Slany Chapternews Newsletter Winter 2007

The New York Chapter

ChapterNews Volume 78, #3 Winter 2007

IN THIS ISSUE

Message from the President

Message from the President:.........1

Winter Wonderland?

Chapter Calendar, 2007 ................2

By Kevin Manion, Director — Information Services Consumer Reports

SLA Snapshots..................2-3-4-11 Best Careers 2007: Librarian .........3 SLA Program Survey Results ........5 SLA COSTS: Here’s Why We Need to Charge ...................6 RSS FEEDS: Member Survey Results.............8 What a Wacky Wiki Can Do...........9 A Librarian Speaks Out — and Speaks Up: Library and Librarian Contributions to the Enterprise...........................10 An Invitation to Readers ..............11

ADVERTISERS Dialog.............................................9 Donna Conti Career Resources .....4 EBSCO...........................................5 EOS International...........................4 Global Securities Information .........7 InfoCurrent.....................................6 Pro Libra ........................................3

hile many of us have been enjoying this unbelievably temperate winter, it sure would be nice to see some snow on the ground for those of us who are still hoping to get some skiing in! The flowers in New York are starting to come up – someone even reported a Daffodil in Inwood and trees in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden have begun to bloom.

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The Chapter has been incredibly busy and vibrant these past months. In addition to our annual party in late November, in December we welcomed Don Tapscott, author of the newly released “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything”. Don shared his insights on online community and the ways that we can leverage the power of collaboration. In January, we welcomed Stephen Abram, President-Elect of SLA, who spoke to the Chapter on how we can utilize the power of community and online tools to meet the challenges of today’s workplace. Stephen sensitized us to the changing world all around us and how we, as information professionals, can take advantage of the opportunities created by the growth of online community. Stephen’s presentation has been posted to the SLA NY site: http://units.sla.org/chapter/cny/. What all this underscores for me is the need for us to keep on top of developments that affect how people search, find, use and share knowledge. We have an opportunity to utilize these new online tools to ensure we keep up to date and stay or become leaders within our organizations. But it is not about looking at the presentations and writing down the sites and checking them out. It is about understanding how the web is evolving, how we can keep in touch with evolving technologies and how we can utilize them in our day to day work and in our approach to our profession. What is important is to start utilizing these tools on an ongoing basis – to at least understand them. And you are thinking….where is the time??? Well we simply have to find the time. The people coming into the profession now, we will be working with them or hiring them, the people who are our clients, are going to expect us to know about Wikipedia, My Space, Second Life, Flickr…and so on. We need to find some time in our day to find out about these tools and learn about how they are being used. So find the time, carve it out, let’s make sure we don’t get left behind. We have so events that are being planned for the Chapter – a partial list can be seen on the following page:

Wontawk........................................8 ChapterNews

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Vol. 78, #3 Winter 2007

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ChapterNews New York Chapter Special Libraries Association Volume 78, #3 Winter 2007

SLA NY Chapter Calendar, February 2007 to December 2007: – Tuesday, February 6, 2007 5:30 to 7:30 pm: Networking Event/ Happy Hour – Thursday, March 8, 2007 5:30 to 7:30 pm: Networking Event/ Happy Hour

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

– April, 2007: 5:30 to 8:00 pm Networking Event/ reception, followed by program. Program topic: TBA. – Thursday, December 6, 2007 5:30 to 8:30 pm: Holiday Party

Deadlines for submitting materials:

Winter issue: December 15 Spring issue: March 15 Summer issue: May 14

Kevin Manion is Director of Information Services Consumer Reports. He can be reached at (914) 378-2263 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Submit all material to:

SLA-NY‘s Annual Holiday Party: The Grand 2006

Charles Lowry 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:

Nancy Bowles 235 East 22nd Street, Apt 9L New York, NY 10010 Telephone: (212) 679-7088 or E-mail: [email protected]

Rick Mattis, Rita Ormsby, and Miguel Figueroa

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT DESIGN & LAYOUT:

Gatta Design & Company, Inc. For inquiries call (212) 229-0071 or www.gattago.com 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 Advertising Manager Webmaster ChapterNews

Mary Muenkel Charles Lowry Nancy Bowles Michael Rivas

Chris Hardesty of Newsday is a New Yorker winner as well! 2

Vol. 78, #3 Winter 2007

Best Careers 2007: Librarian

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

by Margaret Daisley U.S.News & World Reports annual list of Top Careers http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/061218/18l ibrarian.summary.htm?s_cid=rss:site1 includes “Librarian,”

along with the description that “Librarians these days must be high-tech information sleuths, helping researchers plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records.” Links are included to salary data, training, lists of American Library Association accredited programs, the Special Libraries Association, and (for-fee) the U.S. News & World Report rankings of library programs.

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

Reprinted from a recent entry on the ALM Research on-line database blog http://www.almresearchonline.com. Margaret Daisley is a former Director of Editorial surveys at ALM and does consulting for survey work. She may be contacted through the editor: [email protected].

Getting down, Mattis style. SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

ChapterNews

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SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

Harold Gee and Sandra Kitt

Tom Pellizzi, Tesse Santoro, and Mary Muenkel

Career Resources, Inc. DC On-Line, Inc.

ChapterNews

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Vol. 78, #3 Winter 2007

SLANY Program Survey Results By Mary Muenkel As the Program Committee looked at the calendar for 2007, it invited SLA New York Chapter members to weigh in on the format and content of programs they’d like to attend next year. The 96 members who responded to the survey left no doubt about the topic that concerns them the most. “Understanding new technologies” topped the list of potential program topics, with 99% of respondents expressing their interest in this type of session. Other popular topics for future Chapter programs included: ▲ Providing value-added services (87%); ▲ State of the information industry (85%); ▲ Measuring the value of information services (84%); ▲ Career issues for Information Professionals (84%); and ▲ Internal marketing (76%). Source-based sessions were less appealing to most respondents. “Business sources for non-business librarians,” “Legal sources for non-legal librarians,” and “Medical sources for non-medical librarians” all ranked lower on the interest scale. One respondent commented that these subject-specific sessions are “more in the realm of mini-courses” and noted that they were very popular years ago.

In terms of Division affiliations, slightly more than half of respondents identified themselves as Business & Finance members (56%). Other Divisions with significant representation among Chapter members include: ▲ Legal (22%); ▲ Advertising & Marketing (16%);

Survey respondents indicated that the topic of the session is the most important factor in determining whether or not to attend a program (96%). Other important criteria include the speaker (76%) and the opportunity to network (69%). Single-speaker and panel formats were preferred by most, with roundtable and hands-on training sessions showing less appeal. Several respondents noted that they’d like the opportunity to learn from their SLA colleagues in informal idea exchanges or best-practice discussions.

▲ Information Technology (15%); ▲ Knowledge Management (15%); ▲ Leadership & Management (12%); and ▲ Museums, Arts & Humanities (12%). Respondents also noted that they often belong to other professional associations in addition to SLA. Thirty-four percent are LLAGNY members, and 32% are METRO members. Responses to the survey reflected the diversity of the New York Chapter’s membership and provided very helpful insights for the Program Committee.

A strong interest in networking with colleagues also surfaced in responses to questions about meeting formats. Eighty-three percent said it was important to have a networking reception with a meeting; of those, 40% called it “Very Important.” Most preferred a reception before the program (54%), not after (27%). Some members noted that evening events can be difficult to attend due to conflicts at home and at work. One respondent suggested, “How about more breakfast programs? It is easier to arrive at work late than to leave early.” ChapterNews

Members should know that they can forward program ideas and suggestions for speakers at anytime during the year to Steve Kochoff ([email protected]) or to any of the program members. Mary Muenkel, of Time Inc., is the Communications Director of the SLA NY Chapter 5

Vol. 78, #3 Winter 2007

SLA COSTS: Here’s Why We Need to Charge

YOUR SOURCE FOR SKILLED INFORMATION NAVIGATORS • The premier source for high-caliber library & information management professionals

“I pay over $100 in annual dues! Why do I have to pay for a party (or a seminar or a meeting)??” We’ve all heard- or felt - this sentiment expressed in various ways at various times, so here’s what you might want to consider.

• Executive search & direct hire placements nationwide • Temporary & temp-to-hire assignments

Your local (NYC) SLA Chapter sees $12 of your annual national membership each year. That’s right- $12. per member to produce all of our Chapter’s programs, parties, meetings, etc. Obviously that doesn’t go very far, which is why we then approach vendors to support these events. In some cases, vendors* will cover the cost of the entire event - but not often. In fact, tight vendor budgets make this level of support increasingly unlikely.

• Competitive candidate benefits & training programs

A Part of TeleSec CORESTAFF

New York City Metro area: 212-642-4321 [email protected]

More likely their contribution may cover partial food costs, for example, for food and beverages. Then we are left with the choice of charging members for liquor (cash bar), or just not offering wine or liquor. Not usually a problem for a week night meeting, but hardly what we all expect at a holiday party.

Washington, DC Metro area: 202-775-1890 [email protected] www.infocurrent.com

And most important, please help us find lower-cost solutions. If you know of a meeting venue which is free or inexpensive for an evening, and./or you can secure a discount on the charge, please contact Steve Kochoff ([email protected] or phone: 212-678-2614) Or if you know of, or work for, a vendor we could approach to support one of our events, please let us know. We would love to reduce our costs all around. We ask you to bear with us should we cut back on refreshments or eliminate them entirely.

Thanks to the generosity of many of our members’ organizations we are not charged a rental fee, although this is not always possible. Sometimes rent is factored in to the price charged for our Chapter’s holiday party. Adequate meeting spaces are expensive in NYC, as anyone knows who’s arranged a large group meeting, wedding, or other event and we try to avoid those rental fees. In addition, when we bring in an out-of town speaker whom we feel will raise our visibility in the community, as well as provide fresh insights for our members, those costs need to be addressed. Travel arrangements, speaking fees, accommodations- all must be factored in.

Finally, thank you to all our loyal members and vendors who support our programs, and encourage us all to enhance our profession. *FYI - Many vendors no longer have the budgets they

In fact, during the past months our Chapter has not had to pay for many of the expenses incurred by our out-oftown speakers, thanks to the generosity of our presenters.

once had to support our activities, and while there are new vendors popping up each year, when we ignore their tables at an event, we quickly lose their interest in supporting our next event. Please keep that in mind when attending a meeting, and try to stop by to ask a few interested questions. It will help us all in the long run. You know often our vendors ask: “what’s in it: sponsorship of Chapter events - for us?” This is a valid question so we encourage you to speak with vendor representatives at our Chapter events and whenever you meet them or see them at association meetings.

We are not crying poor-mouth, but the days of fat coffers are long gone. We need you, our members, to understand the total picture of your Chapter’s activities, and help us continue to offer the kinds of events most of you attend and support. Our SLA NY Chapter is now among the few Chapters throughout the US that do not charge a nominal amount such as $10 per person for each event. The member fee per event varies based on the event and the locale.

Thanks from the members of the SLA NY Chapter Program Committee.

We don’t seek to make a “profit” by charging for any event, we are simply trying to cover the expenses associated with our events and programs. ChapterNews

Members should know that they can forward program ideas and suggestions for speakers at anytime during the year to Steve Kochoff ([email protected]) or to any of the program members. 6

Vol. 78, #2 Autumn 2006

RSS FEEDS: Member Survey Results By Mary Muenkel Are New York Chapter members using RSS feeds?

That’s what the Programming Committee wanted to know in order to plan an event uniquely tailored to the needs of information professionals. In a pre-session survey taken by 71 of our members, the Committee learned that our membership is evenly split between those who use feeds and those who don’t. Those who subscribe to feeds tend to read them through a news reader and are likely to look at 10 or more feeds on a regular basis. Half say they’ve never experienced difficulties with their feeds, but a third say they’ve had technology problems with setup or delivery. And RSS feeds are apparently not a universal solution for managing information overload; 29% of those who are using them say they’ve added to the problem instead of helping to solve it! New York Chapter RSS subscribers do find the feeds effective for a number of tasks:

▲ Keeping abreast of specific topics (94% of survey respondents); ▲ Monitoring general news and current events (91%); ▲ Monitoring topics of personal interest, such as sports or hobbies (70%); and ▲ Temporarily tracking content for active projects (65%). The list of favorite feeds is long and varied, with DocuTicker and Resource Shelf popular choices. Our members tell us:

Many members advised the Programming Committee to “start with the basics” for this session. Those recommendations led to the development of a hands-on session with specific instructions on how to move forward with RSS media.

▲ “RSS feeds of sites maintained by librarians are among the best sources for new information and resources (beSpacific, DocuTicker, ResourceShelf, LII, etc.)” ▲ “Most of my feeds are from blogs. I sometimes RSS Google News searches to keep track of a project I’m researching”

Many thanks to all the Chapter members who participated in the survey!

▲ “LibraryThing: updates on one of my favorite sites out there!”

Mary Muenkel, of Time Inc., is the New York Chapter Communications Director.

▲ “Pogue’s Posts: tech news, reviews and commentary from one of the best-regarded tech writers in the industry” ▲ “Gawker and Gothamist for NYC media; Researchbuzz, Searchenginewatch for keeping current” ▲ “Apple Hotnews, Cnet, Macworld: Watching trends as we determine to move to OS X” ▲ “Lorcan Dempsey - great center for library tech info”

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What a Wacky Wiki Can Do By Jennifer Farrar and John Parsons The Associated Press he revitalized Associated Press News Research Center, located at the organization’s technologically advanced New York headquarters in the Hudson Yards area west of Penn Station, was profiled at length in the Fall 2006 issue of the News Divison’s NLNewsletter. The article described some outstanding technology applications and partnership work between NRC staff and journalists around the AP.

T

AP’s NRC team has enjoyed more than two years of successful regeneration of our operation, thanks to the strong leadership and persistent friendly outreach of our director, Lynn Dombek, who joined in July 2004. In just two years, Dombek led and championed enough dynamic change to win one of the much-coveted AP Oliver Gramling Awards, which brings honors, praise and a cool $10,000 cash prize. Dombek was recognized, in the judges’ words, for "transforming her team of researchers into an integral part of AP journalism across all platforms and departments." What we’d like to share with our New York Chapter colleagues is the success we’ve had with our convergence of technology with brain power. All the bells and whistles in the world won’t help your information service remain relevant. You have to back up the technological marvels by constantly offering new ways to use the tools, provide data analysis prepared with your organization’s needs in mind, and conduct frequent outreach, training and internal collaborative efforts. The technology that brought all those factors together at the AP was the creation of the internal “wikifarm” by Dombek and special projects manager John Parsons. Fall 2006 issue of NLN:

http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/nln/nln06/nln291.pdf For more about the Associated Press Gramling recipients and the award itself, see:

http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_083006 a.html Jennifer Farrar has more than twenty-five years of research and managerial experience in communication libraries in New York City, and is currently a news researcher and writer at the Associated Press. Contact her at [email protected]. John Parsons has years of experience, primarily as the lead in web development projects at Time Inc. Oven Digital, IBM and the New York Public Library, is an assistant visiting professor at Pratt Institute, and is currently Database Analyst and Special Projects Manager at the Associated Press. Contact him at [email protected] ChapterNews

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▲ Librarians can affect the enterprise’s bottom line by using their research expertise to save the time of others. This will often include telling others when further searching would be futile because additional information is unavailable or irrelevant.

A Librarian Speaks Out — and Speaks Up: Library and Librarian Contributions to the Enterprise

▲ Librarians manage a part of the business, and just as HR and IT and various operating units are expected to manage their divisions skillfully and efficiently, librarians do the same.

By Staff Correspondent

▲ Because librarians are trained researchers, they are the ones able to provide “outside the box” information and guide others within the organization when it is necessary to move beyond current information resources.

o librarians and library staff members protect more than bindings? Contribute more than citations? Offer more than reassurance? At least one librarian has told her industry that they do.

D

▲ The librarian offers expertise in investigating, analyzing, evaluating and verifying. The author has put it so well that a direct quotation is far better than paraphrasing: “Librarians investigate, evaluate, analyze, and verify resources for their validity, accuracy and value.”

Katherine Rosin is the reference librarian in the Miami

office of the law firm of Shook , Hardy & Bacon, and the Autumn 2006 number of SLA’s Legal Division Quarterly contains an article by Rosin entitled “The Law Firm Librarian’s Essential Contribution to the Law Firm.” Law firms are not pharmaceutical companies, and pharmaceutical companies are not insurance companies, and insurance companies are not publishers, and publishers are not ad agencies, but the contributions that Katherine Rosin enumerates in her article, mutatis mutandis, will resonate with all of us.

▲ Librarians internally create information by establishing databases, web sites, news feeds, etc. Their value to the organization is enhanced by the co-operative collegiality of the library community. ▲ Librarians are a vital part of crisis response, business interruption and anti-fraud and scam teams. Most librarians have “seen it all” and have a plan to get past it.

How, then, do law firm librarians contribute to the success of law firms? The author lists several specifics, some with subdivisions.

▲ Librarians are well-educated and well-trained and contribute to an enterprise’s professionalism and competency.

▲ Smart administrators know that librarians can offer information resources: databases, web sites, links to government documents, reports and surveys.

▲ By managing and promoting the library, librarians encourage within an organization a climate of intelligent and reasoned and informed decision making.

▲ Librarians interact with peers in HR, IT, records management, operations, office services, etc. to advance the enterprise broadly.

In a world in which there are no automatic budget renewals, librarians must strive to be sure that all the relevant parties are aware not only of what services the library offers to the enterprise, but what essential role the library plays in the operation of the enterprise.

▲ Librarians are a valuable current awareness resource throughout the organization, and others from various operating groups can rely on the library staff for advice and training in online services and electronic research tools. Included in this new expertise is a knowledge of resources for market-based research in competitors and customers, both current and potential.

ChapterNews

Katherine Rosin has generously agreed to permit copies of her article to be distributed to interested members and readers who do not receive the Legal Division Quarterly. You may request a Word® file from the editor by contacting him at [email protected].

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SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

Kathleen McKiernan & Tom Eikenbrod

Pat Buckley and Amy Farber from the NY Fed flank Peter Edelman from the Daily News.

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

An Invitation To Readers The editor of the newsletter reminds all members of the New York Chapter of SLA that the pages of ChapterNews are open to all. The editor would be very pleased to discuss and accept submissions in any of the following areas: ▲ Comings, goings, new jobs, new titles, retirements.

Raffle winner, Clifford Perry

▲ Articles about day-to-day life in member libraries. SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT

▲ Articles about SLA programs or social events you might have attended. ▲ Reflections on the profession: salaries, responsibilities, education, career path. ▲ Announcements of scholarships, awards, honors, whether those announcements are invitations to propose candidates or are announcements of winners. ▲ Library initiatives: acquisitions, marketing/awareness campaigns, organizational changes, etc. The ChapterNews is a wonderful way to maximize the value of the SLA experience, and a wonderful way to share your experiences and successes with your fellow librarians. The editor of ChapterNews, Chuck Lowry, can be reached at [email protected] or 212.592.4932.

wild Pratt students ChapterNews

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