The New York Chapter ChapterNews
IN THIS ISSUE A Message from the President
A Message from the President: .....1
The New Orleans Public Library ....3
Baltimore 2006
— Where Tradition and
Transformation Converge ..........6
Midtown Executive Club
& Chemist Club News................7
Netscape Notices The Librarians
— and is Worried! ....................10
SLA Student Chapter
Forms at Pratt ..........................11
The Realization of a Life Lived Well:
Rosemary Demarest ................12
Chapter Announcements.............13
ADVERTISERS
Dialog.............................................5
Donna Conti Career Resources...12
EBSCO...........................................6
EOS International.........................11
Factiva ...........................................8
Global Securities Information, Inc...9
Heller Information Services............4
InfoCurrent.....................................3
Prenax............................................3
Pro Libra ........................................7
Wontawk......................................10
ChapterNews
Volume 77, #4 Winter 2006
By Gwen Loeffler
ach New Year, I’m glad to have an excuse to reflect on the endeavors and
E
challenges I’ve experienced over the past 12 months, and I begin to plan
for bigger & better things in the coming year. I try not to refer to these
new plans as resolutions — that seems like too much of a commitment.
Instead, I prefer to view these plans as real opportunities for growth & change.
When it comes to the New York Chapter, our accomplishments have been
numerous this year – if I do say so myself. Having learned so much last year from
our Past President, Tom Pellizzi – among others – I felt capable of facing the
challenges this year would bring. When my term as President began back in June
2005, the Board & Advisory Council came together for our annual transition
meeting. Outgoing members shared their experience & advice, and incoming
members brought a lot new energy & ideas. I was confident that I was surrounded
by a group of people who would bring enthusiasm to their work – and they have!
We put one of these new ideas into motion right away with our first Midtown
Happy Hour in July. This event proved to be more popular than we anticipated
with more than 70 members packing into The Ginger Man. In October, we
hosted a second Happy Hour, and in February, our Winter Happy Hour was
held at The Midtown Executive Club/The Chemists’ Club.
In September, SLA Executive Director, Janice Lachance, came to New York
to encourage members to participate in the Association’s first eVote on proposed
changes to the Bylaws. The amendment passed by a wide margin. For more
information on that vote, visit http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/press-
room/pressrelease/2005prelease/pr2520.cfm
Every seat was taken when business etiquette expert Peter Post spoke to mem-
bers in November. This outstanding speaker engaged the audience and offered
advice on handling difficult, real-life situations. Kevin Manion, President-Elect
of the Chapter, did an excellent job coordinating all aspects of the program,
including the book signing event that followed Post’s presentation.
The Chapter’s Director of Professional Development, Catherine Ciaccio, and
Professional Development Chair, Marlene Augustin-Lambert, have continued to
bring us SLA’s Virtual Seminars, and initiated a new series this fall. Jim Hoon,
Director of Information Services at Sudler & Hennessey, presented a live,
lunchtime discussion on surviving & thriving in a healthcare/medical library.
Members had another opportunity to mingle when Downtown Networking
Chair, Maggie Smith, hosted a successful luncheon on November 9th, at Battery
Gardens.
(Letter continues on page 2)
1 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006
 (Letter continued from page 1)
ChapterNews We celebrated early this year with our Annual Holiday
New York Chapter Party on November 29th at Au Bar. Two hundred mem-
bers gathered at this festive venue to revel with friends
Special Libraries Association & colleagues, enjoy abundant food & drink and dance
Winter Vol. 77, No. 4 the night away. You can check out photos from the party
at http://www.sla.org/chapter/cny/partyscenes.pdf
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE Special thanks go out to all of our new sponsors who
ChapterNews, the bulletin of the New York Chapter of the joined with us to bring you programs and events since
Special Libraries Association, is published four times a year. June 2005: Dialog, Elsevier, Factiva, LexisNexis, 10KWizard
Visit our web site: www.sla-ny.org and WSJ.com.
The Chapter’s Program Planning Chairs, Tesse Santoro
Deadlines for submitting materials: and Peggy Decker, are finalizing the details of an exciting
Winter issue: December 15 group of programs coming up in the Winter and Spring.
Spring issue: March 15 They will kick off the new year with a panel discussion
Summer issue: May 14 on change in the information industry. Other events in
the planning stages include programs on branding your
information center and what’s new in technology. Watch
Submit all material to: our web site at www.sla-ny.org and our discussion list for
Charles Lowry information on all of our upcoming programs and events.
ChapterNews Editor Wishing you all the best for 2006,
E-mail: clowry@alm.com
Gwen
Submissions: Articles on topics of general interest to infor-
mation professionals and the New York Chapter are welcome.
Authors can send submissions via e-mail as text file or MS Gwen Loeffler is Senior Research Specialist at the global
Word for Windows attachments, or with article in the body of advertising and marketing network Young & Rubicam Brands.
the e-mail. Please use single-line spacing, Courier font, with She can be reached at gwen.loeffler@yrbrands.com or
minimal use of boldface and italics. Include a byline with your 212-210-3986.
full name and place of work.

ADVERTISING inquiries should be addressed to:

Nancy Bowles
235 East 22nd Street, Apt 9L SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT
New York, NY 10010
Telephone: (212) 679-7088 or
E-mail: nancy.bowles@verizon.net

DESIGN & LAYOUT:

Gatta Design & Company, Inc.
For inquiries call (212) 229-0071 or www.gattago.com

Special Libraries Association assumes no responsibility for the

statements and opinions advanced by contributors to the Associa-
tion’s publications. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the
official position of Special Libraries Association. Acceptance of
an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product by
Special Libraries Association.

ChapterNews STAFF The dance floor came alive at this year's Holiday Party.
Director of Communications Mary Muenkel
ChapterNews Editor Charles Lowry
Advertising Manager Nancy Bowles
Webmaster Michael Rivas

ChapterNews 2 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

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After all, there were mothers with children needing to
(Article continues on page 4)

ChapterNews 3 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

 (Article continued from page 3)

see Green Eggs and Ham, and curious teenagers wondering The length of my love affair with New Orleans has not
about previous hurricanes in New Orleans, and dozens dimmed its ardor. I don’t know if anything I did was of
and dozens of unconnected souls needing to check e-mail, lasting help, or if anything that you can do will be of last-
communicate with insurance companies and government ing help, but fidelity in adversity is itself a virtue, and
agencies, shop for new refrigerators and tend to the chores sometimes that has to be enough.
of daily life, now a thousand times more complicated than Surely we all believe that great cities are made greater by
two months earlier. great libraries. Let us, as we are able, help this great city
Current activities, as might be expected, involve damage and this great library.
assessment of buildings and materials, consultation with
various levels of government about prospects for aid and
The author, a member of the SLA-NY chapter who wishes to
reopening, and fund-raising. Most of us are not fortunate remain anonymous, spent the week of October 31 in New Orleans,
enough to have a week’s vacation available to go to New a city to which s/he is particularly and faithfully devoted.
Orleans and spend some money to help out the local
economy. And even if that were the case, the beneficial effect
for the library would be indirect and a long time coming.
A more direct option for helping the New Orleans
Public Library is offered by the Louisiana State Library,
which has opened a fund to help libraries disrupted by
the Gulf storms. The New Orleans Public Library tem-
porary web site (http://www.nutrias.org) links to this fund.
By going to this site, we can both chart the progress of
the library’s comeback and contribute materially to that
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ChapterNews 4 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

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ChapterNews 5 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

Baltimore 2006
— Where Tradition and
Transformation Converge
By Staff Correspondent

he SLA will hold its annual meeting from June

T 11-14, 2006, at the Baltimore Convention Center

in Baltimore, Maryland.
The program committee is preparing three days of time-
ly, pertinent panels and speakers on the whole gamut of
library staffing, management and operation issues, while
not neglecting traditional librarianship skills and duties.
Each year the exhibit hall seems to be more crowded and
to offer more interesting products and services. Perhaps
most obviously of all, this year’s keynote speakers will be
known to just about all SLA members.
Gwen Ifill is a PBS mainstay both as Moderator and Man-
aging Editor of Washington Week, and as senior corre-
spondent on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. She is a
native of New York City and a graduate of Simmons
College in Boston. She came to PBS after serving as a
senior political correspondent at NBC, where she fre-
quently appeared on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw,
on Meet the Press and on MSNBC. Less well known is
Wednesday will see more concurrent sessions, though
her career as a print journalist with the New York Times,
with no exhibits, which conclude Tuesday afternoon.
Washington Post, Boston Herald American and Baltimore Sun.
Walt Mossberg addresses the closing general session at
Walt Mossberg is the author of the Personal Technology 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, while the afternoon is given over
column, which has appeared in the Wall Street Journal to caucus business meetings.
every Thursday since 1991. Constantly on lists of the
This barebones summary of the conference does not do it
“most influential” writers about technology and comput-
justice. I encourage you to begin your planning by looking
ers, Mossberg received the 1999 Loeb award for Com-
at the annual meeting web site (http://www.sla.org/con-
mentary. He regularly appears on CNBC and on PBS.
tent/Events/conference/ac2006/index.cfm) to take care
A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, he graduated from
of the practical things (registration, housing, travel)
Brandeis University and the Columbia University Grad-
and to begin to “program” your own personal voyage
uate School of Journalism. He has been a reported or
through the conference. But here is an additional
editor at the Wall Street Journal since 1970.
thought: Baltimore is a very convenient train ride from
In Baltimore, the pre-conference activities kick off on New York. Do you have younger staffers who might
Saturday, June 10, with continuing education classes and profit from a day or so at SLA? You know that you go to
the SLA tour of Baltimore—while your friends the ven- see old friends and make new friends, thereby increasing
dors are in the exhibit hall wondering where the scissors your perspective on the profession, to see new products
are, why they brought so much print material (and where and services in the exhibit hall, and to learn from the
they’ll put it) and where the signs for the exhibit could excellent programming. Would not some of your junior
have got to. staffers profit from these same practical benefits, as well
On Sunday the exhibit area opens, the continuing educa- as experience and foster a renewed commitment to a
tion program is resumed and Gwen Ifill opens the gener- profession that needs them? Let’s put Baltimore into a
al session. The day—as all the subsequent days—will be “New York state of mind” for a few days in June!
completed by a plethora of social activities.
Monday and Tuesday are again exhibit days, plus full
days of programs. The SLA will host its annual Awards
Reception at the U.S.S. Constellation on Tuesday night.

ChapterNews 6 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

The Realization of
Midtown Executive Club
& Chemists’ Club News
By Sarah Warner

here is a lot going on at the Midtown Executive

T Club & Chemists’ Club in the heart of midtown at

40 West 45th Street, and we do not want you to
miss out!! Membership privileges include a charming
dining room, monthly wine dinners, a grand club room
and bar, hotel accommodations, reciprocal cub arrange-
ments, and catering and room facilities for business
meetings or special events. The Club is a great place to
meet a colleague or have a business meeting.
Among the benefits of the Executive Club is a member-
ship number to permit the making of direct reservations
at the chain of Club Quarters Hotels, domestically and
internationally. These hotels are clean and comfortable,
designed for business travelers, with complimentary cof-
fee, in-room high speed internet connections and club
rooms with additional computer facilities. The great
glory of these hotels is the real estate mantra, location,
location, location. To give a few examples, besides the
obvious centrality of the New York club, members will
find the DC hotel on Seventeenth Street NW, two hotels
in Chicago near the Loop, a hotel in Boston within walk-
ing distance of South Station and two hotels in London,
one a quarter mile east of St. Paul’s (near Lloyd’s and the
financial institutions of the City) and one a quarter mile
west of St. Paul’s, near Fleet Street, the large law firms,
SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT
publishing houses and cultural institutions. The Club
Quarters Hotels are a membership organization, and your
SLA/Midtown Executive Club connection will make you
a member eligible to make direct reservations at these
convenient hotels.

It is so easy for SLA New York

Chapter Members to sign-up:
Send your business card with your address, telephone
number and email address along with a check for $30.00
for a year’s membership. Make the check out to “SLA
New York Chapter” and send to Sarah Warner at
Wontawk, 25 West 43d Street, Suite 812, NY, NY 10036.

Questions: Contact Sarah Warner at swarner@wontawk.com,

Rita Ormsby, Chair of the Global Outreach Committee,
or by telephone at (212) 869-3348. raised $300 for libraries in need around the world and raffled
off more than 12 prizes, including our Grand Prize, Dinner
for 2 at 21 Club.
ChapterNews 7 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006
ChapterNews 8 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006
ChapterNews 9 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006
Netscape Notices between available supply of qualified candidates and
(i) the quantity and quality of library school programs,
The Librarians locally and nationally; (ii) the time and resources library
managers are able to devote to training and mentoring
— and is Worried! new librarians, (iii) the prevailing salary levels compared
to the salary levels of professions requiring similar educa-
tion and preparation, (iv) the status of librarians within
the various corporations and organizations whose infor-
mation services they manage and provide, (v) the qualifi-
cations required of librarians in particular situations
here is a great deal of hand-wringing over the (e.g. MLS and JD both for law librarians at a certain

T future of certain jobs, sometime related to eco-

nomic considerations, sometimes related to the
future of a beloved profession, sometimes related to
level), (vi) increased management duties (diversity, hostile
work environment issues, increasingly expensive benefits,
etc.) that library managers, along with managers in
personal anxiety. Surely librarianship and the informa- departments throughout corporations and organizations,
tion sciences are no exception. are required to undertake, or (vii) an evolving view of
It is natural, therefore, that one is interested in public the library as it becomes involved in archiving, knowl-
(i.e., non-library-professional) notices about prospects edge management, general training and other ancillary
for the profession. In that context, I saw a note the other (or are they?) activities.
day on the Netscape introductory page about the five
jobs which faced imminent shortages, and therefore may
be said to offer opportunity. Amongst the nurses and
machinists were librarians. The site’s reasoning was simple:
“Studies have shown that librarians are expected to exit the
profession en masse in coming years.” This conclusion is
based on conclusions from the U.S. Census Bureau (more
than one-quarter of all librarians will reach the age of
sixty-five by 2009) and from a study published in Library
Journal (40% of library directors will retire by 2009).
In addition, Netscape notes, the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics cites a waning of interest among young persons in
the library profession.
There was a discussion at a recent meeting of the New
York chapter’s Advisory Board about, anecdotally, the dif-
ficulty of filling professional librarian positions at many
levels. Although this is not the place to initiate the dis-
cussion, and your correspondent does not have the requi-
site expertise to guide the discussion, maybe it is time to
enter into a dialogue that will better inform all of us
about certain relationships, including the relationship

ChapterNews 10 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

SLA Student Chapter of the Newsweek Research Center and Advisory Board
member for internships of SLA-NY, came to Pratt to
Forms at Pratt speak on the subject of internships. We look forward to
By Lisa Ryan, Chapter President additional speaking programs in the spring, including
planned presentations by Carrie Bickner on the preserva-
tion of materials “born digital,” by Pam Rollo on the
“Why can’t they be like we were, SLA itself, and by Jeffrey Zeldman on designing with
perfect in every way? web standards. Also planned is a series of database and
product demos by vendors and database administrators,
What’s the matter with kids as well as some training workshops.
today?” This active program of social, professional and instruc-
tive programs, we hope, will give us the momentum to
become a permanent, vital part of SLA-NY, and may, we
hope, encourage other student groups to form and
n at least one spectacular case, there is nothing wrong

I with kids today. Library students at Pratt Institute

have formed a student chapter of approximately forty
members. All forty are either full or student members
become active in the area. We thank you for your
encouragement and support and invite you to follow our
activities through our web site, http://pratt.edu/~sla.

of the SLA.
Lisa Ryan is the President of the Pratt SLA Chapter and can be
Formed in and active since a September 20, 2005 kickoff reached via e-mail through the chapter web site,
meeting, the group has a full slate of officers and advisors http://pratt.edu/~sla.
for the 2005-2006 academic year: Lisa Ryan, President;
Elizabeth Sucher-Jacobson, Vice-President; James Adler,
Treasurer; Tiffany Schureman, Secretary; Jennifer Brown,
Director of Social Networking; Molly Eger, Marketing
Manager; Virginia Papandrea and Pam Rollo, Faculty
Advisors, and Heather Edwards, Pratt SILS Alumni Liaison.
Vice-President Sucher-Jacobson is committed to spear-
heading membership throughout the academic year,
including a major push during the Spring 2006 registra-
tion period. In addition, executive meetings and mem-
bership meetings are contemplated throughout the acad-
emic year. An item to be discussed will be a project for
the Spring 2006 term.
Since professional preparation is the focus of our chapter,
one of our major activities has been the organization of
library tours in the New York area. Several were planned
for 2005 and early 2006, including ABC News Research
Center, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American
Museum of Natural History, Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Con-
servation Society, The Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, The New York Botanical Garden, The New York
Horticultural Society, The New York Yacht Club and
The University Club. SLA members associated with
these distinguished libraries have been generous with their
time, often staying late or coming in on weekends to
facilitate these experiences for the Pratt SLA members.
The chapter also had two programs with speakers during
the fall term. Paul Schlotthauer, Reference Librarian and
Archivist at the Pratt Institute spoke at a session co-
sponsored with the School of Information and Library
Science Student association on the archived materials
available at Pratt itself. Dana Gordon, Deputy Director
ChapterNews 11 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006
The Realization Rosemary was a very active member of the SLA, both
nationally and within the New York chapter. She was
of a Life Lived Well: President of the New York Chapter in 1955 and 1956,
and from 1968 through 1971 she served on the SLA’s
Rosemary Demarest national Board of Directors. She was also chair of the
Financial Group and chair of the Business and Finance
Division within SLA and served on numerous other
committees as well.
In 1980, the year in which she retired as head librarian
of the National Office Library of Price Waterhouse
he Roman historian Tacitus, in a small monograph

T
& Company, Rosemary was elected to the SLA Hall of
about the remarkable life and death of his father- Fame. She was the author of Accounting Information
in-law, tells us that the only long-lasting consolation Sources (Gale Research Company, 1970).
for those mourning the departed is “conscientia vitae
bene actae,” the realization of a life well lived. This is
certainly a consolation available to those who knew or ✢
who knew of the remarkable life of long-time SLA Rosemary Demarest died on Monday, June 6th, 2005,
member Rosemary Demarest. at the age of 91. A memorial service was held Tuesday,
Rosemary Demarest was a graduate of Sarah Lawrence June 21st, at 3:00 pm, at St. James’ Church on Madison
College and began her librarian career in New York City Avenue in New Yor
as an assistant librarian for the Hanover Bank. The life of
an assistant librarian for a proper financial giant was not,
however, to last long. American sympathizers to the
British cause at the outbreak of World War II actively
sought civilian workers to travel to England to bulk up
a work force stretched thin by the demands of war, and
Rosemary was recruited at a meeting of the New York
Junior League. She spent the “buzz bomb and blitz” Career Resources, Inc.
years in London in the research department of the Office DC On-Line, Inc.
of Strategic Services. It is reasonable to speculate—but it
is only speculation—that Rosemary’s long-time member-
ship in the London-based Royal Society of Literature
might have its origin in those wartime days.
With Hitler defeated and the war successfully concluded,
Rosemary returned to the United States, where she was
appointed chief librarian for the Hanover Bank and, in
1947, joined SLA. In 1953, she went to the library staff
at Price Waterhouse, where she stayed until her retire-
ment in 1980.

ChapterNews 12 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006

 CHAPTER ANNOUNCEMENTS
CHAPTER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SLA-NY SNAP-SHOT An Invitation To Readers

The editor of the newsletter reminds all members of the
New York Chapter of SLA that the pages of ChapterNews
are open to all. The editor would be very pleased to dis-
cuss and accept submissions in any of the following areas:
▲ Comings, goings, new jobs, new titles, retirements.
▲ Articles about day-to-day life in member libraries.
▲ Articles about SLA programs or social events you
might have attended.
▲ Reflections on the profession: salaries, responsibilities,
education, career path.
▲ Announcements of scholarships, awards, honors,
whether those announcements are invitations to pro-
pose candidates or are announcements of winners.
▲ Library initiatives: acquisitions, marketing/awareness
campaigns, organizational changes, etc.

The ChapterNews is a wonderful way to maximize the

value of the SLA experience, and a wonderful way to
share your experiences and successes with your fellow
librarians.
The editor of ChapterNews, Chuck Lowry, can be reached
at clowry@alm.com or 212.592.4932.
Members could be found doing everything from the Jitterbug
and the Bump, to the Hustle and the Electric Slide.

Remember the New York Chapter

web site address!
www.sla-ny.org
Check it out!!

ChapterNews 13 Vol. 77, #4 Winter 2006