Vol. 27, No. 3/Spring 2005 CONFERENCE ADVANCE A Wealth of History, Culture and Entertainment is Waiting in Toronto BY MIKE FILEY, COLUMNIST, TORONTO SUN Brief History of Toronto oronto has a rich and storied history. To begin, Toronto was named for the Huron Indian word for “meeting Tplace.” And for good reason - the area was well used in this manner for centuries by people of the First Nations, and later by French traders, thanks to its naturally protected harbour. In 1788, the British purchased the land from the Mississauga Indians, and a settlement slowly grew around the waterfront area. In 1793, Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe established a military garrison and named the town York in honour of the Duke of York of the time. It was renamed Toronto when the city was incorporated in 1834. During the War of 1812, the town was twice occupied by the Americans (both times in 1813). By 1834, its citizens, mostly British and Scottish immigrants, numbered close to 10,000. Others, such as Jews from the United States, Russia and Germany, would soon arrive, as well as some 40,000 Irish fleeing famine in their homeland. Blacks escaping slavery in the U.S. soon followed, at a time when the seeds of Toronto’s current multicultural diversi- ty were already being sown. As the population increased, so did the city’s infrastructure. The University of Toronto opened its doors in 1843. Growth continued in spite of the Great Fires of 1849 and 1904. The new city includ- Toronto’s skyline at night, as seen across the harbour from the Toronto Islands. Photo Credit: Tourism Toronto ed an extensive network of roads, railways, canals, shipping and telegraph lines. Continued on page 11 NOTES FROM THE LIBRARY PROFILE/ CONFERENCE AND THE WINNERS THE INSIDE CHAIR / 4 7 ADVANCE/ 10 ARE…/ 16 STORY In her last column as Amy Disch does a Current information Linda Henderson sets Division Chair, Jennifer thorough investigation on the program schedule the stage for the upcom- Evert talks about profes- of four key news libraries for the upcoming annual ing 2005 News Division sional development and in Torono. SLA confererence in Awards Banquet and membership. Toronto. introduces the winners. CHAIR, Jennifer Small Evert, LexisNexis, PUBLICITY-PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAIR, Dana NEWS Miamisburg, OH, 800/227-9597, x58037, Gordon, Newsweek Inc., New York, NY, 212/445- e-mail: [email protected] 4012, e-mail: [email protected] DIVISION CHAIR-ELECT, Denise J. Jones, News and SMALL LIBRARIES CHAIR, Marcia MacVane, EXECUTIVE Observer, Raleigh, NC, 919/829-9818, Portland Newspapers, Portland, ME, 207/791- e-mail: [email protected] 6318, e-mail: [email protected] BOARD PAST CHAIR/DIRECTOR-AWARDS, Linda STRATEGIC PLANNING CHAIR, Jim Hunter, Henderson, Providence Journal, Providence,RI, Columbia Dispatch, Columbus, OH, 614/461-5039 401/277-7887, e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] SECRETARY TELLER/ELECTIONS CHAIR, Bill Van Niekerken, Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA, 619/718-5431 415/777-7230, e-mail: BVanNiekerken@sfchroni- e-mail: [email protected] cle.com TREASURER, Justin Scroggs, NewsBank, Inc., WEBMEISTRESS, Jessica Baumgart, Harvard Naples, FL, 800/762-8182, University, Cambridge, MA, 617/495-4739, e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] DIRECTOR-EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVEL- OPMENT CHAIR, Jim Hunter, Columbus NLN MANAGING EDITOR Dispatch, Columbus, OH, 614/461-5039, NLN STAFF e-mail: [email protected] Kathryn Pease Newsday DIRECTOR-PUBLICATIONS, Leigh Poitinger, San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, CA, 408/920-5972, Melville, NY e-mail: [email protected] 631/843-2333 e-mail: [email protected] COMMITTEE NEWS DIVISION COMMITTEE CHAIRS ARCHIVIST CHAIR, Teresa Leonard, News and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS CHAIRS Observer, Raleigh, NC, 919/829-4866 PEOPLE e-mail: [email protected] Jennifer O’Neill AUTOMATED-TECHNOLOGY CHAIR, Peter The Florida Times-Union Johnson, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Jacksonville, FL 213/237-3349, e-mail: [email protected] 904/359-4184 BROADCAST CHAIR, vacant e-mail: [email protected] BYLAWS CHAIR, Barbara Semonche, The Park LIBRARY PROFILES Library, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Amy Disch School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Wisconsin State Journal and Capital Times Chapel Hill, NC, 919/843-8300 Madison, WI e-mail: [email protected] 608/252-6114 DIVERSITY CHAIR, Kee Malesky, National Public e-mail: [email protected] Radio, Washington, DC, 202/513-2356, e-mail: [email protected] WHO WANTS TO BE A NEWS LIBRARIAN? Angelica Cortez GOVERNMENT RELATIONS CHAIR, vacant The Palm Beach Post INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CHAIR, 561/820-3796 Wil Roestenburg, PCM Landelijke Dagbladen, e-mail: [email protected] Rotterdam, (NL), 31-(0)10-406-7741, e-mail: [email protected] Total membership: 703 MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, Alice Pepper, Detroit Free Press, Detroit, MI, 313/222-5135, e-mail: [email protected] NOMINATIONS CHAIR, vacant News Library News News Library News (ISSN 1047-417X) is Special Libraries Association assumes To place advertisements or to obtain the bulletin of the News Division of the no responsibility for the statements and advertising information, you can con- Winter 2005 Special Libraries Association. SLA opinions advanced by the contributors tact Kathryn Pease, the managing edi- Vol. 27, No.3 Headquarters address is: SLA, 331 of the association’s publications. tor, at her e-mail address: kathryn.pease South Patrick St., Alexandria, VA Editorial views do not necessarily rep- @newsday.com 22314. The phone number is: 703/647- resent the official position of Special Copy for bylined columns should be 4900. News Library News is published Libraries Association. Acceptance of an submitted to the column editor. All four times a year by the division. advertisement does not imply endorse- other copy may be submitted to Reproduction in whole or part without ment of the product by Special Kathryn Pease at her e-mail address. permission is prohibited. Libraries Association. PAGE 2 NEWS LIBRARY NEWS SPRING 2005 THE ASIDE BAR pring is in the air. A time when many of us haven’t quite put away our winter wardrobes while others have already been basking in the breeze that an open window Sbrings. A time when the SLA annual conference is just around the corner, and many of us enjoy re-energizing our work lives while getting reacquainted with colleagues from near and far. Even if you can’t make it to Toronto this year, I hope you enjoy Mike Filey’s brief his- tory lesson and highlights of the city. Mike is a Toronto historian and author whose week- ly column,”The Way We Were,” has been a popular mainstay of the Toronto Sun since KATHRYN PEASE 1975. For those of you able to attend, this year’s event promises to keep you busy with rele- vant sessions and continuing education classes courtesy of Chair-Elect Denise Jones and Education Director Jim Hunter. From creating Weblogs and intranets to public records accuracy and privacy concerns, copyright issues, and math skills, there is something for everyone at this year’s conference. Math in the newsroom was also a hot topic at this year’s CAR conference. Be sure to read what Julia Franco and Margot Williams had to say about this year’s Tinseltown gath- ering, and make note of Debbie Wolfe’s new Math for Journalists interactive Web site. Presently, my math abilities are being tested by learning to convert American dollars into Chinese yuan, as any day now I’ll be embarking on an Asian adventure. Until next time, I bid you farewell. Zàijiàn! SPRING 2005 NEWS LIBRARY NEWS PAGE 3 NOTES ow! I can’t believe that the year great membership chair, Alice Pepper, has is over, and I am writing my these names and I’m sure is more than FROM Wlast column as chair of this happy to accept other volunteers. I think we great division. need to dedicate ourselves in the coming THE Before signing off, I want to say a little year to really examining why our member- something about two of the issues that have ship numbers continue to decline. Now is CHAIR been closest to my heart over the last year: the time to put some effort into turning professional development and membership. that around! I hope to stay involved in the division’s Now on to some new issues. At the mid- effort to reach out to other organizations, winter SLA Leadership Summit, we were such as the Poynter Institute, IRE and informed that we needed to change our NICAR. By partnering with other organi- election cycle so that our election calendar zations in our field, we increase the number aligned with SLA’s fiscal year (January- and variety of professional development December). In the future, our elections will opportunities that we can offer. We had be held in the fall. As a result, new cabinet such a successful Poynter seminar in 2004. members will take their positions on the BY JENNIFER SMALL The workshop participants still correspond board in January, rather than in June at the EVERT on a listserv that developed after the ses- annual conference. The board is still work- sions, and they keep in touch on the pro- ing out the logistics for how we are going to jects they started at Poynter. manage this change in the calendar, so stay I was disappointed that there was not tuned to NewsLib for further details. We enough interest in the Poynter seminar this may be holding a special election in the fall year to merit holding the course. I would to start shifting our schedules as well as the love to hear from the membership on the workloads for division board members.