As I write this column I have just returned from the SLA conference in Baltimore. It was a successful meeting with excellent educational sessions and strong keynote speakers in Gwen Ifill and Walt Mossberg. The conference planners tried a new format this year and opened the conference on Sunday evening rather than Monday morning. Personally I liked this change and I hope that SLA will continue it next year in Denver. Tuesday’s business meeting saw the installation of the new president, Rebecca Vargha. I have met Rebecca on several occasions and believe that she will be a strong leader for the association. Our own Stephen Abram was installed as president-elect and will assume the presidency of SLA in 2008.

While I belong to a few divisions within SLA, I like to choose the programmes that I attend at conference without regard for the sponsoring division. I’ve found that this is a great way to “cross-pollinate” and see the information profession from another perspective. There were lots of opportunities for networking, both in the Exhibit Hall and in the division suites. The vendors were especially generous this year and I want to thank them for providing everything from food to the signature tote bags, to sponsorship of the educational sessions.

When I became president of the Toronto chapter last December, I said that my three goals for my term were to develop strong programmes, promote SLA to student groups and new members, and to strengthen the relationship with the chapter’s four subgroups. Since it’s the mid point in my presidency I want to give you a brief update.

During the past six months the Executive Board, Advisory Board and the Volunteer Pool have worked to create programmes for the membership. We organized sessions on emerging technologies, electronic journals and records classification as well as a joint social with CASLIS and an evening with SLA’s CEO Janice Lachance. We will be continuing these strong programmes in the fall with sessions that will cover public speaking and research skills for the health care industry. We will likely hold a summer social as well. The Executive Board welcomes your suggestions for future programmes. Please contact any member of the board with your ideas.

In the early spring I was able to meet with a group of FIS students to discuss SLA and the benefits of membership in a professional organization. We are fortunate to have an active student group at the University of Toronto. In July, I will be visiting the Special Libraries class at the University of Western Ontario, and hope to revisit FIS in the fall. Special libraries are a mystery to many students and I hope to stimulate their interest by my visits.

Our chapter is fortunate to have strong subgroups that provide programming to members with special interests. These subgroups are the Toronto Solos, New Information Professionals, Toronto West and Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph. Recently the Executive Board created a policy that gives the subgroups official status within the chapter as well as access to funding. I acknowledge and thank Gillian Clinton, Paul Cheeseman, Claire Lysnes, Carolyne Sidey, Linda Pauloski and Sandra Keyes, chairs of the subgroups, for their hard work this year. Please remember that all members of the chapter are welcome to attend the subgroup programmes.

I wish everyone a happy summer and look forward to meeting with you at the chapter’s upcoming events.

Martha Foote

Summer is heating up, the kids are out of school and we’re all ready for a
well deserved vacation. But before we part for the summer, we’re bringing you
one more issue of the Courier – perfect beach reading!!

From all accounts, SLA 2006 in Baltimore was a great success! For those of
us unable to attend, Martha Foote and Daniel Lee brings us back some early reports
from SLA 2006. In a blatant plug for upcoming issues, we’re also looking for
feedback or session summaries from other conference attendees for the next Courier,
so send us an email.

Also in this issue, updates on programming and some of the sessions hosted
this past quarter; and Carolyne Sidey introduces us to ISBN-13. In addition,
the ever insightful Peter de Jaeger discusses why not all change is created
equal.

As always, we are continually looking for more of the great ideas, comments,
thoughts, news that make up this newsletter. Contact us directly anytime for
more information.

Heather Postill
hpostill@sympatico.ca

Elizabeth Malak-McMullan
elizabeth.malak-mcmullan@vaughan.ca

1. SLA Moves to Create Chapter in China

SLA Chapter Cabinet Chair Patricia Cia has approved the creation of
a proposed chapter in China. In doing so, she appointed Stephen Marvin,
Business and Social Sciences Librarian at West Chester University outside Philadelphia,
as the proposed chapter’s first president. Marvin is very active in developing
copyright educational programming in concert with academic institutions in China.

SLA Activity in China Nothing New

SLA activity in China will likely come as a surprise to many. Yet recent history
suggests that members of the SLA community have been working to forge relationships
and create new opportunities for interaction there.

• Professor Marcia Zeng, an SLA member at Kent State University, is
  a member of the Chinese Society of Information Science, consultant to China
  Society of Indexers, and editor to the Society publication (one the top ranked
  journals in China). She has received many rewards and honouring appointments
  from Chinese library professional organizations including Peking University,
  Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Chinese Academy of Science.
• Foster Zhang, an SLA member at Stanford University, initialized and
  organized an annual digital library seminar with Chinese academic libraries.
  This year, the seminar’s title is "Strategies and Practices in Digital
  Library Frontier," and it will be held in Beijing and co-organized with
  Tsinghua University Library in August.
• Lian Ruan, Head Librarian and Director of International Programs
  for the Illinois Fire Service Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
  organized a summer training school for Chinese academic librarians in 2005.
• Professor Jian Qin of the School for Information Studies at Syracuse
  University is active in advising Peking University Library, China Academy
  of Science Library, and Ze-jiang University library school with visiting professor/consultant
  appointments.
• Incoming SLA President-Elect Stephen Abram took the opportunity to
  meet with hundreds of librarians and promote SLA.
• Stephen Marvin, West Chester University and interim President of
  the China Chapter, partnered with officials in Jiangxi Province to provide
  the first Sino – American conference on Copyright hosted by the Jiangxi Copyright
  Bureau and Jiangxi Normal University.
• SLA staff and members met with 26 business and government officials from
  China on 1 May. The delegation is seeking to learn how American businesses
  employ competitive intelligence and share information. SLA members Anne
  Caputo and Barbie Keiser led the dialogue.

2. SLA Web Site

I am very pleased to inform you that the SLA Web site has received a "facelift,"
and version 3.2 of www.sla.org was launched at SLA
2006 in Baltimore. Member feedback, expert opinion, and benchmarking with some
of the more innovative Web sites all factored into this evolution in your SLA
online community.

3. Click University

As we begin SLA 2006, we look forward to the 1st Birthday of Click University,
which was launched one year ago in Toronto. In one year, Click U. has already
evolved based on SLA member feedback and will continue to grow based on your
needs. In fact, we’ll be making a special announcement in Baltimore regarding
a new offering that I think you’ll find very exciting. Click U. continues to
operate as a "members only" service, so please make use of it for
your own career development. Some of the courses to watch for are:

Canadian Copyright Law Online 2006
Sept 18-Oct 20, 2006 [5 week]
[Monday - Friday]

US Copyright Law Online 2006
Sept 18-Oct 20, 2006 [5 week]
[Monday - Friday]

Managing Copyright Online 2006
Sept 18-Oct 20, 2006 [5 week]
[Monday - Friday]

Oct 30- Dec 1, 2006 [5 week]
[Monday - Friday]

Digital Content Management 2006
Oct 30- Dec 1, 2006 [5 week]
[Monday - Friday]

Go to www.clickuniversity.com for more
information or to sign up for a course.

4. SLA Task Forces

Over the last year, 6 task forces created by SLA President Pam Rollo
have been working hard on a range of topics that collectively form the basis
for an evolution for the future of SLA. These task forces have addressed chapter
modeling, alliances and partnerships, executive growth in the profession, recognition
in the SLA community, the evolution of the profession, research, and branding
SLA for the future. You’ll have an opportunity to hear what these task forces
discovered, as they will be reporting to the SLA Board of Directors in Baltimore.

5. Technology-Based Services

Two lines of work have been taking place of late in this arena. First, SLA
staff has been working hard over the past year to review proposals for a new
association management system, or AMS. Historically, we at headquarters and
volunteer leaders in chapters and divisions have been limited in our abilities
due to the current system we are using. That will change in the next year or
so, as we are closing in on acquisition of new system that will focus on your
needs, those of your volunteer leaders, and those of SLA HQ Staff.

Second, a group of SLA members have conducted an assessment of technology-related
services from SLA, and will be reporting on their findings to the SLA Chapter
and Division Cabinets in Baltimore. While many of their concerns and suggestions
are continually being addressed by us at SLA Headquarters, their assessment
was extremely productive and will serve as a guide for future action.

6. Special Libraries Association Business And Finance Division Announced
Center Of Excellence Award Winners

The presentation of these awards occurred on Monday, June 12, 2006 Baltimore,
MD. Immediately following the awards presentations, the winners spoke about
their best practices for which they were being recognized.

The awards take their inspiration from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Awards, which are given annually to U.S. organizations to recognize and promote
quality as a critical part of innovation and competitiveness. The Center of
Excellence Awards, like the Baldrige Award, recognizes customer driven quality
and leadership within the framework of an organization dedicated to the gathering,
analysis and dissemination of information within the business community.

The awards serve to recognize the best of the "best practices" in
three categories: technology, service and management. Any member of SLA could
apply for consideration in any of the three categories and all entries are evaluated
by a panel of judges who are members of the business and finance division. The
award winner represents excellence and quality at its highest level.

Center of Excellence Awards for Service presented to J. Hugh Jackson Library,
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

The J. Hugh Jackson Library is administered and funded solely by the Stanford
University Graduate School of Business (GSB) and is not part of the Stanford
University Libraries (SUL) system. As an independent coordinate library, Jackson
Library’s services and most of its resources are available to the entire Stanford
community. The library staff is composed of seven librarians and 21 library
assistants. The library’s primary customer base is the GSB community: 744 full-time
M.B.A. students, 101 Ph.D. students, 54 Sloan students in a one-year executive
Master’s program, 153 faculty and lecturers, and 325 staff. Library staff provides
services to an extensive executive education program of part-time students,
the school’s four major research centers, GSB alumni and the local business
community.

According to the judges, the J. Hugh Jackson Library earned the Center of Excellence
Award for Service because of its development of quality practices and services.
In the judges’ estimation, the Jackson Library successfully executed its strategic
initiatives with a distinct breadth and depth. They were especially impressed
with the library approaches to tracking goals directly to customers’ needs,
encouraging staff at all levels, as well as soliciting continuous feedback to
evaluate its services and identify areas for change or improvement.

7. Inner City Youth Internship Program

The Southern California Association of Law Librarians (SCALL) offers an Inner
City Youth Internship Program (ICYIP), presenting employment opportunities for
lifelong change to high school students in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

"SCALL established the Inner City Youth Internship Program in 1992. Our
mission is to offer employment opportunities to qualified inner city high school
students in private, public and academic libraries as well as other related
institutions. Our program intends that by participating in these work environments,
our interns will gain more familiarity with the profession of law as well as
gain useful work experience. We want to further these students’ career aspirations
and to encourage them to achieve all that they can." (Mission Statement)
To support this effort, please visit the program’s Web site (http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/icyp/innercitymain.html).

8. Columbia University Launches New MLIS in Information & Archive Management

In September 2006, Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education will
launch a new Master of Science in Information and Archive Management. The Information
and Archive Management program is designed to teach the systematic and technical
skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities demanded by business, government,
and non-profit organizations in what is now appropriately termed the "international
information economy."

9. Information Today To Donate 20% of Booth Sales to Katrina Relief Fund

Information Today, Inc. (ITI) will donate 20% of its booth sales at SLA 2006
to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. ITI will make its entire
catalogue of publications, directories, books, and other information-industry
related products available for purchase by SLA attendees. A select number of
ITI publications will also be available in the SLA Marketplace at the event.
ITI will have many of its products on display at Booth #2125 in the SLA exhibit
hall. Any publications can be ordered from the ITI catalogue, which will be
available at the booth.

10. 2006 SLA Salary Survey and Workforce Study

The annual salary survey and workforce study will be sent out to US and Canadian
members by the end of June. The survey is being sent out later than usual so
as not to compete with the 2006 Membership Study. As mentioned in earlier SLA
Connections and Information Outlook invaluable information is obtained from
these surveys, and we appreciate your commitment to SLA and your completion
of these surveys. If you have any questions about the salary survey and workplace
study contact John Latham at jlatham@sla.org.

11. SLA, Information Today Announce Strategic Alliance

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) and Information Today, Incorporated
(ITI) announce a strategic alliance that will focus on coordinated marketing,
conference development, and possible expansion into content distribution that
will strengthen the value of both organizations to the global community of information
professionals.

The alliance will immediately provide opportunities for both organizations
to drive sales of their respective products, but will also yield deeper involvement
by SLA in the development and marketing of ITI events. Details on specific event
arrangements will be negotiated separately.

SLA Chief Executive Officer Janice R. Lachance hailed the move as "a
significant step for SLA to grow its membership base and the services of Click
University, which is designed to serve as the hub of learning for post-graduate
information professionals. I’m thrilled that we could take an existing marketing
relationship and turn it into something that will yield great opportunities
for both organizations and, most importantly, for librarians and information
professionals."

Information Today, Inc. CEO Thomas Hogan believes that this partnership
"is the next logical step in the continuing relationship between our organizations.
We have always felt close to SLA and its members, whether we are blogging the
annual SLA Conference or inviting members to our events. Since both SLA and
ITI strive to serve the needs of the information professional, we are excited
to see how a more focused partnership will result in even more growth for our
organizations."

The Toronto Solos have been very busy this spring. We’ve managed to hold 4 meetings and have decided to welcome non-Solos to those of our meetings they find of interest. On average we have about a dozen people attending our downtown lunch meetings, although we almost doubled that for our meeting on Professional Development! Our northern dinners attract about half a dozen Solos which means we get some great discussions going in an informal setting.

We are adding something new to this edition of the Solo Column: a number of Toronto Solos are looking for advice or have resources they can make available to other Toronto Chapter members, so do read our new section, Members Exchange.

Members Exchange

Anna Fredericks of the Canadian Professional Sales Association is looking for support and information. If anyone has experience moving their library from a traditional format to a virtual format she would REALLY APPRECIATE hearing from you. Anna can be contacted at afrederick@cpsa.com

The editor of LLRX is looking for anyone interested in writing articles about solo librarianship. LLRX is a free web-based journal dedicated to providing legal and library professionals with information on Internet research and technology-related issues, applications, resources and tools (www.llrx.com). Contact Connie Crosby of WeirFoulds if you are interested. CROSBYC@weirfoulds.com

A former Toronto Solo, Terezia Matus, is now working in Washington, D.C. for IFES. She recently wrote to us offering some of their publications on electoral issues (free of charge) or to discuss resources on elections. Anybody interested should contact Terezia directly at tmatus@ifes.org.

The Toronto Chapter of SLA has two annual Membership Sponsorship Funds available for unemployed information professionals actively seeking work. The fund is to assist existing and prospective members to maintain or establish membership in SLA and become active in the Chapter. This is a one-time, non-renewable award. Details can be found at http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/about/chapterdocs/mbrship_sponsorship.pdf. Unfortunately, this years’ Funds are already spoken for.

We still have a few copies of the Workplace Health and Wellness packages so kindly provided by Norma Gibson-McDonald of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. Please e-mail Gillian Clinton at clintonresearch@yahoo.ca if you would like a set sent to you.

If you are interested in viewing the recent SLA salary survey, Kolette Taber has the Toronto Chapter copy and would be glad to make it available to members. She can be reached at ktaber@clhia.ca

Downtown Lunch Meetings

Thanks to Kolette Taber of The Canadian Health & Life Insurance Association (CLHIA) who continues to provide meeting space for the Downtown Solos.

The Solos’ March 13 meeting focused on Media Monitoring where we discussed issues ranging from dirty hands from newspaper clippings to the copyright issues surrounding photocopying (always a hot topic) and the migration of information to electronic databases. The main problem with electronic resources is that not all sources are included in any one database so that you either end up with a lopsided representation of the news or very expensive subscriptions to multiple databases. Other problems with electronic resources include:

• the high turnover of customer support staff resulting in uneven and intermittent responses;

• coverage of non-North American and non-European sources by the main providers gives spotty and non-timely results; and pay-per-view services often do not provide access to the full range of resources.

It was also pointed out that in large corporations there is sometimes a communications department which does the media monitoring rather than the library. This can result in duplication of effort as well as gaps in service if one group thinks the other has things covered. Media monitoring is not just about newspapers and the question was raised regarding good sources for audio and video news monitoring. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of answers!

We also wondered if any of the library schools have courses on this topic or encourage PhDs in this area but we were unable to find any schools offering such courses and the only dissertation that showed up on the topic was one by a Political Science student studying the news gathering practices of American politicians.

Our Chapter President, Martha Foote, attended this meeting.

On April 24 we met to hear a presentation on Professional Development which was of particular importance since a number of our members had been affected by the recent layoffs at Micromedia/Proquest. At this meeting we were also fortunate to have some colleagues from TALL as our meeting announcements are now being passed along to our sister organization.

Maggie Weaver had agreed to speak to our group. Much of her presentation was an amusing and informative look at her “The Power of One: Information Professionals Working Alone” web course offered through the FIS Professional Learning Centre. Maggie suggested the following books would be of help to solos:

The New OPL Sourcebook by Judith Siess, Information Today, 2006
The Knowledge Entrepreneur by Stan Skrzeszewski, Scarecrow Press, 2006
Small Libraries, 2nd ed. By Sally Gardner Reed, McFarland, 2002
Frog-Snogger’s Guide, by Susan Lancaster, Management Books, 2000

Finally, the Downtown group met on June 5 to discuss our professional accomplishments over the past year. An absolutely frightening number of solos had been involved in moving their libraries. These moves included the weeding, archiving and digitizing of material since one move was to a smaller location. One person was lucky enough to move both to a larger space and to have significant input into the planning of that space. The worst move was to a new building, then, several months later, moving within the new building and finally being told to prepare to change from a traditional collection to a virtual collection.

Several solos obtained new jobs during the past year including, in one case, moving to Canada in the process. Another new job has involved creating and implementing a new file structure and e-mail management. Apparently, creating the systems was not nearly as difficult as getting people to use them! In a related field, one solo rolled out a new Knowledge Management system and provided guidelines to workers unfamiliar with the concepts of KM. They have also been busy digitizing paper legal opinions.

Northern Dinner Meetings

A small group of Northern Solos met on April 24 where the discussion started with Workplace Health and Wellness, built on the downtown discussion on media monitoring and veered off into blogging, RSS feeds and other new technologies. A really good group feeling evolved and we all felt a little less isolated as solos.

The topic of meeting location was raised and it has been decided that we will try a meeting in the fall somewhere along the northern end of the subway line so that the meeting will be more accessible to any solos wishing to attend.

Future Plans

We are on hiatus for the summer but plan to start meetings up again in the fall. If you have suggestions for future meetings, or wish to join us, please get in touch with Paul at pcheeseman@cppib.ca or watch the Toronto Chapter listserv for notices.

Gillian Clinton served two terms as Chair of the Toronto Solos and has stepped down. Paul Cheeseman is now the Solo Chair serving until December 2006. If anyone is interested in running for Chair for 2007, please contact Paul (see below) or Martha Foote, Chapter President, at Martha.Foote@sunlife.com

New Members

We are always looking for solo colleagues with whom to connect. So pass this issue of Courier around and bring a fellow solo to an event happening near you!

We look forward to seeing all of you at our meetings.

Gillian Clinton is the principal of Clinton Research. Her company provides information research, knowledge management and library services to corporations or individuals on an as-needed basis. She can be reached at clintonresearch@yahoo.ca or 416-218-9038.

Paul Cheeseman is the Librarian at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and can be reached at 416-868-5060 or pcheeseman@cppib.ca.

Ricardo Laskaris graduated from the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto in 2004. In addition to his MISt, he holds a B.Sc. in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence. Currently, Ricardo works in fraud detection at the Bank of Montreal. His interests include science, medicine and technology. He has done volunteer work for Mid-Toronto Community Services, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Toronto Public Libraries. Ricardo is also a member of the National Scrabble Association.

Our Events

On the evening of April 3, 2006 the SLA Toronto Chapter New Information Professionals
(NIP) Program had its second event, which was a resounding success.

Our speaker was Gayle Gossen, an active member of SLA for 10 years with
roles as Toronto Chapter President, Courier Editor and Program Planner. Gayle
also works with the Business & Finance Division and has served as Task Force
Chair for Chapter Modeling. After graduation from University of Western Ontario,
Gayle worked as a librarian at the Toronto Star and for over 8 years in sales
related positions at LexisNexis Canada. At the time of the event, she was Corporate
Sales Manager for OrderIt.ca.

The topic of the event was Professional Image & Business Etiquette.
Gayle focused on practical things to do to ensure the professional image and
the business etiquette skills you exhibit are helping you obtain your desired
position or networking contact. She led an interactive discussion, which covered
the following areas:

• Physical appearance and dress – Dress for the part you want
• Language, speaking ability and verbal communication
• Attitude
• Mannerisms, habits and non-verbal communication
• Disclosure of personal information – How much is too much?
• Business etiquette in formal and lunch meetings, in email, over the telephone,
  with colleagues.
• Networking tips

On the evening of May 25, 2006, the NIP Program had its third and final event
for year, which was also a great success.

Our speaker was Stephen Abram, President-elect of SLA internationally,
immediate past-President of the Canadian Library Association, Vice President
Innovation for SirsiDynix, and formerly Publisher Electronic Information at
Thomson after managing several libraries. Stephen has been listed by Library
Journal as one of the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries, and
has received numerous honours and speaks regularly internationally. He has been
president of OLA and served on the SLA board of directors. In addition to writing
for Library Journal, Stephen’s columns appear in Information Outlook
and Multimedia and Internet @ Schools, OneSource, Feliciter,
and Access.

The topic of the event was Mentorship. Stephen focused on how mentorship can
benefit the new information professional, and touched upon the practical matters
of finding a mentor, getting the most value out of the mentor/mentee relationship,
and moving on to becoming a mentor yourself. He led an interactive discussion,
which covered the following areas:

• Rewards of having a mentor
• How a mentor can help you grow professionally and can assist you in making
  critical career moves
• Having multiple and different kinds of mentors
• Mentors internal to your organization vs. mentors external to your organization
  -which is better?
• How to seek and approach potential mentors and where to seek professional
  guidance outside of the academic environment
• Mentorship opportunities and leadership events available through professional
  and alumni associations
• Mentor/Mentee fit
• The two-way mentor/mentee relationship
• How to transition in and out of a mentor relationship
• Mentorship resources

Both of these events were held at the Duke of York Pub, 39 Prince Arthur St.,
Toronto.

Future Plans

The New Information Professionals (NIP) Program is on hiatus for the summer
and will resume in September. Watch for announcements about future events on
the SLA Toronto chapter website and listserv!

If you have topic or speaker suggestions for future events, please get in touch
with me at clysnes@alphaplus.ca.

New Members

We are always looking for new information professionals with whom to connect.
So pass this issue of Courier around and encourage a new information professional
or soon-to-be-graduating Master of Information Studies (MISt) student to come
to our next event!

Since graduating from the Faculty of Information Studies at the University
of Toronto in 2004, Claire Lysnes (clysnes@alphaplus.ca) has been Information
Resources Officer (Projects) with AlphaPlus Centre, an Ontario Ministry of Training,
Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) funded
organization serving the Ontario adult literacy community.

In the fall of 2005, SLA Toronto brought a recommendation to the Board of Directors
asking for an investigation into the technology needs of units. The Board of
Directors deferred the matter to the Cabinets. Brent Mai, Division Cabinet Chair
and Patricia Cia, Chapter Cabinet Chair created the Technology Review Advisory
Group, with members representing both chapters and divisions, to investigate.
The full report came to the Chapter and Division Cabinet Chairs and to SLA Headquarters
on May 18th. As Chair, I presented our final report to a Joint (Chapter and
Division) Cabinet meeting in Baltimore on June 13, 2006.

The Technology Review Advisory Group Final Report: Executive Summary with
Update from SLA can be found at: https://www.sla.org/PDFs/TRAG-summary-update2006.pdf

My speech to the joint cabinets went very well. The recommendations of the
Technology Review Advisory Group were well received. The full report is available
to SLA members only, but an executive summary and update from SLA Headquarters
is linked above. If you would like to access the full report, please contact
me (danielplee@sympatico.ca) and I will direct you to its location.

Short Term Recommendations

1. Establish a permanent Technology Advisory committee, reporting to the Board
   of Directors.
2. Review the communications procedures and broaden channels used by SLA staff
   to promote technologies available to units.
3. As the decision for a new Association Membership System (AMS) is made, consult
   with the SLA Technology Review Advisory Group.
4. SLA’s Association Membership System (AMS) should, at a minimum include a
   number of features not currently included in the system.
5. Task a staff member at SLA Headquarters (with the assistance of the proposed
   ongoing Committee in recommendation 1) to develop an IT Strategic Plan for
   SLA. This plan would serve as a valuable planning tool for decision-making
   as well as facilitating dialogue between the leadership, members at-large,
   and Headquarters.
6. Allow for more than one person to access the web server via FTP. The current
   model of distributing one username and password to the unit webmaster creates
   a narrowly controlled, "gatekeeper" environment which is inefficient
   and not easily managed.
7. Solicit and/or compile recommendations from other Task Forces that directly
   relate to technology.
8. Permanently expand the Leadership Discussion List to include all elected
   members of each unit.
9. Provide a list of available tools and expected deadlines to any Association-level
   task force.

Long-term Recommendations

1. Create a task force to investigate SLA’s current model for publishing web
   content by the units.
2. Investigate expanded reporting options for conference planners and unit
   leadership.
3. Many volunteers feel it is a burden to rely on home or work computers to
   conduct SLA business, including software installation and software upgrades.
   This is especially important for volunteers who work in "restricted"
   environments. SLA should investigate possible solutions to this issue, such
   as web-based or thin-client software.
4. Negotiate licenses (to which seats could be added through SLA at unit expense
   if desired) for popular desktop software tools in addition to Quicken (e.g.
   Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat.)
5. Strive to provide a seemingly seamless technology experience for members.
6. Use Click University as a platform for volunteer education to improve technology
   skills and awareness.
7. Provide volunteers with web-based collaborative workspaces.

I expect to hear back officially from the Board of Directors after their next
major meeting in October. Look for another update in the Fall or Winter issue.

Daniel Lee is Chair of Public Relations for SLA Toronto and a Research Librarian
with Navigator Ltd. in Toronto. Daniel can be reached by e-mail at danielplee@sympatico.ca.

triskaidekaphobia: an irrational fear of the number 13 (http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia)

In the case of the ISBN change, this fear may not be entirely irrational if
your Library Management System cannot handle the extra digits. But so far, I
have found it makes some things much easier.

Why?
To make room. It is a similar situation to the 905/416 phone numbers in the
Greater Toronto Area. One day they just ran out and everyone had to start dialing
ten digits. It’s the same with international standard book numbers and now the
ISBN-10 is an ISBN-13.

When?
January 1, 2007
Publishers are using both numbers as an interim step.

Who?
Everyone who uses an ISBN – publishers, cataloguers, librarians, book stores,
etc.

What?
The ISBN-13 is the same number as the European Article Number (EAN). EAN is
the barcode number on the back of books, now known as the "International
Article Number." This 13-digit number has been in use for over 20 years
in the retail trade.

If you look closely at the ISBN-10 and the barcode number on the back of a
book, you will see they are mostly the same. The ISBN-10 simply has a 978 in
front of the first nine digits.

The 10th digit of an ISBN is the check digit. A new check digit is required
for the ISBN-13.

All books will have 978 or 979 as their first three EAN/ISBN-13 numbers. The
official standard for this is ISO 2108:2005. Any ISBN-13 with a 978 prefix can
be converted into an ISBN-10, however, there is no ISBN-10 equivalent for a
book with a 979 prefix.

What do you need to do?

• Read up on the situation. Understand the implications for your own processes.
• Check with your database / management system vendor to ensure that you will
  be ISBN-13 compliant. Most will be, and you will not be the only library asking.
• If you use EDI for ordering or claiming, verify with your book vendor that
  your new EDI files and their EDI files will be read properly after the implementation.
• Enjoy the fact that you can now simply wand in the barcode on the back of
  the book for an ISBN search.
• Locate and save locations of conversion utilities. You may need them.

Other Sources:

Are You Ready for ISBN-13?
http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/transition.asp

Are You Ready for ISBN-13?
http://www.bisg.org/isbn-13/

Frequently Asked Questions about the new ISBN standard
http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/isbn.htm

Get Ready for the New ISBN!
http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/ISBN.html

ISBN-13 for Dummies
http://www.bisg.org/isbn-13/for.dummies.html

Carolyne has been at Xerox for over 18 years and manager of the Library
for 17 of them. The XRCC Library serves the information needs of the research
staff of XRCC as well as the research group in Wilsonville, OR. In addition
to an MLIS from UWO in 1987, she has a degree in chemical engineering from U
of T (1981) and is a professional engineer.

On March 15, 2006, Samantha Chmelik, principal of Knowledge inForm, Inc. presented
a virtual Click U Live! seminar on Market Research for Libraries. Click U Live!
seminars are one of many features of Click University (www.clickuniversity.com)
– a special online community for the benefit of SLA members. Ms. Chmelik has
more than 10 years of experience in market research and competitive intelligence
and helps businesses to maximize their understanding of their industries, competitors
and customers. She is a reputed expert with knowledge of a wide range of industries
including financial services, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing,
high tech, specialty chemicals, and of subjects such as competitive intelligence,
new product development and corporate reorganizations. A cofounder of Knowledge
inForm, she has also presented at professional conferences on topics such as
data visualization and competitive intelligence.

The seminar was produced by the Professional Development Centre of SLA in partnership
with Information Outlook and coordinated by SLA-Toronto. The seminar allowed
‘live’ interaction of participants with Samantha Chmelik via web based conferencing
technology. There were some technical audio problems and this limited the discussions
and participation. For those readers who did not attend the seminar but who
may be interested in this presentation, I will very briefly outline the concepts
that were presented.

As the title suggests, the seminar was for professionals wishing to advance
their knowledge of market research and its applications to libraries. It catered
to those who are market researchers or who support market research departments
of their organization or who are planning to become a market researcher or marketing
professional. The learning outcomes were an ability to conduct market research
projects, data analysis and implementing research results to fulfill the needs
of organizations, including libraries.

The presentation focused on ways of applying market research techniques to analyze
current patrons in terms of needs and wants, attract new patrons, learn about
competitors, promote library services and develop new research skills. The topics
of segmentation, marketing mix, usability studies and perceptual maps were explored
in connection with library management and market research. The value of market
research in making decisions for development of products or services was also
discussed. Market research is typically lined up sequentially in the overall
process of new product or service development which involves brainstorming,
concept testing, research and development, prototype testing and market research.
We learned that market research would help ascertain the elements of the so-called
"Marketing Mix".

Marketing Mix refers to the combination of elements used to create the strategy
for the sale of products or services. Elements of this mix are four "P"s:
first is "Product" or a service itself that must satisfy a need or
want for a niche of market; the second element is "Price", which is
actually considered as an equation consisting of Brand Value + Product Cost
+ Profit Margin; third is "Promotion", which is a means of making
people aware of the product or service — that is, identifying if advertising,
email, some sort of incentives or marketing would make people aware of the product
or service; "Place/Position" is the fourth element of this mix –
"Place" refers to physical distribution of the product where they
might find this product or service in contrast to "Position" which
reflects as to what customers ‘think’ of the product or service.

We learned that Segmentation is one of the marketing techniques used to make
your world smaller, i.e. "grouping the customers by specific characteristics
for the purpose of identifying who buys a product or service and why".
That is, essentially identifying your customer. Information derived is then
used to determine promotional strategy, pricing and positioning. Suggested sources
of Segmentation were surveys, population studies, purchase patterns, multivariate
analysis, etc. Segmentation can be accomplished by identifying the characteristics
of customers either individually or in combination of processes of ‘Customergraphics’
(if customers are business customers or consumer customers), Demographics (population
or occupational characteristics), Psychographics (values, opinions or lifestyle),
Geographics (location characteristics) and ‘Productgraphics’ (brand loyalty,
usage, perception, etc.). There are so called "Six Steps to Segmentation"
that allow the segmented data to be used effectively. These include Market Boundaries
(determination of needs of market and focus of the business), Segment Variables
(choose appropriate "graphics"), Segment Data Collection (identifying
all customers with same needs and wants & driver for these wants and needs),
Segment Profiles (where to best position the product or service, buying behaviour
of market), Opportunity Identification and Marketing Plan Design (market segment
based on chosen variables).

The results of the segmentation research could be used to form the graphical
representation of a customer’s perceptions. A ‘Perceptual Map’ was formally
defined as a "chart of customers’ perceptions of existing products or services,
which identifies important and differentiating factors in the purchasing decision".
Perceptual Maps have implications for criteria for purchasing decisions, position
within the current market and competitors within the current market. We also
discussed Usability Studies — those studies about the use of product or service
in a simulated environment — and how these should be distinguished from Test
Markets or Focus Groups. Usability studies are deemed to be helpful in the prototype
or launch stage of product or service development and are utilized for testing
new products, improving existing products and identifying differences in perceived
and actual use. These studies may be Exploratory, where the subject is asked
to use the product or service as appropriate and at liberty, or Assessment,
where the customer is asked to perform specific tasks and thus help identify
flaws in the product or service. In Validation Usability, one is validating
what was learned in Exploratory and/or Assessment studies. In a fourth type
of Usability Study called Comparison Study, one is comparing one’s own products
or service and competitors’. Ultimately, Usability Studies result in the "improvement
of product features and collaterals, uncovering of ideas for other products
and observation of customer interaction".

The Marketing Mix, Segmentation, Perceptual Maps and Usability Studies are
proven useful concepts that may be used separately or together as part of your
product or service development process and as a source of your marketing strategy
of products or services. Any comments or specific questions may be sent to presenter
Samantha Chmelik: chmelik@knowledgeinform.com or author at arvind.mehta@utoronto.ca

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chmelik, Samantha. "Market Research for Libraries". Click U Live!
Seminar Alexandria, Va: Professional Development Centre in partnership with
Information Outlook, Special Libraries Association. March 15, 2006: 1-31.

Chmelik, Samantha. "Market Research for Libraries". Information Outlook.
10.2 (2006): 23-25.

Knowledge inForm. Boston Web Designers. March 14, 2006. <http://www.knowledgeinform.com
>

Arvind Mehta is a graduate of Faculty of Information Studies, University
of Toronto. He is a member of Special Library Association and can be reached
at arvind.mehta@utoronto.ca.

Over 5,000 information professionals from around the world descended on Baltimore,
Maryland for the SLA 2006 Annual Conference. For those of you who couldn’t attend
or missed one or two sessions, here are summaries of a handful of sessions I
attended.

News Researchers in the Newsroom

Derek Willis is Research Database Editor with the Washington Post
and author of The Scoop. By far, Derek’s
presentation intrigued me the most at SLA.

The notion that information professionals are becoming dependent on software
they haven’t built themselves (hint: vendors) Derek calls "crutchware."
By using scripting, open-source software and a bit of old fashioned know-how,
Derek has repackaged publicly available data in ways that we as information
professionals should definitely emulate. A few of Derek’s projects include:

• FEC Electronic Filings RSS Feed (http://www.thescoop.org/projects/fecelecfilings/)
• U.S Congress Votes Database (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/)

Willis’ Principles to Follow

• Always move forward
• Never turn down data
• Steal from the best
• Automate and DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself)
• Deploy first
• Be an evangelist

The tools:

• Apache (www.apache.org/)
• Django (www.djangoproject.com/)
• Instiki (www.instiki.org/)
• MySQL (www.mysql.com/)
• Perl / PHP / Python (www.perl.com,
  www.php.net, www.python.org)
• Wget (www.gnu.org/software/wget/)
• xPDF (www.foolabs.com/xpdf/)

What’s on the Info Horizon?

Mary Ellen Bates is Principal of Bates Information Services (http://www.batesinfo.com).
Her presentation, "What’s on the Info Horizon" was an excellent look
at where, in Mary Ellen’s opinion, the information profession is heading. There
is:

• The impact of Web 2.0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0)
  • harnessing collective intelligence
  • rich user experiences (we will be judged against Google, flickr, etc.)
  • constant change rather than software upgrade cycles
  • web-based rather than platform-based
• Embracing change
• Interactivity
  • users tagging OPAC records
• Professional challenges
  • graying of the profession
  • library students choosing to work outside libraries
• The skills deficit in library schools. Students should be learning:
  • value-added online searching
  • post-processing and analysis
  • marketing
  • leadership
  • communication and collaboration
  • teaching and speaking

According to Mary Ellen:

• Things will get weird
• Be ready to pivot
• Everything you know is wrong
• Become the New Librarian, or channel your inner Xena, the Info-Warrior
• Think, "If I were outsourcing this library, what would the RFP look
  like?"

Yet another outstanding contribution by Mary Ellen. A PDF copy of her presentation
can be found at: http://www.batesinfo.com/2006-sla-horizon.pdf

Developing Leaders

Dr. Ken Haycock is Director of the School of Library and Information
Science at San Jose State University (http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/).
His presentation, "Developing Leaders":

• outlined the differences between management and leadership
• defined leadership; and
• described the characteristics of leaders.

According to Haycock, there are four competencies of good leaders:

1. managing attention
2. managing meaning
3. managing trust
4. managing oneself

Leaders also exhibit the following attributes:

• agreement building
• networking
• non-jurisdictional power
• institution building
• politics
• communication
• ascendance, dominance, and assertiveness (the inner impulse to leave their
  thumbprint)
• adaptability and flexibility of approach

In his closing remarks, Haycock asked the group, "What kind of leader
are you?" and challenged the group to plan by:

• knowing yourself
• taking advantage of opportunities
• selecting a mentor
• discussion succession management

Dr. Haycock’s speaking style is relaxed, humourous and witty. "Developing
Leaders" was excellent.

Meet the Millenials

Michael Wood is Vice President of Teenage Research Unlimited (http://www.teenresearch.com/).
His presentation, "Meet the Millenials" was fascinating not only because
of the content, but also because of his style in presenting qualitative and
quantitative research results in such a way as to keep the audience on the edge
of their seat for 1.5 hours. Not an easy task.

According to Mr. Wood, today’s teen are best described as:

• MaturiTeens (making adult decisions early in life)
• Virtual Intimates (the Web has allowed for an intimacy between teens who
  have never met)
• The Re-Generation (teens are forgiving – think Bill Clinton, Martha Stewart,
  Paris Hilton, and Kobe Bryant)
• Armchair Activists (want to be involved, but not necessarily in an active
  role)
• Backstorians (wanting to know the story behind the story)

And teens are an important market because:

• They’re big
• They’re passionate consumers
• They’re confident and optimistic
• They’re not us

The TRU Study is one to watch.

A few final thoughts from my experience at SLA

• text messaging is a lifeline (how did people ever find each other before
  it?)
• laptops are a must
• the local arrangements committee for every conference from now on must publish
  a list of wi-fi spots near the conference centre
• you can never drink enough water (this particular conference centre was
  akin to the Sahara)
• attend at least one business meeting
• better yet, attend the conference wrap-up session and speak up
• attend at least one session from another division
• when giving a speech, practice makes perfect
• (these next two I can’t take credit for and I think they’re good ones)
• we get cards to swipe with the vendors…what about cards to swipe before
  entering sessions to get accurate attendance levels?
• and each division gets $1 back for every butt in every seat (how’s that
  for getting the programme planners to put on good programming?)

I am already looking forward to SLA 2007 in Denver, Colorado!

Daniel Lee is Chair of Public Relations for SLA Toronto and a Research Librarian
with Navigator Ltd. in Toronto. Daniel can be reached by e-mail at danielplee@sympatico.ca.