the public's library and digital archive - preservation of ...of digital media.” the columbus...

Vol. 26, No.4/Summer 2004

THE CHAIR SAYS/ 4

Jennifer Evert offersher thoughts in her first‘Notes from the Chaircolumn.”

INTRANETS / 7 Liisa Tuominen’s

intranet session reviewhits the spot.

NASHVILLEPHOTOS / 10-11

A review of theNashville conference inpictures.

DIVISION MINUTES/ 12

Learn Division newsby reading the minutesfrom the AnnualBusiness Meeting.

THE INSIDESTORY

BY JEANIE STRAUB, EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Many news librarians are strug-gling in a Twilight Zone dimen-sion with regards to the preser-

vation of the invaluable cultural assets ofclip files and photographs. They are wellaware of the value of these collections, yetbecause the focus of the news business istomorrow’s news, and because the newsbusiness is very much a business, some facea slow train wreck. Clearly managementmust see preservation as a priority.

“This is a very difficult sell,” saidVictoria McCargar of the Los AngelesTimes, “because we’re all so short-termedand bottom-line focused in the news busi-ness.”

Preservation planning - including strate-gic planning for future electronic migra-tions - tends to take a backseat to moreurgent priorities that require time andfunding, said McCargar, who focused onpreservation issues in newspaper librarieswhile working toward her MLIS at UCLA.

“It may be generations before we figurethis out, which is pretty scary” she noted ofpreservation in news libraries, includingelectronic formats. “It is like a silent trainwreck - a little bit goes everyday. The mate-

rial isn’t gone. It is there, but by the timeyou get around to thinking about it youwon’t be able to open it.”

“Yet coming out of the library,”McCargar said, “the responsibility falls tolibrarians, who are competing for scarceresources.”

Many electronic preservation solutions,such as digitization, do not promise areturn on investment. “It is a expensiveproposition to systematically digitize pic-tures,” McCargar said.

According to Indianapolis Star LibraryDirector Michael Jesse, some news librari-ans may come under pressure to discardhard-copy photos as the photos are scannedon an as-needed basis into an electronic sys-tem, but the resolution of the scan onlymatches the requirements for newsprintpublishing. “Much of the original detailfrom the print was lost in the scan,” he said,“and if the photo is discarded in theprocess, that’s the end of it.” Likewise, clipfiles may be targeted for disposal to free upspace. “Often this is by order of a publish-er or editor who has no real understandingor appreciation of what is being discarded,”Jesse said.

Much of the reason preservation causes

people to tear their hair out, McCargarnoted, is because there are few practicalapplications for the investment. Digitizingmicrofilm is profitable for the largestpapers, but what about the mid-sized daily?

“We’re a long ways from figuring thisout,” McCargar said. “Meanwhile we dothe best we can. We hope we’re doing itright and don’t come up with a nasty sur-prise in a few years - sometimes it’s yearsbefore you find out.”

“The conundrum of preservation is thatyou have to make an educated guess as towhat is going to be valuable,” McCargarsaid. “That is the science of appraisal thathas gone out the window with the adventof digital media.”

The Columbus Dispatch’s Jim Hunter,education director for the Division, said the“Accidental Archivist” course at the SLAAnnual Conference went better thanexpected. “But the issue of archives innewspapers, there is no ready solution toit,” he added. There is no “easy fix.”

Hunter noted that “AccidentalArchivist” presenter Robert Jansen of theMinneapolis Star-Tribune “very clearly saidthe victories are few and far between, but

Preservation of valuable collections is a commondilemma of news organizations

Continued on page 16

NLN FEATURE

NEWSDIVISION

EXECUTIVEBOARD

News Library News (ISSN 1047-417X) isthe bulletin of the News Division of theSpecial Libraries Association. SLAHeadquarters address is: SLA, 1700Eighteenth St. N.W., Washington, DC20009. The phone number is: 202-234-4700. News Library News is publishedfour times a year by the division.Reproduction in whole or part withoutpermission is prohibited.

Special Libraries Association assumesno responsibility for the statements andopinions advanced by the contributorsof the association’s publications.Editorial views do not necessarily rep-resent the official position of SpecialLibraries Association. Acceptance of anadvertisement does not imply endorse-ment of the product by SpecialLibraries Association.

To place advertisements or to obtainadvertising information, you can con-tact Ron Larson, the managing editor,at his e-mail address:[email protected]

Copy for bylined columns should besubmitted to the column editor. Allother copy may be submitted to RonLarson at his e-mail address.

News Library NewsSummer 2004Vol. 26, No. 4

PAGE 2 NEWS LIBRARY NEWS SUMMER 2004

COMMITTEECHAIRS

NLN STAFF

CHAIR, Jennifer Small Evert, LexisNexis,Miamisburg, OH, 800/227-9597, x58037,e-mail: [email protected]

CHAIR-ELECT, Denise J. Jones, News andObserver, Raleigh, NC, 919/829-9818,e-mail: [email protected]

PAST CHAIR/DIRECTOR-AWARDS, LindaHenderson, Providence Journal, Providence,RI,401/277-7887, e-mail: [email protected]

SECRETARYMerrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune,San Diego, CA, 619/718-5431e-mail: [email protected]

TREASURER, Justin Scroggs, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta, GA, 404/526-7550,e-mail: [email protected]

DIRECTOR-EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVEL-OPMENT CHAIR, Jim Hunter, ColumbusDispatch, Columbus, OH, 614/461-5039,e-mail: [email protected]

DIRECTOR-PUBLICATIONS, Leigh Poitinger, SanJose Mercury News, San Jose, CA, 408/920-5972,e-mail: [email protected]

NEWS DIVISION COMMITTEE CHAIRSARCHIVIST CHAIR, Teresa Leonard, News and

Observer, Raleigh, NC, 919/829-4866e-mail: [email protected]

BROADCAST CHAIR, Vacant

DIVERSITY CHAIR, Kee Malesky, National PublicRadio, Washington, DC, 202/513-2356,e-mail: [email protected]

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS CHAIR, vacant

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CHAIR,Wil Roestenburg, PCM Landelijke Dagbladen,Rotterdam, (NL), 31-(0)10-406-7741,e-mail: [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, Alice Pepper, Detroit FreePress, Detroit, MI, 313/222-5135,e-mail: [email protected]

NOMINATIONS CHAIR, Peter Johnson, LosAngeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, 213/237-3349,e-mail: [email protected]

PUBLICITY-PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR, DanaGordon, Newsweek Inc., New York, NY, 212/445-4012, e-mail: [email protected]

SMALL LIBRARIES CHAIR, Marcia MacVane,Portland Newspapers, Portland, ME, 207/791-6318, e-mail: [email protected]

TELLER/ELECTIONS CHAIR, Bill Van Niekerken,San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA,415/777-7230, e-mail: [email protected]

WEBMEISTRESS, Jessica Baumgart, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA, 617/495-4739,e-mail: [email protected]

NLN MANAGING EDITOR

Ron LarsonWisconsin State Journal/The Capital Times1901 Fish Hatchery Rd.Madison, WI 53713608/252-6113e-mail: [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

PEOPLEKathryn PeaseNewsdayMelville, NY631/843-2333e-mail: [email protected]

LIBRARY PROFILESJennifer O’NeillFlorida Times UnionJacksonville, FL904/359-4184e-mail: [email protected]

Total membership: 723

It’s hard to imagine that the SLA Conference was already twomonths ago. Do many of you who visited Nashville in June stillhave a large collection of material from the conference piled

high on your desk like I do? No, I’m sure most of you are moreorganized and efficient.

The conference, once again, was a non-stop affair with great ses-sions. A few of them are summarized in this issue, along with anumber of photos to properly document the event. Hats off to allinvolved, especially Jennifer Small Evert, Jim Hunter, MichaelJesse and Linda Henderson, for their time and effort.

It’s amazing how the News Division can year after year out doitself when it comes to conference programming. The bar contin-ues to rise and that is good for all of us.

Just as this summer has quickly passed by, so has my tenure asmanaging editor of News Library News. I guess the old adage istrue, that time passes quickly when you’re having fun. It has beena privilege and pleasure serving you, the Division and this publica-tion.

I have sincerely appreciated the assistance from those of you whohave written for NLN. I can’t say enough about the high level ofthe helpful spirit in this Division. Each time I asked someone towrite an article, it was always answered with a quick yes.

I must thank Liz Donovan and Leigh Poitinger for convincingme to give this job a chance. I was quite stubborn and played hardto get, but I’m glad they kept pestering me. The experience of edit-ing News Library News has certainly been worth the effort.

And finally, a huge bouquet of thanks and appreciation goes toCheri Dantin, the talented graphic designer of News Library News.I just send her the stories and photos and she does the magic. Hertireless efforts last fall made our transition from a print publicationto a digital one appear seamless. Thank you, Cheri, for all of yourhelp and guidance.

RON LARSON

THE ASIDE BAR

SUMMER 2004 NEWS LIBRARY NEWS PAGE 3

NEWS LIBRARY NEWS SUMMER 2004

BY JENNIFER SMALL

EVERT

NOTESFROMTHECHAIR

It’s really over! After a long year planning theannual conference program, I can’t believethat Nashville is behind us and I’m sitting

here writing my first column as Chair of theNews Division. Before looking ahead to thenext year, I’d like to extend a great number ofthanks to people who helped make theNashville program so successful.

First and foremost, a huge thank you to theCzarina, Linda Henderson. Without Linda’sguidance, I would not have been able to makeit through the year with so few troubles. I real-ly admire her dedication to the Division andher willingness to help with any issue.

I would also like to thank all of the greatmoderators who stepped forward to take timefrom their busy schedules to put together somegreat programs this year: Laura Soto-Barra,Peter Johnson, Carolyn Edds, Mike Meiners,Denise Jones, Mike Knoop, and LynnePalombo. These folks did an excellent job ofpulling together strong panels (thanks to all thespeakers as well!) Almost every program -including those scheduled for 7:30 in themorning - was packed full. On more than oneoccasion I had folks from other divisionsapproach me to comment on the strength ofthe News Division programming. Great jobeveryone - it would not have been possiblewithout your hard work.

I would also like to congratulate JimHunter, our skilled Professional DevelopmentChair, for creating two great CE courses - bothof which sold out! I think that’s the first time inseveral years and it speaks volumes for Jim’sability to identify topics that are important notonly to News Division members but also to theorganization as a whole.

There are several friends of the Division whohelped make this year’s conference special. First,I want to thank the staff at the NashvilleTennessean for hosting the Division on theopening day. I also want to thank CarolynEdds and IRE for again helping us webcastGary Price’s Extreme Searching session. As faras I know, we are the only division who has suc-cessfully webcast a program. I hope we can con-tinue to do this so that members who are

unable to attend can get a touch of conference.As usual, Gary’s session was overflowing!Finally, I want to thank the folks at theFreedom Forum & the First AmendmentCenter on the Vanderbilt campus in Nashvillefor sponsoring a reception and program on theclosing night. Attendees were treated to a shortinterview show that featured Judy Blume andothers discussing censorship. We also touredthe First Amendment Center’s protest exhibitand enjoyed some tasty barbecue.

Finally, I’d like to extend a sincere apprecia-tion to our vendors. Professional developmentopportunities would not be possible withoutthe support of these folks. This year we’d like tospecifically thank Proquest, LexisNexis,MerlinOne, Heritage Microfilm, Dialog,Factiva and RefUSA. The News Division looksforward to continuing to work with you tobuild stronger partnerships.

For those of you who did not get to attendSLA this year, I hope you’ve had the chance tocheck out the News Division Web site whereJessica Baumgart, our webmaster, has done thehard work of posting all of the available presen-tations and handouts: http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/conferences/ sla2004/.

As I close the book on Nashville, I’d like tolook forward a bit to this year. The NewsDivision Board met during SLA and outlinedsome of the key issues for the Division. One ofthe most crucial issues revolves around mem-bership. Our numbers continue to decline andwe think it’s time to put together an action planto help boost membership. We tossed aroundseveral ideas at conference and will work thisyear to outline a plan of attack. So look formore on that issue. Another issue that is nearand dear to my heart is professional develop-ment. The Division was able to resuscitate theNews Librarian program at Poynter this year.We are going to continue to work with Poynterto keep a program for news librarians alive. Asmall group of volunteers is starting the work tooutline the program for next year.

I hope everyone enjoys what’s left of thesummer!


BY JESSICA BAUMGART, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

OFFICE OF NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The News Division’s continuingeducation course, The AccidentalArchivist, offered participants

insight on how to collect and care for thevaried materials at news organizations.Panelists providing the valuable informa-tion were Vincent Golden from theAmerican Antiquarian Society, CarrieChristoffersen of the Newseum, and BobJansen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. JimHunter of the Columbus Dispatch, theDivision’s education and professional devel-opment director, moderated.

Golden began his talk by introducing usto the work and collection of the society.He then spoke about the lack of publisherfiles and the amount of newspapers thathave been lost over the years. He illustratedhow collecting newspapers is a way to save

history. Many places and groups of peoplein the United States have almost no recordsof their history because no one preservedtheir key publications. Golden shared manyanecdotes about procuring newspapers. Healso spoke about working with dealers toget materials and how beneficial some ofthose relationships can be. He emphasizedthe importance of acquisitions, preserva-tion, and organization.

Christoffersen opened her presentationwith an introduction to the Newseum, itscollection, and her work there. She sharedmany excellent resources, like theNewseum’s Collection ManagementPolicies and Procedures, and informationabout storing and preserving items of his-torical value. Christoffersen emphasized theimportance of having good collectionguidelines. She told us about the latestthinking regarding archival storage condi-

tions for many items and passed aroundsome instruments for measuring those con-ditions. She also reminded us that beingable to find things in archival storage isimportant, so appropriate finding aids andlabels are an integral part of the collection.She discussed access issues, too, like storingitems in locked cases and only giving cer-tain personnel keys to the storage area.Archivists need to keep emergency pre-paredness in mind, as well.

Jansen, aka “The World’s StrongestArchivist,” urged us to become better advo-cates for saving our news organization’s his-tory. He gave us some examples of how thenews organization can benefit from know-ing its own history, like including detailsabout it in articles. Bob suggested someways we can begin our own archives. Ifarchiving becomes an important part of our

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

A summary of The Accidental Archivist

BY TOM PELLEGRENE JR., THE JOURNAL GAZETTE

Newsrooms are now requiringdetailed background on business-es and individuals, enabling

librarians to provide a terrific value to newsorganizations. “If all we are doing isGoogle, we are no better than our reporters,and we have to be better than them,” saidJim Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch, theNews Division’s education director. Duringa four-hour continuing education course atthe SLA conference in Nashville, a newslibrarian, a library-school professor and aWeb expert provided a detailed look atpractices and sites researchers can use toprovide that information on deadline.

“We don’t know what we know,” saidMarion Paynter, library director at theCharlotte Observer, who spent severalmonths interviewing several dozen librari-ans, private investigators and vendors to

“compile our community’s collective wis-dom.” Her 23-page report is to be madeavailable at the Division’s Web site.

Most researchers make the same moves90 percent of the time, Paynter said, but it’swhat they do differently in that last 10 per-cent that extends the community’s knowl-edge.

To get the most for your money, shesaid, start with free Web sites and printedmaterials available in your library, such asphone books or city directories. Then go tofee-based services. Sometimes one servicecan be used as an index for another.

Paynter found that Accurint is the most-often-used first choice because of its lowcost - 50 cents to search, free if you findnothing. More libraries have AutoTrack,often used as a backup.

In general, she said, people-finders

shouldn’t be made available in the news-room to avoid high cost, the need to trainusers and to prevent inappropriate use.Most searches are done in response to news-room requests, but let the newsroom knowwhat you can do.

Credit and lender issues have restrictedthe media’s right to Social Security numbersin these services, Paynter said. Each vendorhas interpreted the provisions of federal lawdifferently. “If one vendor won’t give a per-mitted use, try another,” she said.

Among the lessons researchers havelearned:• Make sure someone is coordinating

research efforts so multiple people aren’tdoing the same thing.

• Make sure you know what is (and isn’t)in each database.

• Insist on training reporters.

A summary of Deadline Due Diligence




On the MoveLynn Dombek has joined the Associated Press as

Research Director of the News Research Center. Lynnwas formerly Director of Editorial Research atAmerican Lawyer Media, and prior to that she was theTime, Inc. Research Center’s Assistant Director.

Not only is the AP getting a new Research Director,but they’re also getting a new building. After 67 years,they left the Associated Press Building at RockefellerCenter and moved to the 14th, 15th and 16th floors ofits new headquarters at West 33rd Street and 10thAvenue in New York City.

John Martin was appointed Research Editor of theSt. Petersburg Times in February. John joined the Timesin 1995 as a News Researcher. Reporting to John willbe Carolyn Edds, who joined the Times staff in July asa News Researcher. Carolyn is the former ResearchDirector of Investigative Reporters and Editors at theMissouri School of Journalism.

I’m a year late with this one, but Joan Fitzsimonswas appointed as a Reference Manager for the CBSNews Reference Library in September 2003. Beforecoming to CBS News, she was an InformationSpecialist at the Forbes Magazine Information Center.

The NPR library staff is happy to have MaryGlendinning joining their ranks. Mary previouslyworked at the Freedom Forum, ABC News andLexisNexis.

Kelly Guckian of the San Antonio Express-News waspromoted to a newly created position of DatabaseResearcher. Kelly will assist reporters and editors tonegotiate for data from agencies and provide datacleanup and analysis. She will train and supportreporters who are interested in using databases or othercomputer assisted reporting tools. Kelly will also postsearchable databases such as county voter registrationon the newsroom intranet. Although she will continueto work on the information desk and have some archiv-ing responsibilities, her major focus will be databasesupport.

The Freedom Forum library in Arlington, VA haswelcomed Sage Hulsebus to their staff. Sage recentlycompleted an internship with the USA Today libraryand is a May 2004 graduate of the School of Libraryand Information Science at Catholic University inWashington, D.C.

Kerry Prendergast is the new Manager of LibraryServices at Scholastic. In this role, Kerry will head alllibrary operations - including acquisitions, circulation,

and research - while also overseeing the managementand use of the company’s print-based product archive.

Kerry joins Scholastic from her recent position asManager/Information Resources for the NBCInformation Center. At NBC, Kerry and her staff pro-vided reference and research services in support of thetelevision news outlets of NBC and MSNBC. She hasalso held positions as Research Manager and SeniorReference Librarian at CitiBank and has been aninstructor at the School of Library Service at PrattInstitute where she taught the use of online databasesfor business.

The Raleigh News & Observer’s News ResearchDepartment has a new researcher. Lamara Williams-Hackett joined their staff on June 1. She has a MLSfrom Louisiana State University where she was aReference/Instruction Librarian.

Awards & AcknowledgmentsJennifer O’Neill, Library Director of The Florida

Times-Union, was selected by a state-wide committee toparticipate in the year-long Sunshine State LeadershipInstitute for “librarians who have exhibited leadershippotential, as well as the ability to share with others theirenthusiasm, optimism, and vision for the library ser-vices of tomorrow.” The institute is sponsored by aLibrary Services and Technology Act grant adminis-tered by the Florida Department of State, Division ofLibrary and Information Services.

Here is a sampling of colleagues who were credited inprint for their contributions to major stories and pro-jects:

The Christian Science Monitor credited AlanMessmer and Leigh Montgomery for their statisticalanalysis of U.S. military fatalities in Iraq for the article,“A Portrait of Who They Were” by Brad Knickerbocker.Alan and Leigh found that between March 20, 2003and May 6, 2004, 759 US troops died in Iraq, and thatit was the longest, fiercest, sustained combat Americanshave seen in a generation. To read the story, see:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0512/p01s04-usmi.html

Bobbye Pratt, news researcher from The WashingtonPost, received her first byline for “A Personal HistoryLesson: Va. High School Classmates Face Their OwnLegacy,” a story about the 50th anniversary of Brownvs. the Board of Education. Check it out at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59895-2004May1.html

PEOPLE

BY KATHRYN PEASE




BY LIISA TUOMINEN, OTTAWA CITIZEN

Over the sounds of a laughter semi-nar seeping over from the roomnext door, the News Division got

the lowdown on two very cool and usefulintranets, NewsSpot and SunSpot, duringthe session “Intranets - Cool Content &Tools and Getting the Work Done (State ofthe Art)”. (Is it mere coincidence that bothNewsSpot and SunSpot have the word“Spot” in their names? Hmmm.)

David Dwiggins gave an impressiveoverview of NewsSpot, planting great ideasin the minds of those of us with more, um,rudimentary sites. Sporting a retired news-paper mascot, (a cartoon dog named Spot)as its icon, NewsSpot has evolved over thepast few years be a tool for newsroom com-munication and for workflow applications.It has improved communication from per-son to person, within teams and betweendepartments.

Some examples of NewsSpot’s functionsinclude photo orders, photographermileage reports and correction reports thatcan be viewed by the Tennessean’s onlineside. Logons can be personalized so peoplecan get access to, say, their unfinishedphoto requests.

NewsSpot is also a site for corporate andfocus group reports, the company history,policies, a Cop Shift manual, a daily cri-tique of the newspaper and feedback fromreaders.

Journalism tools include stylebooks,archives of pdf pages, scanned headlinesfrom a card index and the paper’s text andphoto archives - as well as links to commer-cial databases and other useful Web sites.

Add to this a company directory withphotos, and a database of staff expertise,and you’ve got yourself a dandy newsroomtool.

New information is added with forms sothat non-technical people can keep it up-to-date and maintain consistency.

In addition to day to day journalism,

NewsSpot has been used to: ❖ compile a database of high school sports to keep

exportable game stats for the long term. Storiesand photos are linked to the database. Clerks addinformation via forms.

❖ for a project on nursing home fires, they built adatabase with information on every local facility,

❖ used recently for a newspaper remodel project togive centralized information, background newsabout the project and include team Web sites forindividual projects with minutes, reports andideas

For the future - “PlanSpot” will be anewsroom planning tool for keeping arecord of projects with scheduling, art, pro-motion and art requests

David also addressed the challengesinvolved with an intranet. Designated indi-viduals must have “ownership” of informa-tion and responsibility for keeping it up todate. The main page should be kept simpleas the intranet grows and good navigation iscrucial. There’s the potential for “Featurecreep” where time and energy is wasted oncapabilities that don’t turn out to be useful.As an example, a contacts file - reporterscan be reluctant to share their sources, andupkeep can be a nightmare.

He stressed the need to build the rightteam with designers, tech people, informa-tion professionals and end users. As for thesoftware and hardware behind it all, headvising using the technology your ITdepartment knows and can support.

John Maines spoke about SunSpot,which was started in 1998. He gave severalexamples of Computer Assisted Reportingdatabases that have been made available tothe general newsroom via SunSpot.❖ a felons database going back to the 1930s

❖ a “Cool School Tool” contains a list of school dis-trict employees.

❖ a census database, which when combined withmapping software allows a graphic display of pop-ulation trends.

❖ a Global Search System - allows searching of aname against voter registration, crash records,felons and state employees

The crowning glory, however, is a data-base of Florida voter registrations which,when linked to mapping software and cen-sus data, enabled groundbreaking journal-ism in the 2000 U.S. Presidential electionwhen all eyes were on Florida voters.

John finished developing this databasejust before the election, not knowing whatan important tool it would become. Itallowed him to first map the ethnic andpolitical distribution of voters by neighbor-hood by overlaying voter registrations on tocensus data. Once election results were in,he could show the percentages of Bush andGore votes in various neighborhoods.When percentages of disqualified ballotswere added, the journalists could pinpointthe ethnic makeup of neighborhoods withhigh numbers of these ballots, finding a dis-proportionate number from African-American and Caribbean areas. The PC-based Visual Basic software allowed thisinformation to be displayed using color-coded maps, which could be exported tothe art department for use in the newspa-per.

John also demonstrated free softwarethat enables him (and us) to develop searchscreens for databases. Using shareware,(ASP.NET), borrowed coding and drag-and-drop functions, he showed how to cre-ate search screens for Excel files, enablingour newsrooms to mine information fromthe files - without them having to knowExcel. You can even visit his Web site at:http://66.166.242.163/sla/index.htm for ademonstration. The site links to a down-load site for ASP.NET for the PC. Onceyou’ve installed the software, his demoallows you to take any Excel spreadsheetand using “borrowed” coding, design asearch screen. Putting these search capabili-ties on your intranet gives your newsroomaccess to databases they might have beentoo intimidated to use in the past.

John also stressed the importance of cau-


Intranet course hits the spot



BY AMY DISCH

In spite of the problems I encounteredgetting to Nashville (missed connec-tions and lost luggage), I had a wonder-

ful time attending my first SLA conference.I hope to repeat the experience many timesin the course of my professional career.

After finally arriving on Sunday after-noon, my mood improved dramaticallyonce I decided to venture out into the vastexpanses of the conference hotel. I wentover to the conference area and took care ofmy registration and was immediatelyimpressed by the friendliness of thosearound me. I started talking to a womanfrom Texas and at some point, I mentionedmy dislike of the cold weather inWisconsin. She promptly gave me her busi-ness card and told me to send her myresume. I remember thinking to myselfwhat a fantastic experience this was going tobe.

Monday morning began with the open-ing general session with keynote speaker Dr.Carl Ledbetter. Dr. Ledbetter spoke aboutthe Internet and the various issues we facein conjunction with it, such as privacy,security and the like. I then attended aposter session on using the Internet to effec-tively teach the sciences. Even though sci-ence has never been my strong suit, I amvery interested in the issue of bibliographicinstruction and training and decided tocheck out the session anyway. One of thetutorials had been created using Camtasia,the software I’ll be using this fall as part ofa practicum experience at the UW-Madison’s Health Sciences Library. I alsogot my first chance to wander the exhibithall, which I admit overwhelmed me a bit.Besides filling my bag with endless freebies,I spent some time visiting the booths of theUW’s Engineering Library, the NationalLibrary of Medicine and the Library ofCongress. In the afternoon, I attended theNews Division’s annual business meeting. It

was great to finally connect faces with thenames I see on NewsLib and everyone wasvery welcoming to me.

Monday evening I attended the awardsbanquet at the Belle Meade Plantation,where I was honored to receive theDivision’s Vormelker-Thomas StudentAward. I had the pleasure of meeting andhaving my award presented to me by lastyear’s winner, Jennifer Klimas. It was a verymemorable evening and I thank theDivision for the generosity it showed me.

On Tuesday, I attended several NewsDivision programs, including newsroomintranets, computer-assisted reporting andcovering political candidates. I also attend-ed a session geared specifically to new grad-uates or students approaching graduationon alternative careers that can be pursuedwith an MLS. In the evening, I attended theassociation’s business meeting, where I offi-cially became the president-elect of theWisconsin chapter and had the opportuni-ty to meet several fellow cabinet members.

Wednesday proved to be the best andmost informative day of the conference forme. I really enjoyed the general closing ses-sion with Bill Ivey. My undergraduate stud-ies concentrated on film history, so I wascompletely absorbed with Ivey’s discussionof the need to preserve our cultural heritage,including items such as early films, televi-sion shows and radio programs

The remainder of the day was filled withsessions on microfilm digitization and prov-ing your value to the newsroom. The latterwas something I spent a great deal of timediscussing and writing about during a spe-cial libraries course I took last fall, so it wasgreat to hear these issues discussed in termsof practical situations.

I finally got to attend a presentation bythe venerable Gary Price! His was undoubt-edly the best session of the conference, withlots of tips and Internet information thatcan be taken back to our library’s two news-

rooms. I was particularly interested in hisdiscussion of Vivisimo’s ClusterMed (formy fall practicum) and MovieLens.

Wednesday evening I attended my finalconference event at the First AmendmentCenter at Vanderbilt University. In particu-lar, I found the visual timeline of events inthe history of rights and free speechextremely powerful.

I decided to take advantage of theThursday tours and had a wonderful timevisiting the Hermitage, the estate of the sev-enth President of the United States, AndrewJackson. I got to tour the mansion, as wellas the beautiful gardens and grounds. Muchof it was self-guided and I really enjoyedhaving the opportunity to explore things onmy own.

Even though I got to meet many people,I do regret that I didn’t take part in more ofthe structured networking activities thatwere available. This is the main thing Iintend to rectify at future conferences.Nonetheless, my time there was fun andenjoyable and I’m eternally grateful to havebeen given the opportunity to attend whilestill a student.

Thanks again to the Division for givingme this incredible experience. I can’t wait todo it all again next year in Toronto.

First conference experience is worth repeating

Amy Disch, left, receives the Vormelker-Thomas Student Award from last year’s winner,Jennifer Klimas.



BY MEGAN GALLUP, DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL

As most of us prepare to help ournewsrooms cover the many racesbrewing during this election sea-

son, it’s always helpful to think about whatwe should do. “Elections 2004: Coveringthe Candidates and their Campaigns(Practitioner’s Toolkit)” provided usefuladvice to get us started.

Denise Jones, of The News andObserver, shared the four questions sheadvises reporters to ask about every candi-date:❖ Do the candidates vote? Find out how long

they have been registered to vote andwhether they vote regularly or skip elections.

❖ Do the candidates live where they say theydo or are other addresses associated withthem? Check property records and directo-ries.

❖ Do the candidates pay their taxes - and doso on time? You may have to check yourlocal courthouse if the information is notonline. There may be liens against a can-didate if they haven’t paid their taxes.

❖ Has the candidate been divorced? Checkthe divorce records - you could get somejuicy stuff if there was a highly contesteddivorce.

Derek Willis, of the Center for PublicIntegrity (www.publicintegrity.org),reminded the audience that it’s importantto remember that state and local electionsimpact federal elections, and vice versa.And it’s important, and fun, to follow themoney.

When covering federal elections, keep inmind that new campaign finance laws mayactually have made finding out who isdonating money more difficult. For exam-ple, 527 Committees are exempt from tax-

Session offershelpful advicewhen dealing withcandidates

BY MEGAN GALLUP, DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL

Most of us are constantly trying to prove to upper management that newslibraries are a valuable asset to the company. The session, “Proving your value(Knowing & Growing your customers)” featured three speakers who offered

up tons of ideas to accomplish that goal.Kathy Foley, of the San Antonio Express-News, shared several ways to bring in rev-

enue. From photo reprints and custom text reprints, to through licensing and permis-sions, you should find ways to repurpose your organizations’ products. And, if you can,try to get the resulting revenue into your budget, or at least into the newsroom budget.Kathy suggested trying to grow income gradually each year, then start asking for mar-keting help.

Newsday’s Chris Hardesty suggested that one way to prove your value is to visit otherdepartments to find out what they’re up to - and how you can help them. Then invitethem to your department for a tour. Share your archives with other departments if pos-sible. For example, your advertising department may find your PDF archive invaluablewhen it comes to billing.

Finally, Stephen Abram, of Micromedia ProQuest, informed the audience that youhave to communicate with management on an emotional level, rather than bombardthem with facts and information. Talk about your value frequently - don’t wait for theonce-a-year annual report.

Abram suggested that we should make our ‘stories’ relevant and cautionary. Forexample, let reporters know about the ways Google search results can be manipulated byinterested parties.

Communicate with people on their level (e.g., talk money to the accountants, talkethics to the editors). Most importantly, become the person that is most valuable in yournewsroom.

Communicating, networking andinnovation help prove value

Stephen Abram, left, Chris Hardesty and Kathy Foley provide ideas on how to prove your value.




2004 Conference Pics

Top Left: It isn’t the Grand Ole Opry stage, but RichardGeiger, right, is content to play for the audience in theDivision suite.

Center Left: After enjoying a reception and barbecue atthe First Amendment Center, Division members wereable to enjoy viewing the educational exhibit at theCenter.

Bottom Left: The Belle Meade Plantation offered a lovelysetting for a reception sponsored by ProQuest.

Top Right: Charlie Campo, left, presents John Croninwith the Joseph F. Kwapil Memorial Award.

Bottom Right: Chris Hardesty displays a bit of historyduring the auction in the Division suite.



2004 Conference Pics

Top: The expanse of the Opryland Hotel and ConventionCenter required a lot of walking and a road map.

Bottom: Nancy Stewart, left, and Catherine Kitchell, right,pose with Minnie Pearl outside the Grand Ole Opry.

jobs, he recommends that we take at least one course about archiv-ing. He told us about how his relationships with people havehelped him get materials for his collection. Once people knowabout his collecting efforts, they’ve given him things for the archiveand encouraged others to do the same.

Those of us who attended The Accidental Archivist learnedabout the news librarian’s role in preserving not only the newsorganization’s history, but also the history of people and places bysaving published materials. We learned about archiving in generaland some specific tools and procedures we can employ to aid ourcollections.

• Communicate. Get requests in writing and keep records ofwhat was done.

• Assume nothing.There is no such thing as a nationwide criminal search, Paynter

said, although services are available that cast a “wide net with bigholes.” She said you should become an expert on your state’s courtsystem, and make sure you understand what you’re seeing fromout-of-state courts. To clarify, ask questions of the court or the ven-dor.

What is real, authentic or useful is not immediately apparentwithout context, said Roberta Brody, associate professor in theschool of library and information studies at Queens College, CityUniversity of New York.

Some things covered well on the consumer side are difficult tobackground on the business side, Brody said.

She said researchers should first find the company’s name,owner and major players. Companies may be in more than oneindustry, so pick the one appropriate for the inquiry.

Many but not all industries are federally regulated, and thoseagencies may be of assistance, Brody said.

She said researchers should ask, Who needs to know? Who wantsto know? What associations, books or consultants do they use? Find thesmallest unit that would have the information you need.

Not everything is on the Web, Brody said, so take time to devel-op contacts.

Look at search engines such as Google in terms of their under-lying databases, said Greg R. Notess, a reference librarian and asso-ciate professor at Montana State University in Bozeman.

Because of load-balancing among servers, the same search maynot get the same result twice, so reloading can help, Notess said.Use sponsored links for information, knowing where you got it.

A summary of The Accidental ArchivistContinued from page 5

A summary of Deadline Due DiligenceContinued from page 5



Monday, June 7, 2004Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee

IN ATTENDANCE

News Division Executive Board members (LindaHenderson, Chair; Jennifer Small Evert, Chair-elect;Michael Jesse, Past Chair/Director-Awards; LeighPoitinger, Secretary; Jim Hunter, Director-Education/Professional Development Chair; LizDonovan, Director-Publications), other Divisionmembers and guests.

CALL TO ORDER

Chair Linda Henderson called the meeting to orderat 2:04 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Linda Henderson called for a motion to approve theminutes of the 2003 annual business meeting, as pub-lished in News Library News, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Summer2003). Ginny Everett put forth a motion to approvethe minutes; Donna Scheeder seconded the motion.The motion was approved unanimously.

EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORTS

CHAIR-ELECT - JENNIFER SMALL EVERET

Jennifer announced that 138 News Division mem-bers had registered for the conference and that theDivision’s ticketed events were sold out. She thankedDavid Dwiggins for hosting the tour of The Tennesseanon June 5 and Jim Hunter for organizing the two sold-out Continuing Education sessions on June 6.

Jennifer also talked about the News Division’s 11planned sessions at the conference, thanked all thespeakers and vendors and gave reminders about theNews Division Awards Banquet and the Vanderbilt TVNews Archives tour.

TREASURER - JUSTIN SCROGGS

Peter Johnson read the following report submitted byJustin Scroggs…

Highlights for the year ending June 7, 2004:On June 3, 2004, the Division had a checking

account balance of $15,191. In addition to generalfunds, the Division also carries a balance of $6,175 des-ignated for the “C.B. Hayden Fellowship.”

This year the Division received a $7,300 member-ship allotment* from SLA. That was a bit of good newsas it indicates an upward trend in Division member-

ship. For reference, here are the allotment figures for2001-2004:

As of* Amount

12/31/03 $7,300

12/31/02 $7,090

12/31/01 $7,300

12/31/00 $7,930*The allotment is computed at $10/division memberon record on 12/31.

In 2003, SLA began requiring Divisions to pay halfof estimated conference costs in advance. In April ofthis year the Division submitted a check for $9,490towards the costs of this conference.

From February 29 through March 3, 2004, theDivision and the Poynter Institute co-sponsored theseminar “Mission Critical: Reshaping News Librariesfor the 21st Century.” This program was possible dueto the generosity of Heritage Microfilms Inc.,NewsBank, Inc. and the Poynter Institute.

Respectfully submitted,

Justin Scroggs

News Division Treasurer

Linda Henderson added that the News Division isin good financial shape due to switching News LibraryNews to a PDF version and also due to the sold-outContinuing Education sessions at this year’s confer-ence.

PAST CHAIR/AWARDS - MICHAEL JESSE

Michael thanked this year’s awards committee fortheir work. The awards committee included BarbaraSemonche, Carolyn Edds, Catherine Kitchell, GinnyEverett and Michael Jesse. The committee awarded theJoseph F. Kwapil award to John Cronin, the AgnesHenebry Roll of Honor award to Liz Donovan andGary Price and the C.B. Hayden fellowship to LynnePalombo.

A separate committee chose the Vormelker-ThomasStudent Stipend Award recipient, Amy Disch. The stu-dent stipend committee consisted of Dru Frykberg,Regina Avila, Jennifer Klimas, Kee Malesky andCandace Stuart.

THIS YEAR’S AWARDS BANQUET AT BELLE

MEADE PLANTATION IN NASHVILLE COST

$7500, ALL OF WHICH WAS COVERED BY TICK-ET SALES.

Michael also announced that Barbara Semonche has

suggested creating a new Division award that “specifi-cally honors members who have a well-regarded recordof publications about news librarianship and technolo-gy or who have conducted a demonstrated high level ofrespected scholarly research about our profession.”Most of the Division’s current awards focus on mem-bers’ contributions to the Division. Suitable candidatesfor the proposed new award would not have to beactively involved in the Division.

Barbara suggests naming the award the “David A.Rhydwen Award for Outstanding Scholarly Publicationand Research.” David A. Rhydwen was formerly chiefof the INFO-GLOBE section of The Globe and Mailin Toronto, Canada, and was chair of the NewsDivision in 1960-61 as well as being highly honored bythe Division and SLA.

Michael recommended that the incoming Divisionexecutive board consider creating the new award.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR -JIM HUNTER

There were two Continuing Education sessions atthis conference: “Deadline Due Diligence” and “TheAccidental Archivist.” Jim thanked presenters Dr.Roberta Brody, Greg Notess, Vincent Golden andCarrie Christoffersen. Jim especially thanked Divisionmembers Marion Paynter and Bob Jansen for their pre-sentations. Material from the CE courses will be post-ed on the Division Web site in the future.

Jim also said he is looking for ideas for next year, soif you have a suggestion please let him know.

PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR - LIZ DONOVAN

Liz announced that News Library News’ switch to aPDF version last year went smoothly. Liz thanked NewsLibrary News editor Ron Larson and Web site editorJessica Baumgart for all their excellent work.

Liz also started a blog at the 2003 convention, whichis now an ongoing blog (http://newslib.blogspot.com).Additional postings to the blog are welcome.

WEB SITE - JESSICA BAUMGART

Jessica thanked the 20-30 volunteers who have con-tributed to the Web site in the past year. She men-tioned that lots of library school students have alsobeen contributing to the site. Lots of pages on the Website need volunteers to “adopt” them, especially the USNews Archives section. Jessica plans on eventuallyredesigning the site and she will continue to be thewebmaster for two more years.

SLA NEWS DIVISION

Annual Business Meeting Minutes

Continued on next page



NEWSLIB - BARBARA SEMONCHE

Barbara reported that NewsLib switched to a port82 Web server that can be accessed by academiclibraries with no problem. Some companies mighthave firewall issues connecting to a port 82 server. Ifyou cannot access the NewsLib Web server, it is possi-ble to search the NewsLib archives via e-mail com-mands.

Barbara also talked about how NewsLib is no longeran “open list” where anyone can subscribe. All requeststo join the list are now forwarded to Barbara (the listadministrator) for approval. If there are questions aboutapproval, people should contact Barbara directly.

Currently, NewsLib has 1,227 subscribers. Of thatnumber, two-thirds are actively receiving posts; theremaining subscribers are not receiving mail from thelist.

Barbara also recommended that the Division adopta set of “copyright best practices” for NewsLib, to bediscussed under New Business later in the meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

ARCHIVES - TERESA LEONARD

No report.

EMPLOYMENT - ROSEMARY NELMS

Rosemary Nelms presented the following writtenreport:

“The number of job postings on the NewsLib list-serv and/or on the NewsLib Web site continues todecline. Thirty-three jobs were posted between June 10,2003, and June 5, 2004, as compared to 36 postingslast year. The postings five years ago (1999-2000)totaled 76, more than twice the number of this year’s.There were 40 postings for the period June 2001-June2002 and 63 for June 2000 - June 2001.

Of the jobs posted in the current period, there were18 in newspaper libraries, 8 in broadcasting, one froma magazine, and 7 in the “other” category.

Of the job totals, the majority were postings for ref-erence librarians or researchers, full time (13) and part-time (6). There were five postings for managers ofresearch centers, five internship positions, and oneposting each for a photo archivist, manager of an infostore, fact writer, and information systems specialist.

Some of the more interesting job duties mentioned:

• “provide keywords for a digitized microfilm data-base”

• “get solid results from Boolean searches at break-neck speed”

• “troubleshoot minor computer problems for staff”

• “process, catalog and assign appropriate indexingterms to cut and raw video generated by news pro-duction teams”

• “seize teachable moments to demystify technologyfor reporters and editors”

Linda and I agree that it’s time for the EmploymentCommittee to disband itself. It was useful before e-mailand the Internet to let people know about employmentopportunities in news libraries. However, now we havethe listserv and the News Division Web site for jobpostings. So this is the last report from theEmployment Committee.”

Linda Henderson added that there is a sea-change inhow we do business and that all committees will belooked at in the future to determine if they need to con-tinue or be modified in any way.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS - HEIDI YACKER

No report.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - WIL ROESTENBURG

Submitted by Wil Roestenburg, GovernmentRelations Committee Chair:

“Dear colleagues, I’m sorry I’m not able to attendthis years’ conference. I couldn’t convince my boss hardenough and he wouldn’t let me go, because my compa-ny needed me for some big project that will have aGo/No Go decision on June 30. But I know, part of thereason is the need for cost-reductions that my compa-ny is facing. Not only my company, I think this costreductions are an international issue in itself. And thosecost reductions gave a lot of trouble too- we were all sovery busy with so many things that the InternationalRelations Committee issues didn’t get full attention allthe time.

When I was moderating the “News ResearchWithout Borders” panel earlier this year, I contactedseveral non-US colleagues to find out if they were plan-ning to go to Nashville. But at that moment nobodywas certain about that and nobody could promise tohave a role in the panel. That was a frustrating situa-tion, because I knew exactly what was going on andhow difficult it was to get an agreement; I was dealingwith the same issue.

Thanks to Jennifer Evert and Laura Soto-Barra thepanel could be continued with Joan Sweeney, DanaGordon and Madeline Cohen. I hope you all had agood session and I also hope there will be a follow upnext year in Toronto (maybe with more internationalattendees, if we succeed in convincing our bosses and

finding the funds). Part of the arguments could be collected in the next

months. One of the ideas for next year is to have a fol-low up on the “Best Practices Survey” that was held byTeresa Leonard and Laura Soto-Barra, in preparing thePoynter Seminar “Mission critical” earlier this year. Thesurvey was returned by a small group of internationalcolleagues and the results inspired the idea of having aworldwide survey done - the more response, the better.Our suggestion is to support this idea and to have an“International Best Practices Survey” done in 2004/05.

When I was attending the Poynter seminar and talk-ing with Paul Pohlmann, we discussed the idea of hav-ing more people from abroad at Poynter seminars.Another idea was to get the Poynter-trainings done inEurope again and maybe in other continents, as hap-pened in the ‘90’s. So far this idea didn’t get a follow up,but all ideas and suggestions are very welcome.

One last remark that also has to do with interna-tional exchange. In March I posted a message to sever-al colleagues, from a Dutch student, looking for a tem-porary placement in a newslibrary, in the USA orCanada. So far, this didn’t work out. She is still after atemporary placement, I attached her letter again, so itcan be distributed to the News Division members inNashville.

Dear colleagues, I wish you all were attending “thebest conference ever” and I hope to be able to come toToronto next year.

Warm regards,

Wil Roestenburg”

MEMBERSHIP - ALICE PEPPER

Alice Pepper presented the following writtenreport:

The numbers - NewMarch 2004: 138 new members, 703 total

New News Division MembersDate News Students OtherApril 2003 12 7 7May 3 3 5Jun 4 1 6Jul 5 1 2Aug 2 4 1Sep 4 3 3Oct 2 3 3Nov 1 5 4

Dec 1 4 4

Jan 2004 0 6 4

Feb 3 9 1

Mar 6 3 6

Sub-total 43 49 46

Total 138

Annual Business MeetingMinutesContinued from previous page



The numbers - Old 2003: 736 members2002: 7012001: 7722000: 8121999: 8451998: 8891997: 8911996: 8211995: 8521994: 810

(SLA HQ membership liaison Diana Gonzalez saysour losses are in line with other divisions and chap-ters.)

Thank you to ...NewsBank has once again generously supported the

Division by publishing our membership directory.Thank you Linda Paschal and Becky Meland for yourhard work and dedication to our group.

And a “tip of the hat” to the Detroit Free Press forpaying for copying and mailing 138 “new member”packets for the last 12 month period.

NEW BUSINESSDuring a brainstorming session in the Fall of 2003,

it was decided that Membership should contact peoplewho had left the News Division — only if they werefrom news organizations — to find out why. These“exit interviews” (just like the circulation department)might reveal whether people are dropping out becauseof the economy, job changes, lack of interest, etc.

Between January and March of 2004, SLA named33 people from the News Division who became “inac-tive.” However, from that group, eleven appeared onnext month’s list as “reactivated.” The majority of thosewho remained “inactive” were students or from non-news organizations. All those who returned were fromnews organizations.

This lag in the reports made it difficult to imple-ment the “exit interview” plan.

Respectfully submitted,

Alice Pepper

Membership

NOMINATIONS - PETER JOHNSON

Peter reported that it was a challenge to get candi-dates this year, but the committee came up with a goodslate. The nominated candidates were: Chair-elect:Denise Jones; Secretary: Regina Avila and MerrieMonteagudo; Director-Publications: CatherineKitchell and Leigh Poitinger.

The nominations committee included PeterJohnson, Jessica Baumgart, Michael Jesse, DonnaScheeder, Judy Canter and Monnie Nilsson.

ELECTIONS - BILL VAN NIEKERKEN

Linda Henderson reported that Bill Van Niekerkentook over the elections process this year. Out of 763ballots sent out, 240 were returned.

PUBLICITY - DANA GORDON

Linda Henderson reminded everyone about thesilent auction in the Division suite on June 8.

Linda asked for a motion to accept the Committeereports. It was so moved, seconded and approved.

OLD BUSINESS

GOVERNING DOCUMENT AND BEST PRACTICES

Linda Henderson reported that SLA is asking all theDivisions to submit a “Governing Document” thatgenerally describes how the Division does business.The Division executive board is reviewing a versionthat has been put together by the News DivisionGovernance Committee (Barbara Semonche, KathyFoley, Charlie Campo, Linda Henderson, MichaelJesse, Richard Geiger). Once the Division board hasapproved the Governing Document it will be submit-ted to SLA and then to the Division populace.

In addition to the general Governing Document,the Division is also putting together a 40-page “bestpractices” manual, overseen by Linda Henderson. Thebest practices manual will describe in detail how we dobusiness, such as tasks, committees, offices, etc. SLAhas provided a boilerplate version that the Divisionneeds to modify. Linda is looking for volunteers towork this project. The manual will be put on theDivision Web site when it is finished.

POYNTER WORKSHOP

Jennifer Small Evert reported on the seminar held atthe Poynter Institute from February 29 to March 3,2004. The seminar was a joint effort between Poynterand the News Division. Similar seminars had beenheld in the past, but this was the first one in severalyears. The seminar, entitled “Mission Critical:Reshaping News Librarianship for the 21st Century,”focused on leadership development. Jen thankedNewsBank, Heritage Microfilm and Poynter for help-ing to sponsor the seminar.

There were many applicants, and 17 people wereeventually chosen to attend the seminar. The teachingstaff included Paul Pohlman from the Poynter Institute,Kathy Foley, Teresa Leonard, Laura Soto-Barra andDebbie Wolfe. The seminar focused on leadership,strategic planning, news libraries as profit centers andexpanding roles.

Jen wants to continue seminars with Poynter in thefuture. There will be another leadership seminar in2005, and then a seminar will be offered every otheryear after that. Poynter has offered to continue hostingthe seminars; future topics may vary.

Jen will be forming a committee to organize futureseminars. If you’re interested in volunteering, pleasecontact her.

NEW BUSINESS

NEW AWARD FOR THE NEWS DIVISION

Linda Henderson talked about the new Divisionaward proposed by Barbara Semonche and mentionedearlier in the meeting by Michael Jesse. Linda clarifiedthat the new award (like the C.B. Hayden Fellowship)would not necessarily be awarded every year. Linda saidthe board will review the recommendation for the newaward.

COPYRIGHT BEST PRACTICES FOR NEWSLIB

Barbara Semonche talked about the need to developa set of “copyright best practices” for NewsLib. Theneed has arisen because of numerous postings on thelist asking for copyright protected material. Sometimesthis material is posted to the whole list, which hasraised questions about the ethics and legality of thispractice.

As the list administrator, Barbara has gathered agroup to address this issue and develop a set of bestpractices. The group includes Barbara, Sherry Adams,Suella Baird, Gini Blodgett, J. Stephen Bolhafner,Michael Jesse, Amelia Kassel, Michael McCulley andJustin Scroggs.

Annual Business MeetingMinutesContinued from page 13


Barbara Semonche talks to Division membersat the Annual Business Meeting about the needto develop a set of “copyright best practices”for NewsLib.




Also at The Post, Margot Williams received a byline for“Guantanamo — A Holding Cell In War on Terror” about thedetainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. For two years, Margot hasbeen compiling a database of the detainees. See the story at:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58702-2004May1.html and the list of detainees at: http://www.wash-ingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/guantanamo_names.html

And in a public records coup…John Maines at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel received

bylines for his database research on the series, “MarineAttractions: Under the Surface.” What’s amazing about hiswork on this project is that when a FOIA request was submit-ted asking for an electronic copy of the National MarineFisheries Service’s Marine Mammal Inventory Report, theagency said it could not comply because it used an obsoletecomputer program that it couldn’t reproduce. Agency officialssaid it lacked the estimated $70,000 to $100,000 needed tomake the information available on its Web site. Not one to bedeterred, John went to their Maryland headquarters and spentall of three hours downloading the data and converting it intoan Access database. This has resulted in the agency being ableto analyze its own data for the first time and to share it withother interested parties.

We also have some authors and editors among us…Sandy Hall, Kwapil winner and former chair of the News

Division, now best selling author, penned a newly revised biog-raphy of Duke Kahanamoku, called “Duke: A Great Hawaiian.”It is a hardbound book about Hawaii’s most famous native son,the full-blooded Olympian swimmer, and father of ModernSurfing, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (1890-1968).

Angelika Kane, head librarian at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, isthe associate editor of “Sports Town: A Look at the FamousSports Pages of the Post-Gazette.” Information Specialist,Stephen Karlinchak said, “Angelika spent countless hours factchecking as well as tracking down historic photographs andmemorable pages from the PG’s sports sections; this I knowbecause I helped with some fact checking (and I even receivededitorial credit!).”

The book reproduces the sports pages that covered manymemorable athletic events in western Pennsylvania, such asLance Armstrong winning a bicycle race there in 1993 andFranco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in 1972 (a famousmoment in Steelers-and NFL-history). There is even a one-para-graph item on Joe Namath playing football—in high school.

PeopleContinued from page 6

The committee has drafted a proposal of best practices and will be posting it onNewsLib for comments and suggestions from all subscribers. The committee planson posting a final draft of the best practices on the News Division Web site by July2004.

Barbara also mentioned that she will not be a “cop” in enforcing the practices, butshe will continually remind people about them.

INSTALLATION OF NEW OFFICERS

The new Division officers were installed: Denise Jones, Chair-elect; MerrieMonteagudo, Secretary (Merrie was not in attendance); Leigh Poitinger, Director-Publications.

Linda Henderson passed the gavel to Jennifer Small Evert, who started her termas Chair of the News Division by asking for a motion to adjourn. It was so movedand seconded.

The meeting adjourned at 2:58 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Leigh Poitinger, Secretary

Linda Henderson, left, passes the gavel to incoming Chair Jennifer SmallEvert at the Annual Business Meeting.

Annual Business Meeting MinutesContinued from previous page

Intranet course hits the spot Continued from page 7

tion and double-checking when you’re using data - there’s alwaysthe potential for error - something we don’t want to be responsiblefor getting into news stories.

What should we take away from this session? I don’t think weshould expect to imitate all of these features and databases (at least,not right away) - after all, each organization has different equip-ment, talents and needs. However, these two intranets have showedus some exciting possibilities, something to aim for or evolvetowards. These are two intranets (and intranet developers) that arevery relevant to their newsrooms. I believe many of us left the ses-sion inspired to do some work on a “spot” of our own.


NLN FEATURE

that it is worth doing.”Hunter agrees with McCargar’s slow-

train-wreck metaphor: “I think that isprobably a good description of the prob-lem.”

“One of the things that Victoria madevery clear, she basically said the 90s aregone already,” Hunter said. “She has a real-ly good grasp of the issues of digitization,particularly images, as papers get into digi-tizing microfilm and bound copies. Digitalfiles are the most fragile as far as preserva-tion goes. It was news to me how fragile thedigital archives we maintain really are. Thathas implications way beyond digitizingmicrofilm.”

A cursory glance at the preservationissues surrounding hard-copy clip and pho-tograph collections in news libraries:

CALIFORNIAVictoria McCargarLos Angeles TimesTribune Publishing Co.Sunday circulation: 1,392,672The Times gave up its bound volumes

out of necessity in the early 1980s, saidMcCargar. “At one time the Times was oneof the biggest consumers of newsprint onEarth,” she said. The Sunday edition alonewas large enough “to kill a small dog.”

“To keep bound volumes was ridicu-lous,” she said. “You’d need a warehouse thesize of southern Nevada.”

The Times scans photographs on an asneeded and saves the original hard-copy.McCargar notes it would be a huge mistaketo do otherwise: “As long as you’ve got ahard copy of something, you’ve got some-thing to go back on.”

The Times at this point is not scanninghistoric photos in “any systematic way,” shesaid; that could change given enough time

and interest.The Times is scanning microfilm as part

of the ongoing Proquest project that aimsto make historical newspapers digitallyaccessible. In the early 1980s historic nega-tives were donated to the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles; McCargar saidthe decision was necessary in terms ofpreservation despite any now-apparentdownsides. No one at the time foresaw theextent of commercial possibility theInternet would bring, and to get the taxwrite-off the Times had to give up copy-right.

“As you might expect, everyone said,‘Gee. We could make money off historicphotos,” McCargar said of 20-20 hind-sight. But it was either take the tax write-off“or leave it alone and watch the emulsionbreak off.”

“At the time I think it was the only deci-sion,” she said. “It was in the basement. Itwas falling apart.”

The Times has access to the images atUCLA, and many historic images thelibrary did keep in anticipation of futureuse.

One of McCargar’s most pressing con-cerns is the future of mass volume of pho-tos stored on CD. “It is an expensiveproposition to get those off CD ROMs,”she noted, citing a recent example to showthe shaky nature of digital media: It tookone person six weeks to retrieve a Gulf Warinformation graphic that had been storeddigitally. Many newspapers have lost suchimportant works.

“Ten to 12 years is really stretching it fordigital,” she said.

COLORADOCarol KaselRocky Mountain NewsThe E.W. Scripps Co.Combined Sunday circulation: 783,274Kasel said her hope is that the clips files

will stay with the newsroom when theNews moves into a new building with TheDenver Post in 2006, but that managementhas yet to make a decision. Some historic

images were donated to the Denver PublicLibrary Western History Department,which has a digitization project. (Seehttp://photoswest.org/.)

Other hard-copy photos will never bediscarded. “We had a whole gob of ZIPdisks,” she notes, “and we don’t even have aZIP disk reader anymore.”

Kasel is concerned about the perceptionthat digitizing current issues would be lessexpensive than microfilming - that micro-film would no longer be necessary - andfeels strongly that microfilm needs to bemaintained. “I didn’t get the impression ...that people were abandoning microfilm,”she said.

Regarding the digitization of microfilm,she notes that microfilm doesn’t preservecolor; clips do. “I’d be open to other ideasbut I’d really want to make sure that it wasproven,” she said of new technologies.Kasel notes that news managers are notinterested in preservation “unless they canmake money off it.”

FLORIDAMegan GallupNews-Journal (Daytona Beach)News-Journal Corp.Sunday circulation: 129,385Gallup said the News-Journal library will

push to keep original hard-copies whendigitization starts. “We’re not doing anyfull-blown digitization yet,” Gallup said.“We haven’t had to have that discussionyet.”

The library will not discard clip files,which are stored in a separate building, ifmicrofilm is digitized.

An issue at the annual conference course“The Accidental Archivist” that hit homefor Gallup was that people expect that aCD Rom will last forever. “You need tohave a backup” in another medium, shenoted, “and a lot of respect.”

Sammy AlzofonThe Palm Beach PostCox NewspapersSunday circulation: 219,656


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Alzofon said each Cox paper has auton-omy and that the Palm Beach Post valuesarchiving and the maintenance of its collec-tions. “They put their money where theirmouth is,” noted Alzofon, who attendedpreservation training that, while academi-cally oriented, “pretty much reinforced theoverwhelming nature of trying to preservenewspaper collections.”

Alzofon said the library has no intentionof systematically digitizing photos. “It isjust too big a job,” she said. “There is noreturn on investment for us. It is so expen-sive.”

“My big concern is our clip files,” shesaid. “What happens to invaluable clip filecollections when converting them to anoth-er medium is not possible?”

The library in the pre-electronic pastmade microfiche copies of clips to get themout of the way. “And that was too badbecause it was a horrible copy,” she said.

GEORGIAJulia MullerSavannah Morning NewsSunday circulation: 70,000Muller said hard-copy images will be

discarded over her “cold dead body,” even ifthat means donating photos to the histori-cal society. “I just don’t think it is a goodidea because electronic formats changeeveryday,” she said.

Her greatest priority is bound copies ofthe newspaper that date back as far as 1850.“When we move into the new buildingthey are supposed to get into a better cli-mate - they have been sitting up in the atticin the sun and the cold and other thingsthat go bump in the night,” she said.

Clip files will also be kept, even if man-agement moves to digitize from microfilm.Clips are accessed two or three times a

week. “We just had a judge die last weekthat had been around forever,” she said, cit-ing an example.

“I have an executive editor who agreeswith me, keep everything,” she notes. “Ijust think it is important that we keep allthis stuff as best we can.”

INDIANATom Pellegrene Jr.The Journal GazetteKnight RidderSunday circulation: 128,245The library values microfilm digitization

but is years away from finding the moneyor selecting a vendor to do it. AndPellegrene said no formal plan is in place todigitize the hard-copy photo collection.“We haven’t had that conversation,” hesaid. “We certainly don’t have a lot of space.If there were a way to avoid having hardcopies that would be nice.”

The library has a collection of negativesdating back 50 years as well as bound vol-umes detailing where photographers wereat certain times and dates - the log can bematched with the negatives. Photographershandle storage of negatives, which are orga-nized chronologically by year. The negativesare housed in relatively constant conditions,“although not ideal,” Pellegrene said.

“This summer our library intern ismigrating two years’ worth of photos fromCDs into our SAVE archive system,” hesaid, “which provides thousands moreimages in searchable form to our newsroomstaff. But we have no plans for scanning ormaking available digitally the older photos.Maybe that’s the project for our next sum-mer intern.”

MARYLANDDiana StrattonThe Baltimore SunTribune Publishing Co.Sunday circulation: 470,453Stratton, who has basic training in book

and paper conservation, emphasizes theimportance of preserving books, especiallythose out of print and on local history, andrecommends subscribing to an electronic

list to learn about preservation and conser-vation issues.

She notes the importance of pest andmold control with all collections. “Either ofthese can quickly wipe out a collection,” shesaid, “and all your conservation knowledgewill be useless.”

She also stressed that all libraries, regard-less of type, should have a disaster plan thathas been reviewed by everyone in thedepartment.

“My theory would be prevention is mostimportant in preserving a collection - filingnewspapers and shelving books properlyand inspecting the collection from time totime for pests and mold. Some readers eatwhile reading.”

MINNESOTARobert JansenMinneapolis Star-TribuneMcClatchy Newspapers Inc.Sunday circulation: 671,275A select number of hard-copy photos -

those that are disappearing or disintegratingor of great cultural worth - are digitized,said Jansen, who suggested “AccidentalArchivist” for the SLA workshop. “Whatwe have done here is ID areas where photosare very important,” he said. The hard-copyoriginal is retained.

Photos are stored in a light and temper-ature-controlled area of the basement; whilenot of archival standards, he said, “it is thebest we can do without spending a wholelot of money.”

Clips are also housed in the basement.“We have talked to vendors about digitizingmicrofilm, Jansen said. “That will eventual-ly come. Spread out over years, that clearlyis the answer - that’s an amazing product.”

Jansen predicts microfilm will continueto be valued. “I’m a believer in keeping it,”he said.

In his 20-year tenure at the Star-Tribune,Jansen has pitched three preservation pro-posals - including preserving clips onmicrofiche. “Lot of us earned the respect ofmanagement,” he said of news librarians.


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“But no matter how good a politician,arguer and presenter of plans you are, it isstill a hard sell. People do the best they canunder the circumstances.”

NEW YORKZana VarnerThe Journal News (White Plains)Gannett Co. Inc.Sunday circulation: 164,636Varner says the library will keep the

hard-copy clips until they can no longer beread. Before the start of her tenure a mid-level manager donated historic photos to anorganization with which the library has agood working relationship; most of thephotos were tossed, and a minimal numberwere scanned - the library was consolidatingat the time and the new space required nar-rowing 30 shelves worth of photos to five.“Those have been whittled down further totwo double shelves,” Varner noted. “Thosewill remain as they are in perpetuity - sup-posedly.”

Three or four hard-copy photos arescanned a year based on the needs of thephoto department - if they need an imagethe library finds it and at that point it isscanned into the new electronic system. “Soit is not a priority at all,” Varner said.

OHIOJim HunterThe Columbus DispatchColumbus DispatchSunday circulation: 371,551“I’d given serious thought to carving up

our bound volume collection - three- tofour-thousand bound volumes - and justdigitizing those,” Hunter said. “I’m con-vinced that would be a horrible mistake atthis time. If people are premature aboutdigitizing projects, they are going to pay ahuge price down the road. I would just urge

caution. It could get to be really horrify-ing.”

Said Hunter: “As a class of librarians wehave little competence or experience withany of these matters - these preservationissues get dropped on librarians on theassumption the a librarian can do it. I tendto see this as an opportunity myself but oth-ers may not.”

PENNSYLVANIAAngelika KanePittsburgh Post-GazetteBlock Communications Inc.Sunday circulation: 406,754Kane said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is

not actively migrating old photos into thedigital photo archive. The library has clipfiles into the late 1920s for both the Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Press as well ashard-copy photos for both papers. Clipswere moved to a different floor; hard-copyphotos for both papers are stored in thelibrary proper - about half a million.

When a photo is scanned for use in thepaper, the library suggests that the entire filebe scanned; the hard-copy images are thenre-filed.

“Eventually as we have the time and theinclination to scan in more photos we’llstart to get rid of some of the hard copy,”Kane said, noting that photos with “theleast bit of value” will be given to the pub-lic library or the university.

When water leaks damaged photo files,library staff scrambled to try to preservethem and the bulk of photos damaged bywater were reconstructed, but until massdigitization is commercially viable little willbe done in that arena.

“We need more bodies to do this, too,”Kane noted. “That’s part of the issue.”

One of her main concerns is the clipfiles, a valuable resource stored in remotestorage that is not climate controlled.“Those literally can fall apart in front of oureyes,” she said. “We really need to makesome kind of effort to save clip files. I see itas high priority, but right now we don’t havethe money to do it.”

The most recent evidence of how valu-able those clip files are: With John Kerry inthe news, the files are checked “in and out,in and out.”

Kane said the nature of the news busi-ness and the perception of the library assupport is an obstacle to preservation.“They cared about the photo files,” shesaid, “but they really cared when a floodcame through the ceiling. It takes a naturaldisaster to get the attention of manage-ment.”

TEXASStacy GarciaFort-Worth Star-TelegramSunday circulation: 332,861Garcia said the Star-Telegram donated

some photos and its early clips - as far backas the 1940s - to the University of Texas atArlington, with which the library has anexcellent working relationship. The librarycan get what it needs couriered from theuniversity. “It is really wonderful,” Garciasaid of the library’s relationship with theuniversity. “We’re really lucky to have them,because we know that they will care for ourold clips and photos and they are availableto the public.”

The library plans to keep the balance ofhard-copy photos. Photos are digitized onan as-needed basis, but the library hasfuture plans to digitize significant historicalphotos of Fort Worth and northern Texas.

“We don’t have any plans yet to digitizemicrofilm,” Garcia said. “Of course wewould love to, but it is not in the cards rightnow. Certainly UTA is interested in doingthat.”

Garcia is concerned with the affect ofenvironment on the clip files. “I think we’reall concerned about our clip files. You cantell that they are deteriorating. Even theones from the 60s are getting damagedfrom light and use.”

The library has a project to put person-ality clip files on microfiche. “We’re notvery far into that,” she noted. “It has beenone of those projects that falls to the bot-

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tom of the to-do list.”

CANADAKate BirdThe Vancouver Sun & The ProvincePacific Newspaper Group Inc.Bird said any thought of getting rid of

hard-copy photos after they were scannedwas quickly discarded because of the lowresolution. “Resolution for paper is onething,” she noted.

Although the resale of photos is an inter-est, the library doesn’t have the time or staffto systematically scan photos. The storageof hard-copy images are a concern. “Wehave some very valuable photos and nega-tives that are not kept archivally at all,” Birdsaid.

Some negatives have been given to localarchives, but the problem there is that thecompany wants to retain copyright.

All clipping files are on microfilm andon microfiche by subject.

“We’ve got a huge thesaurus of subjectterms,” Bird said, adding that clips areaccessible by multiple access points.

Bird said there is a concern that the elec-tronic text archive is checked less and lessfor accuracy against the print copy of thenewspaper; the process of creating the elec-tronic text archive has moved to corporateheadquarters.

LATVIAInga VilcaneDienaAverage circulation: 73,000Average readership: 300,000Vilcane said it is important to emphasize

that Latvia is a developing country; a decla-ration of renewal of Latvia’s independencewas made in 1990, and Latvia is a newmember of the European Union. The firstissue of Diena was published November 23,

1990, and it is the largest morning newspa-per in Latvia, published six times a week.“You can see that we are really young coun-try and newspaper,” Vilcane said. “For thatreason, we have not such big and huge oldclip stocks like the Dagens Nyheter newspa-per library in Stockholm, which I visited inSeptember 2000.”

Clip files are maintained in two maincategories, people and subjects. The libraryis augmenting its clip files with importantarticles from other important newspapersin Latvia, both in Latvian and Russian lan-guages.

The library has an extensive hard-copyphoto archive that includes more than14,000 negatives from the first issues of thenewspaper as well as digital archives.

“We are going to maintain originalcopies of our newspaper Diena, of course,”Vilcane said. “But thinking about othernewspapers, I tend to this point of view:that it is useless and unnecessary to hold theoriginal copies of these other newspapersbecause we have also electronic newspapersarchives.

The newspaper is moving into a newbuilding at the end of 2004. The newbuilding of the National Library of Latvia isexpected to be completed next door to thenew Diena building within four years.

Vilcane said the editor-in-chief trusts thethree librarians to make the correct deci-sions with regard to cultural assets. “Sheaccepted that we are making donation toLatvia National Library with rare materialsfrom our library - books, magazines, news-papers. Other Latvian librarians, they wel-come such donations. Latvia - now we arethe new EU’s poorest state. But we are real-ly trying to change this situation.”

Additional reading and resources:

❖ Presentations and notes from the NewsDivision Continuing Education Course“The Accidental Archivist” offered at the2004 SLA Annual Conference are nowavailable on the News Division site.

❖ Park Library Director Barbara Semoncherecommends a chapter on preservationand disaster control written by RichardGeiger for the 1993 book “News MediaLibraries: A Management Handbook”available at http://parklibrary.jomc.unc.edu/disaster.html; Semonche notesthat the site has been updated to include alook at the impact of the Red River flood-ing on the Grand Forks Herald.

❖ Sanders, T. (1997). Into the Future: Onthe Preservation of Knowledge in theElectronic Age [videorecording].Commission on Preservation & Access.

❖ “Preservation of Library and ArchivalMaterials,” a 443-page manual developedby the Northeast Document ConservationCenter for institutional clients, is availableonline at http://www.nedcc.org/plam3/newman.htm

❖ Conservation Online - http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/news/ - offers a listing ofupcoming classes, workshops and intern-ships.

❖ “Preservation 101: An Internet Course onPaper Preservation”: http://www.nedcc.org/p101cs/p 101wel.htm

❖ Dorge, V., & Jones, S. L. (1999). Buildingan emergency plan: A guide for museumsand other cultural institutions. LosAngeles: Getty Conservation Institute.

❖ Proquest Historic Newspapers digitizationproject: http://www.il.proquest.com/products/pd-product-HistNews.shtml

Preservation of valuablecollections is a commondilemma of newsorganizationsContinued from previous page

Session offers helpfuladvice when dealing withcandidatesContinued from page 9

ation because they’re considered politicalcommittees. But, they do report to the IRS- though it’s likely easier to search throughthe data at www.publicintegrity.org/527.

You can read more about Derek’s pre-sentation here: www.thescoop.org/projects.

the public's library and digital archive - preservation of ...of digital media.” the columbus...

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