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Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 11:53:25 -0400
From: David McQuillan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION
Sender: David McQuillan <[log in to unmask]>
MINNEAPOLIS MEETING
SLA GEOGRAPHY AND MAP DIVISION
The 90th Annual Conference of the Special Libraries
Association was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 5 to 10,
1999. It saw a return to full programming for the Geography
and Map Division, and the drafting of plans for the 2000 meeting
in Philadelphia and its 60th anniversary meeting in San Antonio
in 2001.
Held at the spacious downtown Minneapolis Convention Center,
the conference began with an evening bus tour of the Twin Cities.
After visiting the commercial district of Minneapolis and passing
the Sculpture Garden with its "Spoonbridge and Cherry" signature
sculpture, we drove up the street past the house featured on the
1970s Mary Tyler Moore Show, through various lake-centered
neighborhoods to Minnehaha Park, with its historic waterfall and
reproduction of Longfellow's home, then on to St. Paul to view the
capitol building, cathedral, theatre district, and governor's mansion.
Of particular interest was the Mississippi River with its system of
locks and bridges and associated industries such as the flour mills.
On Sunday morning, the Association and Division program activities
began in earnest. Chairman Bruce Obenhaus, Virginia Tech, served as
program chair as well as chair of the G&M Division (1998-2000).
There was a workshop for membership chairs at 8:00 a.m., the opening
of the exhibits at 11:00 a.m., the Geography and Map Division Board
Meeting and the IFLA Representatives Meeting at 3:00 p.m. (fortunately
for me in adjoining rooms at the Hilton), an SLA program planners
reunion at 5:30 p.m. (also at the Hilton), and a South Carolina Chapter
dinner at a unique local restaurant at 6:30 p.m.
On Monday there was a session on map preservation techniques by
John Freund, University of Florida, a mid-day tour of the Minnesota
Traffic Management Center, followed by the business meeting of the G&M
Division, an international tea at Orchestra Hall, and the library school
alumni reunions. Later a group of G&M members found a local restaurant
for an evening of networking and getting caught up on map library news
across the country.
Paper sessions were the order of the day for Tuesday. The first paper
was presented by Dr. HelenJane Armstrong and John Freund, University of
Florida, on the "Holy Land Antique Map Project." My slide talk on the
1998 IFLA Meeting in Amsterdam and an associated tour of Switzerland,
Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium
was next. Two papers that focused on modern techniques were given by
Angela Lee of ESRI and Rene Stein of the National Security Agency.
Ms. Lee's paper was "GIS and the Internet: Publishing Maps and Data
on the Web," and Ms. Stein's was "Softcopy Map Dissemination."
An afternoon tour of the venerable Hudson Map Company was followed by
a visit to East View Cartographic. The latter specializes in former
Soviet Union materials and treated participants to a reception and tour.
The day concluded with the annual "Lexis-Nexis" dessert reception at
the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.
Wednesday morning the SLA Annual Business Meeting was held, after
which a brief visit was made to "The Mall of America," world's largest
shopping mall, to buy map ties and Jesse Ventura memorabilia. An
afternoon session updated information on mapping activities at the U.S.
Geological Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Mapping and
Imagery Agency. This was followed by a reception and open house at
the John R. Borchert Map Library at Wilson Library, University of
Minnesota. Dr. HelenJane Armstrong, University of Florida, arranged
a dinner, following the reception, at the historic Nicollet Island Inn,
on an island in the Mississippi River. A very pleasant way to end
another busy day.
A joint field trip with the Solo Librarians, Geography and Map,
Engineering, Transportation, and Science and Technology Divisions was
held in Stillwater, on the St. Croix River on Thursday. Following a
visit to the Logging and Railroad Museum, a two-hour train ride into the
scenic St. Croix River valley was provided on the "Minnesota Zephyr." A
lunch of chicken and native wild rice was served in a historic dining
car during the train ride. After the train ride, a visit was made
to the Washington County Museum, located in the historic "Warden's
House," on the grounds of the first territorial prison in the old
Northwest. The day concluded with an informal dinner at "The Loon
Café," in the "Warehouse District" of downtown Minneapolis. All in
all a very productive conference that focused efforts to continue
the progress made over the past year.
Now it is on to Philadelphia for 2000! John Anderson, Louisiana
State University, has planned another full program of activities.
Watch for details soon, as the program for the preliminary
announcement booklet is due before the end of the year. Bruce
Obenhaus will continue as chair of the G&M Division for 1999-2000,
and Anita Oser, Western Carolina University, is planning the 2001
conference in San Antonio. Please contact them with any suggestions
for upcoming programs or concerning division activities.
The G&M website is:
http://www.sla.org/division/dgm. For membership information please
contact our membership chair: David C. McQuillan, University of
South Carolina, at [log in to unmask] The Geography and Map Division
has been the supporting organization for map library professionals
for almost 60 years. Please help keep the "fire" burning that was
lit by the pioneers in our field, by joining and participating in
future meetings.
David C. McQuillan
Map Librarian
Thomas Cooper Library
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: (803) 777-4723
Fax: (803) 777-4661
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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