EDITOR'S CORNER
by Jackie Jackson
The next meeting promises to be both full and interesting. Ken Kister has shared his insights with us before and we can look forward to both a useful and entertaining visit. Also, it's that time of the year when we are looking for candidates to be next year's officers. This organization is run by volunteers who do a fine job, and we have an impressive list of past officers. If you would like to join that group next year, you can put your name forward now! The dividends include being involved with an activity that promotes our profession, getting to know and network with people in all kinds of library situations, adding a line to your resume, and making new friends.
JUNE MEETING
by Joyce Burkhart
The next SIS meeting will be an evening dinner meeting on Monday, June 2, 1997. It will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Steak and Ale Restaurant, 204 North Westshore Blvd., Tampa (l block north of Kennedy Blvd. on Westshore). Please RSVP to Joyce Burkhart (phone: 341-3472) or Betsy King (phone: 887-1658) or email kingb@freenet.tlh.fl.us) by Thursday afternoon, May 29.
We will be holding elections at this meeting for officers to serve from October 1997 through September 1998. If you are interested in becoming more involved in SIS by running for office, please call one of the current officers.
Our speaker for the evening will be Kenneth Kister, who will talk about "Reference materials in the Electronic Age: quandaries and quagmires." Ken is well known for his guides to various reference and information sources. His titles include Kister's Best Dictionaries for Adults and Young People and Kister's Best Encyclopedias. He has asked that we allow plenty of time for discussion and for the sharing of our own experiences with electronic reference materials.
For more information about Ken, check out his publisher's web pages:
We anticipate an interesting meeting - good food, good company, and intellectual stimulation. Please plan to attend and show your support for our organization.
MINUTES FROM APRIL
MEETING
by Tina Neville
The April 7 meeting was held at the St. Petersburg Junior College Allstate Center Library. During the brief business meeting members were reminded to send their favorite web sites into Shirl Kennedy for addition to the SIS web page. Treasurer Betsy King announced that there was $752 in the SIS account and our current membership stands at one hundred. During lunch, Joyce Burkhart conducted a lively round table discussion about continuing education options for librarians, and for people outside the library field who might be interested in enhancing their research skills.
The highlight of the meeting was a tour of the impressive Allstate facility. The Allstate building was owned by the Allstate Insurance Company until about eight years ago. At that time the building was donated to St. Petersburg Junior College. The campus supports the SPJC associate degree in criminal justice and is also home to several police academies.
This Allstate campus did not have a library when it opened; however, it soon became apparent that a library was needed. The current library houses a collection of about 2,500 books and a small collection of periodicals. Approximately seventy-five percent of the collection is related to criminal justice research. The library also has full Internet access and relies heavily on computers. The library is open to the public and participates in the Pinellas County library consortium.
After a tour of the library, we were treated to a tour of additional areas of the Allstate Center. First stop was for a look at the mock jail cells. We were told that this area contains a fairly authentic recreation of Pinellas County jail cells. In this area corrections recruits are trained on procedures for handling inmates. For those of you who were unable to attend the tour, we can assure you, the cells are small! The next stop was a visit to a law enforcement classroom that is connected to a mock apartment. The apartment contains two bedrooms, a bath, kitchen and living room, and is complete with a (dummy) victim. This area is used to teach proper search techniques and helps trainees learn how to investigate a crime scene. The final stops were in the forensic science lab and in the mock courtroom. The courtroom includes the jury box, the witness stand and all the areas necessary to hold a mock trial. With the extensive facilities available at the Allstate Center, instructors can teach students how to investigate a crime, then follow the process all the way through to the trial and incarceration.
Thanks very much to our St. Petersburg Junior College hosts for this unusual and interesting meeting!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
by Betsy King
The 1997 Membership Directories have been mailed out to all SIS members. This publication gives the full contact information for almost 100 information specialists in the Tampa Bay area. In addition, it has the 1996-1997 Officer list, SIS Bylaws, and Institution Directory. Be sure to check your own listing and let Betsy King know of any errors or changes. If you did not receive your copy, contact Betsy.
VIRUS ALERT
by Jackie Jackson
There have been a lot of virus warnings on the Internet and in the literature lately. One virus to surface is the "Concept" virus, now the most frequently encountered virus in the world. This virus is a macro written in Word Basic for Microsoft Word. It is not restricted to a specific computer system as it is system independent. It will operate on an IBM PC or a Macintosh as long as you are using Microsoft Word. It infects a system whenever a document is loaded with an infected template. The macro in the template copies the virus to the master template on the system, and every Microsoft Word document passing through your word processor after that will carry along an infected template. Until now, you had to run a piece of code to get a virus. Now, you just have to load a document.
- AAAZFS
- AAZAO
- AutoOpen
- Payload
- FileSaveAs
One possible temporary solution is to copy your master template file, NORMAL.DOT, to a backup file called something else such as USUAL.!W! and then to set up your AUTOEXEC.BAT to copy USUAL.!w! to NORMAL.DOT whenever you start up your system. If you do make changes to NORMAL.DOT, do so without first loading any new documents, and then immediately copy the changed NORMAL.DOT over to USUAL.!W! to keep the changes. You could also then use a file compare utility to monitor your NORMAL.DOT for any unwanted changes to alert you to any infected document template.
This virus is particularly bad news for Mac owners! The Mac has long been almost virus-free, but that's changing with the so-called macro viruses. Since these viruses are in the macro command languages of Microsoft Word and Excel, they can cross platforms and infect both Macs and PCs. Macro viruses, along with the widespread use of the Internet, practically guarantee that viral outbreaks in the Mac community will be happening. No one is safe anymore.
Additional information on viruses can be found at the "Antivirus.com" web page - http://www.antivirus.com, and the U.S. government, National Institute of Standards and Technology's Computer Security Resource Clearinghouse web page at
http://csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/virus/.
The preceding information courtesy Bill Israel, Editor Sig News and Views, AAII, Florida West Coast Chapter.
ASIS MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
The American Society for Information Science (ASIS)/Florida Chapter (cosponsored by USF School of Library and Information Science) presents:
"The Changing Face of Interface Design"
Thursday, May 22, 1997
University of South Florida/Tampa Campus Library
Reception: 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Grace Allen Reading Rm., fourth floor
Program: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., LIB 209, second floor
The Z39.50 protocol offers librarians a uniform, seamless interface for disparate data sources. Mr. John Iliff, (Pinellas Park Public Library) will demonstrate a Z39.50 application he utilizes and address the protocols role in the automation marketplace, particularly for Web-based products.
Ms. Kitty Bennett (St. Petersburg Times Research Library) will demonstrate a corporate library intranet application that allows researchers in a diverse end-user environment to focus on meaningful tools. She will also discuss librarian competencies for participating in Web-based interface development.
Contact Bahaa El-Hadidy at 978-1551, or Cary Kenney, at 893-8108, for more information. Everyone is welcome, and it is FREE.
SIS OFFICERS, 1996-1997
May 29, 1997