Barbara P. Semonche's 
Professional Vita

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Barbara P. Semonche

Presentations and Speeches

Education

Work Experience

  • 1990-present: Library Director, The Park Library, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication
  • 1976-1990: Library Director, Herald-Sun Newspaper in Durham, NC
  • 1974-1976: Library Contractor, Environmental Progection Agency, RTP, NC
  • 1967-1974: Language Specialist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, Chapel Hill, NC

SLA (Special Libraries Association) Association-level Activities:

  • Committee on Committees 1987-1988 (chair)
  • SLA Division Cabinet 1982-1984
  • Publication Committee 1992-1994 (chair)
  • SLA Chapter Cabinet 1992-1994
  • San Francisco Conference Program Chair 1990-1992 (chair)
  • H.W. Wilson Company Award Committee 1996-1997 (chair)
  • Student Academic Relations Committee 1997-2000 (chair)
  • SLA Committee on Graduate School Advisory Boards
  • SLA Professional Development Committee
  • Joint Cabinet Program Survey Committee (chair)
  • SLA Task Force on Membership 2000-2001
  • SLA Nominating Committee 2000-2002 (chair-elect)

SLA Chapter Activities: (North Carolina Chapter)

  • Director 1986-1987
  • Long-Range Planning Committee 1989-1990 (chair)
  • President 1993-1994
  • Awards Committee 1994-1995 (chair)
  • Nominating Committee 1995-1996 (chair)
  • NCSLA Internet mailing list 1993- 2001 (list owner)
  • NCSLA Electronic Services 1995- (chair)
  • Advisory Committee for UNC-Greensboro Department of Information & Library Studies 1997-1998 (member)
  • State of North Carolina Inter-Library Cooperation Planning Committee 1998-1999 (NC/SLA Chapter Delegate)

SLA Division Activities: (News Division)

  • Student Stipend Award Committee 1980-1981 (chair)
  • Long-range Planning Committee 1982-83 (chair)
  • News Division Program Planning Committee 1982-83 (chair)
  • News Division Chair 1983-1984
  • News Library News Bulletin 1984-1986 (editor)
  • NewsLib Internet mailing list 1993-(list owner) See also Factiva.com's Feb. 2002 web article.
  • Bylaws Revision Committee Chair (2003)
  • Other SLA Divisions (membership): Advertising & Marketing, Communications, Education, Information Technology, Law, Library Management, Museums, Arts & Humanities.

Other Professional Activities

  • Advisory Committee for UNC-Greensboro Department of Information & Library Studies 1997-1998 (member)
  • SLA liaison to ALA Committee for Schools of Library and Information Science (1998-)
  • Consultant to N.C. Museum of History for 125th Anniversary of the N.C. Press Association (1998)
  • Delegate to N.C. State Interlibrary Cooperation Planning Committee (1998-99)
  • Docent for N.C. Museum of History (1998-)
  • Adjunct Instructor for courses in "Indexing & Abstracting" and "Database Journalism"
  • President of Univ. NC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science Alumni Assoc. (1986)
  • Indexes scholarly books
  • Speaker at international conferences in England, France (IFLA), and Canada
  • Designs web pages and manages electronic mailing lists (NewsLib for nearly 1,200 media researchers world wide and SLA-Fellows for 70 distinguished SLA leaders.)
  • Advisory Committee for UNC-Greensboro Department of Information & Library Studies 1997-1998 (member)
  • Mentors students and new information professionals.

Professional Honors and Awards

Internet and Web Services:

  • NewsLib List Administrator
    (An international list for over 1,300 news researchers)
  • SLA Fellows List Administrator
  • AEJMC committee (2006): Created a Virtual Library and Portal proposal for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.   

Research in Progress (2005-2006):

Print Publications

Author/Editor:

  • Forthcoming in 2005 an article titled "Journalism and Mass Communication in the Age of Internet" for Encyclopedia of the World Press to be published by Fitzroy Dearborn in London.
     
  • Chapter titled "Good News, Bad News: Credibility of Information and Data Gathered from the Internet and the World Wide Web" for Press and Broadcast Media: Guides to Information Sources, 2nd Ed., edited by Sarah Adair and published in 1999 by Bowker & Saur in London.
     
  • Chapter titled "The Evolution of Media Librarians: Charting the Future" in the forthcoming book, Visions of the Information Future, edited by Alison Scammell and published in 2000 by The Association for Information Management in London.
     
  • "Quality Control in Electronic Databases," Library Hi-Tech News, Fall 1998
     
  • "Standards and the Special Library: Digital Object Identifiers," Library Hi-Tech News, Fall 1998
     
  • "Good News, Bad News: Evaluating Web Resources for Journalists and News Researchers," chapter in Information Resources for the Press and Broadcast Media. Bowker and Saur, 1999.
     
  • "What Are Special Libraries?" A section in Whole Library Handbook 3. Edited by George Eberhart for the American Library Association, 2000.
     
  • "Finding the Good Stuff Online," TUNE-IN Radio Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas Newsletter, Fall, 1996: 1+
     
  • News Media Libraries: A Management Handbook (Greenwood Library Management Collection). Ed. By Barbara P. Semonche. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. [Note: Semonche is also the author of three chapters in the book: "News Library History," "Computer-Assisted Journalism: An Overview," and "Newspaper Indexing Policies and Procedures."]
     
  • "Newspaper Librarians Deliver Data on Deadline," Newspaper Career Directory, 3rd ed. (Hawthorne, J.J.: Career Press, 1991): 67-72.
     
  • "Computer-Assisted Journalism," News Library News, Spring, 1990.
     
  • "Newspaper Indexing: In Search of a Solution," Collection Building 7 (1986): 24-26.
     
  • "Libraries Unlimited," 60th Anniversary Commemorative Publication of the Newspaper Division of Special Libraries Association, 1924-1984 (St. Louis, Mo.: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1984) pp.20-21.
     
  • "Newspaper Libraries: History, Mystery and Info to Go," Editor & Publisher, March 31, 1984: 48+.
     
  • "Microfilming Newspaper Clippings," (with Martha Haswell) Guidelines for Newspaper Libraries, 1983.
     
  • Newspaper Libraries in North Carolina: Illustrated Directory. Durham, N.C.: Durham Herald Co., 1981.
     
  • "Durham Herald-Sun to Publish Index to Newspapers," North Carolina Press, May 1981.
     
  • "The Transformation of a Morgue into a Newspaper Library," North Carolina Special Libraries Chapter Bulletin, Summer 1977, pp. 18-21.
     
  • Ages and Stages of Language Development. (A bilingual guide for working with Spanish-speaking migrant children), Institute for the Development of Human Resources, 1972.

Last updated January 2007

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