Barbara Semonche, devoted chronicler of the News Division ... · Anne Holcomb, Kalamazoo Gazette,...

Vol. 31, No. 2/Winter 2009

NOTES FROM THECHAIR / 4

Find out what newChair, Ron Larson, hasto say about the future ofthe Division and theupcoming SLA confer-ence.

TECH TIPS / 8Derek Willis explores

the need for and ways tobegin archiving web sitematerial.

ELECTIONS 2009 / 9The Division Board

chooses new Chair Elect-elect, new Secretary andnew Director ofPublications.

CONFERENCEPREVIEW / 10

Get a glimpse of whatwill be happening at the2009 SLA Conference tobe held in Washington,D.C. this June.

THE INSIDESTORY

BY CAROLYN EDDS

WWith all the layoffs and buyoutssuffered by our industry in therecent past, newsrooms have

fewer news librarians today. The communi-ty has also shrunk due to retirements—andwill soon decrease by one more with theFebruary retirement of a very special persondedicated to chronicling our profession.Now is an opportunity to recount part ofher very busy career. When BarbaraSemonche arrives home after spending herlast day at the Park Library on theUniversity of North Carolina Chapel Hillcampus, she probably will not be sittingstill for very long.

We begin on page six of the Summer1984 issue of News Library News, whichrecaps the annual conference held in NewYork that year. The minutes of the businessmeeting state:

“Following recognition of first time atten-dees, Ms. Semonche summarized her year: shevisited 30 news libraries; 225 copies ofGuidelines have been sold and current member-ship is 416.”

Typical Barbara. Always networkingwith colleagues, exchanging information

about the profession, trying to keep ussomewhat organized and recording our his-tory. Barbara was the News Division Chairand NLN editor that year while managingthe library at the Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun. Since then, she has traveled around

the world visiting newspapers and trainingjournalists. How many libraries has Barbaravisited by now? Probably more than thenumber of front pages the Newseum loadson their Web site each day. The number of

NLN FEATURE

Continued on page 14

Barbara Semonche is shown at the Park Library.Courtesy The (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun

Barbara Semonche, devoted chroniclerof the News Division, retires

NEWSDIVISION

EXECUTIVEBOARD

News Library News (ISSN 1047-417X) isthe bulletin of the News Division of theSpecial Libraries Association. SLAHeadquarters address is: SLA, 331South Patrick St., Alexandria, VA22314. The phone number is: 703/647-4900. News Library News is publishedfour times a year by the division.Reproduction in whole or part withoutpermission is prohibited.

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

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

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

News Library NewsWinter 2009Vol. 31, No.2

PAGE 2 NEWS LIBRARY NEWS WINTER 2009

COMMITTEECHAIRS

NLN STAFF

CHAIR, Ron Larson, Wisconsin History Day by Day,McFarland, WI, 608/838-4279,e-mail: [email protected]

CHAIR-ELECT, Amy Disch, Columbus Dispatch,Columbus, OH, 614/461-5177, e-mail: [email protected]

2010 Conference Planner, Leigh Montgomery,Christian Science Monitor, Boston, MA,617/450-2682,e-mail: [email protected]

PAST CHAIR/DIRECTOR-AWARDS,Justin Scroggs, Newsbank, Inc., Naples, FL,239/263-6004, e-mail: [email protected]

SECRETARYAnne Holcomb, Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo,MI, 269/388-2705,e-mail: [email protected]

TREASURER, Megan Waters, Miami Herald, Miami,FL, 305/376-3289,e-mail: [email protected]

DIRECTOR-EDUCATION/PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT CHAIR, Jessica Baumgart,Renesys, Manchester, NH, 603/643-9300 X121,e-mail: [email protected]

DIRECTOR-PUBLICATIONS, Catherine Kitchell,BNA, Arlington, VA, 703/341-3311,e-mail: [email protected]

NEWS DIVISION COMMITTEE CHAIRSARCHIVIST CHAIR, Kee Malesky, National Public

Radio, Washington, DC, 202/513-2356e-mail: [email protected]

AUTOMATED-TECHNOLOGY CHAIR,Peter Johnson, Preservati Partners, LosAngeles, CA, 323/478-9417 or 213/590-5983e-mail: [email protected]

BROADCAST CHAIR, Shira Kavon, CNN NYLibrary, New York, NY, 212/275-7849e-mail: [email protected]

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS CHAIR, vacant

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CHAIR, vacant

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, Anne Holcomb, KalamazooGazette, Kalamazoo, MI, 269/388-2705e-mail: [email protected]

NOMINATIONS CHAIR, vacant

PUBLICITY-PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR, ClaireWollen, Toronto Star, Toronto, CN, 416/869-4518,e-mail: [email protected]

SMALL LIBRARIES CHAIR, Anne Holcomb,Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, MI, 269/388-2705, e-mail: [email protected]

TELLER/ELECTIONS CHAIR, Lynne Palombo,The Oregonian, Portland, OR, 503/294-5084,e-mail: [email protected]

WEBMEISTRESS, Alice Pepper, Detroit Free Press,Detroit, MI, 313/222-5135,e-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

NLN MANAGING EDITOR

Julie DomelSan Antonio Express-NewsSan Antonio, TX 210/250-3276e-mail: [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

PEOPLEAmy DischColumbus DispatchColumbus, OH614/461-5177e-mail: [email protected]

LIBRARY PROFILESHannah SommersNational Public RadioWashington, D.C.202/513-2064e-mail: [email protected]

TECH TIPSDerek WillisNew York TimesWashington, DCe-mail: [email protected]

Total membership: 438

MMy undergraduate degree is inFinance, but that is also whyI’m a librarian. I knew back

then that I needed to have a much higherobsession with the stock market and relatedtopics to make a go of that world as a career;I just enjoyed learning about it. So, it is a bitironic now that I try to stay up-to-date withthe latest economic news. However, I stilldon’t have the courage to open my 401Kstatements!

The economy is hitting the newspaperindustry like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately,the library seems to be one of the first placesmanagement goes to cut. This issue’s Peoplecolumn is much longer than usual due to allthe news of departing librarians. I havehope that everyone will land on their feet,but it most likely will not be back in thenews business. These departures are bad forthe reporters and editors they served, badfor the industry as a whole and bad for ourDivision.

In this environment, we are more need-ed than ever. As institutional knowledgeheads out the door, who else is going to helpyoung journalists place news events in con-text? As our organizations move more andmore to the web, who is most likely toembrace the next generations of technolo-gy? While management is worried aboutthe present, who will care about the pastand future?

In response to a recent departure, TimRozgonyi of the St. Petersburg Times postedan eloquent statement to NewsLib thatincluded these words: “News librariansbring a totally different perspective to thenewsrooms in which they work. We are allabout service, which isn’t necessarily a corevalue of a news operation.” His entire mes-

sage made me misty (check the archives ifyou didn’t see it), as it summarizes why I dowhat I do and why our jobs are so impor-tant.

It is amazing how these things tend to gofull circle; just check out new NewsDivision President Ron Larson’s column inthis issue. He reminds us of the 1909“Veranda Conference” that started SLA, aswell as a speech Barbara Semonche gavemany years later invoking the same ideas.This issue also pays tribute to “The Queen”in retirement, as well as to Liz Donovan,whose passing caught many of us by sur-prise.

News Library News is what it is todaybecause of Barbara, and it is only fitting thatshe came through for me in a pinch while Iwas preparing this issue. I’m sure she willcontinue to be supportive and inspiring tothe news library community when she isn’tenjoying her new free time, while Liz’s spir-it will live on in the countless number oflibrarians she encouraged during her career.

One of those people was Derek Willis,whose Tech Tip gives us much to thinkabout in his discussion of archiving webcontent. Derek’s session (with JessicaBaumgart) at last year’s SLA conferencediscussed librarians finding non-librarytechnological outlets for their skills.Hannah Sommers has found just a librari-an in Jenny Benevento, the ControlledVocabulary Developer at the AssociatedPress. Hearing about librarians who havespread their wings beyond the traditionalenvironment inspires me (and should giveus hope in case we end up in a future Peoplecolumn). I hope you enjoy this issue asmuch as I did.

BY JULIE DOMEL

THE ASIDE BAR

WINTER 2009 NEWS LIBRARY NEWS PAGE 3

NEWS LIBRARY NEWS WINTER 2009

BY RON LARSON

NOTESFROMTHECHAIR

TThe snow is piling higher and higherand the frigid wind is howling. Thedepths of winter can bring a bit of

despair, especially to those of us who live inthe north. The feelings of hopelessness mightalso pertain to those of us in an industry thatis struggling while members of our Divisionare losing their jobs. On the bright side, thewarm sun of spring always follows the coldwinter and the collective spirit and talents ofour Division members will rise above thecurrent state of affairsand continue doinggreat things.

This year is one ofcelebration as theNews Division turns85, while SLA cele-brates its centennial.These are, indeed,milestones worthy ofcelebrations. It wasone hundred yearsago when John Cotton Dana invited anyinterested librarian to join him at a meetingin Bretton Woods, N.H., calling on them tohelp form a group that would tackle theirproblems and serve their collective special-ized interests. A group of 26 librariansjoined Dana in New Hampshire on July 2,1909, later to be known as the “VerandaConference,” thus signaling the beginningsof the Special Libraries Association.

Our very own, very esteemed, BarbaraSemonche, who is celebrating the begin-ning of her retirement this month, gave aspeech in South Carolina ten years ago thatmentioned the “Veranda Conference.” Inher speech, she said, “Whenever I thinkabout the future, I return to the past seekingclues, patterns to what might be projectedbeyond the present. SLA’s earliest origins areillustrative of the creativity, courage, andinspiration in our profession. We neededthose talents then; we need them now; we’llneed them even more in the future.”

Barbara’s words from ten years ago res-onate very loudly today. If there is one divi-

sion of SLA that possesses an abundance oftalents, including creativity, courage andinspiration, I believe it is the News Division.But, I feel the collective voice of the Divisionhas grown quiet in the past couple of years.Due to industry economic woes, the NewsDivision attendance at the 2008 SLA con-ference was the lowest in recent memory,while even the traffic on NewsLib has dimin-ished (even though subscription numbers areover 1,100). Membership in our Division is

at a low point (inthe 400’s) thathasn’t been seenin decades, andwe are droppingfast. We need tocome togetherand figure outhow the NewsDivision cantackle our prob-lems and serve

our collective specialized interests. I believe itis time for the News Division to have ourvery own “Veranda Conference.”


Proud Sponsor of the News Division

❝ We need to come togetherand figure out how theNews Division can tackleour problems and serveour collective specializedinterests.❞


LIBRARY PROFILE

BY HANNAH SOMMERS,NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

AP Taxonomist Keeps the Wire Stories Flowing

The AP’s Jenny Benevento’s passion is metadata.



QA

QA

QA

GGiven the gloomy state of the econ-omy and the coinciding toughtimes in the news industry, I

decided to seek out someone who couldremind us all of the passion for information— finding it or managing it — that ledeach us into this line of work. The person Ifound is Jenny Benevento, who works forthe Associated Press in New York City. Herpassion is metadata. (see photo at right)

You have an LIS degree - do youwork in a library?

Do I work in a library? I don’t! I work in a depart-ment called Information Management. I am offi-cially the Controlled Vocabulary Developer, orbasically, the authority control. Along with therest of the people in our group, we come up withterms (and synonyms) for subject access, placenames, and people’s names, and teach search soft-ware how to categorize news with them.Everything from Jerry Lewis (the comedian) toJerry Lewis (the politician) must be kept up todate and articles about each need to get the righttagging.

Who are your customers?

It depends how you look at it. Our categorizationand metadata creation helps journalists file theirphotos. Also, it helps us create products thatnewspapers and other organizations buy; so,journalists and media outlets.

What is a typical day like in yourworld?

Meetings with other team members about vocab-ulary changes in light of the stories we’re seeinggetting tagged with them. Meetings with soft-ware vendors about the products we use to makecategorization work. Writing Boolean rules tomake sure articles about certain people get theright tags. Responding to internal requests forcontrolled vocabularies to feed forms or stan-dardize values in our metadata schema. Lookingthrough lists of names that are being writtenabout but not being tagged and adding them toour vocabularies. Testing that our rules are work-ing properly.

On the Move Richard Geiger accepted a buyout from the San

Francisco Chronicle after 28 years with the paper. In hismessage to NewsLib, he said “I can’t begin to tell youhow much you have all meant to me.” Bill VanNiekerken became library director on Jan. 1. Richardsays he “worked with Bill since 1980, when I waslibrary manager at the San Jose Mercury-News. I knowhe will do a great job!”

Sharon Clairemont’s last day at the Orange CountyRegister was Nov. 7, after 25 years with the paper. Sheaccepted a buyout, and reports she is “excited about mymany choices of ‘encore careers.’” She says “it has beenmy pleasure and inestimable gain to hang out with youall online and at conferences. You are such smart peo-ple, passionate about preserving and sharing informa-tion. Thank you!” The Register’s news research effortsare now “in the very capable hands of Michael Doss,”who can be reached at [email protected] or 714-796-7797.

Pam Eisenberg also left the Orange County Registeron Nov. 7, having been with the paper 20 years. In hermessage to NewsLib, Pam wrote “Bless you all for find-ing research fascinating. Thank you all for being inter-ested in knowing - wanting to share, and being there tohelp in a moment’s notice.”

Anne Mintz left Forbes on Jan. 6, and can now bereached at [email protected]. She will beattending the SLA conference, speaking on a paneltitled “Research Methods for Journalists.”

Christine Irizarry was laid off from her position asa researcher at The Tennessean. She can now be reachedat [email protected]

Alan Thibeault left his position as Chief Librarianat the Boston Herald on Dec. 26, and began a new posi-tion as Director of the Winthrop (Mass.) Public Libraryon Jan. 5. He succeeds John Cronin, who retired asdirector. You will recall that Alan succeeded John oncebefore, taking over as Chief Librarian at the Heraldwhen John retired in April 2005. Alan says he has“enjoyed my time here and in the news library profes-sion immensely. I simply felt that after nearly 15 yearsit was time for a change and, almost simultaneously, awonderful opportunity presented itself.” MarthaReagan is the Herald’s new Chief Librarian. She hasbeen with the paper three-and-a-half years and Alansays she “will do this newsroom proud.”

Leslie Norman reported that “the WSJ Library will

cease to exist on March 23, 2009.” She and news assis-tant Ed Ramos were let go from Dow Jones. Ever theprofessional, she worries “There are so many littlethings about what we do...how do I possibly explainthem or even write them down?”

Kathy Foley is “thrilled to report that NewsBankhas hired me as a Senior Product Manager in the MediaServices Division. My main areas will be microfilm andhistoric newspaper digitization. I will work from homein San Antonio. There is life after the newsroom!”

News Division Chair Ron Larson is teaching acourse on Corporate and Specialized InformationServices at the University of Wisconsin-MadisonSchool of Library and Information Studies.

Lindsey Knight joined the CNN Atlanta Libraryon Dec. 8, 2008. She completed her LIS internship atCNN’s D.C. Bureau.

Kathleen Cottay has “joined Hearst Newspapersworking on taxonomy, semantic web solutions and dig-ital asset management for online media. Most recentlyKathleen was taxonomist for NASA’s Johnson SpaceCenter. Previous experience includes being VP ofInformation Resources at American Media, SeniorEditor at Hoover’s and management of publiclibraries.” Hearst Newspapers’ digital media group isbased at the Houston Chronicle.

Success storiesColumbus Dispatch news researcher Susan Stonick

provided extensive background research on inmatesand cases for the series “Test of Convictions,” whichgarnered an honorable mention for Dispatch reportersMike Wagner and Geoff Dutton in the John JayCollege of Criminal Justice’s 2009 Excellence inCriminal Justice Reporting Awards. The series, whichexamined Ohio’s DNA inmate testing program, isavailable at http://www.dispatch.com/dna

Pete Basofin, Director of Editorial Research at TheSacramento Bee, announced “a new Sacramento Bee blogthat ought to be of interest to news librarians andresearchers, I-Tool Tips, http://www.sacbee.com/stat-ic/weblogs/i-tool_tips/.” Pete reports that “the blogaims to spotlight valuable and relevant informationsources available on the Web that mightempower/inspire readers to do their own investigativeresearch.”


PEOPLE

BY AMY DISCH

Continued on next page


IN MEMORIAM

BY ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

OOur division witnessed an out-pouring of condolences andmemories at the news that

Elizabeth “Liz” Lacey Donovan passedaway on December 9, 2008.

Simultaneously a research legend and adown-to-earth colleague, Liz was well-known in the news library world. Anyrecitation of her accomplishments wouldhave to start with the big one: Watergate.Her research at The Washington Post helpedBob Woodward and Carl Bernstein withreporting that brought down a presidency,and she is thanked prominently in the bookAll the President’s Men.

“It was a team effort and an incredibleexperience,” Donovan wrote years later.“Those of us who worked at the Post inthose years were blessed. I’ll never forget thecomradeship we had then, and keep fondfriendships still.”

She also noted that the famous movieincludes a scene of a researcher bringing akey photo to Woodward, played by RobertRedford.

“It’s a permanent reminder of howessential our job is, and what a differencewe can make,” she noted.

In 1981, Donovan moved to the Miami

Herald, where colleagues said she was criti-cal to the paper’s first efforts in computer-assisted reporting. Her contributions result-ed in many important investigations, suchas the Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning cover-age of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Newer librarians will remember her col-legial, helpful posts on Newslib and on herown blog, “Infomaniac: Behind the News.”The news division named her to the AgnesHenebry Roll of Honor in 2004.

At the news of her death from lung can-cer at age 63, news librarians andresearchers shared memories and condo-lences.

“Liz has left an unforgettable legacy ofstrong spirit and unexcelled generosity, andextraordinary professionalism to newslibrarians and reporters all over the world,”wrote Barbara Semonche, director of thePark Library in the UNC-CH School ofJournalism and Mass Communication.“Truly, she will remain one of a kind, thevery best.”

“She was a constant innovator, a skilledresearcher and a wonderful person,” wroteDerek Willis of The New York Times.“Among the people in journalism, it is rareto find someone about whom no one has abad thing to say. Liz was one of those peo-ple.”

“What I am reminded of is how shealways noticed developments in our profes-sion and our names when they wouldappear,” wrote Leigh Montgomery of TheChristian Science Monitor. “She was hugelyencouraging, particularly with some of ourown library’s early ventures in blogging.She found this ‘thrilling’ and even describedour effort - this in 2003 - as ‘beautiful.’ “

More remembrances, published obituar-ies and information about Donovan’s careermay be found at the SLA News Divisionweb site.

Liz Donovan accepts the Agnes Henebry Rollof Honor Award at the 2004 SLA Conference inNashville.Photo Courtesy Barbara Semonche

Remembering Liz Donovan

St. Petersburg Times News ResearcherAngie Drobnic Holan posted a message toNewsLib letting us know that Denver PostResearch librarian Barry Osborne was fea-tured in the PBS program “Bill MoyersJournal” on Nov. 14, 2008. Barry created adatabase to accompany the Post series“Lawless Lands: The crisis in IndianCountry, which reported on the failure offederal authorities to prosecute crimes onAmerican Indian reservations.”

A transcript of the program can befound at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/jour-nal/11142008/transcript2.html

A video of the program can be found athttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/2008/11/no-justice-out-here.html

Barry appears just after the 15th minute. The series can be found at

http://www.denverpost.com/lawlesslandsTom Pellegrene Jr., Manager of News

Technologies at The Journal Gazette in FortWayne, Ind., reports that his paper “beganoperating a 24-7-365 newsroom on jour-

nalgazette.net, Dec. 8, and its news libraryis a part of the process.” Text librarian LynWinchell directs the 24-7 desk from 6 a.m.until the Web writer-editor arrives at 8 a.m.She answers a tip-line, watches for e-mails,checks the fax machines and the wires andlistens to a police scanner. He says site traf-fic is “up 36 percent for the rest ofDecember, compared with the same periodfor 2007, and is up more than 30 percent sofar in January from a year earlier.”

PeopleContinued from previous page



TECH TIPS

BY DEREK WILLIS

NEW YORK TIMES

WWe’ve had a number of discus-sions lately on NewsLib aboutwhether and how to archive

material that appears only on a news orga-nization’s web site, not in a printed publica-tion or broadcast. With the proliferation ofblogs, chats and forums, it’s an importantquestion, and only likely to grow even moreconsequential in the years to come. Forthose wanting to get started, one of the eas-ier routes may bewith blogs.

Many newssites that operateblogs do so via ahosted system suchas Movable Typeor WordPress, andnearly every blogpublishing systemuses a databasebackend, typicallythe MySQLdatabase. Whatthis means is thatthere already *is*an archive of sorts,if not always in the format you might likeit. The good news is that, with a little help,you should be able to get a consistent copyof blog material and be able to work onincorporating it into your archive routine.

This will involve (or be aided by) know-ing a little about how databases work, orrelying on someone who does. It’s also agreat excuse for you to become moreacquainted with databases if you’re not.Most blog databases will have tables thatreflect the individual components of a post.For example, WordPress stores its posts in atable called wp_posts, while comments arein wp_comments. You also may find tables

for categories, tags and authors. The advan-tage is that simply by using the bloggingsoftware, a certain amount of standardiza-tion and categorization has taken place.Again, it may not be exactly what you need,but it’s a better place to start from thanscratch.

My recommendations:

1. Find out what software your site uses tomanage its blogs, and try to meet theperson who has control over it. Often

that person has accessto an administrative“control panel” thatincludes regulardatabase backups.

2. See what theexisting schedule isfor backing up thedatabase(s) that con-tains the blog tables.

3. Ask for thedatabase schema (thelisting of tables andthe fields that thosetables contain) andfor the specificdatabase server type(probably MySQL).

4.Ask for a recent backup copy. Typicallythey are kept as zipped-up .SQL files - aseries of statements that insert data intoa database.

5. Install MySQL, which can be found atwww.mysql.com, or find somebodywho already has installed it on theirmachine. If you can’t install MySQL onyour work machine, try your homecomputer. Or if you have a Web hostingaccount, many of those includeMySQL. Just get it installed somewhereso you can look at the file. There are anumber of tutorials on how to restore adatabase backup - I’d recommend

searching for “mysql restore db backup”.Or email me.

6.Once you are able to look at it, youshould be able to see how the blog con-tent fits into your archive system, andhow much work will be required to addthe blogs to it, if you choose to do so.

7.Even if you decide against adding theblog content to your existing archive,you should be able to store the databasebackup files as-is or use them to create aseparate archive of blog content.

8.At the least, get the library involved inthe backup process - you can ask for acopy of each backup file (usually theseare done weekly, but sometimes daily)to be stored on a network server thatyou have access to. WordPress has a plu-gin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plug-ins/wp-db-backup/) to help backup thedatabase tables, and MovableType hasdocumentation on methods for doingthe same(http://www.sixapart.com/movable-type/kb/databases/backup_mysql_da.html), if there’s no process in place.If none of that seems possible or likely,

try approaching the problem this way: ifyour blogs are searchable on your generalsite, then somebody has gone to the troubleof getting blog content into a broaderindex. Find that person and ask them howhe or she did it, and whether you can pig-gyback on that effort.

Overall, it will help you if you actuallyuse the software in some capacity - either aninternal blog or a personal or group blogoutside of work (assuming you can, ofcourse). The more you know about how theblogging software works, the better you’llbe able to determine what’s necessary toincorporate it into your archiving processes.

Archiving Web Site Material: Blogs

❝ The good news is that,with a little help, youshould be able to get aconsistent copy of blogmaterial and be able towork on incorporatingit into your archiveroutine.❞

ELECTIONS


TThose of you keeping score at homewill have noted that the Division’sselection of a new Chair Elect-

Elect, a new Secretary and a Director ofPublications to join the board for 2009 ishappening in 2009. Here’s why:

The Division’s Nominations Committeeidentified three willing candidates — LeighMontgomery, Chair Elect-Elect andProgram Planner for the 2010 conference,Anne Holcomb, Secretary and CatherineKitchell, Director of Publications. With thefeverish pace of change in the news businessin general and how those changes areimpacting the lives of Division members inparticular, what turned out to be difficultwas finding folks willing to run againstAnne and Catherine.

Some years back the Division Boardchanged policy/practice and began to holduncontested elections for what was at thattime the position of Chair Elect (now ChairElect-Elect). After some number of callsthis year to potential officeholders thatresulted in gracious but emphatic answersof “Sorry, but no,” it was clear we needed tomove to uncontested elections for all posi-tions. An examination of the Division’s cur-rent governing document confirmed thatwe are to have elections, but they do nothave to be contested. The recommendationto move to uncontested elections was sub-mitted to the Division Board, andapproved, last fall.

And that is, in summary, why you’ll findinformation in this issue of NLN aboutyour new Board members and not in anearlier issue. The move to uncontested elec-tions will serve us well for the future as wedeal with changes in our professions and inour Division.

Thanks to Leigh, Anne and Catherinefor their willingness to serve on theDivision Board (with special thanks toCatherine for what will be a return to the

Board for a second (or third!) term. And please, when a member of the 2009

Nominations Committee gives you a callthis summer and suggests you becomingChair Elect-Elect, or Treasurer or Directorof Education/Professional Development,say “Yes!”Respectfully submitted for the News DivisionNominations Committee,Justin Scroggs, Chair

CHAIR ELECT-ELECT

Leigh MontgomeryLeigh Montgomery

is Librarian for TheChristian ScienceMonitor, the interna-tional daily newspa-per and multimediawebsite which is in

its centennial year. The Monitor will be thefirst national newspaper to move to a web-first model and weekly print edition, inaddition to adding an e-mail daily newsdigest, all in April 2009.

Leigh conducts and oversees research oninternational and U.S. news topics, as wellas business, science and societal trends forthe editorial staff, located in 18 nationaland international bureaus. She is alsoresponsible for management of the photoand page archive for the paper, develop-ment and maintenance of its print collec-tion, training of the staff and every journal-ism and library intern on online researchtools, as well as working on the libraryIntranet pages. Leigh is the Monitor’s onlyfull-time librarian.

She has contributed to several analyticjournalism projects during her career and isactive in use of computer-assisted report-ing, collaborative technologies and socialnetworking to advance journalism. Leighalso enjoys volunteering by hosting

prospective librarians and Boston publicschool students at every opportunity toencourage careers in information profes-sions, news librarianship and daily journal-ism.

Leigh joined the Monitor staff as NewsResearcher in 1996 after receiving a Masterof Science degree in Mass Communicationat Boston University’s College ofCommunication. She was promoted toLibrarian in 1998, at which time she joinedSLA, the News Division and the Bostonchapter. Leigh has served the Division asEditor, News Library News, 2006 to 2008,and as a conference moderator and presen-ter at the 2005 and 2008 AnnualConferences.

DIRECTOR OFPUBLICATIONS

Catherine Kitchell After graduating

from the Universityof Virginia with adegree in ArtHistory, Catherinestarted as a libraryassistant at USA

Today way back in 1983 shortly after thepaper began. She went to the University ofMaryland to get her MLS and worked as areference librarian until moving toCalifornia to briefly work at the MarinIndependent Journal before returning toWashington and getting a job at BNA. Shehas been a librarian at BNA (and a memberof SLA) since 1990 and editor of BNA’sDirectory of State and Federal Courts,Judges, and Clerks since 2001. She wasManaging Editor of News Library News in1996-1998. Additionally she was Treasurer,Washington Chapter, 1999-2002 & NewsDivision, 2001-2003. She received theDC/SLA Board of Directors Award for2001-2002. For the past few years she’s

Division elections for 2009 running a little late,and uncontested

Montgomery

Kitchell



SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2009

4 p.m. to 6 p.m.Tour/Reception at National Public Radio NPR Librarian Kee Malesky will host News Division mem-

bers for a tour of NPR’s facilities and library. The event will alsoinclude a reception with various NPR personalities.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2009

1 p.m. to 5 p.m. CE Course: Doing More with Less Learn some secrets about doing more with less from experi-

enced practitioners. News library managers, librarians and sometechnical experts come together to share useful knowledge, likeprioritizing tasks, nifty tools and being more efficient.Participants will also pick up some tips about managing in timesof change and may learn a bit about defending their fundingand staff.

MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2009

9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Painless (No, really!) NegotiatingMany more things are negotiable than we may think; in fact,

much of life involves negotiation, and the effects of not negotiat-ing can be cumulative. This presentation helps you identify whois “the boss of you”, develop your ability to reframe challengingsituations and build tools to enhance your negotiation skills andapproach every situation as negotiable.

1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.Census 2010: Not Your Grandmother’s CensusIf you’ve ever used Census data on citizenship, employment

status or occupation, you’ve used the long form of the DecennialCensus. The long form of the decennial census is no more - it hasbeen replaced by the American Community Survey. Join us for acrucial discussion of the 2010 Census and the differencesbetween it, past censuses and the ACS. We will also review geo-graphic aspects of the Census and focus on the implications ofthese changes for people who use Census products.

* Shared program with the Social Science, Advertising &Marketing and Government Information Divisions

3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.News Division Business meeting The News Division leadership reports to the members of the

division, discusses progress and plans for the future.

6 p.m. to 10 p.m. News Division Awards Banquet The News Division presents its annual awards.

TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2009

7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.More With Less: Successful Time Management prac-

tices In an era of downsizing and tight budgets, how do you make

the most effective use of your time and prioritize in a way thatoffers the best value for your library and your organization? Thissession will offer practical tips for doing just that.

9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. The role of social networking sites in research A panel of Washington Post researchers will lead a discussion

on using social networking sites for research and the ethicsinvolved in doing so.

11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.Research Methods for JournalistsWhen CUNY (City University of New York) opened its

Graduate School of Journalism in fall 2006, a first semestercourse in Research Methods was required of all students. Now inits third year, the Research Methods course has been merged intothe school’s fundamental Craft curriculum. The speakers willcompare the student outcomes of both pedagogical approaches, aswell as present findings from a survey about research educationand training conducted among journalism school library direc-tors. They will also present findings from a survey of majormedia libraries about research education and training on thejob.

1:30 to 3:00 p.m.Onion editor Scott Dikkers

Scott Dikkers, editor of The Onion newspaper, will speakabout the paper’s brand expansion and the changing habitsof media consumption. * Shared program with Advertising & Marketing Division

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Open house at the Newspaper and Current Periodical

Room, Library of Congress An open house at the Newspaper and Current Periodical

Room at the Library of Congress for News Division members

CONFERENCE PREVIEW

2009 SLA Conference Preview


Lynn M. Dombek, Research Directorfor the Associated Press, shared this storyof how “the News Research Center at theAssociated Press headquarters in New YorkCity was an unexpectedly integral part ofAP’s coverage of the crash of US AirwaysFlight 1549 into the icy Hudson River onJan. 15, 2009.”

She says that “researcher BarbaraSambriski was the first person at the AP tosee the plane go into the river around 3:30p.m.” Dombek proceeded to call 911 “andalerted the newsroom on the other side ofthe building.”

Dombek says that “NRC’s quick reac-tion gave AP a unique head start on amajor story, and made Sambriski a crucialpart of that story as an early eyewitness.She was interviewed by the AP for all newsformats, and as soon as her account of thesplashdown went out on the wire, she wasinundated with calls from media outletsaround the world.”

In the meantime, “the rest of the NRCteam” compiled resources, identifiedexperts, pulled FAA maintenance records,located survivors and their relatives andmined NTSB data. Deputy director SusanJames did locator searches to find a crucialTwitter photographer, as well as the air-plane crew. Staff located the pilot’s bio onLinkedIn, which gave the New York Citydesk the first real look at his profile.

Dombek adds that “for her timelyobservation and giving the AP a jump onthe story, Sambriski split the coveted inter-nal “Beat of the Week” award - and a $500prize — with a multimedia AP staffer. Theentire News Research team, includingJudy Ausuebel, Jennifer Farrar, MonikaMathur, Julie Reed and Rhonda Shafner,along with database manager JohnParsons, was spotlighted for their proac-tive role in moving this happily-endingstory forward.”

Kitty Bennett, a News Researcher inthe D.C. Bureau of The New York Times,offered praise for the work of her colleague,database research editor Margot Williams.Margot compiled the “GuantánamoDocket, http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/held, an interactivedatabase of Pentagon documents and NewYork Times research regarding 779 menwho have been detained at Guantánamo asenemy combatants since January 2002.”

Leigh Montgomery, Librarian for TheChristian Science Monitor, noted that herpaper celebrated its 100th anniversary onNov. 25, and marked the occasion with a“special 18-page section written by currentand former editors of the Monitor.” Thesection included “a timeline about themany media forms and pioneering effortsin journalism that the Monitor has beeninvolved in.” Leigh adds “its library staff isin that timeline.” The story can be accessedat http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1125/p25s08-usgn.html

Committee Chair Justin Scroggsreminds us to please consider applying forthe Hayden Fellowship. The HaydenFellowship, in the amount of up to $500per year, is intended to help defray thecosts of job-related continuing education.The application deadline is May 8. Thereare links to the Hayden application formson the Division Web site’s awards page,http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/about/ndawards.html#hayden

Stan Friedman is once again the ESPNCouch Potato Champion. He successfullydefended his title by “watching back-to-back sports programs for 19 hours, 48minutes and 18 seconds - one secondlonger than the runner-up.” You can readthe story at http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/01/02/2009-01-02_pota-to_repeats_laze_of_glory-1.html

PeopleContinued from page 7

parlayed her SLA board experience intoworking for her local bike club, PotomacPedalers Touring Club. With 3,200 mem-bers, PPTC is the largest recreational bik-ing club on the East Coast. She was Chair-Elect, then Chair in 2006-2007 and waseditor of Pedal Patter, the club’s newsletterfrom 2004-2007. But she is happy torededicate herself to SLA and the cause ofthe News Division - it’ll be a relief to leadpeople who don’t always wear brightly-col-ored spandex shorts.

SECRETARY

Anne HolcombAnne Holcomb

is the online con-tent editor for theKalamazoo Gazette,a daily newspaperthat covers the cityof Kalamazoo andthe surroundingregion of

Southwest Michigan, online atwww.mlive.com/kalamazoo. Prior tobecoming the Gazette’s online editor inMay 2008, Anne served as the Gazette’slibrarian for 3 1/2 years.

Anne is a graduate of Albion Collegeand the University of Michigan School ofInformation. She is currently enrolledpart-time in the Master’s program atWestern Michigan University’s School ofCommunication. Anne also serves asMembership Chair for the News Division.

This is the division’s first electronic elec-tion. If you haven’t received your ballot fromSurvey Monkey, or, if you prefer a paper bal-lot please email the division’s election chairLynne Palombo at [email protected]

ELECTIONS

Holcomb

Division elections for2009 running a little late,and uncontestedContinued from page 9

Q

A

QA

QA

QA

QA

QA

Is technology changing how you work? How has thejob changed in the time you’ve been with the AP?

Officially, I work in the Technology Department. In an organization thathas existed for over 150 years, you can imagine we’ve seen a lot of technol-ogy changes. Organizing content in a variety of formats in tens of systemsover the years was part of the reason my job was created. When I startedhere 2.5 years ago, we had no subject headings, and now we have thousands!So it’s definitely changed from active creation to maintenance in a lot ofways. Definitely without some of the software and databases we use, and thetechnically savvy people who created/tweaked them, it would have beenimpossible. I talk a lot to people who need to categorize a lot of data, butthink of the number of news stories, photos, audio, and video ONE DAYgenerates. It’s a blizzard of information. Without some auto-categorizationthere just would never be enough time to categorize the news the way wedo.

How does one become a taxonomist or vocabularydeveloper?

Well, by doing it. That’s hard. Some people come to it through InformationArchitecture or linguistics. Some people just go to Taxonomy Boot Campor some other taxonomy instruction outside of schooling. In a lot of thesecases, the person works in a non-librarian technical position and their busi-ness realizes they need metadata and they get sent to figure out how to doit.

But a lot of people are librarians. In library school, I focused on classes onthesaurus construction, info retrieval, cataloging, metadata creation, andclassification systems. There’s some body of knowledge that is fairly specif-ic on this area which is useful. I would suggest though that people just startdoing it. There’s so many places that need it done, I just started making tax-onomies part of my projects everywhere I worked. All of my previous posi-tions were in libraries, mostly public and academic, and one corporate. I’venever been called a librarian yet, though!

Is there a place for folksonomy in the work you do?

There’s a place for folksonomy in a lot of types of content, but more so ifyou are customer-facing. As we are business-facing, most businesses aren’tgoing to spend time and money to tag your data. In fact, they send us theirdata and we’ll tag it for them! They just want to get the most for theirmoney in the quickest time possible, which is why controlled data is somuch more useful. In my spare time (ha!), I freelance with some web busi-nesses who love combining controlled and uncontrolled vocabularies. Ithink there are a lot more websites out there using controlled vocabulariesthan will admit it—anything that makes products easier to find is probablydriven with some taxonomy.

Jenny, your personal business card describes you asa “meta-dater.” Say more.

Honestly, for a job about coming up with words, there are way too many

terms for what I do—metadata, thesaurus construction, ontology, vocabu-lary, etc. Though those all have different shades of meaning they are usedpretty interchangeably. I do freelance work for a lot of web companies, andthey are not as comfortable with all these terms and their meanings as muchas librarians are. So I try and make it a little less scary. I know metadataseems frightening, boring and technical to the vast majority of people.When I can show people it means I get to read the encyclopedia and Starmagazine all day, it makes discussing it a little easier. It doesn’t have to bepainful.

What’s the greatest challenge facing your group?What’s the most innovative change you’ve imple-mented or experienced?

Time! When the organization discovered it needed a taxonomy, it needed ityesterday. Likewise, news is such a quick business that things need to gettagged automatically, and correctly the first time, or it’s of no use to our cus-tomers. Nothing can slow down our journalists because speed is a com-modity in news.

I think going from having no taxonomies to a large portion of the news cat-egorized by auto-categorization in two years is amazing.

How many people work for the AP overall? In yourgroup?

Including me, seven librarians, a linguist and an XML expert. And there’s a“productization” side of the group as well which uses our metadata to makeproducts.


LIBRARY PROFILE

AP Taxonomist Keeps the Wire StoriesFlowingContinued from page 5

Continued on next page


QA

QAQA

How many terms do you manage? How many vocab-ularies? How many systems do you use in yourwork?

10 or so subject vocabularies—things like “Health” or “Science.” A fewentity vocabularies, e.g., “Sports Figures” or “Celebrities.” Then there are afew dozen system vocabularies that we use to feed other vocabs, how theyare used technically in the system or feed controlled dropdowns and fieldsin the schema. I mainly use SchemaLogic to control the vocabularies, butwe use Teragram to write rules for the auto-categorization and disambigua-tion of where terms get applied.

How much content is produced in a typical day thatis tagged by your system(s)?

I have no idea. However, you think of a story of what gets published. Wethink of every writethru of every story. Especially in breaking situations,that can be tens of different versions of a story sent over a “wire”!

Any other fun facts?

The carpet at AP has a Morse Code pattern for AP (dot dash/dot dash dashdot)! We also have research librarians and archivists. And there’s a party ifsomeone wins the Pulitzer.

Note: As of press time, Jenny informs us that her career is taking her to a newposition as Taxonomist/Information Architect at Sears Holding Corp. Watch for herAP position to be posted.

AP Taxonomist Keeps the Wire StoriesFlowingContinued from previous page


Proud Sponsor of the News Division Proud Sponsor of the News Division

Between now and the June SLA conference in Washington,D.C., I want to have a number of discussions on NewsLib. Iwant everyone to become involved in the News Division’s“Veranda Conference.” I want veterans and rookies, I wantlarge libraries and small libraries and everything in-between, Iwant newspaper and news-magazine libraries, broadcastlibraries, students and other interested parties.

True, we won’t be able to solve the problems that haveplagued the news industry in recent years. We can, however, asnews information experts, find answers and options that canstrengthen and broaden our profession and Division alongwith serving our collective interests.

I would like to have our virtual “Veranda Conference” cul-minate with a meeting of the minds at the News Division’sannual business meeting at the SLA conference in Washington,D.C. And after the meeting adjourns, I’m sure there is a realveranda somewhere in D.C. where we can continue the dis-cussion, reflecting on the past while embracing the future, andsavoring the present on a warm evening as we scoff at thememory of cold winter winds.

Notes from the ChairContinued from page 4

news librarians, reporters, editors and students she has helped andtrained in her career is many, many more than that.

By the way, Guidelines was a reference to Guidelines forNewspaper Libraries. In her 1984 annual report, she acknowledgedShirley Mooney’s hard work as the editor. Almost ten years later,she found herself an editor of her own publication, News MediaLibraries: A Management Handbook.

The Summer 1986 issue of NLN contains verbal bouquets fromLany McDonald to Barbara who “almost single-handedly pub-lished News Library News” for the two years prior. (see graphic onright)

A year later Barbara ran for a SLA director post. Also, she hadan article published in Collection Building, a professional libraryjournal. The article was titled “Newspaper Indexing: In Search of aSolution.” The woman never stops!

The history of news libraries, which practically coincides withthe history of Barbara Semonche for many years, is chronicled inNLN. In the fall of 1993, Pete Basofin made an announcementthat forever changed the lives of news librarians/researchers aroundthe world and their ability to communicate and network with eachother. Maintained at the UNC campus in Chapel Hill, PeteBasofin wrote that NewsLib, an electronic mailing list, was estab-lished through the efforts of Barbara Semonche. To bring backmemories for some of you, possible discussion topics suggested byBasofin included telnet, FTP and Usenet.

Although she has been free of NewsLib responsibilities for morethan two years now, when you think of NewsLib, you think ofBarbara. Today with more than 1,000 subscribers, NewsLibremains the strongest tool for quickly connecting with colleaguesaround the world. Solo librarians could not manage without it.

Barbara has always been a constant cheerleader for our profes-sion. It would take a full issue of NLN to list everything she hasdone for the News Division and for other chapters/divisions ofSLA. In addition, she has been a mentor to many library schooland journalism students as well as a few news researchers. We canalways count on Barbara to give a thoughtful, entertaining andinteresting presentation when she is a speaker. She’s worked hard tomake sure photos from the conferences are archived on the Weband our history is preserved. If anyone needs anything, Barbara hasalways been ready to help whether that be providing space to meeton her campus for news researchers from the Mid-Atlantic states,to mentoring news researchers and providing them with sageadvice, to providing us with a good laugh from her great sense ofhumor.

It is expected she will tackle her well-deserved retirement withas much energy and enthusiasm as she has her career. We look for-ward to reading reports, and afterwards, it is likely we will say thesame as Lany McDonald wrote in that 1986 issue of NLN:

“She has done an enormous job and done it well.”

Barbara Semonche, devoted chroniclerof the News Division, retiresContinued from page 1

This excerpt from a 1986 issue of News Library News illustrates the contri-butions of Barbara Semonche to the Division.

NLN FEATURE


Barbara Semonche, devoted chronicler of the News Division ... · Anne Holcomb, Kalamazoo Gazette,...

Documents

Transcript of Barbara Semonche, devoted chronicler of the News Division ... · Anne Holcomb, Kalamazoo Gazette,...