Slany Chapternews Newsletter Spring 2008

The New York Chapter

ChapterNews Volume 80, #1 Spring 2008

President’s Message

IN THIS ISSUE

Who inspires you? – What inspires you?

President’s Message: ....................1 President-Elect’s Message............4

by Dr. Stephen T. Kochoff, SLA NY Chapter President, 2008 and Regional Sales Director, Basch Subscriptions, Inc.

Did You Know? Chapter Jobline .........................5 Training for

am struck by the importance of “inspiration” and “inspiring leadership” during this campaign season, though I promise I will not endorse a candidate in this message! Instead, I would like to ruminate about inspiration in our profession, and, particularly, since this is an issue of the newsletter devoted to education and professional development, about some of the profession’s shining lights and inspiring educators. Although there are many today who are inspiring leaders and educators in our profession I’ll confine my observations to those who are now deceased. As I do so, I would like to ask you to consider sharing with the readers of this newsletter* — and with your other colleagues your thoughts about: what has inspired you in your own background, as you pursued your education to become a librarian/information professional or, subsequently, as you continue your professional development? What inspires you today professionally? What are some of the educational musts?

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New Investment Bankers...........7 Mentoring Comes to SLA-NY ......10 We Are Celebrating!.....................13 Professional News .......................13 The SLA-NY Executive Board......14 Neal-Schuman PET .....................15 Innovate in 2008 ..........................16 The Backstory..............................17

Sometimes we recognize elements of true inspiration after the fact. Sometimes inspiration is unintentional. Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), certainly a “founding parent” of librarianship and major figure in our professional history, was inspired — yes, of course he is known for the DDC system and other Dewey inventions such as the vertical file. — I won’t credit Dewey directly for consciously establishing librarianship as a career path for women, though, because Dewey is shrouded in his own controversies, including his sexism. However, the establishment of librarianship as a profession open to women in the late 19th century was inspired, whether that inspiration lies with Dewey or not. Look at those photos of the first graduating classes in Dewey’s “library school” and you see all women, gloriously attired. Wasn’t this inspired and revolutionary for the era? During the late 19th century with the traditional professions of law and medicine virtually closed to most women, librarianship was an avenue open to women who wanted a professional life — at a time when women had so few professional opportunities.

ADVERTISERS Dialog...........................................11 Donna Conti Career Resources .....8 EBSCO.........................................10 EOS International...........................7 Factiva .........................................12 InfoCurrent...................................16 MyMETRO .....................................8 Prenax............................................9

John Cotton Dana, (1856–1929) served as a president of the American Library

Pro Libra ........................................4

Association and was also the first president of the Special Libraries Association. Dana helped found and organize SLA. Dana started the action that brought together about 56 librarians working in such fields as law, insurance, chambers of commerce, engineering, public utilities, museums and municipal research. Largely through Dana’s efforts, this group organized as the Special Libraries Association, a name suggested by Dana. (Letter continues on page 2)

Research Solutions......................13 Westlaw Business ..........................6 Wontawk........................................5 ChapterNews

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Dana was inspired in recognizing that the business community — and others such as museums, had their own special information needs.

ChapterNews Special Libraries Association New York Chapter Volume 80, #1 Spring 2008

Jesse Hauk Shera (1903-1982) pioneered information

technology in libraries, recognizing its fundamental impact on our profession and the transmission of information. Dr. Shera’s leadership roles included heading the Case Western Reserve Library school and establishing and leading ASIS (now ASIST). He is still widely quoted. Shera died before the Internet era’s ubiquity but with his wonderful concept of “graphic records” he anticipated that paper-driven information delivery mechanisms such as books had a finite life expectancy. Yet Shera cautioned, “Embrace the technology but do not become its servant.’’

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE ChapterNews, the bulletin of the New York Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, is published four times a year. Visit our web site: www.sla-ny.org Deadlines for submitting materials:

Spring issue: February 15, 2008 Summer issue: June 20, 2008 Fall issue: September 5, 2008

Lester Asheim (1914-1997) a prolific author, thinker

and member of the faculties of the library schools at The University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill grappled with the issue of what constitutes a “profession.” Decades ago Asheim wrote an important article about the factors determining a profession and its status. Asheim articulated how librarianship met those criteria in his article, “Librarians as Professionals” (Library Trends, University of Illinois, v. 27, Winter 1979, 225 -57). Asheim quoted Dewey’s “the time has at last come when a librarian may without an assumption speak of his occupation as a profession” which appeared in the first issue of what is today’s Library Journal (from Sept. 30, 1876). According to Asheim, librarians were not quite there, as a profession. However, he believed that there was a new, more flexible definition of a professional and he remained positive about librarianship’s professional status.

Submit all material to:

Roberta Brody ChapterNews Editor E-mail: [email protected] Submissions: Articles on topics of general interest to information professionals and the New York Chapter are welcome. Authors can send submissions via e-mail as text file or MS Word for Windows attachments, or with article in the body of the e-mail. Please use single-line spacing, Courier font, with minimal use of boldface and italics. Include a byline with your full name and place of work.

ADVERTISING inquiries should be addressed to:

Sara Stein Telephone: (212) 455-8075 or E-mail: [email protected]

In looking for inspirational leadership in SLA, one source is Guy St. Clair’s much anticipated centenary history — SLA at 100: From Putting Knowledge to Work to Building the Knowledge Culture. One of the most important impressions from his study was, as he expresses it, the commitment and enthusiasm of SLA’s leaders over the years. This history is due to be published in 2009, in connection with the SLA centennial celebration.

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“These people were the original time-management masters,” he says. “It’s a remarkable and very rewarding process to read about how they understood the differences between specialized librarianship and other types of librarianship, and how they used their time, skills, and organizational energies to make the case for their branch of the profession. They were truly committed — from the earliest beginnings in 1909 — to make sure that the special library ‘idea,’ as they called it, was broadcast throughout society, and of course throughout the larger LIS profession.”

Special Libraries Association assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors to the Association’s publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official position of Special Libraries Association. Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product by Special Libraries Association.

ChapterNews STAFF Director of Communications ChapterNews Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Advertising Manager Webmaster ChapterNews

Christina Darnowski Roberta Brody Corrina Moss Berte Schachter Sara Stein Stan Friedman

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All of those cited by St Clair, himself a former president of SLA, had been presidents of SLA. In the 1920s and 1930s Rebecca Rankin, who ran the archives at the New York City Hall, and knew “everyone”, booked specialized librarians on radio shows. In these pre-television days radio was the paramount communication medium. Rankin placed specialized librarians on talk shows of the era and was even successful in getting special librarians into amateur theatrical activities, bringing attention to the special libraries dimension of the profession in some of the era’s popular entertainment activities. Elizabeth Ferguson, too, inspired with her grasp of public relations and her career-long effort to raise awareness about specialized librarianship to the public at large. Like Rankin, Ferguson was one of SLA’s leaders who grasped the value of public relations. She was not shy about seeking connections with people in other fields who could provide advice and information, even developing, at one point, a professional relationship with William White, the author of The Organization Man. In that context, Ferguson contributed White’s notion to special librarianship that one’s professional allegiance transfers from the profession to the employing organization when one has a professional career in the private sector.

Another inspirational leader was Winifred Sewell who was a leader in both MLA and SLA and who served as SLA’s president in 1960-1961. She was involved with important work at the National Institutes of Health and understood and promoted the concept of medical and special librarians. In both worlds Sewell advocated that librarians partner as equals with the attending physicians and others “making the rounds” in hospitals and/or with research teams. One of the first proponents of “in-sourcing” or the “embedded” librarian, Sewell recognized the value of collaboration and interaction among professional peers. Opening a professional avenue for women when women’s roles were greatly circumscribed, founding an association for those who today practice special librarianship, recognizing and embracing technology and its paramount role in the dissemination of information, describing the attributes that frame librarianship’s professional status, promoting and publicizing special librarianship to the general public, and imbedding specialized librarians; these are all inspired ideas. I have chosen to highlight a few moments in this thought piece about historical moments of inspiration and I encourage the members of the SLA NY Chapter to share their perspectives via our newsletter and other methods your own views about today’s educational/ professional moments of inspiration.

Elizabeth Owens, too, was inspirational for librarians in the corporate sector. A leader in the field, Owens sought to identify the librarian’s “work contribution” that is, what are its constituent parts. She spent a considerable amount of energy working with special librarians to ensure that they gave attention to work standards for their profession. Such standards were required — Owens believed — if special librarianship was ever going to be accepted as a profession among the organizational leaders and managers who hired librarians to work in their businesses. Not surprisingly, many of her colleagues agreed with her. Always seeking to determine the value of the specialized library and the special librarians contribution to the organization, Owens was essentially asking, “What is expected of corporate librarians?”

Returning to the here and now, you’ll find in this issue an overview of Stephen Abram’s is 2008 initiatives as our 2008 SLA President. Much of what Stephen wants us to achieve as a profession and a professional association is very much: “education as people,” that is, how important it is for us to mine the expertise that resides among us. I began this piece touching, fleetingly, on politics — and I conclude by noting that President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that one of his roles — and a role that all United States presidents share is that of “Educator in Chief.” Stephen Abram is wearing his mantle as SLA Educator in Chief wonderfully and I encourage all of us to take advantage of what our association will undertake in the months and years ahead. Thanks to Guy St. Clair for his help and to Rebecca Vargha for her help in tracking down the Lester Asheim citation. Steve Kochoff may be reached at [email protected]

*Roberta Brody, our newsletter editor, will include a column “What Inspires You” in future newsletters Please consider contributing a paragraph or more about someone who inspired you in your education and/or in your career.

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President-elect’s Message by Michelle Dollinger, SLA NY Chapter President-Elect, 2008 and Research Librarian, Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports

was selected as President-elect 2008 of the New York SLA Chapter at our October 2007 annual business meeting. I want to thank the Chapter members for their support. I appreciate the opportunity to serve an organization for which I have great respect. I also would like to update the members and readers on my plans and what you can expect from me and the Association this year.

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PROGRAM PLANNING The president-elect is responsible for the Chapter’s program and event planning and we’re off to a great start. Besides regularly planned happy hours for networking, we already have had: Stephen Abram, the 2008 President of SLA, speaking about the promise of “Association 2.0,” an updated look at outsourcing and how it’s affecting the profession, an interactive seminar on dealing with diversity in the work environment, and a meeting on information workflow programs and how they enable tracking and illustrating value.

MEMBER BENEFITS At this year’s Leadership Summit, held in Louisville, Kentucky, in late January, a key topic was the value of SLA membership and how the organization can serve its members. As an SLA member, your ID and password get you access to:

Some of the Chapter’s Division groups and committees are gearing up to plan events. Business & Finance, Diversity and Arts & Humanities are organizing to bring members targeted programming. B&F and Diversity already have executed two events in February and more are underway. A new Ethics Initiative also will add a different dimension to how we talk about what we do as professionals.

▲ The membership: The online directory of more than 11,000 SLA members is searchable by name, company, city, unit and chapter. ▲ Click University: Click University offers many opportunities for learning. There is a free “Click U” course being offered each month in addition to the live and recorded seminars offering training, degree and certificate courses.

Other responsibilities of the President-elect include attending monthly SLA NY Chapter board meetings as a voting member, attending the SLA Leadership Summit each winter and the annual conference in June. The board is working hard to ensure funding is in place for programs and activities in addition to working on strategic planning to support the Chapter President’s goals.

▲ Leadership & Management/Knowledge Management Library from ebrary: This resource contains more than 900 titles online and access to it is free with membership. More books are scheduled to be added soon. ▲ News Feeds: Factiva newsfeeds and Newsgator RSS feeds are available on information topics. You can find links to the above benefits and more at http://www.sla.org/content/membership/mbrbenefits/ index.cfm. (Article continues on page 5)

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Some exciting innovations also are planned to allow members to get hands-on experience with major software applications. If you saw Stephen Abram’s presentation to the NY Chapter in January, then you know that I am referring to the Innovation Laboratory where members will be able to try applications and watch video tutorials on various technologies.

LOOKING FORWARD The annual conference in Seattle should be a great one. Besides the programming, I’m looking forward to seeing SLA’s Green Initiative in action. This year SLA will be working with exhibitors, sponsors and attendees on how they can participate in “greening” the conference. Carbon offsets will be available for purchase and the conference center will have free wireless access (finally!) so attendees can download hand-outs. I hope there are enough plugs for laptops. In 2009, SLA will be celebrating its 100-year anniversary of the founding of SLA. Members are encouraged to send ideas for celebrating to [email protected]. The New York Chapter will be celebrating, too, and we also welcome your ideas. I’ll be serving as Chapter President that year and I look forward to finding some interesting ways for us to make an impact in our community and in our organizations.

VOLUNTEER

Did You Know?

I chose to serve on the Chapter’s Advisory Council in 2006 and now as a board member because I believe in the power of the Association and I am indebted for all the career opportunities that my membership has provided me. I encourage all members to attend programs and be active participants in their careers.

New York Chapter JOBLINE The New York Chapter, for the convenience of its members and their employers, offers an on-line job marketplace on the Chapter web site:

Please contact me if you are interested in program planning, starting a special interest group, arranging a tour or coordinating a lunch or dinner group. This Chapter is not a closed organization. We are working on being more transparent and encouraging new members to be more active. I am a relatively new member (since ‘04) and a recent library school grad (Pratt ‘06). You do not have to be mid-career to have something to offer. We welcome new perspectives and new ideas.

http://units.sla.org/chapter/cny/Jobline.htm

The job marketplace offers current opportunities for information professionals. While the large majority are naturally in New York City, the current offerings include positions in Boston, Washington, Princeton/Philadelphia, Dallas and the West Coast.

Michelle Dollinger may be reached at [email protected]

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Training for New Investment Bankers By Corrina Moss

JPMorgan’s Business Research Center (BRC) is a network of research professionals providing company, business, and industry research to bankers in JPMorgan’s offices worldwide. In the summer and fall of 2007, BRC researchers were invited to provide research skills training to JPMorgan’s new “class” of investment bankers; new hires who were entering the field. The training would introduce bankers to a series of online databases, both publicly available and subscription-based, and would be delivered to a total of 600 new bankers as a series of three two-hour sessions over the course of JPMorgan’s larger eight week training program. It was a great opportunity for the researchers to broaden the client base of the Business Research Center, market its services and products, and instruct new users on selfservice tools. They could also provide guidance on when the user should contact the BRC versus when to conduct his/her own research. The main goal, though, was to create awareness among the junior bankers on what resources they had available on their desktops as well as the research capabilities of the BRC.

also ranked very high, but they were determined to be of such complexity and depth that training by the vendors was arranged. In addition to the news and analyst research databases, modules were developed on free financial and industry information on the Internet, including government and consulting source, and company screenings and profiles via Hoover’s, OneSource, and Dun &Bradstreet. In preparation for the new hire training, two “train-thetrainer” courses were offered to all presenters. The first was delivered by a JPM human resources representative who instructed on how to prepare presentations for different learning styles (kinesthetic, auditory, visual) and make presentations interactive and relevant to the target audience of people in their 20s and 30s with low attention spans and high levels of technological comfort. A top ‘trick of the trade” was to keep the segments short and the audience engaged with prizes like candy and other giveaways. The second part of the train-the-trainer course focused on public speaking and delivery of the material. Body language, voice projection, and physical presence were critiqued during a practice presentation of the actual material and each participant was sent home with a DVD of him- or herself speaking.

Sessions were taught by six different BRC researchers in teams of two or three. The lessons were enriched by PowerPoint presentations and/or live database demos, followed by group exercises and practice questions. Each student had a binder with printouts of the presentation slides, quick reference cards from the vendors, an annotated list of non-subscription resources, as well as contact information for the BRC offices around the globe. In the early stages of the project, Business Research Center staff surveyed a sample of bankers in their organization, regarding databases they wished had been covered during their own training and what additional training they believed that might be needed after being in the job for a year or more. The curriculum was designed to focus on the databases which were most frequently mentioned in their responses. At the top of the list was JPMorgan’s proprietary database of analyst research, economic reports, and financial tools. Also frequently cited was a portal of databases available via the JPM Intranet, which included Factiva, Thomson Research, Reuters Research, and Merger Markets, among others. FactSet and Bloomberg, ChapterNews

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One of the biggest challenges was keeping the attention of a room of more than 225 recent undergraduates. These bankers spent their summer months in a conference room, packed with lessons on how to be a banker. At the same time, they were creating relationships and friendships with their future teammates. Needless to say, there was a lot more on their minds than database searching. Attention spans were short, and the candy trick, which was laughed at by the BRC presenters in the beginning stages of the project, actually worked to keep people focused. Furthermore, the lessons needed to be framed so that the incoming bankers would know that the time they spent learning research skills in the summer would improve efficiency once they began their jobs.

Giving the same lesson four times allowed the Business Research Center presenters to refine the material and delivery using feedback from students and the larger training program’s organizer. One suggestion voiced over and over again was to be more interactive. The students wanted to be doing something, not just passively receiving information. Currently, the BRC is fine-tuning the research skills training to make it more interactive, entertaining, and explicitly relevant to the bankers’ work the first year on the job, in preparation for the next new class of investment bankers.

Note: The writer participated in this project while at her previous position in the Business Research Center at JPMorgan Chase. Corrina Moss is an Information Resources Associate at NERA Economic Consulting and is the Associate Editor of Chapter News. Corrina may be reached at [email protected]

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Mentoring Comes to the NY SLA Chapter by Kaura Gale

ne day, the author of a blog to which I subscribe announced an impending visit to NYC and asked for recommendations for local libraries to visit. I took a mental inventory of his interests and sent him a quick email recommending a couple of libraries that I thought he might enjoy. A few months later, he wrote to inform me that one of them had a position open, and due to his visit, wrote to ask him if he’d be interested in it. It made me think that I might have a knack connecting the right people and places.

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When a library school student approached me as SLA’s internships chair to suggest that a mentoring program would be helpful, I thought that it was a great idea. The next day I reviewed the library literature on mentoring programs, and reviewed other SLA chapters’ websites to determine what was offered and how such programs were structured. Although I found many articles on how useful the writers found their mentorship relationships to be, I was unable to find the blueprint I was looking for. So I decided to make my own. I utilized the NY-SLA chapter’s LISTSERV to send out a straightforward email to determine potential interest. I requested that those who were interested in either mentoring or being a mentee contact me off-list. I received a great response from both sides.

It was immediately apparent that there were as many different needs in mentoring as those who were offering to advise. This prompted me to write back to everyone and ask their level of interest in the process: telephone contact, shadowing, meet for coffee, just email, etc. When all the replies were received, I did my best to review the time needs, proximity and interests of the mentees and match them as closely as I could with those of the mentors. I let everyone know that they were free to come back to me with questions or issues.

Unexpectedly, there was a greater response from those who could provide mentoring than from those who had interest in being mentored. I found this surprising since library school enrollment is up and has been increasing for the past few years. Unfortunately, I did receive a few requests for mentoring that I was unable to accommodate. One person was interested in, among other things, speaking with a sports librarian, and even after liaising with other chapters of SLA, I was unable to find such a creature. There were also some very notable resumes and generous offers from those who wanted to mentor that simply didn’t match demand.

I even joined in the fun and had some students come to my library for a couple of hours. It was an enjoyable opportunity to see my library through fresh eyes! It is also a great way to think about how you can help new users, as well as contribute to the education of future librarians. I sent out a follow-up email asking for feedback over a month later — I only received one response from a mentee that was having trouble matching her schedule in an open-area work space to that of the schedule suggested by her matched mentor. I suggested she contact her mentor, explain the situation and see if they could work together to forge an alternate schedule. A few days later I was pleased to hear that this had worked out well for them both. One thing my own career has taught me is that mentoring can be thought of as a multifaceted model: The best person to address one issue is not necessarily the same person who is best suited to answer another question. (Article continues on page 11)

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SLA provides an excellent way to network with your fellow librarians who have either experienced what you’re going through, or if they haven’t, are able to provide a fresh prospective on it; possibly one you hadn’t considered. Being able to offer a more formalized mentoring program is another way that the NY SLA chapter helps support your career needs. Please contact me if you’d like to participate in it. Kaura Gale , S. J. Phillips Library, Beth Israel Medical Center and SLA Student Internships Chair. Kaura may be reached at [email protected]

Kaura Gale’s Selected Webliography for Mentoring Programs Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/ascla/asclapubs/interface/archives/onte ntlistingby/volume26 /asclamentoringfactsheet/mentoringfactsheet.htm College Library Directors Mentor Program, College Libraries Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association http://archive.ala.org/acrl/cls/mentorprogram.html Diversity Recruitment and Mentoring Committee, UCLA Department of Information Studies http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/chu/drmc/ New Member Mentoring Special Committee, American Association of School Librarians, American Library Association http://www.lita.org/ala/aasl/aboutaasl/aaslgovernance/aaslcom mittees/mentoring.htm Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/codes/c odesprotools/mentorprogram/mentorprogram.htm Science and Technology Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections/sciencetech/stsmentors/stsmentors.htm Society of American Archivists Mentoring Program http://www.archivists.org/membership/mentoring.asp Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/mentorprogram.htm ChapterNews

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We Are Celebrating! by John Ganly TM

n 1909 the first NYC subway car with side doors rolled out; the Queensborough Bridge opened; Theodore Roosevelt went on an African Safari; and in July SLA was born. A very young parent, SLA gave birth on June 1, 1915 to the New York Chapter and nine years later on January 5, 1924 the baby was officially confirmed by SLA.

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Like true New Yorkers we will not wait for 2015 or 2024 and will celebrate our centennial 2009. Glasses will be raised, huzzahs will ring out, laughs will be heard and a tear or two shed. Steve Kochoff has approved a Centennial Committee, which includes Ellen Miller, Lauren Albert, John Ganly (Chair) and others. No formal plans have been made, however Ellen Miller has done a splendid job of searching the archives for “choice bits”, Lauren Albert has created a timeline connecting SLA and New York Chapter events to world happenings — Babe Ruth’s first game as a pro; 25th Anniversary of SLA; Bonnie and Clyde killed in a shootout; 50th Anniversary of SLA; World War II ends; etc.

The committee has met once to brainstorm. Ideas have ranged from the formal — a dinner — to giddy — a costume ball or musical comedy revue. One thing is certain: the fact that our celebration will focus on the New York Chapter and on the people who have made it the amazing group that it is.

Professional News Robin Sanders, formerly Cybrary Manager of TIAA-

CREF, has been promoted to Director of Information Research for TIAA-CREF. Her expanded responsibilities include managing Competitive Intelligence resources and participating in CI projects and research. Robin joined TIAA-CREF in 2003. Prior to working at TIAACREF, Robin was Director of Library Services for Bear Stearns & Co., where she managed global information contracts and vendors, and transformed the traditional library into a state-of-the-art digital resource. Robin has an MLS and has taken several courses toward her Competitive Intelligence Certificate.

Mind power is needed to make this a real Gotham happening. Committee members are eagerly sought and ideas are greeted with open arms. Anyone who would like to join the fun should contact John Ganly at 212592-7261 or [email protected]. Dust off the party hats, practice the ballroom twirls and prepare for a big time. John Ganly is Assistant Director for Collections, Science Industry and Business Library, NYPL. John may be reached at [email protected].

ChapterNews

A PBS interview with Anne Mintz, Director of Knowledge Management at Forbes Inc. and editor of the now classic volume Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet can be found at http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/ 401/internet-politics.html Ms. Mintz ably discusses issues of credibility and misinformation on the Internet with the coming elections as the context. 13

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SLA NEW YORK Advisory Council Hospitality: Vida E. Cohen, [email protected]

Hospitality: Erika Yánez, [email protected]

Awards Chair: Carol Ginsburg, [email protected]

SLA New York Chapter

Business & Finance Chair: Mark Goetz, [email protected]

Advertising Chair:

Executive Board

Sara Stein, [email protected]

President:

ChapterNews Editor:

Steve Kochoff, [email protected]

Dr. Roberta Brody, [email protected]

President-Elect:

Diversity Chair:

Michelle Dollinger, [email protected]

Lassana Magassa, [email protected]

Past President:

SLA Global Outreach Chair:

Kevin Manion, [email protected]

Rita Ormsby, [email protected]

Secretary:

Governance Chair:

David Adler, [email protected]

Agnes K. Mattis, [email protected]

Treasurer:

Student Internships:

Bill Noorlander, [email protected]

Kaura Gale, [email protected]

Finance & Fundraising:

Graduate School Liaison:

John Ganly, [email protected]

Sarah Warner, [email protected]

Professional Development:

Membership Chair:

Miguel Figueroa, [email protected]

Leigh Hallingby, [email protected]

Director of Communications:

Nominations Committee Chair:

Christina Darnowski, [email protected]

Gwen Loeffler, [email protected]

Networking Downtown Lunches: Margaret Smith, [email protected]

Career Day: Miguel Figueroa, [email protected]

Remember the New York Chapter web site address!

Discussion List Manager: Karen Daenen, [email protected]

www.sla-ny.org

Job Listings Coordinator: Stan Friedman, [email protected]

Check it out!

NY Webmaster: Stan Friedman, [email protected]

Archives: Winter Shanck, [email protected]

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The Neal-Schuman Professional Education Network: Continuing Education by Librarians for Librarians

Each webinar is led by an expert and includes a portion of interactive time between the instructor and participants, making sure that each participant gets the information that’s most important to them. Educational setting can be a matter of personal preference, with many participants choosing to take our sessions individually so they can quickly return to the tasks on their desk top. But because of the nature of distancelearning programs, the courses you take via the Professional Education Network can reach an entire staff at once. We price our webinars and seminars by location, not by participant.

By Patricia Glass Schuman

If you visit www.neal-schumanpen.com and see a seminar that interests you, find out if your continuing education coordinator has a discount code to offer you. Neal-Schuman has already partnered with a variety of organizations, that seek new educational offerings to better serve their members, including the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).Perhaps yours is one of them.

ibrarians and information professionals are perhaps the original life-long learners. The rapid pace of technology, economic, and policy changes means that our profession has an ever increasing need for new skill sets, additional training, awareness of new materials and services. We promote our libraries and information centers as places of knowledge and centers of change, so we need to be their finest representatives.

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Our profession is changing rapidly. It seems as though there’s something new for us to learn every day. Thanks to the wealth of continuing education programs now available, we should all be able to keep up with the changes.

The traditional means of continuing education — evening classes, workshops at conferences — have become increasingly difficult to accommodate, sometimes for the same reasons continuing education is so crucial. Increasing staff workloads make time away from work a hassle. The increase in travel costs competes with a budget already spread so thin among collection development, technology upgrades and more.

Patricia Glass Schuman is President of Neal-Schuman Publishers and a former President of the American Library Association. She may be reached at [email protected]

Neal-Schuman’s answer to continuing education is the logical one: distance learning. Educational institutions have been providing successful online courses for years. Communication and interaction make for much better learning (the reference interview, anyone?), so we wanted our program to be interactive, not just a downloadable podcast or a set of self-guided tutorials. We decided to involve the leaders in the field, addressing core skills in collection development, reference, and library instruction, as well as detailed material on programming, technology, and management. It would need to be an affordable alternative to many existing solutions, and it would need to meet the complex schedules of today’s multitasking professional.

Remember the New York Chapter web site address!

www.sla-ny.org Check it out!

I’m proud to say that Neal-Schuman’s new continuing education program, the Professional Education Network, now offers more than fifty interactive webinars and audio seminars addressing crucial topics and skills. These courses take place nearly every day, throughout the workday. Many additional courses have already been planned, and we welcome suggestions and feedback from participants.

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Vol. 80, #1 Spring 2008

Abram’s Theme: Innovate in 2008

SLA President Stephen Abram has declared the theme for his presidential year to be “Innovate in 2008.” He presented his initiatives at a New York Chapter meeting in early 2008. The following excerpt from an SLA Press Release that summarizes Abram’s initiatives: “SLA has made great strides in recent years, especially with Click University, Annual Conference and Leadership Summit. It was the spirit of innovation that has brought us to where we are today and in order for SLA to promote continuous innovation, SLA members need to be empowered to educate themselves in as many ways as possible,” said Abram. “To that end we're launching some new initiatives in 2008 to complement our dynamic and traditional learning opportunities at Annual Conference, SLA Chapter and Division events, and through Click University. SLA needs to continually grow as an advanced learning organization in the best sense of our vision. To me that vision includes all members looking first to SLA as a place to learn and grow both professionally and personally.”

“It is essential that we fine tune our value proposition to the upcoming SLA leaders of tomorrow,” said Abram. To that end, Gayle Gossen and Christina de Castell are leading the SLA First Five Years Workgroup to survey and offer great learning and networking opportunities for new information professionals. “We need to embrace, nurture and listen to info pros who are at the beginning of their careers, they have a lot to teach, even to the most seasoned SLA members.” Abram also noted that SLA leaders should focus on “reinforcing the wonderful progress SLA has made in developing a modern learning suite of services available exclusively to SLA members.” These tools include the eBrary collection of over 1000 management and leadership books, Click University and the “no-cost” Course of The Month, the SLA News Connection Factiva alerts as well as the SLA NewsGator RSS feeds developed specifically for information professionals.

President Abram has started some initiatives for 2008: Director Cindy Romaine is leading a large workgroup of SLA volunteers and staff to build and promote an SLA Innovation Laboratory. This will be on the SLA website and open to every member. President Abram's vision is of a virtual space that will have licensed and free software as well as tutorials for SLA members to invest time in learning the ins-and-outs of leading edge, useful technology and management and leadership skills.

Abram continued, “I could stand up here for another hour listing all the benefits of membership, there is certainly much more available, but this list of learning opportunities is more than enough to prove that there's a ton of value in our SLA memberships. I'd like to cap off 2008 with happy members, more members and members better prepared for the wide range of exciting opportunities available to special librarians and information professionals.”

Jill Hurst-Wahl is leading a small workgroup of SLA

volunteers to create a play area in Second Life for SLA. President Abram notes that “this is a little 'out there' but it allows us to meet the needs of our members who want to find, indeed invent, the future for special libraries in the 3.0 virtual world environment.” Director Deb Hunt is leading an SLA Learning 2.0. workgroup of SLA volunteers. The goal is to launch an SLA version of the innovative “23 Things 15 minutes-a-day” learning strategy at our annual conference in Seattle. It will be adapted for the needs of specialized information professionals.

ChapterNews

The complete text of this press release may be found at http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/pressroom/pressrelease/08pr/ pr2804.cfm

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Vol. 80, #1 Spring 2008

The BACKSTORY:

SLA-NY SNAPSHOT

ChapterNews Editor Roberta Brody interviews Stan Friedman, Winner of Couch Potato Competition

RB: Well, Stan — I read an article claiming that you

“emerged as a champion couch potato after three rivals gave in to sleep deprivation or nature’s call” this past January at the ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato Competition. Your winning performance is said to have earned you a $5,000 prize package as well as a trophy. For every story that is covered in the press, there is always a “backstory.” Most of us know you as a hard working librarian at Condé Nast and as the current Webmaster for the New York Chapter but we’d like to hear the backstory and learn a little bit more about your prizewinning abilities as a couch potato.

Stan Friedman with his Couch Potato Competition award.

RB: Will you be defending your title next year or do you intend to retire from the competition while you hold the title? SF: The sad thing is that ESPN held a simultaneous

RB: So, how did you hear about the ESPN Zone Ultimate couch Potato Competition and what made you decide to compete?

competition in Chicago and the winner there went 40 hours. But because New York is the media capital I got all the press. Anyway, if they decide to hold the event again next year I am told that I will be invited back. I look forward to the challenge, such as it is.

SF: Well, the Condé Nast Library is actually one floor

above the ESPN Zone here in Times Square, so I’m on their email list for special events. I also live just 4 blocks away. So, I figured I could get as sleepy as I needed during the competition and my co-workers could come find me and help me stumble home. I’m just glad they didn’t bring me any research requests while I was in the recliner.

RB: What advice would you give to any aspiring couch potatoes in our profession? SF: It was fascinating to read what all the various Librarian

bloggers had to say about the event. Some thought it was great for the profession, others thought I was perpetuating a stereotype. But I would say that aspiring to be a couch potato is oxymoronic. It’s best just to sit and wait.

RB: How did you prepare yourself for the event? What kind of special training or education did it require? SF: I have a long history of being sedentary so it didn’t

take too much training. I cut out caffeine two days before the event (so that a little would go a long way when I needed it) and I got a lot of sleep during the previous week. The competition began at 11 a.m. on January 1st, so I limited my New Year’s Eve champagne consumption and was in bed by 1:30 a.m.

Editor’s Note: Read the article that inspired this backstory interview at http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/ bizarre&id=5870471

RB: Do you believe that your education and training in librarianship prepared you for this challenge? Why or why not? SF: How to watch 29 hours of continual televised sports

was a subject never covered in my info theory classes at Rutgers, but having conducted over 13,000 online searches in my tenure here at Condé definitely helped shape my sitting and screen-watching behavior.

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Vol. 80, #1 Spring 2008