Confessions of a Mad Librarian

Ten Top Tips
Tuesday -- June 6, 2005
7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
News Division
Moderated by Judy Grisewald

Michael Meiners, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Tip #1: Combine archiving duties: photo and text archiving
Results in a more versatile staff
Less specialization
Cross-training may be needed

Jim Hunter, Columbus Dispatch
Tip #2: Everything changes except for the need to market the library and connect with users
The library has created a mini-orientation package for all new employees: a dictionary, a style guide, a library-generated notebook of tips & guidelines for new editorial employees and a coupon for one hour of training

Michele Melady, Canadian Broadcasting Company
Tip #3: Creating a kudos file - bragging about your accomplishments
Ephemeral/unsolicited compliments received via email are compiled and sent to managers and library staff: it proves institutional worth, is dead simple and cheap, raises morale, provides a quick snapshot of who your users are (and what services they request) AND is an emotional hairpat

Michael Jesse, The Star (Indianapolis, IN)
Tip #4: It's not a sing to tweak the archive; electronic archives aren't exact
Trying to get the electronic archive look exactly how the story looked in the paper can lead to time-wasting and unnecessary processes. Your microfilm is the official record of the paper, not your electronic archive.

Laura Weston-Elker, Fort Wayne News Sentinel
Tip #5: Look it up once and share it with your newsroom - leverage your intranet to share and distribute commonly sought information; develop internal indexes to help you find information faster

John Cronin, Boston Herald, Retired
Tip #6: Market the library to other divisions of the newspaper
When this was first broached for the Herald's library, Cronin was told that library services were only for the editorial department
With the onset of full-text, electronic archives and databases, the library staff had the time and resources to reach out to other departments, starting with advertising and moving to the office of the publisher. The most resistance to expanding library services came from editorial

Chris Hardesty, Newsday
Tip #7: Outsourcing photo repro service
Pictopia can handle photo reproduction services for news archives, with: * Links directly from the newspaper's website and the paper's web frame/skin for branding
* The company takes care of the e-commerce aspects
* Successful transactions are very quick and the library gets a commission from the paper's photos as well as wire products

Michael Knoop, San Antonio Express
Tip #8: Logging requests in a database
The database can be as simple as a spreadsheet, with migration to an actual database as the file grows. At SAE, it's now a dynamic page on the Internet.
* Handy for statistics, tracking subject trends and loyal users
* Useful for performance evaluations
* No copyrighted content in the database
* Categories must be uniform and maintained consistently

Jody Hayebab, Tampa Tribune/Tampa News Center
Tip #9: News researchers embedded with reporters/clients in the field
In order to effectively manage knowledge, you can't only be behind the reference desk; seeing what reporters do in the field can help you understand their needs. Being in the field can free up the reporter to do fieldwork, rather than on the phone to news research waiting for background

Debra Bade, Chicago Tribune
Tip #10: The Research Open House
Have a presence in newsrooms, go to news meetings and find ways to bring editorial into the library, such as open houses.
Extra tip: create a special info desk to serve newspaper subscribers as a premium benefit