Info Newsletter Index

SIS INFO
Vol. 16, No. 5
September 2002

Welcome to the Suncoast Information Specialists' September, 2002 newsletter.

Next Meeting, October 8, 2002

The Nominating Committee (Helen Beaulieu and Alicia Ellison) has prepared a slate of nominees --however, nominations are not closed until votes are cast at the meeting. If you would still like to nominate yourself or another person, please contact Alicia Ellison, aliciae@tampabay.rr.com, to make your nomination (please contact the nominee to ensure that she/he is willing to be on the slate). You may also contact Alicia if you will be unable to attend the meeting, and would like to confidentially vote by proxy. The Deadline for nominations and/or proxy votes: is 6 p.m. Friday, October 4.

We thank the following candidates who have stepped up to the plate and nominated themselves for leadership roles in our organization. Their names and a description of their potential offices are as follows:

Votes will be cast by ballot, with space left for write-in candidates.

Past Meeting, August 2002

SIS met on a rainy Wednesday, August 7, 2002 at Hill, Ward & Henderson, a law firm in downtown Tampa. The meeting was hosted by Wanda Barrett. We enjoyed lunch catered by City's Gourmet. Our nominating committee for the 2003 Officer Election will be Alicia Ellison and Helen Beaulieu. Anita Lindsay distributed SIS postcards for members to give out at other library-related events in order to promote SIS in our community. In spite of our technical difficulties, speaker Cary Kenney of the St. Petersburg Times presented "Recent Trends in Online News Delivery."  A longtime news librarian, Cary Kenney currently works in web publishing. She is a specialist in research for news professionals and in newspaper e-content sales. She has worked as a news researcher for several papers including the New York Times and Newsday, and was Director of Libraries for the St. Petersburg Times for 13 years. She currently works on the St. Petersburg Times Web sites, http://sptimes.com  and http://tampabay.com , managing their archive connections, reporting site statistics, and selling Times content to online vendors. She has a MLS degree from the University of Arizona. We had one guest from CFALL, Ellie Lopez, law librarian at Fowler, White.

Member News

• Shirl Kennedy has started a weblog: http://web.tampabay.rr.com/hooboy/blog/  There's even a little gizmo on there that lets you subscribe to daily updates.
  

• Tina Neville and Deborah Henry, University of South Florida St. Petersburg Poynter Library faculty, along with librarian Bruce Neville from the University of New Mexico, have co-authored Science and Technology Research: Writing Strategies for Students, published by Scarecrow Press, 2002.

New Name for USF Center

The Resource Center for Florida History & Politics at the University of South Florida (USF) has a new name. In keeping with its current mission "to promote arts and humanities education on Florida and its people to students, teachers, and the general public in the Tampa Bay area," it will now be known as the USF Florida Studies Center (FlaSC). The USF Florida Studies Center is located on the 4th floor of the USF Tampa Library next to the Grace Allen Room. The Center comprises a non-circulating Floridiana library, conference room seating for up to thirty people, and offices.

Upcoming Events

Mark Your Calendars and Plan Ahead for These Important Conferences:

• Creativity Workshop: How to be Your Creative-Best in Today's Challenging Information Environment
  • The Florida and Caribbean Chapter of Special Libraries Association is presenting an all-day workshop at USF on November 8, 2002. The workshop will be presented by Dr. Puccio, Director and Professor at the Center for Studies in Creativity, Buffalo State, State University of New York, an internationally known program that offers courses and academic credentials in creativity. More details, related links, and registration information is available at the Chapter website http://www.sla.org/chapter/cfc/
    
    "Creative thinking has been directly linked to professional success. Given the rapid pace of change, creative thinking is required now more than ever to survive and thrive in today's workplace. The purpose of this interactive and experiential day-long workshop is to introduce you to the concept of creative thinking and to practice proven methods for enhancing creative problem solving skills. In one day we will go from introduction to application, trying out some of the creative thinking techniques on current opportunities and challenges facing librarians and information professionals.
    
    "A special feature of this workshop is the opportunity to receive feedback on your personal approach to the creative process. We all engage in creative problem solving. It's a natural process. It is also quite natural that different people have different levels of energy for the four main aspects of the creative process. By completing and scoring a psychological profile that has been researched and developed over a ten-year period, you will discover the degree to which you prefer to focus your energies on identifying the problem, generating imaginative ideas, developing sound solutions, or taking action. Understanding such preferences can do much to enhance how we work with others."
    
    Registration, which includes lunch and the administration of The Buffalo Creative Process Inventory (BCPI) test, is $65 for SLA members (or membership in other national library/information organizations), $75 for non-SLA members, and $20 for students enrolled in an MLS program.
     
• Florida Library Association 2003 Annual Conference April 22-25, 2003 Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa in the WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort at Lake Buena VistaOrlando,Florida.  http://www.flalib.org 
   
• Special Libraries Association will hold its 2003 Annual Conference in New York City, June 7 - 12, 2003.
  • "The sessions and presentations will create an environment for networking, communication, continuous learning and other developmental opportunities for members and other information professionals. This environment will also help to strengthen their competencies, enhance the image and advance the profession. The Conference will highlight strategies used in member organizations that reflect the Association's strategic plan - Professionals Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st Century. These sessions are meant to give proper attention to the association's future direction. We will learn how our colleagues actually put knowledge to work in their organizations.
    
    SLA is also excited about the three dynamic keynote speakers that are lined up for New York: The Honorable Madeleine Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State, David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize winning author, and, Stewart Brand, Futurist.
    
    If you are currently an SLA member, you understand the importance and value found by attending your conference. Whether it's joining your local chapter members for a leading thinker presentation, or participating in round table discussions with your division peers, the SLA Annual Conference will expand your professional circle to help you learn, collaborate and innovate back at your office.
    
    If you are new to SLA or the information profession, the New York conference will be one of the best venues for highly concentrated formal and informal learning. Please join us in New York for the SLA 2003 Annual Conference, where you will have the unique opportunity to join a global community developing the future of the information industry." http://www.sla.org