-------- Original Message --------
Subject: SLA Celebrated 100 years!!
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:45:04 -0400
From: MCQUILLAN, DAVID <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Well it is hard to believe that another Special Libraries Association
(SLA) annual conference has passed by, but this one was really “special”
as it was our 100^th birthday. Founded by John Cotton Dana in 1909, SLA
continues to offer support for a diverse collection of library and
information organizations. Our interest is in the Geography and Map
Section, founded in 1941, and now a major part of the Social Science
Division. What follows is my personal experience at SLA, Washington, DC,
just to give an idea of some of the activities that took place.
I stayed at the Comfort Inn, Alexandria, a ten minute walk to the Van
Dorn Metro, when the shuttle from the hotel was not running (before 7:00
a.m. and after 10:00 p.m.) I purchased a 7-day unlimited metro pass
online a month or so before I drove to Washington, DC. I rode the blue
line to the first stop, King Street, and switched to the yellow line.
Depending on the wait, it took 20 – 30 minutes to get to the Washington
Convention Center, which was directly connected to the metro exit. After
registration, Sunday, June 14, former Secretary of State, Gen. Colin
Powell, gave the keynote address. He was well received and gave an
excellent talk on the information age and his efforts to bring the U.S.
State Department into this century. There was a reception/open house and
poster session, sponsored by the Social Science; Museum, Arts, and
Humanities; and Education Divisions at the Washington Renaissance Hotel,
later in the evening.
Monday, June 15, began with a session on the upcoming International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) meeting in
Milan, Italy. SLA staff and IFLA governing board members (SLA holds 4 of
the 10 positions on the board) discussed programs and issues for the
August 23 – 27, 2009 meeting. Three library students from the University
of Buffalo attended and sparked a lively discussion of the changes
coming to the governing structure of IFLA and the impact of its programs
on the library world. I took the metro to the Library of Congress to
renew my library readers card and confirm our tours on Wednesday. Back
at the Convention Center I briefly toured some of the exhibits and then
had a free lunch sponsored by the exhibitors. This was not your usual
snack tray, these were full lunches with sandwiches, salads, chips,
dessert, and drinks, sitting at a table. After another round in the
exhibits, it was off to the session on the 2010 Census. Dan Weinberg
gave an overview of the Census program. Dr. Weinberg is the assistant
director for Decennial Census Programs; Mike Radcliffe discussed Census
Geography. He is chief of the Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch,
Geography Division at the Census Bureau; Deborah Griffin is a special
assistant to the chief of the American Community Survey Office. She
discussed the American Community Survey. She is the director of the
Committee on National Statistics at the National Research Council of the
National Academies. There were many questions, especially about the ACS
and the former long form of the Census. I understand that many
transportation planners are not happy with the statistics produced by
the ACS, but it gives a more timely view for other planners. It was back
to the exhibits for more talks with exhibitors and collection of pens
and the unusual giveaways for which SLA is known (magnetic maps,
flashing buttons, bags, computer accessories, clothing, calendars, mouse
pads, etc.). After the exhibits closed, I caught the Dow Jones Shuttle
Bus to the Zambia Embassy for the International Reception. We were
treated to several exotic dishes and drinks in two large tents set up
next to the embassy. We heard more about the Lubuto Project for street
children libraries and several acknowledgements and awards were given.
Upon returning to the Convention Center, three of us walked to nearby
Chinatown and shared a dinner. More than enough food for us.
Tuesday, June 16, was my longest and busiest day. I was up at 5:00 a.m.
Took the 6:00 a.m. metro and attended the 7:00 a.m. OCLC Update
Breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Then it was up to the Convention
Center by 8:00 a.m. for the Social Science Division Breakfast/Business
meeting. After, we held a planning meeting for the Geography and Map
Section and talked about New Orleans next year. From 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. I
listened to an update session on RDA. The major paper was by Barbara
Tillett, Chief, Policy and Standards Division, Library of Congress. I
have talked to Barbara at IFLA meetings, so know how knowledgeable she
is about this coming change in catalog description. Some of the new
terms we need to remember are changes from “heading” to “access point”
and “main and added entry” to “authorized access point.” I next attended
a lunch meeting on RefWorks from ProQuest. I have never been to a lunch
meeting that was so well supplied with food –ribs, chicken breasts,
roast beef, vegetables, salads, rolls, desserts, flavored teas. There
was an excellent talk by library users and the vendors on how this
enables more effective research. I had to beat a quick path to the
National Geographic Society by 1:20 p.m. for our tour and presentation
on the Map Library. Michael Karabinos, newly appointed map librarian,
was our host. The Map Library has been moved again, it is now back with
the main library collection, after many years adjacent to the
Cartographic Department. About 100,000 older maps were transferred to
the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, to allow space for
the remaining newer maps. NGS is interested in the most up to date maps
for research in producing map supplements and maps in its periodicals.
Although they would like to offer map reference to the general public,
they are really there to support the staff of the NGS. David Miller,
senior edit cartographer & category manager, spoke to us about NGS map
publishing projects and offered some samples to take back to our
libraries. After a visit to the NGS store and its many cartographic
offerings, we headed back to the convention center and the exhibits. At
5:00 p.m. Jim Gillispie picked up a load of map librarians and we headed
out into rush hour Washington, DC traffic. Last year in Seattle, Mary
Murphy, our senior Geography and Map member, invited G&M folks over for
dinner at her home in suburban McLean, Virginia, which she shares with
her sister Ethel and brother-in-law Hal. We arrived at their comfortable
home about 6:00 p.m. and were ushered out to a cool screened porch. Mary
was the master of the grill and provided individually prepared
hamburgers, cole slaw, chips, snacks, and drinks. The crowning moment
came when she presented and cut two blueberry pies she had baked!! I
have photos if you would like to see. We talked about people and events
with regard to SLA Geography and Map Division over the past years. Hal
kept us entertained with stories from his years with the USDA and
“secret agent” neighbors. We probably all have his government statistics
book he edited in the late 1950s in our library collections. Hal and
Ethel gave me a ride to the Metro and I made it back to my hotel by
11:00 p.m. A very l-o-n-g day!
Wednesday, June 17, I took the Metro to the Convention Center for a
session in the exhibits with ProQuest. Chris Cowan, VP Publishing,
demonstrated the Digital Sanborn Maps and Historic Map Works products.
Then the group was asked for feedback on a series of questions provided
earlier by Lanell James, Product Manager, Genealogy for ProQuest. People
were definitely interested in having a searchable data base and the
ability to change scale. The economic issues, given our limited budgets,
are always a factor. I used the last hour and a half of exhibit time to
visit vendors that I had missed earlier. Many offered multiple items
like pens, mouse pads, etc. for our processing staff. Since I was
driving, I was able to accept more items than when I fly. They were
pulling up the carpet and turning off the lights as I left the exhibit
area. I even got at panel with the 100^th anniversary logo from a booth
that was being dismantled. More things to carry, but I did have a
wheeled “market cart” I got at the SLA—New York meeting in 2003. The
closing session was a panel moderated by Judy Woodruff with Neil
deGrasse Tyson, Robyn Meredith, and John Patrick talking about the
future for information and information professionals. One interesting
exchange in the question and answer session involved an Arab librarian
and Ms. Meredith. He expressed dismay over the visa problems for Arab
students coming to the USA and she related her problem as a woman and a
reporter entering Saudi Arabia. After a drawing for a Smartcar, which I
did not win, despite filling out my “passport” with 25 vendors in the
exhibits, there was a presentation on next year’s 101^st meeting in New
Orleans. Music was played, Mardi Gras beads were handed out by costumed
characters, and faux beignets served. Dorothy McGarry and I “inhaled”
our beignets as we had not eaten since breakfast and had to leave for
the tours at the Library of Congress. We got a group together, purchased
Metro tickets, and rode to capitol hill, being about 10 minutes late due
to Metro issues, for our 3:30 p.m. tour of the Jefferson Building. Ed
Redmond, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Reference
Specialist, was our host and guide. We first toured the Great Hall and
then moved to the second floor. The highlight was definitely the 1507
Waldseemuller map, the first map to show the name “America.” It is on
permanent exhibit with the 1516 Carta Marina map, which for some reason
dropped “America” from its printing. We moved next door to the Madison
Building at 4:30 p.m. for a tour of the Geography and Map Division. We
began with a table of recent duplicate maps, showing the variety of
materials the library collects. Then we moved on to the always
impressive view of 5,000,000 plus maps in two football fields of map
cabinets. They are now preparing to move some maps to offsite storage as
they have gone 5-high with their map cabinets and there is no more room!
Three in our group had worked on Summer Map Processing Projects at G&M
in past years. Mary Galneder, University of Wisconsin, Madison, had
worked with cataloging issues, Anita Oser, Western Carolina University,
had worked in the Vault, and I had done stack maintenance. We had the
special privilege of viewing maps in the vault at the end of our tour.
The highlight was the George Washington map, 1760s to 1799, around Mount
Vernon. It was in his own hand and used to update his land holdings. One
panel was missing and found to be in the Mount Vernon collection. LC has
a copy of the missing panel. I am always impressed with the depth of
knowledge and professionalism of the staff in the Geography and Map
Division. We concluded our visit with the presentation of a check from
the Map Online Users Group to LC G&M. Formed in the 1980s to deal with
the new issues of map libraries and online practices, the organization
rotated its annual meeting between ALA and SLA in alternate years, and
has been inactive for many years. Remaining funds have been kept in a no
fee Bank of America account. Recently the Bank announced a new fee
structure that would begin to reduce the balance, so I as treasurer,
closed the account. MOUG bylaws stated that any remaining money should
be donated to the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, so I
took the opportunity of the 100^th anniversary of SLA in Washington, DC
to make the transfer. It will go into their special acquisitions fund
and credit will be given to MOUG for any purchase. We finished the day
with dinner at Bull Feathers Restaurant, 2 blocks south of the Madison
Building and I made it back to my Metro station in time to catch the
shuttle to the hotel – no dark walk up the hill under I-495!!
David C. McQuillan
Map Cataloger
Thomas Cooper Library
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Phone: (803) 777-4723
Fax: (803) 777-6871
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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