating video and in the creation of records. Interns will shadow the library staff as they complete requests for video and/or research to support the bureaus news coverage of DC political and federal events, programs such as The Situation Room, and other bureaus needs of DC-centric information and video.

The MLS intern will also learn to assist the librarians in various projects such as contributing ideas and compiling content for the DC Bureaus Library intranet site as well as helping to develop the intranet site; and library records/database maintenance. The MLS intern will have the opportunity to participate in the creation and development of instructional classes on various topics (e.g., research techniques, print and internet resources).

Qualifications: In order to facilitate the learning experience, the following qualifications are preferred. Candidates should have an interest in variety of areas including journalism and should be an organized self-starter. Interns should have the ability to make decisions, and accept others decisions, and be able to work well with a team of librarians and fellow interns.

Interested candidates can now apply on the Turner website at http://www.timewarner.com/corp/careers/jobtools_us/index.html listed under requisition # 54517B.

All question should be directed to:
Cynthia Barrett
CNN HR Intern Coordinator
820 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 515-2901 (fax)
dcinternships@cnn.com

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and its subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers.

News Research Librarian Position Available

Editorial Projects in Education, non-profit publisher of Education
Week and Teacher Magazine, has a full-time news research librarian
position available immediately.

This position calls for a flexible, computer-literate individual who can work as part of a team in providing research and basic reference services to reporters and
editors of our publications, research support to the Research Team, and
outreach services to subscribers and the general public.

Location: Bethesda, MD. Metro accessible
Benefits: Excellent benefits package, including TIAA/CREF plan
Salary: Competitive, commensurate with experience

Qualifications and Requirements provided - please contact:

Kay Dorko
kdorko@epe.org
(Fax) 301-280-3200

Sacramento opening...and a temporary in NJ

2006-01-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

NEWS RESEARCHER

The Sacramento Bee is seeking a News Researcher to support the work of 300 journalists at one of the best regional newspapers in the country. The ideal candidate should have an abiding interest in the news and possess extensive research skills--including fluency with online and print information sources. The researcher should be a tenacious and resourceful self-starter, able to pursue the research needs of an assigned story, as well as to initiate ideas for and approaches to coverage. The job requires a mix of research support for breaking daily stories, for graphics and for longer-term investigative projects.

Send resume, cover letter, writing samples and any CAR samples to:

Pete Basofin
Director of Editorial Research

The Sacramento Bee
P.O. Box 15779
Sacramento, CA 95852

pbasofin@sacbee.com
(For a complete description of this postion, email pbasofin@sacbee.com.)

The NBC Universal InfoCenter, located in Secaucus, NJ, has an immediate opening for a temporary Research Librarian. The temporary Librarian will have the following major responsibilities:

· Provide targeted information services to all NBCU divisions

· Provide research on deadline to News reporters, writers and producers.

· Assist News and corporate patrons in use of applications such as Nexis, Factiva, and Internet research tools.

· Select and add content to InfoCenter intranet research page.

Research projects cover a wide range of topics, and involve the heavy use of online databases and other print and electronic resources.

Requirements include:

· At least 2 years of recent professional experience in a news or corporate information center

· Expert skills in use of online databases, especially Nexis, Factiva, Autotrack and other public records databases

· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

· Ability to work effectively under deadline pressures

· Flexibility in working varied schedules; regular shifts will be 10am-6pm or 11am-7pm; librarian will also be required to work some holidays, nights and weekends

The ideal candidate will also have a Masters degree in Library Science and some knowledge of HTML programming.

To apply, please email infocenterposting@nbcuni.com

We regret that we will only be able to respond to those applicants in whom
we have an interest.

PLEASE, NO PHONE CALLS.

Anonymous news librarian blogger

2006-01-17T17:09:00.000-05:00

Richard Nelsson of The Guardian's research department sends word of a blog by a UK news librarian, written anonymously: Gaolhouse Blog. The blog's been around over a year, and although I don't see any news research connections on first scan, I'll take Richard's word for it.....

BTW, I found a link at the Gaolhouse that is worth checking out: Pubsub's list of the most influential librarian blogs. Number one: Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific! Congrats Sabrina. At least two other newslib member blogs show up here too: Eli Edwards' Confession of a Mad Librarian, and DrWeb's Domain, both in the '40s.