DC/SLA Chapter Notes - November 2000

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Vol. 60, No. 3 November 2000 Contents z z z z z z z z z z

You want me to do WHAT? The Skills You Need Today President’s Corner Pop the "CORC" in D.C. Sylvia Piggott Advocates Librarians' Role As Knowledge Management Initiators Beta Phi Mu 2000 Members' News SLA Awards & Honors 2001 Brighton Dispatch Mini-Minutes of the September DC/SLA Board Meeting Toast the Season at the DC/SLA Holiday Reception

DC/SLA Presents: You want me to do WHAT? The Skills You Need Today A Professional Development Program Featuring Mary Ellen Bates Mary Ellen will reprise her 2000 SLA Conference presentation on how we can redefine ourselves, survive, and thrive in the information revolution.

Topics she will address include who our competitors are, whose reality we are operating from -- our own or our clients, and some specific survival tactics we need to adopt now.

Mary Ellen is the principal of Bates Information Services, a research and consulting business based in Washington, DC. An international speaker and frequent writer on the information industry, Mary Ellen has written four books, including Mining for Gold on the Internet: How to Find Investment and Financial Information on the Internet, and Super Searchers Do Business. She is now working on a book about global research.

Date: Wednesday November 15, 2000 Location: World Resources Institute (WRI map) 10 G Street NE 8th Floor Washington, DC 20002 Metro Union Station, Red line. Exit at First Street.

WRI is the red brick building across the street.

Parking is available at Union Station; validate your tickets at the Main Hall information desk.

Time: 11:30 Registration, 12:00-1:30 Program Format: You are welcome to bring a brown-bag lunch - the Union Station food court offers a variety of take-out options. Beverages and dessert will be provided.

Price: $10 Members $5 Students and Retirees $15 Non-Members

Please send your completed registration to Barbara Follensbee-Moore by November 10th REGISTRATION FORM: NOVEMBER 15 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Name: ___________________________________________________________ Organization: ______________________________________________________

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Phone:_____________________ Email:_________________________________ Please send your completed registration form and check to: Barbara Folensbee-Moore Library Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 1800 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 202-467-7131 bfolensbee-moore@morganlewis.com Return to contents

President’s Corner Watching Paint Dry

By Dave Shumaker, DC/SLA President Two retired library managers bumped into one another at their local supermarket. "So," asked Retired Manager No. 1, "what have you been up to lately?" "I've gone into consulting. I'm working on a strategic planning project," replied Retired Manager No. 2. "How about you?" "Oh, I've been doing something much more interesting," answered Retired Manager No. 1. "I've had painters working at my house, and I've been spending my time watching the paint dry."

Well, I've read some strategic plans that have made watching paint dry seem like an exciting alternative. Maybe you have too. But NOT the report that our Chapter's Strategic Planning Committee has just submitted. Committee Chair Ellie Briscoe and her team -- Anna McGowan, Lyle Minter, Jennifer Little, Jane John, and Daille Pettit -- deserve our thanks and applause. They produced a report that is well reasoned and well written, and one that offers concrete recommendations for building an exciting future for our Chapter in the coming months and years.

Wisely, the committee divided its recommendations into short-term and long-term goals. This month, I'd like to discuss some of their short-term recommendations. Next month, I'll tackle the long-term goals. The short-term goals fall into two categories: member communications and programs.

Member Communications Chapter Notes is the most highly valued service the Chapter provides, and we want it to get even better. Most members strongly prefer to receive it in print. We need to continue print publication, and also continue publishing substantive articles like program reports, board minutes and articles on professional issues. Another recommendation was to run articles about the Chapter budget. At the same time, we need to integrate the Chapter website and e-mail list more fully into Chapter activities. The committee's own report gives an example of how we can do that. The report is much too long to print in its entirety in Chapter Notes, but it's up on our website so that all members have the opportunity to read it.

Programs The consensus is that we want meetings with topics that are interesting and help us do our jobs. At the same time, we also value the networking opportunities that the meetings provide. Last year's Technology Day, co-sponsored with the Maryland Chapter, is an example of a meeting that achieved both goals. Another example is the Joint Spring Workshop, which we co-sponsored for many years with the DC Library Association and the Law Librarians' Society. We're looking forward to a reinvigorated Joint Spring Workshop next April, and to the next Technology Day in Fall 2001.

We also need smaller meetings, held at different locations around the region, that focus on special topics and bring together communities of interest.

Your Board and Council will be working on these goals in the coming months. I encourage you to think about them too. Review the excerpt published in last month's Chapter Notes. Read the report

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in its entirety at: http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc/strategic_ planning_report_00.html. Send your comments to me or to any member of the Board. You'll find it time well spent.

In observance of DC/SLA's 60th anniversary, Chapter Notes will be republishing interesting items from the newsletter's past issues. Archived issues of Chapter Notes are housed in the Martin Luther King Memorial Library Washingtoniana Division. Many thanks to archivist Faye Haskins for her invaluable assistance in providing access to these materials.

In the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November, 1963, Chapter Notes carried the following tribute on its front cover: The members of the D.C. Chapter, S.L.A extend their deepest sympathy to Mrs. Kennedy and members of the family on the recent death of our beloved President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy's interest in the library world was evidenced in his speech to members of the Second International Congress on Medical Librarianship in June 1963 in which he expressed a keen knowledge and appreciation of the field of librarianship.

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Pop the "CORC" in D.C. This January

By Suzanne Pilsk OCLC has launched a new Web-based interface for catalogers -Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC). CORC allows you to search, create and edit records for electronic resources by simply opening up Netscape or Internet Explorer, navigating to the CORC logon page, and inserting your OCLC logon and password. I think it's a pretty darn cool way of working. Go to http://www.oclc.org/oclc/corc and check it out!

The display can be set up in different ways. I like to have the website launched in the lower half of the screen, with the MARC editing screen on top. That way, I can look at what I am cataloging while I catalog it.

I "corc" (my new verb for catalog) in MARC. But, what's more, I can also "corc" in Dublin Core! CORC crosswalks (translates) MARC to Dublin Core, and Dublin Core back to MARC. This is an easy way to get your feet wet if you want to learn Dublin Core.

For those of you who fear MARC, Dublin Core offers a very user-friendly approach to cataloging or handling metadata. Rather than requiring tags and codes, Dublin Code uses very handy-dandy English words. This allows non-catalogers to identify and provide access to websites. Yes, Reference/Service People, you too can easily create metadata!

Author's Note: Dear All Who Participated in the Great Acronym Challenge: Thanks so much for playing my game! The winners of the Challenge are: z

z

z

z

Kim Coletta, Grand Prize Winner Mary Ann Armentano, First Runner-Up Rhea Austin, Second Runner-Up Sophia B. Worden, Third Runner-Up

With CORC, you can easily find websites of interest to your patrons without using one of those large Internet search engines. For example, when I searched for the subject term "volcanoes" in Google.com, I got 249,000 hits.

When I searched CORC for that term, I got 167 hits. While 167 is still a lot of sites, I found they were all on point.

Okay, that wasn't a scientific test. But I know that the sites in CORC are web sites that were selected by librarians and were assigned the subject heading "volcanoes."

Using CORC, you can also produce attractive pathfinders. Even without knowing HTML, CORC enables you to make finding-aids filled with both web and non-web resources. For instance, I could build a pathfinder by selecting sites from my results list on "volcanoes." Or, I could embed a search string for "volcanoes" and add qualifiers in a pathfinder that would then launch a search each time a patron called up the pathfinder.

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This past year, a number of libraries participated in the "founding phase" of CORC. This meant that they got to test and play with CORC while it was still under development. Now that CORC is available to all OCLC subscribers, it doesn't mean work on its development is finished. It does mean that CORC can now be used by more information professionals, and that comments/suggestions/ideas from all users can be gathered.

Earlier this summer, an OCLC CORC Users' Group was formed. The first working meeting is scheduled for January 15th in Washington, D.C. (during the OTHER association's midwinter meeting). On January 14th, CORC Users' Group, Special Interest Groups (SIGs) will be meeting. If there is enough interest, we could form a special librarians' group or a Washington D.C. group. Alternatively, people could join those SIGs focusing on topics and areas they are interested in. To join these groups, you obviously do not have to be a member of the OTHER association. However, you do need to be an OCLC user and be willing to try out the CORC interface. That's not too hard a criterion to meet, right?

To find out more, feel free to contact me at pilsks@sil.si.edu, and sign up for the listserv CORC-L by contacting Bradley Watson at OCLC (watsonb@oclc.org).

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At DC/SLA Program, Sylvia Piggott Advocates Librarians' Role As Knowledge Management Initiators

By Eileen Deegan The DC/SLA October program on Knowledge Management (KM) featured the Deputy Division Chief and Deputy Chief Librarian of the Joint Bank-Fund Library, and former SLA President, Silvia Piggott. A prominent theme throughout Sylvia's hour-long presentation on the objectives, benefits and critical success factors of KM, was the leading role librarians should play in their organizations' KM operations. Basing many of her observations upon her own experience of being the first librarian to serve on the World Bank's highly regarded KM project, Sylvia underscored the numerous KM functions librarians have been performing for "years and years." "We didn't call it KM," she remarked, "but that is what it is."

The following summary highlights major points from Sylvia's detailed presentation delivered at the World Bank Africa Building Auditorium on October 11. Her complete PowerPoint presentation,"Managing Knowledge: The Library as Initiator," can be accessed at the DC/SLA homepage (http://www.sla.org/chapter/cdc). In addition, an audiotape of this presentation may be borrowed by contacting John Latham, the SLA's Information Center Manager, at (202) 234-4700 or john@sla.org.

Noting that experts are still grappling with the issue of what's the best definition of KM, Sylvia opened her address with the following statement: "KM is a conscious strategy of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time and helping people share and put knowledge into action in ways that will improve organizational performance." She added that KM is usually internally focused between business units and employees.

She continued her introduction by identifying five "KM enablers" -- necessary conditions for a successful KM program. These are strategy and leadership; a culture of sharing and using knowledge; a measurement system to gauge whether KM is worthwhile; program managers with good interpersonal and time-management skills; and appropriate, simple technology.

In outlining six KM objectives related to utilizing expertise and documenting procedures and capabilities, Sylvia emphasized the librarians' role. Librarians, she said, can take the lead in documenting what people know, and can create databases of expertise. Librarians' competence and experience in using information technology (IT) tools, Sylvia said, qualifies them to make recommendations. She named some of the best IT tools for managing, collecting and processing information. These include the data mining tool, KnowledgeSEEKER; the collaboration and communication tool, Lotus Notes; and tools to create websites and portals, and to organize online information including Inxight Software, Verity and Semio. In listing the various functions these tools must perform such as capturing, storing, and searching, Sylvia said a tool like Google.com is needed for KM. She is, she said, "hooked on Google."

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Turning to the topic of the "Knowledge Cycle," which entails creating, capturing, organizing, accessing, and using or applying information, Sylvia again stressed the skills librarians possess in these areas. For example, librarians' organizational skills are highly suited for the KM task of classifying and categorizing knowledge for navigation, storage and retrieval.

Following a discussion of the critical success factors that KM projects must incorporate and KM's benefits, Sylvia looked more closely at ways the library can serve as a partner and facilitator for KM projects. The library, she suggested, can become the "nerve center" by, for instance, linking consultants with specialists across diverse subject areas, issuing weekly news summaries ("News Breaks") and subject-specific updates, and creating electronic folders.

Given the high labor- and time-intensity of KM tasks, Sylvia advised audience members to begin by aiming small in a critical area. When you have achieved positive results, she said, show them to your organization's upper management. A significant indication that management sees the value that we bring to KM work, she observed, is when a manager realizes, "Wow, what I need is a librarian."

Sylvia concluded her presentation by recapping the many competencies that equip librarians' to excel in KM work.

These are competencies in knowledge mapping (building resource directories); organizing internal databases; tracking down people and resources; using IT tools; defining information needs through reference interviews; and moving knowledge from the knowledge "junkyard" to an organized knowledge base.

In closing, Sylvia again encouraged the DC/SLA audience to take a leading role in KM by reciting one of her favorite Mark Twain quotes: "Go out on a limb, that's where the fruit is."

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Beta Phi Mu 2000 The Iota Chapter of Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society of librarianship, will hold its annual Business Meeting and Initiation Ceremony on Thursday evening, November 16, 2000, at the Sumner School at 17th & M Streets NW. Our Guest Speaker will be U.S. Senate Librarian Greg Harness. The event begins with a reception at 6 p.m. A mailing has gone out to all BPM members. If you were initiated in another city, you may reaffiliate with Iota Chapter just by telling us that you'd like to do so. Contact Kee Malesky at kmalesky@npr.org or 202/4142356 for more information.

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Members' News Greta Ober-Beauchesne, Research Librarian at the Joint Bank-Fund Library, is delighted to announce the birth of her baby, Nathaniel. Born on Friday, August 11th at Columbia Hospital for Women in DC, he was 7 lbs., 14 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. To see pictures of the Beauchesne family, including Nathaniel's big sister, Stephanie, go to www.beauchesnefamily.com.

Greta serves as a co-chair of the DC/SLA Internet Committee. In addition, she has written reviews for professional publications. Two of her most recent reviews are: "Creating a Virtual Library: A How-To-Do-It-Manual" (published in Business Information Alert, vol. 12, no. 4, April 2000) and "Lexis-Nexis Universe" (published in Business Information Alert, vol. 11, no. 3, March 1999).

Use this column to tell the Chapter about your news! E-mail the editors at cneditors@yahoo.com.

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SLA Awards & Honors 2001

By Laura H. Foy Below is a brief description of the SLA Awards and Honors. Please submit the name of the DC/SLA Chapter member you are nominating, with a short paragraph giving the reason why this person should be nominated for a particular award. All nominations must be submitted no later than November 27, 2000 to: Laura Foy, DC/SLA Awards Chair c/o Healthcare Financial Management Association 1301 Connecticut Ave, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20036 Lfoy@hfma.org Fax: 202-223-9771 Volunteers are needed for this committee. If interested, please contact me at Lfoy@hfma.org or 202-296-2920, ext. 614.

Dow Jones Leadership Award - 21st Century Competencies in Action Presented annually to an individual member(s) who exemplifies leadership as a special librarian through examples of personal and professional competencies.

Cash award -- $2000.

Fellow of the Special Libraries Association Bestowed to an individual member(s) in recognition of his/her leadership in the field of special librarianship and for his/her outstanding contributions and expected future service to the Association.

H.W. Wilson Company Award Awarded to the author(s) of an outstanding article published in Information Outlook during the publication year. This award is sponsored by the H.W. Wilson Company. Cash award -- $500.

Hall of Fame Granted to a member(s) of the Association at, or near, the end of an active professional career for an extended and sustained period of distinguished service to the Association in all spheres. Prolonged distinguished service of a chapter or division which has contributed to the Association as a whole may receive special consideration.

Honorary Member Nominated at Winter Meeting, this individual is elected to this honor by the Association members at the Annual Conference. Candidate shall not belong to the Special Libraries Association, and there may be no more than 15 Honorary Members concurrently.

Innovations in Technology Award (This award is sponsored by FIS, a Mergent's Inc. Company. www.fisonline.com.)

John Cotton Dana Award Conferred upon an individual member(s) in recognition of exceptional service to special librarianship.

President's Award Awarded to an individual member(s) for a notable or important contribution during the past Association year. The contribution must have enhanced the Association or furthered its goals and objectives.

Professional Award Given to an individual or group, who may or may not hold membership in the Association, in recognition of a specific major achievement in, or a specific significant contribution to, the field of librarianship or information science, which advances the Association's stated objectives.

Rose L. Vormelker Award Given to an individual member(s) in recognition of exceptional services to the profession of special librarianship in the area of mentoring students and/or practicing professionals in the field.

Media Award Recognizes an individual journalist(s) who published an outstanding feature on the profession of special librarianship, preferably in a general circulation publication or radio or television production.

Member Achievement Presented to an individual member(s) for outstanding contributions by raising visibility, public awareness, and appreciation of the profession, Association Unit or the Association at large.

SARC Merit Awards The SLA Student and Academic Relations Committee

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Granted to an individual member(s) for innovative use and application of technology in a special library setting. Cash award -- $1000.

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(SARC) seeks to recognize and award the active development and participation of student members through their involvement in their Student Group activies.

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Brighton Dispatch Engaging Speakers, Spirited Discussions, a Memorable Reception, and Sunny Weather Lend a Sparkle to SLA's International Event

By Anne Caputo, DC/SLA Director For something that hasn't happened in 21 years, it was quite an event! Global 2000, SLA's long awaited worldwide meeting, took place in Brighton, UK, October 16-19. Despite warnings to bring your raincoats and brollies, the weather proved mostly sparkling and sunny as we met on England's south-coast equivalent of Ocean City. Amid the carnival seaside setting and along the rocky beaches, nearly 800 information professionals met as one association from many cultures, to network, listen and discuss the conference theme -- The Information Age: Challenges and Opportunities.

Each of the three main conference days revolved around an excellent central speaker selected to stimulate thought and discussion. Tuesday brought us Dame Stephanie Shirley, Founder and Life President of the information technology company, F.I. Group Plc. "Steve" Shirley founded her company as a freelance opportunity for young mothers, such as herself, to work at home. With the aid of technology, she was able to carve out a company that provides flexible hours and part-time work. Standard as these opportunities seem today, they were startling in Britain in 1962 when the company began on her dining room table. Fleeing to England as a child to escape the war, Shirley counts freedom and liberty as driving forces in her life. Making it possible for people to work when they can, to participate in the management of their company, and to use technology to drive interesting work were major themes of Shirley's talk.

Wednesday opened with a general session presented by Yves-Michel Marti, Founder and President of EGIDERIA, the leading business intelligence company in Europe and a key member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence in France. An animated speaker with an extemporaneous style, Marti spoke about the key role librarians play in identifying, educating, providing access to expertise, and creating networks. Marti promoted the 80-15 rule that 80% of the information which is easy to find, provides only 15% of the valuable information.

Conversely, the hard-to-find 15% of the information we glean provides 80% of the value. In a highly controversial statement, he claimed that the remaining 5% of the information comes from "intrusive" sources such as theft, wiretaps, corruption, blackmail, and hacking. Careful to note that he does not recommend these methods, Marti's remarks caused considerable conversation during the rest of the conference.

To end the day on Wednesday, the Japan SLA group of 25 information professionals sponsored a highly popular reception with masses of door prizes. Complete with Japanese food brought in their luggage (sushi anyone?) the event was a standing-room-only highlight of the meeting's evening portion.

Thursday's closing sessions began with a panel moderated by SLA Executive Director David Bender and populated by our own Donna Scheeder, the SLA President; Hans Christoph Holbrom from the IFLA Board; Mark Field from the UK-based Library Association; and Mary Dickerson, Chair of the SLA International Relations Committee. Phrases and threads from the preceding two days floated through the air. "The average life a of a web page is 4 months." "Competitive Intelligence - a role for information professionals?" "How to deliver bad news and good news." One association, many cultures." Donna remarked that the event seemed more like a convocation than a conference, a meeting of equals with the goal of understanding the context of colleagues around the world. We can learn from our differences and take joy in our similarities. The themes of collaboration, innovation, competitive intelligence, professional community, and global alliances were forged from the wrap-up discussion.

And when will we meet again? Donna hinted that we wouldn't have to wait 21 more years for a similar event to take place. At the SLA Board Meeting following the conference, consideration was given to planning "Global III"

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within the next two to five years in an undetermined location. Start packing your raincoats and brollies for the next global meeting.

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Mini-Minutes of the September DC/SLA Board Meeting The September 12, 2000 DC/SLA Board meeting was held at the Urban Institute.

The Strategic Planning Committee submitted its final report to the Board. The November DC/SLA program will feature Mary Ellen Bates discussing career development. The December event, the annual holiday party, will be held at the Washington Arts Club.

The Student Membership Award will be given out this fall. Two separate awards will be presented - one to a University of Maryland student and one to a Catholic University student. The award includes free admittance to two DC/SLA events and the holiday party, and free student membership. To apply for the award, students need to address the following topic in an essay: Strategies that professional organizations can use to attract and retain new members.

The International Projects committee raised about $82,000 for the Global 2000 event. The fellows have been chosen -- there are 12 men and 12 women representing 23 countries. Donations were received from 20 chapters and 14 divisions. Five DC Chapter members attending Global 2000 will serve as mentors for the fellows.

The Information Technology group of DC/SLA is in danger of going under. The Chapter is looking for a new leader to head this group.

For a complete copy of the minutes, please contact Erin Clougherty at eclougherty@hotmail.com Return to contents

Toast the Season at the DC/SLA Holiday Reception

The Washington DC Chapter of SLA requests the pleasure of your company at our annual holiday reception. Greet friends, new and old, at the beautiful Arts Club of Washington and enjoy food, conversation and the chance to win a door prize.

As in the past, the Arts Club will provide an exceptional backdrop for the evening's festivities.

Join us as we again gather at this favorite location to celebrate the holiday season. Thanks to Lexis/Nexis for sponsoring our reception.

Date: Tuesday December 5, 6:00p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Place: Arts Club of Washington 2017 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC (Near Farragut North and Farragut West Metro Stations) Price: (same as 1999) $28.00 Members $14.00 Students and Retirees $42.00 Non-members

Please RSVP by November 28th to: Barbara Folensbee-Moore Library Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 1800 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 202-467-7131

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bfolensbee-moore@morganlewis.com

Name: ___________________________________________________________ Organization: ______________________________________________________ Phone:_____________________ Email:_________________________________

All registration forms and checks must be received no later than Tuesday, November 28, 2000

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