SLA Blog

Anne Mintz Honored by SLA and Springer with 2009 Professional Award

Anne Mintz has been named the recipient of the 2009 SLA Professional Award for her efforts to educate others on issues of intentional misinformation on the Web, her accomplishments in writing for the field of information specialists, and for her dedication to teaching SLA members, journalists and news professionals about information literacy.

The award is given annually in recognition of a special event, major achievement or significant contribution by an SLA member that advances the profession’s growth and the association’s goals, is sponsored by Springer, which provides each recipient with a cash award of $1,000. 

"Anne has made an enormous impact on the profession through her book on misinformation on the Web and her work as an educator,” said  SLA President Gloria Zamora. "She tackles complex issues, and teaches others, with professionalism and considerable knowledge. She consistently and freely shares her great expertise with her SLA colleagues, and I am so pleased that her commitment is being recognized with this well deserved honor.”

Mintz recalls, “My Dialog user number was 1343 when I first signed on to the service in 1974, and I have been working online ever since.” She joined SLA in 1973 when she began her career as the manager of Library Services for the investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. before moving on to be the director of information services and then director of knowledge management at Forbes Media LLC. Mintz has also published a number of influential articles in the information industry press, including the award-winning “Information Practice and Malpractice” (Library Journal September 15, 1985) and “Quality Control and the Zen of Database Production” (Online Magazine November 1990). 

Mintz’s book, Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet, contributed to her recognition in 2003 by the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association and as the Distinguished Member of the Business and Finance Division of SLA that same year.  “It was a book waiting to be written, and she was the first to see its need and value, and the first to make it happen,” said 2009 SLA President-Elect Anne Caputo.  

Her teaching experience is diverse and far-reaching. Mintz has conducted seminars and continuing education workshops for Information Today, Inc., the New York Press Association and SLA.  She served as a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Library Science (1989-1992).  Since 2007, she has been associated with the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism, where she teaches research methods and tools as part of the Craft of Journalism curriculum.  “With her highly critical thinking skills, her deep intelligence, her trusted manner, and the level of respect she has from her peers, Anne has been able to do and then teach in a way that personifies the professional award,” said 2009 SLA Past-President Stephen Abram.

Mintz chaired the SLA Business and Finance Division (1989-90).  She was named a Fellow of SLA in 1991, and in that capacity has assisted several SLA presidents on special projects. 

“I have been a member of SLA for over 30 years, and I credit the continuing education opportunities at annual conferences with much of my development as a professional, including my completion of the Middle Management Institute program in 1987,” said Mintz. 

SLA Member Discount: Internet Librarian International

SLA, in conjunction with Information Today, is pleased to offer SLA members a special exclusive 20 percent discount off the standard registration rate for Information Today’s Internet Librarian International 2009 to be held 15-16 October in London (UK). All SLA members that register for this international event will pay the reduced rate for the full, two-day conference.

Internet Librarian International 2009 (Link to ) is for information professionals around the globe who want to understand the impact that technological changes and recent digital developments have on their library or information center. With sessions on Digital Libraries, ECollections, Libraries of the Future, and user-generated conference topics, this conference provides attendees with the information they need to bring additional value to their organizations and succeed in today’s technology-driven information landscape.   

For more information or to register for Information Today's Internet Librarian International 2009 at the SLA member rate, please visit HERE. 

Please look for future announcements about discounts and other benefits to SLA members on this as well as other future ITI conferences, including Internet Librarian in Monterey, CA, USA.

SLA 2010: Virtually Virtual

To help us determine the level of interest in virtual conference programming, SLA is conducting a survey about adding a virtual component to our 2010 Annual Conference. 

Even if you are planning to attend the conference in New Orleans, we would still like to hear what you think about the 2-D and Second Life-like options!

Please take this quick survey, which will close on Friday, 9 October. 

If you have questions regarding the survey, please contact Kristin Foldvik, SLA Events Director. 

Looking forward to seeing you in New Orleans, 13-16 June!

September 23 Deadline to Order or Download SLA 2009 Photos

Please be sure to check out the photos from SLA 2009 that are avialable for download or purchase before they are taken down on September 23!  Check them out NOW before its too late!

To access the images:

1.    Go to www.thephotogroup.com

2.    Click on Online Images

3.    Enter access code: sla09

4.    You’ll be brought to a main category page – click through to see your list of events and categories. 

5.    To view a category/event, click on it.

6.    You’ll be brought to a page of thumbnails.  To enlarge a thumbnail for a better view, click on the image.  You can view that category “slide show” style by using the arrows at the top of the screen.

7.    You can collect the images you like in a Light Box to review/download at a later time if you wish.  The images in your Light Box will remain there until you remove them.  To access your Light Box, click on the lightbulb icon on the top right of the screen.

8.    There are many options regarding image download:

a.    Download an individual image in either web resolution (5x7 72dpi) or print resolution (9x13 300dpi)

b.   Download an entire category (NOTE: PC users will need to have an UnZip application installed)

c.    Download your entire Light Box (NOTE: PC users will need to have an UnZip application installed)

9.    To download images click on an image – the dialog box that appears will guide you with your choices for download.

Thanks again to our friends at The Photo Group, and everyone's favorite photographer, Mark Reinertson!

SLA Grapevine: Good News from Toronto

SLA Headquarters received word today of some good fortune and good news for two members from the SLA Toronto Chapter that we thought worth noting...

• Claire Lysnes, president-elect of the Toronto chapter, recently received an Arbor Award from the President of the University of Toronto for her volunteer work with the Faculty of Information.

• Andrew McAlorum, received the 2009 Steve A. Stavro Annual Scholarship worth $5,000. In addition, he was offered the opportunity to gain valuable work experience at Canada's Sports Hall of Fame working part-time with the collection registrar.  The award was established by the founder of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, former Maple Leafs Director, Steve Stavro.

 
Do you have any good news to share from your chapter or division? Please send news items for inclusion in the SLA Grapevine to Cara Schatz at cara@sla.org

2010 Call for Papers: “Entering SLA’s Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll”

SLA Contributed Papers

An opportunity to share your knowledge!  How are you putting your hard work into action?  How are you using the long-planned, expertly-vetted, SME-approved technologies in your library?  How are your users responding to these new services?

If you have a success story to tell your colleagues, we would love to hear it!  SLA is now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at its 2010 Annual Conference in the "Southern and Soulful City" of New Orleans, Louisiana, with the theme "Entering SLA's Next Century: Let the Good Times Roll!"    Accepted papers will also be published on the SLA Web site. 

Every SLA member is eligible and encouraged to apply. Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of SLA members in a blind review, and the best will be selected for development into full papers, which are due 7 May 2010.  

Requirements for Acceptance
Paper topics should be related to library science, information management, research or other issues related to customer service, technology, or administration in special libraries. Proposals will be judged on their relevance to the conference theme, “Let the Good Times Roll," as well on the strength of the idea, quality of the writing, and potential member interest. 

Proposed papers must also meet these requirements:
•    At least one author is a member of SLA.
•    At least one author commits to presenting the paper at the annual conference.
•    The proposal is received by the deadline.
•    The paper has not been published in or submitted to any other publication or conference planning group.
•    The author (and any co-authors) must be willing to sign a copyright assignment form that will permit SLA to use the paper in various formats.

Full guidelines, including formatting instructions, are available here.

To view papers presented at SLA’s 2009 Annual Conference, visit SLA 2009 Conference Web site.

Deadlines

Proposals due. Submit an abstract of your paper via e-mail to chris.mulready@boeing.com no later than 18 December 2009. Abstracts should be 250-300 words in length, which is roughly one page in 12-point text.

Papers selected. Between 12 and 15 proposals will be chosen for development into papers. All applicants will be notified of a decision on 29 January 2010.

Papers due. Authors submit their completed paper and copyright assignment to SLA no later than 7 May 2010.

Papers presented. Authors will deliver a 15-minute presentation of their papers (along with three to four other authors) during a 90-minute session at the SLA 2010 Annual Conference, 13-16 June 2010.

We look forward to your submissions and to hearing how you have broken rules and built bridges in the information profession! 

SLA Members Invited to Judge SIIA Codie Awards

As part of SLA’s ongoing partnership with the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), we would like to invite you, as the information customer, to participate in the selection process for the 25th Annual CODiE Awards. The awards recognize excellence in the software, education technology, and information industries, and SIIA requests SLA information professionals to serve as panel judges for the first-round review process.

SIIA invites representatives from the software and information industry trade press, mainstream technology writers, analysts, consultants, educators and subject-matter experts to participate in the first round of judging for the CODiE Awards. Prospective judges can submit applications online at the CODiE Awards website. Applications are reviewed for relevant experience and judges are then selected and notified of acceptance when the nomination cycle is nearly complete and we better know where we need specific expertise.

APPLY NOW!

Judging applications for Content categories are due by 5:00pm on October 2, 2009.
The first round judging process is the most important part of the CODiE Awards selection process. You get to review some of the newest and most innovative products available and the recognition that comes with it.
Benefits of being a CODiE Awards Judge:

• Special recognition (with short bio) on the CODiE Awards Website and in presentation materials at the 2010 award event
• 1 ticket to attend the award presentation at the Information Industry Summit in New York (January 26th)
• Tangible products are yours to keep (unless nominees pay for, and provide, return shipping)
• A gift of appreciation from SIIA upon completion of the judging cycle
If you have questions about the CODiE Awards or need more information, please do not hesitate to contact the SIIA Awards Program Manager, Lisa Mitchell-Brooks, at 202.789.4458.

We hope you will apply to serve as a panel judge for next year’s awards.

Call-In for President-Elect Board Candidates

Please join us for a lively and interactive call with SLA President-Elect candidates Agnes Mattis and Cindy Romaine who will presenting their candidacy, qualifications and ideas as well as responding to your questions. The calls will be conducted twice on 22 September/23 September depending on where you are in the world. The various call times are listed in a grid below and the international toll-free numbers and dial-in information are available on the SLA Website.

This is the first time candidates forums have been held with our global membership in mind.  Please participate and let us know your issues, questions and concerns.

Tuesday, September 22
Call for UK/Europe/Arabian Gulf/India/Eastern and Central US
7am/ 07:00 Portland
10am/10:00 New York
3pm/15:00 London
4pm/16:00 Europe generally/Arabian Gulf generally
7:30pm/19:30 Mumbai

Tuesday, September 22
Call for Sydney, Auckland, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong/Western US
6pm/06:00 Portland
9pm/21:00 New York
9am/ 09:00 Singapore/Hong Kong (Wednesday, 23 September)
10 am/10:00  Tokyo (Wednesday, 23 September)
11am/11:00 Sydney (Wednesday, 23 September)
1pm/13:00 Auckland (Wednesday, 23 September)

SLA & Outsell Vendor Pricing Survey

Vendor portfolio management and the rising cost of content are on the minds of all information professionals. That's why SLA is partnering with Outsell, Inc. to provide SLA members with data that is useful to their day-to-day operations and planning.

We ask that you take a few minutes to complete a short survey to determine 2010 vendor pricing changes. If you are not familiar with content vendor pricing, please forward this survey to the appropriate person in your organization.

This survey asks nine questions and should only take about 10 minutes to complete. To show its appreciation for your help, Outsell will provide all participants with a summary of the research results.

Your answers will remain confidential and will be aggregated with others. We ask that only one person from each organization answer the survey to avoid duplicate responses from the same organization.

Go here to enter the survey, or paste the full link into your browser: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ftca9BlBc3JelRPHK34UMg_3d_3d

The survey will close at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time on 25 September 2009.

Note: If you completed the IM Benchmark survey, we appreciate your participation -- the summary of results will be sent out to participants in October.

If you have questions please contact Sheila King (sking@outsellinc.com), Director, Primary Research at Outsell, Inc.

SLA Members Get Discounted Rate at Information Today’s Websearch University!

SLA and Information Today, Inc. (ITI), have negotiated a DISCOUNT for SLA members to attend WebSearch University, a conference taking place 14-15 September at the Washington Marriott in Washington, D.C.  The discount rate is $445, a $200 savings on the regular price. Click HERE to activate your discount and register for the conference.

WebSearch University is where searchers learn the latest developments that affect their internet research activities. The curriculum is packed with information on search techniques, collaborative technologies, mobile search, personalization,  alternative search engines, and current awareness tools.

New this year are sessions on rich resources for specific topics such as sci-tech, competitive intelligence, international, and legal. To learn more about the conference, CLICK HERE.