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April 2006 www.sla.org

vol. 10, no.4

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Columns andDepartments

5Executive Outlook

Going GlobalBy Janice R. Lachance

6SLA News

6Web Sites Worth a Click

By Carolyn J. Sosnowski

12Business Management

The Importance of Good Decision Making

By Debbie Schachter

36Copyright Corner

Beyond Economic RightsBy Lesley Ellen Harris

37Coming Events/Ad Index

38Information Tech

Search Engine AlternativesBy Stephen Abram

40Information Management

Not Another Survey?By John R. Latham

PROFILE

14‘If you’re not wired…you just aren’t a librarian these days’By Forrest Glenn Spencer

SLA 2006

19See You in Baltimore!By Edna W. Paulson and Mary Woodfill

22Plenty of Learning OpportunitiesScheduled for SLA 2006

25The Saga of How a Session Made Itinto the Conference ProgramBy Elana Broch, PhD, MLIS

27Always Fresh—Keeping Your Web Site Current with News FeedsBy Darlene Fichter

31To Keep KM Current, Pay Attention to Context ChangesBy Seth Earley

33Just AskWritten by the information specialistsof the Regional Resource and Federal Center Network

vol. 10, no. 4 | April 2006 | information outlook | 3

Juggling Career and Family, Baltimore Style

Features

4 | information outlook |April 2006 | vol. 10, no. 4

The Monthly Magazine of the Special Libraries AssociationVol. 10, No. 4April 2006

Publisher, Editor in Chief: John T. Adams III([email protected])Editor: Loretta Y. Britten ([email protected])Columnists:

Stephen AbramLesley Ellen HarrisJanice R. LachanceJohn R. LathamPam RolloDebbie SchachterCarolyn J. Sosnowski

Layout & Design: Nathan Yungkans

Information Outlook®

(ISSN 1091-0808) is the monthly, award-winning publication of the Special Libraries Association, 331South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314,[email protected]. (703) 647-4900

2006 Subscription Rates:Annual subscription, $125 (U.S. and International).Single issue, $15. Please report missing copiespromptly to [email protected]. To ensure continu-ous delivery of Information Outlook, please notify SLApromptly of address changes by [email protected]. When submitting addresschanges, please include all the information on themailing label. Changes may not go into effect for fourto six weeks.

Postmaster:Send address changes to Subscriptions, InformationOutlook, Special Libraries Association, InternationalHeadquarters, 331 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA22314-3501, USA. Periodicals postage paid atAlexandria, VA, and at additional mailing offices.Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40031619.Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: P.O. Box1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7.

Advertising:Acceptance of an advertisement does not meanendorsement of the product by the Special LibrariesAssociation. To advertise, contact:

Eastern United States and EuropeNancy Wood55 Old Highway 22Clinton, NJ 08809Phone: (908) 730-7220Fax: (908) [email protected]

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Information Outlook® is a registered trademark ofthe Special Libraries Association.

© 2006 by Special Libraries AssociationMaterial protected by this copyright may bephotocopied for the non-commercial purpose ofscholarship or research.

[email protected] Information Outlook OnlineSponsored byStandard & Poor’s

GGwweenn IIffiillllThe NewsHour with Jim

Lehrer / Washington Week

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KKeeyynnoottee SSppeeaakkeerrss::

As we roll into the heart of 2006, SLAis expanding its worldwide presence sothat you can continue to build yourglobal network within the community.One such way that may not seem obvi-ous has already occurred. My involve-ment in the “Tunis Phase” of the WorldSummit on the Information Society latelast year gave SLA unprecedented accessto, and involvement in, shaping thefuture of the Internet for the benefit ofour global society. My role on the U.S.delegation was purely consultative, but Iwas actively involved and my perspec-tive was appreciated by the official rep-resentatives of the American govern-ment. You can hear more about theSummit through a special presentationof my remarks to the Washington, D.C.Chapter of SLA, which has been record-ed and posted to Click University for allSLA members to view without charge.Go to www.clickuniversity.com for moreinformation.

For the first time in SLA history, amajority of newly selected Fellows ofSLA are natives of countries other thanthe United States. Sue Henczel(Australia), Neil Infield (England), andJuanita Richardson (Canada) representa new wave of leaders in the SLA com-

munity. Add them to the group of amaz-ing individuals who make up the SLAAwards and Honors class of 2006, andwe have one of the most diverse groupsof honorees in recent memory. Go towww.sla.org/awards to review the list.

Just recently, SLA announced a part-nership with the World ComputerExchange(WCE) to facilitate the dona-tion of computer equipment by SLAmembers, help improve information lit-eracy and advance information accessand professionalism in developingnations. In just a few weeks several SLAchapters have already expressed interestin participating with WCE and haveoffered assistance to those in need. Go towww.sla.org/WCE to find out how youcan get involved.

As if all this were not enough forthree months out of a year, we have moreto share on the globalization front! The2006 SLA Board of Directors election hasyielded the most diverse group of newleaders this association has ever seen:

• President-Elect: SStteepphheenn AAbbrraamm((TToorroonnttoo)), vice president of innovation,SirsiDynix• Treasurer: SSyyllvviiaa JJaammeess ((WWeesstt SSuusssseexx,,UU..KK..)), principal, Sylvia James Consultancy• Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect: LLiibbbbyyTTrruuddeellll ((SSuunnnnyyvvaallee,, CCaalliiffoorrnniiaa)), seniorvice president, Dialog• Division Cabinet Chair-Elect: RRoobbyynnFFrraannkk ((FFuullttoonn,, MMaarryyllaanndd)), Robyn FrankStrategic Partners• At-Large Director: KKaattee AArrnnoolldd((HHaammppsshhiirree,, UU..KK..)), head of knowledgemanagement, NHS Direct Online• At-Large Director: TTaammiikkaa BBaarrnneessMMccCCoolllloouugghh ((GGrreeeennssbboorroo,, NNoorrtthhCCaarroolliinnaa)), head of reference and informa-tion literacy, North Carolina A&T StateUniversity.

Note that three of our new boardmembers are American, one is

Canadian, and two are British. Two ofthem work in a corporate setting, twoare solo consultants, one works in gov-ernment, and one works in academia.Five of them are women, and the lonemale is only the third man to serve aspresident-elect of SLA in 15 years. Allthis diversity is something we must cel-ebrate and embrace as a part of the glob-alization of the SLA community.

As we move forward in 2006, I seenumerous ways in which SLA canexpand and diversify to be THE globalcommunity for information profession-als. By establishing greater ties to theinformation industry and to other asso-ciations around the world, and by grow-ing into areas of the world where oppor-tunities are ripe for establishing newchapters, we will succeed.

The best part is that much of ouractivity can simply be replicated basedon successes in existing chapters anddivisions of SLA. The partnership withthe World Computer Exchange, for exam-ple, would not be a reality without thevision of the Washington, D.C. Chapter’sInternational Relations Committee—andBarbie Keiser, in particular.

Where we go next could literally beup to you. I’d love to hear your ideas, soplease e-mail me at [email protected].


Going Global


By Carolyn J. Sosnowski, MLIS

Classical Netwww.classical.net

At least once a year, I start pining for new music.I’ve played the same favorite CDs for years, and abrowse through my collection evokes more than afew “What was I thinking?” moments. This timearound, I decided to focus on classical music. Bach’sBrandenburg concertos? Been there. Beethoven’ssymphonies? Done that. Classical Net answers thequestion of where to start by offering a beginner’sguide on exploring the genre, and a “basic repertoirelist” of classical pieces, with fundamental workshighlighted. The overview of musical periods helpsusers narrow their focus by time and explore lesser-known composers in eras shared with Mendelssohnor Rossini, for example. The site also features thou-sands of music and book reviews, plus composertrivia and a multitude of informational and commer-cial links. The main idea to take away from this siteis the importance of listening to learn…and enjoy.

Zillowwww.zillow.com

Searching for a house to buy in the U.S.? Youdon’t have to rely on your real estate agent or digthrough public records to determine a home’s worth.Zillow’s statisticians put various data points together(the exact formula is proprietary, but neighborhoodtransactions, comparable house features, and factslike square footage are a few of the bits of informa-tion that are considered) to produce a Zestimate of ahome’s value—just plug in an address and go! Thesite’s creators recognize that their results may not beperfect, so valuations can be adjusted based on userinformation (corrections, additions), which may notbe included in public records. The mapping tool plotsaddresses and uses both satellite imagery and streetmaps to create a cool visual. Each house record pro-vides information on number of bedrooms, homeage, and type of construction, and another click leadsyou to a list of comparables. Zillow is a powerful startto the daunting task of buying or selling a home.

Astronomy Picture of the Dayhttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

The cold, dark universe is brought to light andunderstanding through Astronomy Picture of theDay. I discovered this site more than 10 years ago (in

sla

Abram Wins SLA President-Elect Seat in First Online Board Election

Stephen Abram, vice president of innovation at SirsiDynix and aleading thinker in the North American librarycommunity, has been elected to serve as theassociation’s next president-elect. His term asSLA president will begin in January 2008.

The 2006 election was the first SLA hasconducted using an Internet-based votingsystem. Of the 2,870 members of the associa-tion who voted, 93 percent cast their ballotsonline.

The newly elected board members will beinstalled at SLA’s 97th Annual Conference inBaltimore in June.

Abram, who holds an MLS degree, was president (2004-2005) ofthe Canadian Library Association, president (2002) of the OntarioLibrary Association and has served twice on the SLA internationalboard of directors. He also has held leadership positions in theToronto Chapter, CASLIS, and SLA’s Leadership and ManagementDivision.

Abram has been listed by Library Journal as a “Mover andShaker,” one of the “key” people influencing the future of librariesand librarianship. He is a recipient of SLA’s John Cotton Dana Awardand is an SLA Fellow.

He was Canadian Special Librarian of the Year and Alumni of theYear for the Faculty of Information Studies at the University ofToronto. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto,Faculty of Information Studies.

A regular speaker at library and information industry conferences,he also writes the monthly column “Information Tech” inInformation Outlook.

Others elected to board positions are:

The following is excerpted fromStephen Abram’s candidate speech atthe SLA Leadership Summit inJanuary.

What would I want to do in mytime on the SLA board?11.. FFooccuuss.. NNuummbbeerr OOnnee.. If we wantour profession to achieve some-thing great, then we have to do itwith a laser-like focus and dreambig. We are a rich, intelligent,diverse and multihued professionand have a valid and supportableinterest in just about everything.However, my dream is that we dis-cover the will within us to focus ona single major megaproject that

will benefit us all during my term.22.. RReeccooggnniittiioonn.. Libraries radiatethroughout the knowledge ecologyand make a difference. I’d like moredecision makers to notice this! Let’swork on getting someone who valuesus to be a highly visible champion.We need to move beyond ourselvesand develop and implement an advo-cacy program about the role, valueand impact of special librarians andinformation professionals. If we failat this one thing, we do risk losingeverything altogether.33.. CCoonnffiiddeennccee.. Let’s find the confi-dence to speak as a profession withauthority, confidence, and energy.Let’s do this now. Now! Let’s not

Stephen Abram

‘Focus on One Mega-Project to Benefit Us All’

continues on Page 8

sla


TreasurerSylvia James, principal, Sylvia James

Consultancy, West Sussex, U.K., has beenworking for the last 17 years as an inde-pendent management and research con-sultant. Previously, she worked for 20years in various positions in research forfinancial service companies and multina-tional companies, including eight years ashead of research and information atCredit Suisse First Boston, the interna-tional investment bank, in London. Shelives and works in England.

Her specialty is business research, particularly researching andanalyzing companies and preparing individual research projectsfor clients. From this experience, she designs training courses onbusiness information, which she presents all over the world. Shemakes regular contributions to Business Information Alert,Business Information Review, and BF Bulletin.

Chapter Cabinet Chair-ElectLibby Trudell, senior vice president,

Dialog, Sunnyvale, California, heads aglobal team responsible for programssuch as Quantum2, the customer adviso-ry board and outreach to MLIS students.A member of the executive team, sheserves as the liaison to SLA and otherassociations that serve information pro-fessionals. In this position, she providesinsight on customer needs, and isinvolved in corporate initiatives such asthe knowledge sharing council.

Previous management roles at Dialog include marketing, cus-tomer services, product development, and strategic planning.

Earlier in her career, she worked in several library consortia, help-ing members implement services such as OCLC, RLIN, and elec-tronic mail. She authored a report on needs for a regional interli-brary loan system, served on the editorial board for LibraryInformation Technology Association journal, and co-authored thebook Options for Electronic Mail. Her bachelor’s in music is fromTufts University and her MLS from Simmons.

Division Cabinet Chair-ElectRobyn Frank is the principal of

Robyn Frank Strategic Partners, a man-agement consulting organization thatspecializes in assisting professionalinformation managers with library rein-ventions, performance measurement,benchmarking, library marketing, andchange management.

She retired from the federal govern-ment in September 2005, where she hadspent more than 34 years as a career fed-eral librarian.

From 2002 to 2005, as director of library and research servicesfor the Executive Office of the President, she spearheaded a libraryreinvention effort that resulted in enhanced products and services.Additionally she served on the Federal Executive Board of theFederal Library and Information Center Committee.

From 1998 to 2002, she worked at the Congressional ResearchService, Library of Congress, where she was involved in the cre-ation of new centralized information resource centers that servedCRS analysts. She also conducted a benchmarking study of bestpractices in special libraries.

Before that, she created and developed specialized informationcenters on various topical areas, such as food and nutrition, at theNational Agricultural Library.

Continues on page 8

study it loooonnnggg and haaar-rrddd. Let’s not take it literallyand study something to death.The death of our profession isn’tour goal! We need to have theconfidence of our convictionsand take action—sustainableaction. If every member posi-tioned themselves to each tell justfive positive springboard storiesin 2006 to five people who mat-ter, our world would change:50,000 stories will move minds.Imagine if SLA focused on sup-porting its members even morestrongly in our efforts! 44.. BBaallaannccee.. Let’s balance all ofthe needs of every type of spe-cialized librarianship. Our differ-ences are small and our common

needs are great. Let’s find themiddle ground that lets us workmore strongly together. We’re allin this boat together, and no onepart of special librarianship canpoint to another and say theirside of the boat is sinking. Let’ssacrifice our pedantic conversa-tions about our titles, our profes-sion’s name, how relevant weare. Talking amongst ourselves isjust sound and fury.55.. TTrruusstt aanndd RReessppeecctt.. We needto respect each other more. Weneed to build better teams andmore sustainable effort. We are asmart profession with strong crit-ical thinking skills. We need toensure that we don’t devolve thatcritical thinking strength into

random criticism. We need tohave faith in our cause. We needto be an incubator of success.66.. RRiisskk.. Let’s take this risk.Small risk, small reward. Ourneed is great, we won’t get towhere we want and need to bewithout taking some calculatedmore sizeable risks. As EugeniePrime hollered at our Seattle con-ference—NO PUNY VISIONS!

Sometimes you lead, some-times you follow and sometimesyou cheer folks on. That’s therole of a leader.

Within SLA I have volun-teered for about 25 years. I haveled committees for strategic plan-ning, public relations, and com-

mittee on committees and havebeen a member of many more,including AOOC and Finance. Ihave led my chapter and a divi-sion. I have coordinated fivemajor change-oriented taskforces for SLA and chaired thebranding task force, and havechaired or been a member ofthree others.

In each case it was the team-work that made the day and notthe contribution of a single per-son. I have learned a lot and feelproud of our accomplishments.

I care deeply about sharingand networking. These valuesmust be strong in a leader. As evi-dence of my commitment toshare I point you toward the over

Sylvia James

Libby Trudell

Robyn Frank


its infancy), and wanted to revisit it. APOD, broughtto us by two astronomers, remains simple and infor-mational…and it’s really fun to browse through theimages of comets, supernovae, and our own nearbyplanets. Each photograph is annotated with extensivecross-references to archived images and external arti-cles and Web sites. Images may be found through thechronological and subject indexes or through thesearch tool, and a brief glossary defines commonlyused terms.

Roadtrip Americawww.roadtripamerica.com

You don’t have to be planning a road trip toenjoy this site, which is full of interesting (andsometimes historical) facts, funny signs, andrecipes. Get advice about route planning, booksand maps for your journey, and staying safe duringyour travels (courtesy is contagious!). The RoadtripForum allows site visitors to share experiences andtips. Travelers may also find deals and make reser-vations through the site, and take a compatibilityquiz to determine if their travel companion willmake the trip seem longer than it is in reality. Thesite founders offer ten lessons for road-trippers,which can also inspire us in our everyday lives.

RecipeSourcewww.recipesource.com

It has been a few months since I’ve included afood-related site in this column. But now that I havea bit more time to cook I went searching for newinspiration. RecipeSource includes over 70,000 (!)recipes, which have been collected since 1993 by thesite’s creator, her friends, and cooks around theworld. The beauty of this site (besides the deliciousresults in your kitchen) is its simplicity. Users maybrowse by cuisine or type of dish (stuffed vegetables,rubs, and trifles are a few of the more interesting cat-egories). There is a section that addresses specialdietary needs, such as gluten-free foods and recipesfor diabetics, and you can even find a list of extra ter-restrial and bizarre recipes (Vulcan Carrot Loaf, any-one?). The advanced search tool is fairly flexible, andpermits phrase and “not” queries.

Carolyn J. Sosnowski, MLIS, is an information spe-cialist at SLA.

At-Large DirectorsKate Arnold works for the British health

service as head of content at National HealthService Direct, a multi-channel service offeringhealth information and advice on the Internet,digital television, and via the telephone.

She is responsible for the development andmaintenance of two of the Web site (www.nhs-direct.nhs.uk) and digital TV, NHS DirectInteractive.

Before joining NHS Direct in 2002, sheworked for the BBC for 12 years in a variety ofinformation roles. She has also worked as content manager on a gov-ernment education Web site. She received her MLIS LoughboroughUniversity of Technology in 1987.

Tamika Barnes McCollough is head of ref-erence and information literacy at NorthCarolina A&T State University, Greensboro,where she has been since she began her pro-fessional career in 1999. She is also anadjunct faculty member at North CarolinaCentral University, teaching courses on spe-cial libraries and information centers and onscience and technology resources and servic-es. She also serves as the faculty advisor forthe SLA student group.

She is currently in her second year director of the North CarolinaChapter of SLA.

For more information on the newly elected members of the SLABoard of Directors, see www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodelection/results.cfm.

100 articles I wrote this year includ-ing my column for InformationOutlook. I give over 100 keynote andother speeches a year to library andnon-library groups. I have con-tributed to many books and willpublish another in 2006 throughALA editions. I also blog, throughStephen’s Lighthouse, and promiseto start an SLA President’s blog tokeep everyone informed and start aninteractive discussion with mem-bers—not just one way communica-tion, but ongoing conversations. Aleader must have strong communi-cation skills and I think I candemonstrate that I bring this compe-tency to SLA.

I believe in a leadership based incollaboration, teamwork, network-ing, and two-way communication.

We can reach a new plateau. Wecan prove our value to those we

work with, work for, and get ourfunds from. We can achieve great-ness. By the end of my term I wantmore employers to know that librar-ians rock. I don’t want anyone tosay that they are having troublefinding a position as an informationprofessionals. I don’t want anyonedenying that there is a librarianshortage. I want employers fightingover the best and recruiting. I wantemployers that closed their librariesto fail (or become quite ill and curethemselves by hiring a librarian—grin). I want employers with greatlibraries to succeed and blame theirlibrarians. That’s how I want us tomeasure our success.

For the full text of Abram’sspeech, see: www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/bodsection/bodcandidates/0506candidates/abramspeech.cfm.

Kate Arnold

Tamika Barnes McCollough

sla


Government Information DivisionPros: A Diversity of RolesSecond of two parts

By Peggy Garvin and Richard Huffine

The relatively new SLA GovernmentInformation Division (DGI) provides con-nections for information professionals whosupport government institutions and forthose outside the government sector whouse local, state, federal, and internationalgovernment information to support theirclients. Since it was established in October2004, DGI has attracted nearly 200 mem-bers from all levels of government, fromthe private and nonprofit sectors, and fromSLA chapters around the globe.

As a way of introducing the new divi-sion, we interviewed a handful of our ear-liest members, asking them about theirwork and their interests. These membersinclude new and seasoned practitionerswhose careers involve reference, research,records management, information technol-ogy, information center management,knowledge organization, and—as you willsee—much more.

In the February Information Outlookwe introduced you to Tom Rink. In thisarticle, we present four others.

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Olwyn Crutchley is one of a strongcontingent of international members inthe new Government InformationDivision. She manages the InformationResource Centre (IRC) for New Zealand’sDepartment of Conservation (DOC).

Supporting an agency whose missionshe admires is a clear motivator forCrutchley. The Conservation Departmentworks to preserve New Zealand’s naturaland historic heritage and to stop thedecline of New Zealand’s indigenous bio-diversity. The DOC runs a network ofnational parks and reserves that compriseabout a third of the land mass of NewZealand in what Crutchley describes as“some of the most unspoiled landscapeson the planet.” Crutchley says “the staff ofDOC has some of the most committed,enthusiastic people you could hope tomeet, and visiting our more remote offices

is always an interesting experience.”The IRC provides library and records

management services to the department,which has about 2000 staff located in over100 offices throughout New Zealand,including some on the country’s many off-shore islands. Crutchley notes that theintegrated library and records team is verycommon in Australasia, and in NewZealand government agencies in particu-lar. Her team oversees records and docu-ment management, which she says is“challenging, as it combines a lot of theknowledge you have from the libraryworld (like cataloguing and classification)and applies it to another discipline (creat-ing metadata structures and functionalclassification schemas).” She adds, “Peoplein the organization are always amazed thatour group finds this stuff interesting, but itis satisfying to create systems and process-es that improve people’s ability to use andshare information—and that is the basis ofour training.”

Crutchley believes the informationtechnology world has a lot to learn fromour profession and, reciprocally, she main-tains a keen interest in IT. Her IRC teamhas accomplished a lot since it was formedsix years ago, such as creating digitalimage and video collections, providingservices over the DOC intranet, and creat-ing a single classification scheme for allthe DOC’s paper records.

Crutchley is a member of SLA’sAustralia and New Zealand Chapter, estab-lished in June 2004.

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Bonnie Spiers serves as an OutreachLibrarian with the North Carolina StateLibrary, promoting library services and col-lections to state agency employees. The

State Library of North Carolina was found-ed in 1812. Spiers joined the state libraryjust three years ago, after 10 years as anacademic reference and electronicresources librarian. She provides referenceand research and finds it is especially grat-ifying when she is “able to help a citizenor a state employee cut through thebureaucracy and find the report they wantor connect them with the right person inthe right office.”

Spiers says the results-oriented researchis “a real change from the more generalacademic reference environment.” TheInformation Services Branch clienteleinclude state employees, genealogists, his-torical researchers, and data users. TheState Library is a depository for state docu-ments and an affiliate of the NorthCarolina State Data Center. They also havean extensive family and regional historycollection.

The state library is beginning to digitizesome of its collections. The libraries Accessto State Government Information Initiativeaims to “develop recommendations andtest solutions that support the identifica-tion, collection, cataloging, storage, andpreservation of state government informa-tion and statistical data in all formats,including born digital, for permanent pub-lic access” (http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/digidocs). Spiers sees this as acrucial issue, and one that is often over-looked by the state agencies producing theinformation. “Whenever users call us look-ing for historical information about stategovernment, I wonder what they will beable find when they start researching theissues of today—50 years from now.”

Spiers is a member of the NorthCarolina Chapter of SLA.

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James Staub admits he had no interestin high school civics class. He got his civicseducation later through volunteer workwith social justice organizations and non-profit educational programs. Through thiswork, he developed a passion for of pro-viding permanent public access to govern-ment information. At the Tennessee StateLibrary and Archives (TSLA), where hehas been working for almost two years,Staub combines his two interests: “govern-

sla


ment information and technology tinker-ing.” He sees the TSLA collection as a treas-ure trove of resources—such as its unique50-year collection of audio recordings ofthe Tennessee General Assembly—“beg-ging for liberation through digitization.”

Resources that are born digital, oralready “liberated,” need to be managedand preserved. “One of the greatest chal-lenges the Tennessee [government docu-ments] depository libraries face,” Staubbelieves, “is the capture and preservationof electronic state documents.” TSLA trans-fers state government Web publications tomicrofilm for preservation, but fugitivedocuments still get away. The Tennesseedepository community is experimentingwith distributed capture and preservationof electronic documents. Working withthis broader community of documentslibrarians is rewarding for Staub; as heputs it, “all Tennessee documents librari-ans rock!”

Staub has been involved in severalnational-level professional collaborationprojects. Along with over 100 other federaldepository librarians, he has contributedtime to providing virtual reference servicethrough the Government InformationOnline (GIO) project (http://govtinfo.org).The motto of GIO is “our users are on theWeb; we should be too.” According to theGIO Web site, the pilot phase of thisnational project worked to establish a“model for an online cooperative virtualreference and information service that spe-cializes in answering questions about gov-ernment information.”

Staub’s extracurricular activitiesinclude participation in the volunteer FreeGovernment Information (freegovinfo.info) Web community and promotinglibrarians’ legislative savvy through theTennessee Library Association’sLegislation Committee.

Staub is a member of SLA’s SouthernAppalachian Chapter.

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In 1977, the National Institute ofEnvironmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

hired Dav Robertson to serve as theagency’s first professional librarian. Hejoined SLA that year, and has been withNIEHS and SLA ever since. During histenure, he has gone from setting up thelibrary and handling most of the libraryservices by himself to “managing a terrificstaff.” The library now has five profession-al librarians and a staff of assistants andinterns to support the agency’s 1,350 sci-entific and administrative employees.

NIEHS is a bit unusual in that theagency has been located in NorthCarolina—rather than Washington, D.C.—since it was established in 1966. The focusof the agency, and the library’s collection,is toxicology and the relationship betweenthe environment and human health.

Robertson’s big project now is theimplementation of a metadata schema forenvironmental health, which he developedin collaboration with Dr. Jane Greenberg atthe University of North Carolina (UNC)School of Information and Library Science.In the project’s current phase, Robertson is“working on building a coalition amongfederal agencies to develop a vocabulary ortaxonomy [for environmental health]using the interoperability standards of theSemantic Web.” (For more on the SemanticWeb, see www.w3.org/2001/sw/.)

Having gone from setting up a physicallibrary in 1977 to building a coalition fordevelopment of an environmental healthvocabulary for the Semantic Web in 2006,Robertson is well positioned to recognizethe need for professional growth. “Facedwith all of the new technologies thatenable people to find information them-selves,” he says, “we information profes-sionals have to come up with a new way todefine ourselves. People still need us to col-lect, organize, retrieve, and analyze infor-mation—it’s just that the tools, and some-times the jargon, have changed. We needto retool ourselves and ask what otherroles we can play in our organizations aswe detach ourselves from a large collectionand physical space.”

Robertson began his library career as aUNC intern in a cooperative internship pro-gram set up between the EnvironmentalProtection Agency and the School ofInformation and Library Science. NIEHSjoined EPA in the program, and the NIEHS

Library now employs interns on a regularbasis. Robertson describes this as a particu-larly enjoyable part of the job because “itprovides us with three bright new faceseach year who continue to make us ques-tion why we do things a certain way.”

Robertson is an SLA Fellow. At theassociation level, he has served on theBoard of Directors and special groups, insuch as the Natural Disasters Task Force.He was chair of the predecessor of theEnvironment and Resource ManagementDivision in 1982-1983.

BBrrooaaddeerr IInntteerreessttssGovernment information profession-

als have been active members of SLAsince its inception; today, they are leadersin a variety of divisions and chapters.The goal of a special government infor-mation division within SLA is to create aforum for members to network aroundcommon issues, share experiences, anddefine Government Information divisionalso sees a strong need within the com-munity of information professionals toconnect the managers of governmentinformation products with the communi-ties that rely on government informationin their daily work. We plan to sponsorspecialized programs, such as a round-table for government information profes-sionals, but also to work with the manycomplementary divisions to provide pro-grams for the benefit of all SLA members.

Learn more about DGI, and how tojoin, through the division Web site atwww.sla.org/division/dgi. (Special thanksto Karen MacDonald for creating the siteand to DGI communications officers EileenDeegan and Priscilla Lujan.) DGI has alsostarted a blog, available at http://sla-divi-sions.typepad.com/government_information.

Peggy Garvin is division chair-elect ofthe Government Information Divisionand president of Garvin InformationConsulting; Richard Huffine is divisionchair and Web analytics manager offirstgov.gov for the U.S. General ServicesAdministration. Both work with U.S. fed-eral government information inWashington, D.C.

sla


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By Debbie Schachter

You’re new to your man-agement position in a speciallibrary and your staff seems tobe pleased with your initia-tives. In meetings, your librarystaff seems to be supportive ofyour ideas for general changesand responses to particularissues. Staff members offerfew suggestions or disagree-ment on the actions that youbring forward, and you havefelt secure in proceeding withresolutions, based on yourbest judgment. Recently, how-ever, a couple of key decisionsthat you have initiated haveled to some significant nega-tive results, unforeseen by youand apparently by youremployees, as well. What isgoing wrong?

This scenario, while some-what simplistic, is an exampleof flawed decision making inaction, and a problem towhich the new manager maybe especially prone. With thebest of intentions on the partof the library manager and heror his staff, it is clear that thelack of an effective process fordecision making will lead tonegative results. As the libraryleader, you need to recognizewhat is occurring in yourlibrary and seek to redress itbefore major problems arise.As suggested by the volume ofmanagement literature ondecision making, it is the lackof or poorly understood deci-sion-making process in yourlibrary, that leads to problems,and there are some recognizedmethods for responding to thenegative situation.

As the library manager,you understand the expecta-tions of your own superiors—that you are ultimately respon-sible for the library’s directionand the decisions made toreach library goals. Thisassumption of your responsi-bility will also be shared byyour staff members, but possi-bly to an extent that they areafraid to speak up in meetingsor to share their concerns orsuggestions. How you fosteryour employees’ perceptionsof their roles in library deci-sion making is based on howor whether you define yourexpectations for your staff.

As an individual, you mayactually dislike it when staffmembers disagree with you.This type of attitude willinevitably leads to a form ofgroupthink your employeeswon’t bother to critique issuesor suggest resolutions to prob-lems, because they assume youwill feel threatened by theiroutspokenness. Alternately,you may have high expecta-tions of receiving feedback,suggestions, and some level ofhealthy skepticism of sharedideas, but your staff doesn’t riseto meet these expectations.Ultimately, the result is thesame—poor decision making—and calls for a serious reviewand revamping of your library’sdecision-making process.

To make the best of deci-sions, you need to encouragethe critical thinking and infor-mation sharing skills of yourstaff members; if these skillsexist already, you simply needto provide an environment thatencourages staff membersinput. Information needs to beshared and alternative actionsanalyzed. For the best deci-sions, that is, those based onthe best available informationand with the most supportfrom your staff, you need todevelop some level of consen-sus. As Michael A. Roberto ofthe Harvard Business Schoolstates, consensus consistsnot of being in total agree-ment as to the solution, butof “a high level of commit-ment to the chosen course ofaction and a strong, sharedunderstanding of the ration-ale for the decision.”1

Creating the ProcessStart by examining your

own behavior with your staff,with respect to seeking theirinput and sharing of informa-tion with then. Determinewhether you feel threatenedby opposing views, or do youovertly welcome discussion?In order to lead effectively, youmust be open to the healthydiscussion of issues and notfeel your leadership is indoubt through healthy ques-

tioning of situations and poten-tial resolutions. Next, convey toyour staff, particularly the man-agers and supervisors whoreport directly to you, whatyour expectations for decisionmaking will be from now on. Aproblem or idea should bebrought up by one staff mem-ber and discussed by the group.Information from otheremployees should be shared,and alternative views dis-cussed. Especially for complexissues, make sure there are noassumptions that any particularproposal is the “right answer”until all key individuals haveparticipated in the discussion.

Consensus BuildingNot every action or solu-

tion will meet the expecta-tions of each staff member;however, through using aninclusive discussion andcritical thinking model, youwill reach your goal ofobtaining a consensus onmoving forward. Obviously,not every decision needs totake a lot of time to proceedthrough these steps. A man-agement meeting may offerthe opportunity to discussand move forward with anumber of action items;however, major librarydirectional changes andissues that affect on all staff

The Importance of Good Decision Making

Debbie Schachter has a master's degree in library science and a master'sdegree in business administration. She is the associate executive director ofthe Jewish Family Service Agency in Vancouver, British Columbia, whereshe is responsible for financial management, human resources, databaseand IT systems, and grant application management. Schachter has morethan 15 years’ experience in management and supervision, technologyplanning and support, in a variety of nonprofit and for-profit settings. Shecan be reached at [email protected].

businessmanagement

and users need to move fullythrough this process.

Remember, consensus isnot about everyone agreeingon one idea, but in ensuringthat the process to reach asolution is universally under-stood to be valid. It is sup-port for implementing anyaction or resolution that iskey to its success. You areinterested in not only thebest possible solution, butalso the one that will be mostsuccessful in implementa-tion, through communica-

tion and consideration of theimpact on all staff members.

FeedbackPeriodically review deci-

sions that have been made anddiscuss with your staff wherethe successes and failureshave occurred. If a new initia-tive failed, was it because keyinformation was not shared ora particular idea was not con-sidered due to a preconceivedsolution proposed earlier?Learning from decision mak-ing completes the process of

implementing a healthy deci-sion-making process.

Don’t let your ego get inthe way—your staff willrespect you more for solicitinginput and for not assumingyou know what’s right orwrong, and learning whatthey have to say. Remember,even the best informed deci-sion will not always work outas anticipated, but it willensure that your staff willwork with you to try to makeit successful, and will feel thatthey are participating in the

process. Keep in mind the ulti-mate goal for every librarydecision—to ensure best serv-ices and programs for yourclients, and to make the bestuse of library resources.

1 Michael A. Roberto, “Whymaking the decisions the rightway is better than making theright decisions,” p. 1.


businessmanagement


SLA Member Profile

By Forrest Glenn Spencer

An army may travel on its stomachbut it is knowledge and educationthat will help its commanders fighteffectively. A large part of leadershipis developed through the combinationof classroom lessons and field experi-ence. The U.S. Army understood thatwhen in 1882 it established theCommand and General Staff College

at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The col-lege was the brainchild of Civil WarGeneral William T. Sherman. It edu-cates intermediate-career officers,individuals who will eventually beplaced in high-ranking leadership andstaff positions at the brigade, divi-sional, or corps command level. Someof the famed graduates includeGenerals Omar Bradley, Dwight

Eisenhower, George Patton, ColinPowell, and Norman Schwarzkopf.

Along with the college, a librarywas also built in the 1880s so the stu-dent officers would have access to theknowledge and wisdom of field com-manders current and past, tacticiansand historians, books and mono-graphs, doctoral theses, maps, and

Edwin Burgess TakesArmy Library from CardCatalogs to OnlineInformation Sharing


SLA Member Profile

photographs. The college’s library isknown today as the U.S. ArmyCombined Arms Research Library(CARL). Located inside Eisenhower Hall,the CARL is a modern and comprehen-sive military science research center. Itsdirector these last five years has beenSLA member Edwin B. Burgess.

“I have a collection of 300,000books and about that many in docu-ments,” Burgess said in a recentinterview. “We have a secure classi-fied area that we maintain. I’ve gotan extensive digitization program. Wedo the stuff that normal libraries do—like answer reference questions,maintain the Web page and digitallibrary, catalog, circulation—that sortof thing.” Among the military data-bases, the CARL’s Web site includesLancaster Index, Jane’s OnlineResearch, EBSCO Academic SearchPremier, and Political Risk Yearbook.For the academic, there areLexisNexis Congressional Universe,Peterson’s Online Resource Center,and CIAO (Columbia InternationalAffairs Online).

Burgess’s staff are all civilians—38in all, including the part-timers. Thestudents at the college are mostlymilitary officers in the middle periodof their careers—around 15 years ofservice, with the rank of major, typi-cally. About 10 percent to 15 percentof the class is made up of officersfrom other U.S. The college alsoadmits officers from other countries.

All the students understand theymay be faced with a number of mis-sions, from full-scale war to counter-insurgency, peacekeeping, and disas-ter relief. The library’s duty is tomake available a complete range ofmaterials reflecting these missions.

Focus on the Soldier“In this library, and all libraries in

the Army, the focus is always the sol-dier,” Burgess said. “Everything wedo exists to help the solider be betterat what they do. We have a dual mis-sion. We are the college’s academiclibrary, and we are the Army’s equiv-alent of a public library for the instal-lation. In the post libraries—lots ofsoldiers are getting educations, and

we would be supporting GEDs, collegedegrees, supporting family memberswho are going to grade school, highschool, or studying on their own; lotsof recreational use, of course. Whenyou’re at a base with lots of troops—some of the soldiers would just comein to find a quiet place to rest—awayfrom their sergeant.”

Primarily, Burgess’s job ensuresthat the library supports the college,which is a graduate-level institutionoffering its own degree and support-ing a number of people who are tak-ing PhDs from civilian colleges.

“In this particular school we’remainly dealing with officers who arelooking forward in working in highcommand levels,” he added. “We do alot of leadership, military history, tac-tics, and so forth. The curriculum haschanged somewhat to reflect the cur-rent environment. We are doing somecounterinsurgency, national securityand nation-building, a good deal ofinteragency work: Like how does thesoldier who has been deployed con-duct himself with the hundreds ofnongovernmental agencies thatappear in a distressed area or howdoes he work with the StateDepartment, the CIA, or the BritishArmy or host-country army.”

Burgess is proud of his work forthe professional soldier. He has beena special librarian connected withthe U.S. Army for more than 30years, and yet he has never servedin the armed forces. “When I got outof library school in 1971 there was aprotracted period of unemploymentduring which I sent out numerousrésumés, none of which had anyeffect,” Burgess recalled. “I didn’thave a lot to offer in terms of expe-rience, except a freshly minted mas-ter’s degree.

“One of my relatives, as it turnedout, was an officer in the Army andstationed at Fort Leonard Wood,Missouri, and heard about a vacancythere. So I applied and got the job:Drudge Second Class, I say jokingly, aprofessional librarian but at the bot-tom of the totem pole.”

Burgess has been an employeewith the DoD on various posts. In the

SLA MMember PProfile

Edwin BB. BBurgess

Joined SSLA: 1993Job: Director, U.S. Army CombinedArms Research Library, FortLeavenworth, KansasEmployer: U.S. Department ofDefense, United States ArmyExperience: 34 yearsEducation: Macalester College,St. Paul, University of Minnesota,MLSFirst LLIS jjob: Working for the fam-ily business, the Burgess LumberYard in Amarillo, Texas. “Severalsummers of manual labor in theTexas sun convinced me that Iwanted to go to college, which wasprobably my father's intent.”Biggest CChallenge: “Learninghow to talk to higher manage-ment in terms that they canunderstand and deal with. Tookme years to do that effectively,and it's a critical skill.”

early 1980’s he made the transitioninto special librarianship when hewas with the USA Concepts AnalysisAgency in Bethesda, Maryland, atechnical library specializing in strat-egy, and then as the systems librarianat Fort Monroe, Virginia, overseeingthe acquisition and testing of auto-mated systems for 44 libraries con-nected with the Training and DoctrineCommand (TRADOC).

Burgess was at this post for 13years, and it was certainly the core ofhis development in management as aspecial librarian, which led to hiscurrent post at Fort Leavenworth. Hisjob during that time at TRADOCinvolved coordination with vendors,installing an online ordering andaccounting system, and integration ofthe library systems. TRADOC is the“architect of the Army,” an institutionthat builds a foundation for the sol-dier, designing and delivering train-ing to soldiers at all levels and devel-oping doctrine: the rules and methodsby which the army operates. It over-sees a huge training program at 33schools and 16 U.S. Army bases.

In 1995, Burgess transferred toFort Leavenworth as chief of publicservices, supervising reference servic-es for publicly available materials inthe collection and responsible for dig-itizing the CARL’s materials. It’s notsurprising that as the Army and theother services have adapted to thechanging global environment that thespecial library services of Burgess’sworld have had to change and adapt.

“My feeling is that I’ve had theprivilege to work in a really interest-ing time in the profession,” saidBurgess. “Libraries have changedmore in the last 40 years than theyhave in the previous thousand. Whenyou look at pre-1950 innovations—what is there: gee, we started typingcatalog cards! Big deal. Now, no oneknows what the heck a catalog card

is and nobody misses them. It’s allcomputers today, it’s all networked,and we are steadily growing throughWeb interconnections. We’re a longway from perfecting that, if it can beperfected, but that’s what we have.”

The Old 286Burgess recalled some 20 years agowhen he went out and bought fourZenith PCs for each TRADOC library,shipped them across the country, andperformed installation and training.Those were 286-computers with 20MB hard drives. “Today we routinelycreate documents that are more than20 megs,” Burgess added with alaugh. “Or, 10 years ago, the CARLeffectively served only those whocame in, or those who were physicallynearby. Now, we routinely fieldrequests from soldiers deployed inIraq and Afghanistan. E-mail and vir-

tual reference have enabled us toactively assist people working inthose theaters. We’re part of aQuestionPoint reference consortiumand handle questions every day fromoverseas. That’s been another bigchange in the profession.”

Computer technology introducedin the library system also broughtabout a further change with thelibrarians, especially in the speciallibrarianship of Burgess and his asso-ciates, a change that may not be nec-essarily generational since it requiresacceptance and willingness to adapt.

“At the time when computers wereentering the system it revolutionizedthe library business,” Burgess said.“We found that the older librarianswho had beenaround for awhile weren’treally interested


SLA Member Profile

Forrest Glenn Spencer is a Virginia-based independent development researcher and freelance writer.He specializes in developing potential donor prospects for non-profit organizations, such as America’sPromise—The Alliance for Youth, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, and the AmericanRed Cross. He was a 14-year broadcast news associate and has written for numerous print andInternet publications for the last several years. He can be reached at [email protected].

in handling the new technology andthat was a big problem for them.They had trouble getting their mindsaround the whole concept of onlineservices and e-mail. The people whodidn’t like that kind of change aregone from the system. You cannot bea librarian unless you’re well wired.If you’re not wired—I don’t care ifyou’ve got a degree or not—you justaren’t a librarian these days. It’s amatter of keeping up with the tech-nology as it evolves.”

Equally important is the customerservice aspect of the profession. Thisis one piece of advice Burgess stress-es to LIS students. “We’ve all knownpeople who think they can get intothe librarian profession and not dealwith people and that’s a mistake,”Burgess said. “The technology isincredibly important but it’s onlythere so you can communicate whatyou know and people need to know.”

Think Like the ManagersAnd as to what the special librari-

an can do to excel in the profession:“Always think like the managers—notyour boss but their bosses. What dothey want? If you’re in a company,it’s not going to help you to be per-ceived as a cost. You need to be per-ceived as a resource that generatessomething. I think that’s true in thepublic sector as in the private sector.If you’re overhead, you’re somethingto be cut. If you’re a valuableresource that makes everybody’s lifeeasier, then you’re something to beenhanced. You have to think about itin those terms. Everybody does notautomatically see you’re worthwhile.You have to show them you areworthwhile.”

Adaptability has been a large fac-tor in Ed Burgess’s life. When heassumed the directorship of theCARL, it was two months after 9/11.The emphasis to the students utiliz-ing the contents of his library wouldalter radically from major combatoperations to countering terrorism.“That has had an effect,” Burgesssaid. “There was a time when thefocus was on fighting the Russians if

they invaded Germany. We no longerconsider that a major threat. So Idon’t collect a lot of books on largeunit tactics any more.

“We still do military history buttoday we’re looking at more booksabout the Islamic fundamentalistthreat, their culture, counter-insurgencytactics—that’s a much bigger sectionthan it used to be. We still teach, to adegree, traditional large battle combattactics, because our soldiers mayhave to do that at some point. It’sbetter to be good at it than not.Clearly, right now, the effort is Iraqand Afghanistan—so that kind of waris getting the attention.”

Burgess, who has been with SLAsince 1993, is an active member ofthe Heart of America Chapter and theMilitary Librarians Division. He is apast president of Heart of Americaand currently serves as archivist forthe chapter and the MilitaryLibrarians Division.

Burgess enjoys his time with hisfellow SLA members. “Heart ofAmerica is Kansas City-centric,”Burgess said. “We have a good associ-ation with the library school inEmporia, which is 150 miles away. Wego places and enjoy instructional pro-grams, the usual SLA activities. Themost successful thing we did when Iwas president was a program on copy-rights in the electronic age, for whichI booked a Kansas professor and heldat a university student union andprobably got 100 people to come. Mostof them were nonmembers; it was agood fundraiser for us.”

With the SLA Military LibrarianDivision, Burgess usually attends itsannual workshops in December, as wellas its programs at the SLA annual con-ference. And away from SLA and theCARL, he is married to Ann Burgess, aself-employed craft maker. She’s cur-rently involved with hand-marbled fab-ric that she prints herself, and she pro-duces a variety of decorative objects.They’ve been married since 1970.

Burgess doesn’t know when histour of duty will end. Under the civilservice rules he is eligible to retire,yet he has no intention of leaving.

With his directorship at the CombinedArms Research Library he is enjoyinghis work and the relationship with hismilitary supervisors. “They areextremely supportive,” he said. “Iwould like to feel that I haveimpressed the value of the library onthem. I am certainly getting my shareof the resources and a certain amountof recognition.”

Burgess knows that the presentfinancial support will not continue inthe long term. “Part of the budgetsupport is because the nation isspending a tremendous amount ofmoney on its military right now. Idon’t think that will continue indefi-nitely. When the inevitable period ofbudgetary contraction comes, thatwill be our test.”


SLA Member Profile

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SLA 2006

By Edna W. Paulson and Mary Woodfill

Baltimore is a unique American city. It has vibrant neigh-borhoods, an industrial past, a varied population, delectablefood, and an important place in American history. Its attrac-tions are so great, some people call it Charm City. You’ll call ita great place for a Special Library Association convention.The Maryland Chapter of SLA is delighted that the conventionis coming to Baltimore June 11-14, and we want to share somethings about the area that we hope will encourage you to comeand enjoy your time here.

The Baltimore Convention Center, site of the convention, islocated in the heart of downtown Baltimore. Many restaurants,historic sites, museums, and other attractions are within easyreach by foot or nearby public transportation.

The public transportation system in Baltimore includesbuses, a subway, and a light rail (aboveground) system. The

Maryland Transit Administration’s Web site has schedules andmaps you can consult or print out to help in your advanceplanning (www.mtamaryland.com).

HistoryBaltimore has been important in the history of the United

States almost since the first European settlers arrived in Marylandon the Ark and the Dove in 1634. Many sites in the city areimportant in that history. This article can only hint at Baltimore’speople and events that have influenced history.

Settlers were attracted early to the Inner Harbor area, with itssheltered anchorage fed by rivers and its easy access to theChesapeake Bay. In the early 1700s, there were tobacco ware-houses in the area now known as Fells Point. By the 1750s,Baltimore was a center of shipping to the West Indies, with car-goes including iron, tobacco, wooden products, flour fromBaltimore-area mills, and other staple foodstuffs. The area includ-

Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association



ed people from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Africa,and French speakers deported from Canada.

Baltimoreans were enthusiastic supporters of the AmericanRevolution. They built ships for the new U.S. Navy and designedfast clippers for privateers (private ships that raided enemy ship-ping). Many Baltimore natives served with distinction in battlesfrom Long Island to South Carolina.

By 1790 Baltimore’s population had reached 13,000. By 1810it had grown to 45,000. The city was a major port for exportsfrom the growing settlements to the west, and became an indus-trial center as well. The Shot Tower at 801 E. Fayette Street wasbuilt in 1828. Its 234-foot height allowed molten lead to formuniform pellets as it fell, producing ammunition of high quality.In the same year, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was foundedto facilitate trade with the West.

Renewed hostilities with Britain in the War of 1812 producedone of Baltimore’s best-known contributions to American history,the national anthem. Author Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” after seeing the American flag still flying overFort McHenry after bombardment by the British, a sign that theBritish attack had failed. The fort is named for James McHenry, aBaltimore resident who was secretary of war in the late 1790s. Itis now a National Historic Site. Arrangements can be made at thegift shop for a flag purchased there to be flown over the fort(www.nps.gov/fomc/home.htm).

The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House at 844 East Pratt Streetwas the home of Mary Young Pickersgill and her mother, whocreated the flag that inspired Key. The original flag is now housedin the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where it isbeing restored. The Flag House has a glass replica made inFrance (www.flaghouse.org).

In the years before the Civil War, the divisions of the coun-try were mirrored in Baltimore. Maryland was a slaveholdingstate, but Baltimore had the largest population of free blackpeople in the U.S., and Maryland did not join the Confederacy.As the war broke out, Southern sympathizers in Baltimorefired on U.S. troops moving through the city to South Carolina.Baltimore was occupied by Union troops for much of the war,since the city’s status as a hub of trade and communicationmade it vital to Washington, D.C. After the war, Baltimorebanks contributed heavily to the rebuilding of the economy

and infrastructure of the Southern states, and many freedslaves came there to find a better life.

By 1870, Baltimore’s population was more than twiceWashington’s. Steamboats were replacing the sailing ships, andindustry was growing. Canning of vegetables and oysters joinedother industries as the city thrived. This prosperity was expressedin works of philanthropy. The Peabody Institute, Johns HopkinsUniversity and its hospital, the Walters Art Museum, and theEnoch Pratt Free Library were all founded during the late 1800sby Baltimore businessmen. (See the sidebar for more about theseinstitutions.) When a fire destroyed much of the original down-town area in 1904, the area was rebuilt and the layout of streetsimproved. Two buildings that escaped the fire are located atCharles and Lexington Streets: the Fidelity Building (1894) andthe Central Savings Bank Building (1890).

Baltimore continued to prosper and grow as an industrial cen-ter and shipping hub. When America entered World War I,Baltimore shipbuilders built military vessels. Industrial growthboomed during World War II, especially shipbuilding and aircraftand munitions manufacture.

In an exodus that occurred in many American cities, industryand people alike left Baltimore for the suburbs after World WarII. Some local industries were bought by out-of-state companies,and stores closed. The area nearthe Inner Harbor was marred byabandoned buildings and unat-tractive streets. Baltimoreansresponded to this challengewith projects that revitalizedthe core of the city. CharlesCenter, a business area thatincludes shops and restau-rants, brought new life to 33acres to the west of CharlesStreet, several blocks northof the Convention Center.

Public and private inter-ests combined to fund newdevelopment such as theMaryland Science Center,new hotels, and office

The Inner Harbor, just east of theConvention Center, is a great placefor history, fun, nature, shopping,

dining (including Maryland’s famedsteamed crabs), and people watching.Harborplace is two pavilions of shops andrestaurants next to the water. The areabetween them is a popular site for streetmusicians and entertainers (www.harborplace.com). The observation levelof the World Trade Center, just to the eastof Harborplace, has great views in alldirections. Other attractions around the

Inner Harbor include the MarylandScience Center, the American VisionaryArt Museum, the Baltimore Public WorksMuseum, and others.

The National Aquarium inBaltimore occupies an eye-catchingbuilding on the Inner Harbor, easi-

ly recognizable by its pyramidal top andneon waves. The aquarium was largelyfunded by the City of Baltimore and pri-vate sources and was designated a“national” aquarium by Congress.Popular exhibits include an Atlantic

coral reef and largesharks. Another cur-

rent exhibit, Animal Planet Australia:Wild Extremes! includes flying foxes andlizards (www.aqua.org).

The Mount Vernon Place area isthe site of one of the first memori-als to George Washington, planned

in 1809. The simple column rests on abase housing a museum. Inscriptions onthe base trace Washington’s career. Whenthe monument was built in 1815, it wasabout a mile north of the city. Just southof the monument is the Walters ArtMuseum, which features “55 centuries of

Top Five Downtown Baltimore Attractions1

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vol. 10, no. 2 | February 2006 | information outlook | 21

buildings. In 1980, the two pavilions ofshops and restaurants known asHarborplace opened (see sidebar).More redevelopment followed, includ-ing a new baseball stadium for theBaltimore Orioles (who unfortunatelywill be playing away during the confer-ence), and a football stadium for theBaltimore Ravens, successors to theColts, who had fled to Indianapolis.

Famous ResidentsBaltimore has also been the home

of many important figures in Americanculture. We can mention only a few. Perhaps the most romantic figure isEdgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), wholived at 203 N. Amity Street from 1832to 1835 with several other family mem-bers. He died in Baltimore on October7, 1849, after being found in a gutter.He was buried in a churchyard at Fayette and Greene Streets.Every year since 1849, an unknown person has left an offeringon his grave on the anniversary of his death: three roses and partof a bottle of cognac (www.eapoe.org).

Baltimore native H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) was a newspa-perman and critic who lived most of his life at 1524 HollinsStreet. Mencken was widely known as an iconoclastic social crit-ic and as the author of The American Language. His three vol-umes of autobiography provide pictures of life in Baltimore(Happy Days, Newspaper Days, and Heathen Days). The house isno longer open to the public (www.menckenhouse.org).

Ragtime pianist and composer Eubie Blake was born inBaltimore in 1883 and lived to be over 100. The Eubie BlakeNational Museum and Cultural Center at 847 N. Howard Streetsponsors classes, performances, and an art gallery(www.eubieblake.org).

Film director-screenwriter-producer Barry Levinson is aBaltimore native. Four of his films have been set there, and two(Diner (1982) and Avalon (1989)) were nominated for AcademyAwards for best screenplay. He was also executive producer and

directed many episodes of the televisionseries Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999), also set in Baltimore. Levinsonattended Baltimore City CommunityCollege.

John Waters, another Baltimorenative, has set all his films in the city.These range from cult films like PinkFlamingos (1972) to his mainstreamcomedy, Hairspray (1988), which hasbecome a hit musical.

Baseball legend Babe Ruth (1895-1948) was born in Baltimore. He playedfor the minor league Orioles before goingon to the Boston Red Sox and New YorkYankees. His birthplace at 216 EmoryStreet is now a museum. The SportsLegends at Camden Yards Museum nearOriole Park (301 W. Camden Street) alsoincludes a tribute to the Babe, as well asexhibits honoring other baseball greats

(www.baberuthmuseum.com).The sidebars suggest some additional resources, including the

Maryland Chapter Web site, where you will find suggestions,including bookstores and restaurants and top attractions near theConvention Center.

The chapter also hosts a blog where you can post questions.And once you are at the convention, please stop by the hospitali-ty booth to meet some local chapter members. Besides informa-tion about getting around and seeing the sights, you’ll have achance to win a gift basket of Maryland treats. We look forwardto greeting you in Baltimore!

Edna W. Paulson is employed as principal information special-ist for Chugach Industries, Inc., at the NASA Center for AeroSpaceInformation near Baltimore. She can be reached [email protected].

Mary Woodfill Park is President of the InformationConsultancy (www.informationconsultancy.com) inBaltimore. She specializes in Family and Corporate HistoricalResearch and Genealogy. She can be reached [email protected].

art.” Special exhibits on view during theconference will include Byzantine art,drawings of the Ashcan School, and thereinstallation of the European Old Mastercollections in new galleries. The perma-nent collections cover a remarkable vari-ety of periods and styles of art (www.thewalters.org).

Nearby is the Peabody Institute ofJohns Hopkins University, founded in1866. The Institute includes the nation’soldest conservatory of music and housesthe George Peabody Library and theArthur Friedheim Music Library, bothopen to the public (www.peabody.jhu.edu).

Baltimoreans have been buyingfood at the Lexington Market formore than 200 years. Many of

the stalls have been operated by thesame family for generations. The mar-ket’s two buildings stretch two blocksfrom Greene Street to Eutaw Streetnorth of Lexington Street. You can buyjust lunch, or the ingredients for afeast. The seafood stalls are an educa-tion in marine life and a great place tosample the city’s famed crab cakes.Unfortunately for the adventurous,muskrat will not be in season in June(www.lexingtonmarket.com).

The Enoch Pratt Free Library isthe public library of Baltimore,with over 20 branches, as well as

the State Library Resource Center forMaryland. The central library onCathedral Street houses the papers ofBaltimore newspaperman and writer H. L.Mencken, as well as portraits of historicalfigures. The current building dates from1933 and has a two-story reading room(www.pratt.lib.md.us).

See locations of these sites on theWayfarer Map at www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/874 or any map of Baltimore.

4 5

For More on BaltimoreLooking for more on Baltimore? Try the following resources:

1The Maryland Chapter web site has tips on sights, restau-rants, bookstores, and more coming in late March(http://www.sla.org/chapter/cmd/balt06.htm). The site

also links to other resources on the city.

2The Maryland Chapter blog is a place to post your ques-tions about Baltimore or the conference and look foranswers and tips (sla-maryland.blogspot.com).

3The Special Libraries Association conference page links tomany helpful sites (www.sla.org/content/ Events/confer-ence/ac2006/index.cfm).

4Once you are in Baltimore, visit the hospitality booth inthe registration area for local information, tips, and achance to win a welcome basket of Maryland treats.

Information from the chapter Web site will be available as aprinted guide.

SLA 2006


Okay, Baltimore is a great city. It’shistoric, vibrant, cosmopolitan. It hassports teams, tourist attractions,museums, professional theaters, azoo, art galleries, major universities—even historic library. There are enoughthings to do there you could stay aweek and not even finish up with thedowntown area.

But when the SLA AnnualConference arrives in Baltimore duringthe second week of June, there will beplenty of educational opportunities forinformation professionals. And that, thecharms of Charm City notwithstanding,is why you’re going.

In addition to keynotes by PBS editorand correspondent Gwen Ifill and WallStreet Journal Personal Technologycolumnist Walt Mossberg, there will beseveral days of seminars and workshopsand one of the world’s largest exhibi-tions of products and services for infor-mation professionals.

A detailed preliminary conferenceprogram was packaged with theFebruary issue of Information Outlook.There’s more information—including aninteractive personal conference plan-ner—online at www.sla.org/content/events/conference/ac2006/index.cfm.

If your appetite for professionaldevelopment still needs whetting, here

are a few highlights.While the conference “officially”

begins on June 11, you can register on-site as early as June 9. Ticketed full- andhalf-day seminars—presented by theSLA Professional Development Centerand various SLA divisions—beginSaturday, June 10.

Topics range from blogging to leader-ship to stress management. There areseminars on information architecture,taxonomies, and cataloging.

You can cap off the day with anevening bus tour of Baltimore. It willtake you from historic Fells Point toFederal Hill, the best spot in town to seethe city skyline and the Inner Harbor.

Ticketed sessions continue onSunday, June 11. Late morning sees theribbon-cutting for the INFO-EXPO Halland an exhibit reception that leads up tothe first general session and the officialopening of the conference.

If you get up early Monday morn-ing, there are workshops beginning at7:30 a.m. Monday sessions continuein three more time blocks throughthe day, with more scheduledTuesday and Wednesday.

Collaboration tools,knowledge management,managing content, RSSfeeds, business intelligence, ter-

rorism, Web searching—these are just afew of the topics the workshops cover.

Overall, you can choose from morethan 200 educational sessions.In between are exhibit hall hours, unitmeetings, roundtables and, of course, afull menu of hospitality suites and openhouses at the end of each day.

Register by May 1 and you’ll savewith the early-bird rate. You can do it allonline at http://registration.expoexchange.com/ShowSLA061.

SLA 2006

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SLA 2006



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SLA 2006

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SLA 2006

Juggling CareerJuggling Career and and Family, Family, Baltimore StyleBaltimore Style

Or the Saga of How a Session Made It into the Conference Program

By Elana Broch, PhD, MLIS

You may remember me. I wrote anInformation Outlook article last year titled“How to Have a Great Time in Toronto”(you can find it online at http://www.sla.org/pubs/serial/io/2005/apr05/toc.htm).Yep, the article with the photo of theunshaven man. No, I didn’t pick that.And I have to say that I was unhappywith that photo. Very unhappy. So unhap-py that I vowed never to write forInformation Outlook again. So much forthat. As the saying goes, “When life

hands you lemons, make lemonade.”[Editor’s note to graphic artist: Please

don’t use any pictures of unshaven peoplewith this article.]

Yes, I’m the one who doesn’t like totravel. That was how I began last year’sarticle. And I did make the trip to Torontoand I did have a “great time.” Did I men-tion the fact that I took my entire familywith me?

It seemed to make sense at first. Ithought my children (ages 6 and 9 at thetime) would enjoy being in another coun-try. We were heading to northern New

York state for a family vacation, so Canadadidn’t seem that far out of the way.Obviously, none of this would have beenpossible if my wonderful husband, whodoes like to travel, hadn’t agreed to comealong so I could attend sessions (I was pre-senting on Tuesday) and the Social ScienceDivision (DSOC) board meetings. I wasparticularly intent on attending the DSOCplanning meeting because I wanted topropose a sessionfor Baltimore 2006on “juggling workand family.”

Elana Broch is a population research librarian at Princeton University. She earned a PhD in psycho-metric methods, before earning her MLIS. She can be reached at [email protected]. In addition toorganizing “Juggling Work and Family” in Baltimore, she is presenting two sessions on statistics(“Taking the Sting Out of Statistics: Basic Concepts” and “Does She or Doesn’t She? Only HerStatistician Knows for Sure”). For the record, her children watched the movie Robots and she neglectedmaking dinner so she could finish writing this article.

SLA 2006

Juggling work and family: My interestin a session on this topic was spawned atthe SLA Annual meeting in 2004, theresult of two encounters I had inNashville. (If you read my article in lastyear’s Information Outlook you mayremember that to me the whole point ofgoing to conferences is to network.)

You probably don’t remember thatNashville was my first SLA meeting. Imet Karen Shaines, a DSOC member,early in my stay. We hit it off immediate-ly. We started discussing the lists we leftfor our husbands so they would remem-ber which kid got which snack and whohad gym on which day. In the course ofour conversation, Karen mentioned agreat video she had seen with some ofher neighbors, Juggling Work and Familywith Hedrick Smith.

We talked about how much fun itwould be to do a session based on thevideo at an SLA meeting. You know,bringing together other people who weredealing with the same things we weredealing with, regardless of which SLAdivision they were part of. One glitch wasthat Karen already knew she wouldn’t bein Toronto, because her son would begraduating from high school the week ofSLA in June 2005 (what are mothers, ifnot planners?).

The Idea GrowsSo the seed was planted on my first

day in Opryland. It germinated the nextmorning. I was up at 6 a.m. (rememberI’m the mother of young children and wasin a different time zone) frantically search-ing for coffee when I met another SLAconferee (also an Easterner and the moth-er of a young child). Emily Poworoznekand I struck up a conversation and reallyhit it off. In the course of talking aboutfamily and career (and as mothers, talk ofcareer quickly switched to talk of chil-dren), I mentioned the video that Karenhad told me about. Emily thought itsounded like a great video and she agreedto broach the idea of a “juggling work andfamily” session with her division (Physics,Astronomy, and Math). We kept in touchafter Nashville, got together in Toronto,and now we’re organizing this sessiontogether.

Fast-forward to spring 2005. Beforeleaving for Toronto, I contacted PaulineSteinhorn, the producer of the video that

Karen had spoken sohighly of. She wasvery willing to cometo Baltimore and shareher video with us. Ialso touched base withKaren and Emily, whowere still interested inmaking it happen.

I was all set tobring my idea to the Social ScienceDivision. As I mentioned in my last arti-cle, they are a wonderful, embracing, sup-portive division, and I hoped they wouldbe excited about the idea. Since I am nowchair of the Public Policy Section withinSocial Science, juggling work and familycertainly seemed like something thatcould be within the purview of DSOC.

Then came the glitch. My husbandwas going to have to be in New York onthe day of the planning session. Was Ireally crazy enough to bring my childrenwith me to the meeting? Is there anythingthat can entertain a 6-year-old boy quietlyfor 90 minutes, if you’re philosophicallyopposed to owning a Game Boy?

I thought my session “Taking the Stingout of Statistics” had gone really well, inspite of the fact that I had completely (andI mean completely) lost my voice. I decid-ed to chance the DSOC planning session. Ifigured that if things didn’t work, I couldalways leave.

It worked! My children behaved beau-tifully (believe me, itdoesn’t happen often).Linda Richer, the presi-dent of DSOC, askedeveryone to give a roundof applause to the “guests.”In retrospect, did I give thesession my undivided atten-tion? No. Did I worry thatthe calm would be shatteredat any moment by an urgentbathroom request or a missingLego piece? Yes. Butmost important,

“Juggling” got the green light. Back in New Jersey, I contacted

Pauline, Karen, and Emily to say we’d got-ten the go ahead. In the spirit of“Juggling,” I made calls only after work,on my cell phone, preferably while attend-ing my children’s swim practices.

Have I mentioned the wine andcheese? I really wanted the session toinclude a wine and cheese reception. Iloved the idea of having the session beserious but fun. It’s expensive enough tohave a large room at the conference hotel,not to mention a DVD player. AlthoughTerry Hill, our conference planner, neverblinked when I mentioned wine andcheese, I knew I needed a sponsor tomake this work. As I walked through theexhibits in Toronto I talked to someone Iknew at CSA, who gave me the number ofthe person to contact if I wanted to pursueusing CSA as a sponsor.

It worked. I called Jill Blaemers, thedirector of social science content for CSA(on a cell phone, while my children wereat swim team practice) and she was veryinterested in “Juggling.” Long story short,CSA agreed to sponsor the session. Jilleven found a co-sponsor, Proquest.

Have I gotten you interested? I thinkit will be a great session. So bring yourfriends. Bring your family (if you’recrazy enough to bring them to confer-ences with you). Let’s have fun andenjoy the fact that many of us are having

to deal with what seems like thenever ending stress of jugglingtwo important arenas.

As a side venture, I’dlike to compile a selection of“honey-do lists.” If you’dlike to send me (ebroch@

princeton. edu) or bring a copyof a list you leave for your caregiv-

er when you travel, we’d like to puta sample of them on the DSOC Web

site. First prize—for the most detailedlist—is a copy of Keeping the Baby Alivetill Your Wife Gets Home by Walter Roark.

And if you’d like to e-mail (or bring)your favorite 30-minute dinner recipe toshare, we can post those on the DSOCWeb site, too.

Will I be bringing my family this year?I honestly don’t know. But if you see twovery short people at this session, don’tbelieve them when they say they’re oldenough to drink.


Pauline Steinhorn

“Juggling Work and Family” is scheduledfor 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 13.

Participants will view the PBS documen-tary Juggling Work and Family with Hedrick

Smith, then join a discussion led by itsproducer, Pauline Steinhorn.

RSS

vol. 10, no. 3 | March 2006 | information outlook | 27

By Darlene Fichter

Many information professionals have discovered thevalue of using news aggregators to subscribe to news feedswith updated content from blogs, newspapers, journalsand other Web sites. RSS newsreaders are a real time saverfor anyone who has to keep up on a dozen or more sitesper day.

Dave Winer posted this comment on his Really SimpleSyndication Blog about RSS: “When people ask me whatRSS is, I say it’s automated Web surfing. We took some-thing lots of people do, visiting sites looking for new stuff,and automated it. It’s a very predictable thing, that's whatcomputers do—automate repetitive things.” (Seewww.reallysimplesyndication.com/2005/09/11#a951.)

But RSS feeds aren’t just useful for keeping up to dateprofessionally. News feeds are the raw materials that wecan use to make our library sites timelier and more inter-

esting for our visitors. Savvy information pros are capital-izing on all of this information in an RSS format to createnew content on their Web sites.

If you have ever clicked on an RSS feed and displayed itin your browser, it’s not exactly pretty to look at it. RSS inits natural state is meant for computers to process, not forpeople to read. It’s ideally suited to being sliced and dicedand republished.RSS is like freshproduce just wait-ing for you to cre-ate some sort ofwonderful culinaryfeast for yourlibrary customers.

Obviously somekind of magic ortransformation has

Keeping Your Web Site Current with News Feeds

2 p.m. ETWednesday,May 17

Instructor: Darlene FichterDetails and registration information are at

www.sla.org/clickulive

Always Fresh:Keeping Your Web Site Current

with News Feeds

Darlene Fichter is the coordinator of data library services at the University ofSaskatchewan Libraries. She has been a project manager and consultant for severaldigital library, portal, intranet, and Web site projects. Darlene is also a columnist forOnline Magazine and a frequent conference speaker about new and emerging infor-mation technologies.


to take place to make an RSS feed display nicely on yourWeb site as an HTML page or on part of a page. There aredozens of free tools that will convert any RSS feed toHTML. Some of these tools require no programming know-how whatsoever. Point, click, and paste. Others tools needto be installed and configured locally on a web server.While no technical knowledge is needed to use manytools, some experience with setting up style sheets can

come in handy in order to precisely match the look andfeel of your site.

In Figure 1, the right-hand column of the Data Librarypage displays two sets of news feeds. The first feed showslocal library news from the Data Library weblog, and thesecond feed has headlines from The Daily, published byStatistics Canada. This content is pulled in from RSS newsfeeds and changed on the fly to HTML. Every time theData Library weblog or the StatsCan Daily is updated, theRSS feed is updated as well, and in turn the Data Libraryhome page will show the newest headlines.

How easy is it to add an RSS feed to your Web site? It’spretty simple. First you need to spot a feed that would beinteresting to your audience, such as BBC Science andNature news. Be sure to check the copyright statementsabout RSS feeds before republishing them on your website. The BBC has made their feeds available for anyone torepublish. Some publishers stipulate that their feeds can-not be republished and are only for individual subscribers.

Follow along step-by-step to see for yourself how easyit is to publish fresh content.

Step 1 Start on the BBC Science and Nature page. Spot the orangeRSS icon. See Figure 2 for examples of news feed icons.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech

Step 2Right-click on the RSS icon and choose “copy link loca-tion.” Now you have the URL for the Science and NatureRSS feed. It looks like this:http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/sci/tech/rss.xml

Step 3 Go to an “RSS to HTML” conversion tool, such as FeedDigest (www.feeddigest.com), and paste the URL into theWeb form. See Figure 3.

RSS

Figure 1 Figure 2


Fill out the other fields on the Web form and choose a lay-out style for displaying the headlines.

Step 4Next, copy the JavaScript or PHP code that has been gen-erated by conversion tool and paste it into your Web pagewhere you want the headlines to appear. See Figure 4.

Step 5View your Web page to see the latest BBC Science and

Nature headlines.

Now that we have the basics down, it’s time to get cre-ative. Some libraries, like Hennepin County Library(www.hclib.org), have added relevant feeds to various sub-ject pages. The University of Saskatchewan Library hasenhanced its electronic journal directory by adding head-lines provided by journal publishers to specific journaltitle pages. Look at the journal Nature (http://library.usask.ca/ejournals/display.php?id=954925427238) to seehow the database and RSS content can be combined.Usually the RSS feed for a specific journal contains thetable of contents for the current issue. Suddenly a simpledirectory of electronic journals has new content updatedautomatically.

How about using a tool like RSS Digest to combine thefeeds from five news sources to make one merged mega-science news page for the library Web site or post theheadlines in a column? There are lots of possibilities toexplore. Perhaps you want to collect a hundred RSS feeds,do specific keyword searches and generate e-mail alerts tofor researchers. There are tools that can help you do thisbut they require a little more technical know-how.

There are many different types of RSS feeds to scout outand to add to your site:

• Stock prices and sports scores• Weather and traffic updates• Get search results from search engines, library OPACsand RSS search sites. Specify your own “watch lists” forexample, a company name in the news or competitornames and products• Publish feeds of a contributor or a keyword search fromsocial bookmarking or photo sharing sites

New ways of using RSS are popping up each day.Amazon.com just released “plogs,” which combines infor-mation from many sources, including entries from authorswhose books you have purchased on Amazon.com.Libraries could enrich catalog pages by displaying authors’weblog feeds or keyword search results for sites that men-tion the particular book title on library OPAC pages.

Step back and think about your audience. What arethey interested in monitoring that you could pull togetherfrom RSS feeds? Are there Web pages on your site cryingout for fresh content where RSS would fit in perfectly?Take time to try out RSS sites like SuperGlu(www.suprglu.com) and Feed Digest.

Finding Out More About RSSRSS4Lib: Innovative ways libraries use RSShttp://blogs.fletcher.tufts.edu/rss4lib

RSS Compendium Bloghttp://ast.antville.org

Lockergnome’s RSS & Atom Tipshttp://channels.lockergnome.com/rss

Convert RSS to HTMLhttp://tinyurl.com/cthfu

Figure 3 Figure 4

RSS

How to Write forInformation Outlook

SLA’s monthly magazine is written primarily by and for information pro-fessionals. INFORMATION OUTLOOK interprets the news and covers trends andissues that affect information professionals in a global environment.

If you know of an interesting improvement in a special library or informa-tion center… If you’ve solved a difficult problem—or prevented one… If youor a colleague have done something extraordinary… If youwant to give something back to the professionby sharing your experienceswith others… We want to hearfrom you.

We welcome proposals forarticles of interest to informationprofessionals.

TopicsThe editorial calendar is a

guide for the editorial direction ofthe magazine. Each issue coversmany more topics than thoseincluded in the calendar. “Cover arti-cle” topics for one issue will be suit-able as features in another.

When you propose an article, makesure you can relate the topic to thespecific needs of our readers. INFORMA-TION OUTLOOK readers represent com-panies of all sizes. They work in largelibraries with large staffs and as sololibrarians in small companies. Their expe-rience ranges from senior professionals to beginners just out of school.

INFORMATION OUTLOOK readers want to read articles about new tech-niques, new ideas, new trends. They’re interested in articles about searchengines, knowledge management, international issues, copyright law, tech-nology, innovation, the Internet. They’re interested in articles on adminis-tration, organization, marketing, and operations.

INFORMATION OUTLOOK readers like case studies. They’re interested ingrowing their organizations and in planning their careers. They want toknow what works, and what doesn’t work. They want success stories. Theywant to know how to confront problems and how to avoid them.

Articles should include something new, something different, some-thing important. When the reader is finished, he or she should feel smarterthan before.

A note to vendors and service providersIn many cases you may have the best and most current information on

a topic. We invite you to share that expertise with our readers, to advancethe body of knowledge of the profession. But—we’ll insist that your arti-cles do not promote your business or claim that your product or service isthe only solution to a given problem. Expanded writers guidelines are atwww.sla.org/content/Shop/Information/writingforio/index.cfm.

To submit a proposal…If you have an idea for an article, please send a proposal to

[email protected] outlining the article and your qualifications for writing it.A paragraph or two and a few bullet points will suffice. We usually respondin a couple of weeks or less.


Knowledge Management

By Seth Earley

Knowledge management has recentlyseen a resurgence.

After going through the hype phasea few years ago, organizations are real-izing the value of putting standards toknowledge processes and formalizing ameans of capturing and reusing them.The difference these days is that expec-tations are more realistic and technolo-gy has improved and matured.

I also find that clients have a betterunderstanding of their objectives andthey also realize the importance of prin-ciples of library science. One interestingtrend is that what was once consideredthe area of user interface design andinformation architecture is now draw-ing more heavily on library scienceprinciples, especially those ofRanganathan, who pioneered conceptsof faceted classification.

In terms of practical applications,most knowledge systems have at theircore a repository of artifacts along witha means of submitting, vetting, approv-ing, tagging, and reviewing knowledgeobjects. As in a traditional library,

objects are catalogued and classified.However, the collection changes andevolves much more quickly. KM systemsare meant to support “high-velocity”decision points: processes where infor-mation needs to be accessed and appliedquickly to meet a business need.

Customer support processes are anexample of this, especially escalatedsupport calls where outages mightthreaten service level agreements. Theinformation is critical, and not havingthe answer is costly. The rate at whichthe collection changes and evolves ishigh, as new problems are solved ornew products and configurations areintroduced. Access scenarios are alsobased on more granular user roles andon very specific user tasks and process-es. The taxonomy applied to this kindof content supports this higher rate of“information metabolism.”

Collaboration and MoreIn addition to being a repository of

explicit content, knowledge systemstypically also include a means toencourage collaboration and ad hocproblem solving. Problem solving and

collaboration require the ability to cre-ate content without being constrainedby strict categorization processes—thenature of the content is that it is vari-able and evolving (at an even faster ratethan the information described above).So users need a place where the contextis the category.

Working on a project and creatingan interim work product may require asystem for organization, but only to differ-

2 p.m. ETWednesday,May 24

Instructor: Seth EarleyDetails and registration information are at

www.sla.org/clickulive

Taxonomy KMWhere to Go Once the KM Program

Is Already in Place


Knowledge Management

entiate at a broad level. “Project plan” or“functional design” might be satisfactoryin the context of a specific client.However, those tags would not be descrip-tive enough for the organization at large.

Once the project is complete or theproblem is solved, the end product hasa new context. It might serve as a les-son learned or a project history.Documents could be accessed toimprove a process or solve a problem ina different context. Now the tags thatare applied have to be in a broader con-text, yet detailed enough to allow user’sto zero in on what they need.

The terms of the taxonomy now needto reflect this new context and shouldbe based on user objectives. For exam-ple, if I am a consultant and I need toscope out a new project, my tasks mightbe “determine project scope,” “developproject plan,” “create interview guide,”“conduct content audit,” “summarizeproject findings,” and so on.

From these tasks, there are particu-

lar documents I might want to access inorder to improve my efficiency andspeed the deliverable to the customer. Imight want to locate templates of vari-ous kinds or look for past projects thatsolved similar problems. This under-standing of user tasks will provideinsights into the taxonomic terms thatshould be used to describe content.

The point is that knowledge man-agement systems need to support veryspecific capabilities in order to justifythe cost of maintaining existing contentand harvesting new and evolvingknowledge and expertise.

A ContinuumTherefore, the interesting challenge

around systems for classification forknowledge management is that thereis a continuum of knowledge process-es—from unstructured to highly struc-tured. Classifications need to accountfor this range of inherent “chaos” ofknowledge creation as well as more

formalized and controlled process aroundknowledge access and application.

Frequently, taxonomies and metadatastandards for tagging and classificationare developed with a wide range of usersand activities in mind. Sometimes thisends up as highly abstracted—too highlyabstracted to be meaningful.

A taxonomy developed for a wide setof processes may not be suitable for aspecific set of capabilities. In that case,the process needs to be reexamined sothat terms and labels serve the purposeof users performing their specific task.The bottom line is that taxonomies andmetadata need to enable capabilities.Those capabilities need to be close tothe customer or close to the peoplewho serve the customer in order to bemost meaningful to managers and busi-ness process owners. These are thepeople who will support and fund KMprograms or decide that those programsare not worth the time, expense, andeffort of the organization.

Seth Earley has been implementing content management and knowledge management projects for over 12 years and has been in thetechnology field for more than 20. He is founder of the Boston Knowledge Management Forum and co-author of Practical KnowledgeManagement from the IBM Press. He is former adjunct professor at Northeastern University, where he taught graduate courses inknowledge management infrastructure and electronic business strategy.

Inquiries

The Best Way to Get Your Clients

The Right InformationIs to Find Out Exactly What They Want

Written by the information specialists of the Regional Resource and Federal Center Network

Remember when you were a kid and you didn’tknow how to spell “conscientious” and someone toldyou to go look it up? How annoying. If you could lookit up, you’d know how to spell it now wouldn’t you!

People who come to us with information requestsoften have the same problem. They know what theirquestion is, well kind of. Sometimes they don’t real-ize how large the scope of their query really is ormaybe it’s so vague that it’s almost impossible to pindown at all.

Being an information specialist isn’t easy eitherbecause we have to know how to get our requestersto give us the information we need. If we ask thewrong question, then we’ll end up on a wild informa-tion chase all over the Internet and beyond.Fortunately, the information specialists before me atthe Regional Resource Centers had developed aninquiry guide that details not all the right questions,but how to ask them and how to listen for the rightanswers too.

You don’t have to follow it slavishly, just use it asa guideline for interaction. Even though these guideswere designed for our work, I think you’ll find thatthey are pretty much transferable to any kind of situ-ation where you need to find out about a problem orquestion that needs solving.

The guides were written through a combinedeffort by the Regional Resource and Federal Center(RRFC) Network, which includes information spe-cialists who find, organize, and disseminate infor-

mation on issues related to special education. Thenetwork’s primary goal is to increase the depth

and utility of high-quality information pro-vided to administrators, policy makers,

educators, and parents. Thesecore services are provided



free to states with federal funding for RRCs through theIndividuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). RRC informationspecialists, or infospecs, deal with inquiries that varywidely in content, scope, and audience. The GuidelinesConducting the reference interview, during which theinformation specialist elicits the information needs of theclient, can be a delicate and complex process. The qualityof the information response depends heavily on how wellwe understand and can respond to the client’s needs. Theprocess can be delicate, because a client may hesitate toshare the “real” reason for his or her request. The inquiryguide above is intended as an aid to the interviewprocess, helping us to both clarifythe request and shape an effectiveresponse.11.. AApppprrooaacchhaabbiilliittyy.. Informationspecialists must ensure that poten-tial requesters are aware of theservices they can provide, and thatpotential requesters feel comfort-able in coming to them for help.22.. LLiisstteenniinngg//IInnqquuiirriinngg.. The infor-mation specialist must be effectivein identifying the requester’s infor-mation needs and must do so in amanner that puts the requester atease. As a good communicator, theinformation specialist:

• Focuses full attention on the requester and request.• Uses a tone of voice (or writing) appropriate to thenature of the transaction.• Communicates in a receptive, cordial, and encouragingmanner.• Allows the requester to state fully his or her informa-tion needs in his/her own words.• Rephrases the question or request to ensure that he orshe has understood, clarifies terminology.• Uses open-ended questions to encourage the requesterto provide additional information.• Uses closed or clarifying questions to refine the search query.

Inquiries

The table below suggests questionsto ask when working with state agen-cies. These questions can help guideinformation specialists in the process ofunderstanding a client’s needs andidentifying resources to meet thoseneeds. Use some or all of these ques-tions to build an information base. Thisguide can be used in initial conversa-tions and reviewed later as the workprogresses to help fill in the back-ground of the issue.

TaskPPrroobblleemm• Tell me about the problem you arefacing.• How did the problem come to light?• What are some of the critical issueswithin the problem?• Where does this problem exist (stateeducation agency, local educationagency)?NNeeeedd• What do you see as your basic need?• What might be some of the barriersto achieving the desired results?

BBiigg qquueessttiioonnss• What do you see as the big ques-tions that need to be addressed?EExxppeecctteedd oouuttccoommeess• What outcomes or changes are youhoping for?DDeelliivveerraabblleess• What do you expect to accomplishfrom this effort?• What sorts of products do you envi-sion from this effort? (Manuals, policy,or something else?)• What will you do with theresources/information provided? (Howwill the information be used?)ContextHHiissttoorryy• Briefly recap relevant events to date.• What do you see as the next steps?• What has been tried in the past?SSuurrrroouunnddiinngg cciirrccuummssttaanncceess• How would you describe the circum-stances, climate, or culture surroundingthis problem?• What are the primary obstacles?• Who are the critical players? The keystakeholders?

RReessoouurrcceess• Are there any human experts, prod-ucts, papers, reports, or documents rele-vant to this task of which I should beaware?• What information or resources doyou already have?• Whom have you already contacted?• Are you the only person working onthis project/issue?KKeeyy iinnffoorrmmaannttss• Who are the key informants on thistask, the people with relevant expertiseor experience?TTaasskk iimmppoorrttaannccee• When do you need the information/resources? When is “too late”?Impact BBrrookkeerr• Who will be my point person in thistask?• Is there someone else I should copyon communications?CCoonnnneeccttiioonn ttoo ssttuuddeenntt rreessuullttss• How will this affect students?• Is there a connection to outcomesfor students?

Inquiry Guide for Developing Technical Assistance Agreements

Examples of open questions

What would you like to have happen as aresult of receiving this information?

How will this information enhance your work?

How will we know when you have enoughinformation to meet this particular need?

What methods have you already tried to findthis information?

Are there any products or other informationsources of which I should be aware?

How urgent is this request?

Examples of closed questions

What have you already found?

How many examples do you need?

What is your deadline? What is the exactdate the information is needed?

How much do you need?

To whom should the information go?


33.. SSeeaarrcchhiinngg.. The search process is the portion of thetransaction in which behavior and accuracy meet.Without an effective search, the desired information isunlikely to be found. The search behavior of the informa-tion specialist determines the quality and accuracy ofresults. As an effective searcher, the specialist does thefollowing:• Constructs a competent and complete search strategy.• Selects search terms that are most closely related to theinformation desired.• Identifies appropriate sources that have the highestprobability of containing information relevant to thequery.• Attempts to conduct the search within the requester’stime frame.• Explains how to use resources, when appropriate.• Recognizes when to refer the requester to a moreappropriate resource.

44.. FFoollllooww--uupp.. The reference transaction does not endwhen the information specialist sends the results of thesearch to the requester. The specialist is responsible fordetermining if the requester is satisfied with the results ofthe search and is also responsible for referring requestersto other sources. For successful follow-up, the informationspecialist takes the following steps:• Asks the requester if the question has been completelyanswered.• Consults other information specialists and field staffwithin the RRFC network when additional subject expert-ise is needed.• Facilitates the process of referring the requester toanother information source (e.g., state education agency,other RRC) by calling or mailing ahead, providing contactinstructions, and providing theagency and requester with as muchinformation as possible.

Inquiries

This article was submitted by Cybèle Elaine Werts on behalf of Regional Resource and FederalCenter (RRFC) Network. Cybèle is an information specialist for WestEd’s Northeast RegionalResource Center. NERRC is a part of Learning Innovations at WestEd, a research, development,and service education agency. She can be reached at [email protected]. The NERRC websiteis www.rrfcnetwork.org/nerrc. Her personal website is www.supertechnogirl.com.

Unshelved® by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum Guest Strip By Dave Kellett © 2006 Dave Kellett www.sheldencomics.com

This cartoon was a guest Unshelved strip, written and drawn by Dave Kellett. Kellett draws his own strip, Sheldon. It is reprinted here with permission. For more information on Unshelved see http://www.overduemedia.com/. For more information on Sheldon see www.SheldonComics.com.

By Lesley Ellen Harris

In this column, we general-ly deal with the economicrights in copyright law, rightslike reproduction and publicperformance; however, bothinternational and domesticcopyright laws also providefor “moral rights.” Whereasthe purpose of economicrights are to provide somemoney—payment for rights incopyright—to the author/copy-right owner, the purpose ofmoral rights is to protect thepersonality or reputation of anauthor (and not necessarily theowner) of a copyright-protectedwork. Moral rights stem fromthe leading international copy-right treaty, the BerneConvention (found at www.wipo.int.) Article 6bis of Bernestates the following:

(1) Independently of theauthor's economic rights, andeven after the transfer of thesaid rights, the author shallhave the right to claimauthorship of the work and toobject to any distortion, muti-lation or other modificationof, or other derogatory actionin relation to, the said work,which would be prejudicial tohis honor or reputation.

As with all provisions inBerne, the 160 member states,including the U.S. andCanada, must meet the mini-mum standards set out in

Berne. Thus, each memberstate must provide for moralrights of paternity andintegrity. Of course, countriesare free to go beyond theseminimums and provide fur-ther rights, such as the rightof association or to withdrawpermission to use a work.

Note that moral rights areseparate from economicrights, and even authorswho have assigned theireconomic rights may havemoral rights. In some coun-tries (Canada), moral rightsmay be waived whereas inother countries (France)authors may not waive theirmoral rights and mayalways exercise them. Also,the duration of moral rightsvaries from country to coun-try, expiring on the death ofthe author, to 50 years afterhis death (Canada) to per-petual existence (France.)

Right of PaternityThis right refers to the

author’s right to have his nameon a work, to use a pseudo-nym, or to remain anonymous.Generally, an author has thisright whenever he has econom-ic rights in a work, and thisright applies in relation to usescovered by the economic rights.For example, an author has theright to have his name on thecover of his book.

Right of IntegrityThe second component of

moral rights, as set out inBerne, is the right of integrity.This is the right of the author toobject to any changes to hiswork that may harm his repu-tation as an author. This harmwould be a question of fact thatwould have to be determined incourt through the testimony ofwitnesses. For example, paint-ing a mustache on the MonaLisa (were the Mona Lisa stillprotected by copyright) wouldlikely be a violation of DaVinci’s moral rights. Closer tohome, manipulating a scannedphotograph may also be a vio-lation of moral rights, if preju-dicial to the honor or reputationof the photographer.

Moral Rights in the U.S.The moral rights set out in

Berne are intended to apply toall types of copyright-protect-ed works. However, whenjoining Berne in 1989, theU.S. took a narrower interpre-tation of the requirements inBerne (and in some circles, acontroversial one as towhether the U.S. is in factcomplying with Berne). In theU.S., moral rights arearguably protected under var-ious federal and state laws,including explicit protection(through an amendment tothe U.S. Copyright Act by the

Visual Artists Rights Act(VARA) of 1990).

Unlike Berne, VARA pro-tects only one group of authors:visual artists or, more accurate-ly, those who create “works ofvisual art.” These worksinclude paintings, drawings,prints, sculptures, and photo-graphs, existing in a single copyor a limited edition of 200signed and numbered copies orfewer. Posters, maps, globes,motion pictures, electronic pub-lications, and applied art areexplicitly excluded from VARA.

VARA gives visual artiststhe right to claim authorship intheir work, and to prevent theuse of their name in associationwith a work. In addition, artistsare granted the right to preventthe intentional distortion, muti-lation or other objectionablemodification of their works.Artists who qualify for federalmoral rights protection can alsoprevent any destruction of cer-tain works. Some states, suchas New York and California,also have moral rights protec-tion for visual artists.

Under VARA, moral rightsare not transferable by licenseor assignment, but may bewaived in writing. The rightsend with the life of the author(unlike economic rights, whichendure for 50 years after thedeath of the author.)


Beyond Economic Rights

Lesley Ellen Harris is a copyright lawyer/consultant who works on legal, business, and strategic issues inthe publishing, content, entertainment, Internet, and information industries. She is the editor of the printnewsletter, The Copyright and New Media Law Newsletter, in its 10th year of publication in 2006. If youwould like a sample copy of this newsletter, email: [email protected].

She is a professor at SLA’s Click University where she teaches a number of online courses on copyright,licensing, and managing copyright and digital content for SLA members. See: http://www.sla.org/clickulive


April 2006Communities of Practice -

Knowledge at Work!

5-7 April 2006Salem, OR USAhttp://www.olaweb.org/ conference/

Buying & Selling eContent

Information Today9-11 April 2006Scottsdale, AZ, USAhttp://www.buy-sell-econtent.com/

EUSIDIC Annual Conference

European Association of

Information Services

9-11 April 2006Innsbruck, Austriahttp://www.eusidic.net/

InterDoc Symposium

10-12 April 2006Ottawa, ON, Canadahttp://www.interdoc.com/site/symposium2006/index_e.htm

The Impact of IP on Digitization

Projects Part I -Digitization Project

Management in a Nutshell

12 April 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

20th Annual AIIP Conference

Association of IndependentInformation Professionals19-23 April 2006Coral Gables, FL, USAhttp://www.aiip.org/Conference/2006/index.html

ACRL/CNI/EDUCAUSE Joint

Virtual Conference

20-21 April 2006http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlevents/virtualconference.htm

Search Engine Meeting

Infonortics24-24 April 2006Boston, MA, USAhttp://www.infonortics.com/searchengines/

The Impact of IP on Digitization

Projects Part II - Managing

Intellectual Property Issues

Within the Digitization Project

26 April 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

SCIP06

Society of Competitive IntelligenceProfessionalsApril 26-29Orlando, FL, USA

May 2006Annual AIIM ON DEMAND

Conference & Expo

AIIM: The ECM Association15-18 May 2006Philadelphia, PA, USAhttp://www.aiim.org/article-events.asp?ID=3277

Always Fresh - Fast Content for

Your Web Site and Users

17 May 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

37th Annual Conference

of the CPLQ

Corporation of ProfessionalLibrarians of Québec17-19 May 2006Laval, Québec, Canadahttp://www.cbpq.qc.ca/congres/congres2006/Call_for_papers_2006.html

MLA '06

Medical Library Association19-24 May 2006Phoenix, AZ, USAhttp://www.mlanet.org/am/

ICEIS 2006

8th International Conference onEnterprise Information SystemsMay 23-27Paphos, Greecewww.iceis.org

Taxonomy KM -- Where to Go

Once the KM Program Is Already

in Place

24 May 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

LIDA 2006

Libraries in the Digital Age29 May-4 June 2006Dubrovnik and Mljet, Croatiahttp://www.ffos.hr/lida/

June 2006CAIS/ACSI 2006 Annual

Conference

Canadian Association forInformation Science1-3 June 2006Toronto, ON, Canadahttp://www.cais-acsi.ca/2006call.htm

SLA 2006 Annual Conference

11 - 14 June 2006Baltimore, MD, USAhttp://www.sla.org/baltimore2006

JCDL 2006

Joint Conference on Digital Libraries11-15 June 2006Chapel Hill, NC, USAhttp://www.jcdl2006.org/

2006 CLA Conference

Canadian Library Association14-17 June 2006Ottawa, ON, Canadahttp://www.cla.ca/conference/cla2006/event_proposals.htm

LISA V

Library and Information Services

in Astronomy V

June 18-21Cambridge, MA, USAwww.cfa.harvard.edu/library/lisa

AH 2006

Adaptive Hypermedia and AdaptiveWeb-Based Systems21-23 June 2006Dublin, Irelandhttp://www.ah2006.org/

ALA Annual Conference

American Library Association22-28 June 2006New Orleans, LA, USAhttp://www.ala.org/annual

July 2006Ninth International ISKO

Conference

International Society for KnowledgeOrganization4-7 July 2006Vienna, Austriahttp://isko.univie.ac.at/cms2/

99th AALL Annual Meeting &

Conference

American Association of LawLibraries8-12 July 2006St. Louis, MO, USA

Information Seeking in Context

Conference 2006

19-21 July 2006Sydney, Australia

August 2006Third International Conference on

Knowledge Management (ICKM)

University of Greenwich et al.1-2 August 2006Greenwich, UK

29th Annual International ACM

SIGIR Conference

6-11 August 2006Seattle, WA, USA

Libraries and Competition:

Intelligence for Management and

Strategy - Part I

15 August 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

72nd Annual World Library and

Information Congress

International Federation of LibraryAssociations and Institutions (IFLA)20-24 August 2006Seoul, Republic of Korea

Annual Reviews 24www.annualreviews.com

Association for Computing Machiner 18www.acm.org

Dialog Back Coverwww.dialog.com

Elsevier 11www.elsevier.com

Gale 23www.gale.com

LexisNexis Inside Back Coverwww.lexisnexis.com

Ovid Techologies 1www.ovid.com

Powell's Technical Books 9www.powells.com

Thomson Inside Front Coverinfo.thomsonbusinessintelligence.com

Wall Street Journal 2www.wsj.com

By Stephen Abram

Delirium tremens: (collo-quially, the DTs) is a conditionassociated with complete andsudden withdrawal by an indi-vidual who has a history oflong-term dependence on acertain behavior addiction,such as with alcohol con-sumption, heroin or steroiduse, or the like.

Ever wonder if you’readdicted to Google? Do youneed your daily or hourly fix?Does your second choice ofsearch engine come to mindinstantly? What about a thirdand fourth?

Finding the Methadone ofSearch Engines

First let’s not forget thereal™ search engines. Thosesearch engines that run the bigguys, Dialog, LexisNexis, yourOPAC, etc. These are theheavy lifters of the searchworld and actually do proper,targeted, Boolean logic andretrieve accurate results setsthat are not optimized to dis-guise inaccurate results in theinterests of speed of retrieval.I am always amazed at thenumber of articles that quotesearch retrieval numbers assome form of “data,” whenthese numbers do vary by timeof day, search traffic, server,locality, etc. When you’reseeking comprehensive andquality results you just can’tbeat the good, proprietaryengines.

The Web engines are greatfor meat cleaver searchers

where the top-of-mind, top-of-the-list results are sufficient.The popularity and othermathematically or socially-based algorithms are great tobring the good answers to theforefront. Information profes-sionals know that the good orthe most popular answer is notalways the best. Best countsmore in research that has animpact. Will the patient becured or made healthier?Where should I invest mymoney without following themasses? What strategy shouldI bet my company on?Whatever: Competitive advan-tage comes from finding thatgolden needle in the haystack,not finding the same stuff asthe rest of the mob.

So let’s make sure we keepaware of the full range ofsearch tools we need to havein our toolkit. Here’s a tip.Take the list below and writeone of each URL in the sidebarinto your calendar everyMonday morning. Changeyour homepage from Google(or your intranet, etc.) to eachone for one week each. Ithink that you really can’t getto know or be comfortablewith a search engine until youplay with it for a week.Remember that you’re just

learning and that some ofthese search engines are betas.

There are the Big Four,which you should reacquaintyourself with in case you’veforgotten them or becausethey’ve changed a lot sinceyou last looked. Three of thebig four are Yahoo!, MSNSearch, and AOL. They com-prise, with Google, the onlyremaining big harvests of theWeb. Many other searchengines rely on their harvestsfor delivering the user searchexperience. Oh yeah, and alsoremember that Yahoo! andsome other search sites (likeMySpace) get significantlymore page views than Google.Why is that? Visit and learn.

Here’s a short list ofalternative search tools toadd to your informationpro’s kit bag.

In the traditional vein, thesites like Ask.com, Teoma,HotBot, and AllTheWeb, arestill worth playing with andseeing what innovationsthey’re doing in the generalsearch space. I’d probably notget too into Lycos, AltaVista,LookSmart, Netscape Search,etc., which are just vestiges oftheir former selves. But younever know who’s gong torise from the dead in this

space. They still often havegood technology that nowhas a different businessmodel than that of publicWeb search. You can visitand see what you think, butthese guys are part of Websearch history. Most of themnow rely on the Web harvestfrom one of the big four.

However, the above list ispretty traditional and orient-ed to the general search spaceand to retrieval results thatare usually displayed as sim-ple lists and look pretty simi-lar to each other. They’reuseful in playing the GuessMy Business Model game.Am I really about the searchexperience, server sales,proofs of concept, ads, socialnetworking, or what?

The Fun Space to Searchand Play

My personal alternativefavorite right now is Exalead.I love the organization ituses and use the informationdensity of its display to pro-vide some context for mysearch results and alternativeways to view them. I alsolike the thumbnail previews.It takes a little getting usedto, but it’s worth the effort.


Search Engine AlternativesWill you suffer the DTs if you quit Google?

Stephen Abram, MLS, was elected in March to serve as SLA’s next president-elect. His term as SLA president will begin in January 2008. He is vice presi-dent, innovation, for SirsiDynix. He is an SLA Fellow and the past presidentof the Ontario Library Association and the immediate past president of theCanadian Library Association. In June 2003 he was awarded SLA’s JohnCotton Dana Award. This column contains his personal perspectives anddoes not necessarily represent the opinions or positions of SirsiDynix. Hewould love to hear from you at [email protected].


SearchEngineWatch SearchEngine Lists

http://searchenginewatch.com/links/

Yahoo!http://www.yahoo.com

MSN Searchhttp://search.msn.com

AOLhttp://search.aol.com

MySpacehttp://www.myspace.com

Ask.com (formerly AskJeeves)

http://www.ask.com

Teomahttp://www.teoma.com

Lycoshttp://www.lycos.com

AltaVistahttp://www.altavista.com

LookSmarthttp://www.looksmart.com

Netscape Searchhttp://search.netscape.com

HotBothttp://www.hotbot.com

AllTheWebhttp://www.alltheweb.com

Mooterhttp://www.mooter.com

Exaleadhttp://www.exalead.com

Clustyhttp://www.clusty.com

Grokkerhttp://www.grokker.com

KartOOhttp://www.kartoo.com

If you’re not into visualdisplays, play with Mooter. Ituses visualization of yourresults as a middle step. Ithink it helps improve thequality of the question and thesearch by providing more con-texts. The multiple clustersremind us about similar wordsthat have multiple meanings.(Hint: Try searching “mercu-ry” or “Ford”)

Clusty is a search enginepowered by Vivisimo. I likethe left-hand sidebar which

displays a taxonomic naviga-tion option. Again, it helps toimprove the quality of mysearching rather than justhaving some math PhDdecide what is relevantthrough an algorithm. It putsmore personal choice backinto my fingertips.

If you’ve avoided playingwith visualization toolGrokker because it involvesa download, you can experi-ence it more easily now.Just go to its homepage and

you can search Yahoo! usingGrokker through a Web-based client.

Last, and one of myfavorite playthings, isKartOO. This search tool isdeveloping rapidly. Pay par-ticular attention to the lan-guage choices, visual maps,taxonomy display and thenext map button. I havefound that kids get this dis-play, mode quite quickly,before they’ve been taughtto prefer plain lists.

Those sites may help youbreak your addiction toGoogle. You can find dozensmore on the lists maintainedat SearchEngineWatch, sodon’t feel that you need tolimit yourself to just my list.There are plenty more!

And we won’t even startdiscussing your addiction to e-mail. We’ll leave that for yournext therapy session. (Grin.)I’m looking forward to seeingmany of you in Baltimore.The doctor will be in.

Search Engine Alternatives

By John R. Latham

Spring has sprung, the cherry blossomsare out, so let’s do some surveys. I don’tthink that’s what really happens, but some-times it feels like it. Whether it is establish-ing one’s value within the organization orinstitution, checking the demographics ofcustomers or users, or finding out trendswithin the organization or industry, we needsurveys if we want to base decisions on sup-portable evidence. Ironically it is often thosewho really need the information who areloath to complete the surveys. Surveys are abore to complete, but they are a necessarycomponent of information management.

It is interesting to note that in four outof my last twelve Information Managementcolumns I refer to the need to carry out sur-veys for some reason or another. Surveyscan be informal ones, done orally, ordetailed ones carried out by independentconsultants, but regardless of the formatyou have to convince the recipients of thesurvey that it is worth completing. I am notgoing to consider the design of surveyinstruments here, but here are some tips onpreparing that all important introduction.

Although one needs to keep the intro-duction as short as possible, ideally itshould include the following: State clearlywhat the objectives of the survey are, andwhat the respondent is going to gain fromcompleting the survey. Give an estimate ofthe time to complete the survey, and givean incentive if it is expected to take morethan, say, 15 minutes. This may be in theform of a full report on the results of thesurvey, product discounts, or even cash,but always indicate how and to whom theresults are going to be made available.Explain if there is a function to save andreturn to the survey, and give the comple-tion date and a contact person for ques-tions or problems when completing thesurvey. If the survey does not appear to berelevant to certain recipients, explain ifyou want them to start the survey,because their responses will not be usedwhen their status is established. If theydon’t get past the intro, the rest of the sur-vey will be a waste of time.

In a recent issue of SLA Connections we

informed members that a number of SLAsurveys were being carried out in 2006, andasked for their support in completing themif selected. I summarize below the status ofa number of the surveys, which will be, orhave been, carried out in 2006.

Future of Librarians This is a two-year study sponsored by

the Institute for Museum and LibraryScience that will identify the nature ofanticipated labor shortages in the libraryand information science field over the nextdecade, assess the number and types oflibrary and information science jobs thatwill become available in the U.S. eitherthrough retirement or new job creation,determine the skills that will be required tofill such vacancies, and recommend effec-tive approaches to recruiting and retainingworkers to fill them. The study will resultin better tools for workforce planning andmanagement, better match of demand andsupply, and improved recruitment andretention of librarians. SLA is one of thepartners in this important study led by Dr.José-Marie Griffiths, Dean of the School ofInformation and Library Science at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.SLA members and staff are involved in thenational and special advisory panels, andsurvey instrument design.

Information on the progress of the studyis maintained on the public Web site(http://imlsworkforce.org). Because of therequirement that project results reflectregional differences within states, thelibrary survey includes a census of all pub-lic and academic libraries, as well as a sam-ple of 6,000 school and 6,000 speciallibraries. However, each surveyed librarywill receive one-fifth of the data collectioninstruments, where some questions arecommon to all libraries and some unique toone-fifth of the libraries. This designensures that thereporting burden isminimized for eachlibrary and yet col-lectively obtains allneeded informa-tion. At the time Iam writing, we are

awaiting approval of the survey instru-ments from the U.S. Government’s Office ofManagement and Budget before they canbe distributed.

Two presentations are being given at theAnnual Conference in Baltimore on theworkforce study. An update on the wholestudy is being given by José-Marie Griffiths,and a presentation on the work of theBusiness Libraries Advisory panel and itsopinion paper is being given by membersof that panel.

2006 Membership StudySLA has carried out a major survey of

its members and non-members every fiveyears since 1986. The objective of the sur-vey is for information to be made availableto SLA management to help us understandthe needs and demographics of our mem-bers and potential members in order tomake informed and effective decisions forthe future of the association. The survey isadministered by independent consultants,who prepare a detailed report for consider-ation by the SLA management and board ofdirectors. A summary of the results will bemade available to the members.

Task force surveysA number of the task forces set up by

President Rollo in 2005 are using surveys tosupport their reports to the board of direc-tors in June 2006. They may well havebeen sent out by the time this column goesto print, but we hope that members willparticipate in these surveys, which willhelp the task forces make informed reportsto the board on the members’ behalf.

2006 Salary Survey and Workplace Study

SLA’s annual salary survey will be sentout for online completion to U.S. andCanadian members in late spring. Theadditional workplace study survey sent outfor the first time in 2005 may be incorpo-rated into the 2006 membership study forone year.

Although tiresome, surveying is a neces-sity if we are to keep up with the ever-chang-ing needs and requirements of the members.


informationmanagement

The Information Center issponsored by Factiva, aDow Jones and Reuterscompany.

Not Another Survey?

John R. Latham is the director of the SLA InformationCenter. He can be reached at [email protected].

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