First, I’d like to extend a thank you to Jody for arranging this lovely cruise for us. And I’d like to welcome Henebry honoree Ginny Everett and her husband Bob.
To begin, I have a couple of personal messages for Ginny.
First, from Julia Wallace, editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“I just returned from vacation and am hoping someone else responded to your note. Ginny is a treasure, who has redefined the old newspaper library. She's constantly innovating, looking for ways to better serve our staff and our readers.”
And this note came from from Hyde Post, who is Ginny’s boss and Managing Editor of the Interactive group at the Journal-Constitution:
“We are very proud of Ginny, and I wish I could be there to see her cruise the Hudson and accept the award. ….Ginny Everett is not only the best manager the News Research department at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has ever seen, she is also a heck of a businesswoman. We had to rename the department to Information Services to begin to encompass all that she has accomplished. She is a true entrepreneur, who saw early the potential that the internet offered for information services and reformatted content. And she seized it, growing the department's revenues well beyond the million-dollar a year mark. At the same time, she has never lost site of the department's core mission to support the newsroom's information needs, and she never misses an opportunity to deflect the spotlight onto those who work for her. We are so pleased that SLA has chosen her to receive this award. And frankly, we can't think of anyone more deserving.”
The Agnes Henebry Award is given to honor professional excellence and service to the News Division. Agnes and Ginny each served as Chair of the News Division, separated in time by about 50 years. But Ginny certainly seems to have inherited the spirit of service we associate with Agnes. Ginny has a similar commitment to archiving, research, training, and professional involvement. I'd like to share some of the details of Ginny's life and work with you here.
At home in Atlanta, Ginny juggles a busy life with her husband Bob, their newly adopted kittens, Pumpkin and Magic, and her very demanding work with the Journal-Constitution.
Our southern belle has Alabama roots, she studied at Wesleyan College and earned her MLS from the University of Alabama. Ginny became the adult services librarian and assistant director for the Memphis/Shelby County Tennessee Public Library and Information Center in 1980. After seven years there, she made a very smart move to news librarianship when she became assistant director of the Commercial Appeal’s news library in Memphis. Just one short year later – the pace begins to accelerate here, you can tell Ginny has found her niche as a news librarian – she became director at the Commercial Appeal. Then, in 1994, she moved to my old hometown, Atlanta, becoming deputy director of News Research Services for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Again, only one year later, she became director of News Research Services, and in 1999 she took on the position she presently holds as director of Information Services for the Journal-Constitution.
I've learned some new acronyms in the past week or so: KEB and TSFW – any of you familiar with these?
Well, KEB to me means Keb (as in Keb Mo' – or Kevin Moore, a well-known blues musician and singer.) But that's not what it means in Ginny's world. No, KEB means "kicking elf butt" as is an expression used by Ginny at the Journal-Constitution when she is having particularly frustrating days and it is time to set people straight.
Getting to the TSFW acronym -- we all know Ginny is a good communicator, she utilizes her linguistic skills and information skills continually. But – and this may come as a bit of a surprise - did you know that Ginny also does a lot of communicating with her hands?? I’ve learned (from a little elf) that Ginny uses secret hand signals to send messages and express her thoughts in a safe way during meetings. They come out of a secret file she calls her TSFW gestures (which means TOO STUPID FOR WORDS)! Now I’m hoping that Ginny will share some of these secret codes with us when I bring her up here. In the meantime though, I think it would be appropriate for us to come up with a gesture to use tonight so Ginny will feel comfortable (and we can express how we feel!)
We already have our "metadata man" in our midst tonight and Ginny bears our title of "library lady". So, I did a little work at the American Sign Language site to put this into a gesture for Ginny.
Let's take a minute to learn the gestures. For the word “library” you will use a right “L” hand, palm out, making a small clockwise circle. For the word “lady” you’ll make a right “A” hand (fistlike with the thumb alongside your index finger) – this hand moves down along the right jaw, from ear almost to chin. Then the hand opens to a “5” hand, palm facing left and is placed on the chest with other fingers pointing up. Then turn your hand a bit so the other fingers are pointing out.
Let's try this a couple times to get you warmed up. “Library Lady.”
Ok, whenever you hear “Library Lady” let’s do our special gesture so Ginny will feel comfortable.
Last week, I invited a number of our colleagues to share with me the words they thought best described Ginny. These were some of the responses. Her colleagues characterize her as a star researcher and innovative manager, and a venturesome revenue generator (we'll hear from Ginny on Wednesday with some innovative ideas about revenue streams and how to develop them in our libraries.) She is described as hardworking, visionary, wise, kind, joyful, a Southern lady with a bit of a wicked streak, a genuine cybermagnolia. She is a "library lady" extraordinaire.
Ginny’s position at the Journal-Constitution involves overseeing the News Research Services team and Stacks, which is the AJC’s fee-based research service. With a staff of 24, she leads the way in repurposing content and developing new revenue streams. She is constantly leveraging the Journal-Constitution’s content and developing new products for their online services, web archives, online photo store, and more. Ever on the go, she is a hardworking “library lady.”
Despite the fact that she is usually juggling many projects simultaneously, Ginny has always found time for the News Division. She has generously shared her professional expertise with us as a speaker for many conference sessions. She also took on the leadership of this Division as Chair-elect and program planner in 1998-1999 and as Chair from 1999-2000. Her News Division programming during the Minneapolis conference in 1999 brought us a great CE course on public records, talk of integrated archive systems, sessions on changing roles for news librarians, the news industry, web interface designs, reference collections, diversity, digitized audio and video collections, and copyright issues. It was a big year that was also a celebration of the News Division's 75th anniversary. As you can tell, Ginny is an energetic and inspirational "library lady."
Ginny has not only been active within the News Division, she also has helped to bring greater visibility to our profession. She has participated in Poynter Institute seminars and made a major presentation on "Media Librarians and the Challenge of New Media" to the Scandinavian News Research and Archive seminar in Sweden. Jim Hunter, one of our Henebry recipients last year, describes Ginny as a "damn smart covergirl with sly Southern charm." Did you know she actually has been our "covergirl"? She and her AJC operation were profiled on the cover of Online magazine about two years ago. She is an exceptional role model with professional pizzazz, this "library lady."
What else can I tell you about Ginny? She has been my colleague and friend. I was grateful to have Ginny as my confident and role model when I was chair. Dealing with the pressures and chaos of that role, she was a never-ending source of support and good ideas. She was there to welcome my son Peter into the world shortly after his birth, he continues to call her his "aunt Ginny." She's a steadfast friend, this "library lady."
There is a poem by Maya Angelou called "Phenomenal Woman" which captures some of Ginny's spirit. I'd like to share some of Ms. Angelou's words with you tonight:
Phenomenal Woman
by Maya Angelou
Pretty women
wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
I walk into a
room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Men
themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Now you
understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
That’s Ginny.
Please join me in congratulating one of the most phenomenal women in the News Division. Ginny, would you please come forward to accept your Henebry Award?