The history of newspaper libraries is neither clear nor straightforward. It is a story about people, events and organizations interacting over a period of considerable time. For our purposes, we are attempting to tell the stories, with the help of on-the-scene accounts and retrospective recollections, of an exceptional period in our history when news organization leaders and their librarians came together to report and research current events. News library leaders, past and present, are listed in chronologies in the appendixes to this chapter. Included are charter members of the Newspaper Division (renamed the News Division in 1987) of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), News Division chairs, News Division bulletin editors, and News Division award honorees.

By the time newspaper libraries appeared on the scene in the United States, the newspaper publishing industry was already well established. There was an interval of nearly two centuries between the inaugural (and only) edition of Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, America's first newspaper in Boston in 1690, and the debut of newspaper libraries.

Where do newspaper libraries enter the picture? Why do they exist? An article by George Jean Nathan published in the August 1910 Bookman offers some valuable insight.

Nearly 75 years later, syndicated columnist William Raspberry responded similarly in the 60th anniversary publication of the Newspaper Division of the Special Libraries Association.

Early on (no one knows exactly when), newspapers adopted the term "morgue," in typically cryptic fashion, to describe a place where a collection of type from hot metal galleys was kept for future obituaries of persons still living. Perhaps press terms such as "spike the story," "kill the lead," and "deadline" provided the context for the acceptance and continued use of the term "morgue." Yesterday's news was dead news; therefore the only proper term for the final resting place of such dead news was the morgue. In general practice, the newspaper morgue became the repository not only of cuts (metal engravings of photos) and hot metal galleys but of additional materials required for future reference, such as maps, dictionaries and encyclopedias. Nevertheless, the transformation of the newspaper "morgue" into a full-service newspaper library, in function and terminology, was still in the future.

In the early years of this century, Joseph Kwapil, the founder of the Newspaper Library Group (forerunner of the Newspaper Division), reflected upon the old morgue from his experience:

This is a notably sad, but likely accurate, picture of more than a few morgues of the period.

In the early years of the twentieth century, Kwapil became a positive force in the development of professionalism among newspaper librarians. He recognized their lack of knowledge, feelings of isolation and genuine need to provide quality service. In 1923 Kwapil provided the leadership through the newly created Newspaper Division, later to affiliate with SLA. This organization became the most effective means to educate and unify newspaper librarians and to guide them toward a professional identity.

Despite professional disparagement, the term "morgue" defies complete eradication. The Associated Press carried a dispatch from New York on April 29, 1970, declaring that "a blow was struck today at the traditional term of ‘morgue' for newspaper libraries. In recent years newspaper librarians have been working hard to improve the efficiency of their operations in serving all departments of the newspaper....No longer is it appropriate to refer to the newspaper as a ‘morgue.'" Even Editor & Publisher, a long-time journalism trade publication, could not purge the term "morgue" when it proclaimed in 1977, "The ‘Morgue' is Dead." The term seemed to have a life of its own. Nevertheless, the term "newspaper morgue," is becoming obsolete. Certainly it is out of favor among the highly skilled and professionally trained librarians and information specialists who direct the reference and research operations of modern news organizations. Regrettably, the term survives. As late as 1990, the U.S. Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) used the job title "morgue clerk" to identify newspaper librarians. Through the intensive lobbying efforts of News Division members, that job title has been eliminated in favor of the more descriptive "news librarian" for the revised 1991 DOT. The full job description is in Appendix E.

There is some dispute about the exact date of the debut of the first newspaper library. Not only were records not kept, but there is the further problem of definition. Do we establish the date of the library's founding with the date of the first clipping retained, the date of the oldest reel of microfilm, the date of the first reference book purchased, or when the first librarian was employed? Typically, the earliest newspaper morgues were not organized by librarians. In that era of newspaper history, the late eighteenth century, journalists wore many hats. As far as the morgues were concerned, whoever the editor tapped became the keeper of the files. In reality, editors, publishers and reporters (who were frequently one and the same in smaller newspapers) were simply too busy gathering, editing and printing the news in those early days to be concerned about preserving and archiving their newspapers.

Not until the 1850s did managers of the largest newspapers begin to designate space, money and staff to build news libraries. Newspapers were discovering that they could no longer rely upon unverifiable human memory. Haphazard methods of information gathering and fact checking were frustrating, time consuming and dangerous. The value of accurate, complete and convenient access to information was beginning to be recognized as crucial for reporters and editors. It took time, but newspaper publishers were awakening to their deepening public responsibilities as well as their corporate ones.

What were some of the other factors influencing newspapers to install in-house libraries? Social upheaval, wars, earthquakes, fires and floods required historical record checking and comparison. Competition among papers for subscribers led to the recognition of readers' increasing need for accuracy, fairness, and authoritativeness. An increasing demand for more analytical writing rather than just reporting took hold. Broader conceptions of the scope of news led to coverage beyond simply the affairs of state, commerce, sports and politics. Newspapers developed or acquired writers who could skillfully cover complicated topics such as economics, science, medicine and law. Fact checking, backgrounding and analysis increased. Still, professional librarians and information specialists were typically not in charge of these morgue operations even in large newspapers. Recognition of their value as prime contributors to the entire publishing enterprise would not come for several decades.

Most early newspaper morgues began by collecting reference books (atlases, dictionaries, encyclopedias, local histories, and so on) and later added clippings and photos. Sometimes these clips and photos were selected from their own papers. Occasionally newspapers acquired these collections from other papers. Much of the information about the inauguration of early newspaper libraries comes from a chapter in Robert Desmond's book, Newspaper Reference Methods, published in 1933 by the University of Minnesota Press. This valuable book is long out of print, yet it continues to be the best source of information on the subject.

The New York Herald, which began publication in 1835, started to build a library of books in 1845. Clippings were not saved systematically until 1860, the beginning of the Civil War. An index to the Herald was started in that year and continued until 1919. It was considered so valuable that an effort was made to retrospectively index to 1835, the date of the founding of the paper.

Other newspapers followed the New York Herald's lead in building in-house libraries. The New York Tribune, founded in 1841, began its library of books in the late 1840s. Its clipping collection, which at first included only biographical material, was started in 1860. The Tribune also started a news index in book form in 1875, went retrospective with it to 1841 and continued indexing until 1906. The New York Times, founded in 1851, began a handwritten index at approximately the same time. Clippings, some dating from as early as 1869, were primarily biographical. Subject headings were not started at The New York Times until 1914, when a growing collection of war material formed the nucleus of the subject clip files. The New York World started its reference department in 1889 with clippings dating back to the 1870s. Those early clips were subsequently discarded because they took up too much space, a move typical in many newspapers since then.

Subsequent collections of clips, reference books, bound newspaper volumes, photographs and engravings were rarely held in one centralized location. Frequently these collections were distributed among various departments within the newspaper building. Clips were in the "biographical department." Books were in the "library." Photos and cuts were in the "art department." Decades later there was a strong trend toward centralizing the collections. Even so, complete newspaper library clipping collections are rare. Reasons for their dispersal and disappearance will be discussed later in this chapter.

After the sale of the World in 1931, the reference materials were inherited by the New York World-Telegram. In the late 1960s the paper ceased publication and its files were sent to the University of Missouri School of Journalism. More about what happens to defunct dailies' morgues appears later in this chapter. The New York Daily News, established in 1919, started its library by purchasing a collection of clippings covering events from 1908 to 1923. These clippings, dealing with New York City government, crime and civic affairs numbered nearly 320,000 and were estimated to have cost $100,000. The News also bought a collection of more than 100,000 photographs of prominent persons during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

New York was not the only place where newspapers developed early libraries. The Boston Herald established its library in 1876. It added substantially to its collection when it acquired the Boston Traveler's clippings dating back to 1825. When the Boston Journal merged with the Herald, it contributed a collection of clippings from the Civil War period, including biographical material about Union officers. Few of these early newspaper library collections survived. The current location of those that did is unclear. Efforts at preserving these remaining collections are affected by conflicting interests, money and technology. The Boston Globe launched its library in 1887 with reference books dating to 1852. A collection of clippings about prominent persons was donated to the library by an editor. Systematic clipping of the Globe did not begin until 1890. The library was reorganized in 1922 by William Alcott, who succeeded the first Globe librarian, Edson W. White. The Massachusetts Springfield Republican began its clipping collection in 1888, supplemented by a valuable collection from the Springfield Union that it had purchased. This is one of the earliest examples of newspapers selling or merging their in-house libraries. The San Francisco Chronicle established a complete library in 1879. The Chronicle was the first newspaper to file clippings in 9" ´ 4" envelopes placed in upright tin document boxes. This is said to have been the beginning of the modern vertical filing system. The 1890s saw the establishment of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Detroit News libraries. The latter was reorganized in 1917 when the News entered its new building.

Regardless of when news libraries were founded, their survival was not assured. As with most organizations, they went through cycles of decline, neglect and subsequent rejuvenation. Some news libraries endured gaps in collections and services; others were simply discontinued. Still others went through substantial overhaul with little regard for early collections. To find a newspaper library with a complete collection stretching back to its earliest origins is extremely rare.

Some of the best existing collections of newspapers and clipping files are to be found in the Massachusetts State Library, the Boston Public Library, the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the New York Public Library. The Library of Congress has an important newspaper collection that is both current and historical. A different approach involving newspaper preservation is taken by the U.S. Newspaper Project launched in 1981. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities with technical support from the Library of Congress, it is involved in cataloging and microfilming early newspaper editions, but not clippings. Perhaps with a coordinated effort by local institutions and newspaper publishers, the files and artifacts from once-great, dead dailies could continue to serve their communities. The unavoidable questions continue, however. Who could afford the money, space and time to undertake such a project?

Other large-circulation newspapers, not described here, started their morgues by the end of the nineteenth century. The search for accurate, comprehensive access to a wide variety of information was beginning to move ahead, albeit slowly. Several more decades would pass before high-quality information storage and retrieval services moved into high gear in news organizations.

Note that there is no mention of the need for more than a simple collection of materials. No suggestions were made on where to find materials or on which materials should be collected. There was no mention of the need for a professional, a librarian, who would collect, organize and manage the materials.

This state of affairs is not altogether difficult to understand. Publishers and editors of smaller newspapers began publishing on shoestring budgets. A secondhand press and a news staff doubling as reporters, typesetters, carriers and ad takers characterized the typical turn-of-the-century community newspaper. Uncertain revenues and economic hard times caused more than a few publishers to fold their operations. A premium was placed on holding down all costs. That these publishers for the most part did not invest in in-house libraries is quite understandable.

Many newspapers with circulations under 25,000 did not have their back issues indexed or clipped. Early issues of these newspapers were rarely saved or preserved systematically. It would be the mid-1930s before microfilming of newspapers became commonplace. Usually the bound editions of newspapers served as the morgue. Frequently these editions became dog-eared, torn, faded and even lost through repeated handling. Lack of competition among papers in smaller communities and the philosophy that newspapers were interested only in today's news, never yesterday's history, served reporters and citizens poorly. Time and effort would be needed to convince publishers from smaller newspapers about the values of preservation and in-house libraries, even on a modest scale. Although the Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen newspaper library has clips dating from the 1920s, many smaller and midsized newspapers did not begin libraries until World War II or even later.

For larger newspapers, the situation was different. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the following large metropolitan newspapers launched in-house libraries: Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star, and Cleveland Plain Dealer. A larger economic base, a more diverse population and greater competition for readers are some of the reasons for expansion of newspaper libraries in the early decades of the twentieth century. World War I, natural disasters, political upheavals, economic recessions, business closings, crop failures and weather catastrophes have been cited as the impetus for editors and publishers to examine the adequacy of their libraries and to press for better, more responsive ones, but there may have been other reasons. Reliable in-house news libraries can provide the means and methods for quick fact checking, thereby offering a vital competitive edge among fiercely combative large metropolitan dailies. Also, newspapers needed to do more than spotlight events; they needed to illuminate them with in-depth analysis. News libraries were beginning to perform the backgrounding function vital to this type of reporting. The arrival and growing influence of national/international wire services (the Associated Press in 1848 and the United Press International in 1907) further fueled the fierce competition for timely, accurate, comprehensive news gathering.

The appearance of Joseph Kwapil and his Newspaper Group in 1923 was the turning point for newspaper librarians. If the morgue mentality was not yet dead, it was under attack. The mission of this group was to define and maintain accuracy, quality and efficiency in newspaper libraries.

In 1927 the three-year-old Newspaper Division undertook its first nationwide survey of newspaper librarians. One of the division's founders, Agnes J. Petersen, wrote a report for publication in Special Libraries. In it she described the current state of newspaper libraries. Petersen reported on the results of 70 responses from 310 questionnaires sent to U.S. newspapers. Included were descriptions of newspapers' library space, equipment, staff size, collection development policies, clip file procedures, reference service, indexing projects, record keeping, and subject-heading control. There was wide divergence in library collections and uncertainty in library methods. Clearly no uniform picture of a model newspaper library emerged from this survey. No well-developed standards or even guidelines appeared to measure the quality of news library services and collections. News librarians would struggle for decades with these problems.

Petersen called for the Newspaper Division to begin some real work in standardizing newspaper library organization and practices. She cautioned that such an effort should not be approached with the idea that all newspaper libraries should be cast in the same mold. Rather, each library had to define its own mission for its newspaper. Nevertheless, the need for guidelines was obvious. Her survey analysis also revealed that most news librarians were former newsroom staff. While they were familiar with newsroom practices, they were not acquainted with standard library procedures. Well-meaning, but untrained staff could not deliver the performance necessary to support newspaper queries and investigations. In short, the Newspaper Division had its work cut out to bring the news library practitioners up to professional standards, once they could be identified.

The material obtained from this survey gave impetus to Robert Desmond's 1933 book, Newspaper Reference Methods. This early and still-valuable book offered this statement about the emerging standards of news library service:

Complementing these first steps toward professional news library standards was an early outline of a professional mission statement. It is generally agreed among veteran news librarians that to be worthy of the name, a newspaper library should offer efficient, high-quality reference service. Its mission is to support the entire publishing enterprise. Further, to perform at the highest possible level, it must be endowed with at least five basic elements:

• Accurate, current, accessible files of news clips, photos, graphics, maps and newspaper microfilm

• A core collection of reference books and serials

• Space and equipment to house and maintain the collections

• Qualified staff to manage the collections and provide reference services

• Money to support the expanding operation

By the 1930s the morgue mentality was giving way. Newspaper librarians were turning away from being wardens of clipping collections toward becoming information specialists. The change came in part from the news industry itself and from the emerging newspaper library profession. The Newspaper Division was taking a leadership role in this evolution. Over the years its continuing education seminars, conferences, workshops and publications became the foundation for the highest standards of professional newspaper librarianship.

Many of these continuing education programs focused on newspaper library technology. One of the earliest technological applications in news libraries involved microfilming projects. Leading the way in microfilming U.S. newspapers was New York Herald Tribune librarian David G. Rogers. In 1932 he worked with Eastman Kodak on the possibility of adapting a microfilm camera to film newspaper files. After several years, Eastman Kodak staff developed a camera that filmed newspaper pages rapidly and displayed them in full-page format. Newspaper preservation was a growing concern to news librarians as well as their archivist colleagues. T. F. Mills's article provides an excellent overview of newspaper preservation, emphasizing microfilming, and indexing. The 88-item bibliography is extremely useful.

Whatever motivated newspapers to establish in-house libraries, it was soon discovered that firstrate libraries contributed significantly not only to the accuracy and preservation of the papers but also to the total publishing effort. News management finally recognized that the American public relies upon its newspapers as its most vital source of current events and historical records. News organizations began investing in better information storage and retrieval methods to guarantee authoritativeness in their publications.

The 1950s and 1960s began a period of decline for newspapers. Newspaper readership gradually waned. The competition for advertising revenue increased. Large, metropolitan newspapers merged or closed. The collections of these defunct dailies faced an uncertain future. Some collections were donated to public or academic libraries; others were discarded or lost. But the news organizations remaining were developing more effective in-house libraries.

The shift in the mass communication industry from print to television news broadcasting was under way. Not surprisingly, network news broadcasters came, in large part, from print as well as radio journalism. This broadcast staff was discovering that the demand for data on deadline was strong regardless of the medium. Information from newspapers was now being read, marked and filed for television news broadcasts. While competition between print and broadcast media escalated, so did the recognition of good reference and research. Network in-house news libraries were attracting professionals to build and index their valuable collections of tapes, scripts and film.

As a group, newspaper librarians were discovering newer professional responsibilities. Professional standards were explored, continuing education programs were started, and professional publications were launched. Newspaper librarians were recognizing their own professional identity and developing the strength to become modern information managers.

One of the significant changes of these midcentury news libraries was the consolidation of several in-house collections within newspapers. In earlier decades there has been a tendency to separate the storage of certain materials according to departmental proprietorship. While some of this division and departmentalism was the result of the physical layouts of the newspaper plants, more was due to factionalism and turf wars. This separation and division was confusing, wasteful and costly. News clips and photo engravings were kept in the morgue, reference books were shelved in the library, photo prints and negatives were filed in the photo department, and map engravings and graphics were stored in the art department. Multiple copies of serials went everywhere; back copies could not be located when needed. Coordinating collections varying in format as well as content was particularly challenging. News librarians demonstrated that centralization through well-managed library procedures reduced these problems while enhancing the overall effectiveness of library services.

Other trends emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Newspapers, much like other businesses were started, stopped, merged, and bought and sold. When a newspaper closes, it leaves behind a veritable mountain of information. The millions of clips and photos stored in thousands of boxes and cabinets became the residue of defunct dailies. The problems created were large and difficult to solve. For example, what is the value of these collections? Who wants to use them? How can they be preserved? Should they be preserved? Who will become the caretakers of the collections? How will access be arranged? What about copyright protection? Finally, what has happened to these news library collections?

Some newspapers donated these collections to university libraries, historical societies or public libraries, usually for a tax advantage. (A later chapter in this book will address the appraisal of newspaper collections in detail.) Undoubtedly, newspaper library collections have intrinsic value. For example, the San Francisco Examiner donated its entire clipping collection (after microfilming the clippings) to the San Francisco Public Library upon establishing its professionally appraised tax valuation at an estimated several million dollars.

Making these huge newspaper collections available to the public is costly and time consuming. The original plans to do so are not always successful. For example, at the University of Missouri, 60 million clips from the New York World-Telegram, which ceased publication in 1967, and other defunct newspapers were headed for a landfill until publicity prompted the university to reconsider. At the time it was costing over $1,000 per month to store these clips in an elaborate records/archives center.

The picture file of the New York World-Telegram enjoyed a better fate. This collection, along with the New York Sun's photos, was deposited in the Library of Congress in 1968. The morgue of the New York Sun, which ceased publication in 1950, is in the New York Public Library. The 14 million clippings from the Herald Tribune were donated to New York University Library. For a colorful description of the Herald Tribune's library functions, read librarian Robert E. Grayson's account of his experiences. The donation included 6,000 volumes and 200,000 pictures. The university agreed to make it available to students, scholars and the public. The clips of the Newark News, which ceased publication in 1972, are in the Newark Public Library. The Brooklyn Library has the morgue of the Brooklyn Eagle, which ceased publication in 1973. A portion of the library collection of The Washington Star, which ceased publication in 1981, was donated to the Martin Luther King Library in Washington, D.C. Originally the morgue was sold to The Washington Post, which exercised some selection before donating the balance to the public library.

However, when a surviving newspaper acquires the morgue of its deceased rival, the public generally does not get access to those files. The library receiving the materials is faced with a large problem about how to merge the collections. Ron Larson, librarian with the Wisconsin State Journal, described in a winter 1988 issue of News Library News how he managed the monumental task of integrating the Capital Times library collection into the Journal's. He was given just one month to complete the task.

Some major papers are displaying a growing awareness of the community's needs for access to newspaper backfiles. The St. Paul (Minnesota) Dispatch and Pioneer Press and the San Francisco Chronicle are giving some of their older clips and photos to libraries and historical societies. The early glass photographic plates and the photo files of the Chicago Daily News were given to the Chicago Historical Society years before the Daily News ceased in 1978. The Indianapolis Times, which ceased publication in 1965, sent its morgue to the Indiana University School of Journalism. Even after the morgue of the Long Island Press, which ceased publication in 1977, was absorbed by the New York Post, the public was still able to get information from the clip files.

The availability of the morgue files to the public does not mean that they are heavily used. The enormous cost and time involved for the university and public libraries to index and organize dead newspapers' collections delay convenient access for the public. Only the largest newspapers have published indexes. Currently, fewer than 150 newspapers are online full-text. These databases, available to the public for online search fees, rarely reach back further than the early 1980s. The information access gap, as far as newspapers are concerned, is widening.

The lesson of this experience is that practical alternatives to the storage of older, fragile, space-consuming clip files are available. These methods include converting news clips to microfiche, undertaking news indexing and abstracting services, or automating the clipping files. The next step involves distribution to publicly accessible places such as local libraries. These alternative systems vary in cost, but when compared to the value of the entire collection and the need for preservation of, and convenient access to, unique historical records, the costs appear to be justified.

For a clearly written, well-reasoned presentation on newspaper library standards, consult an article, prepared by Jack Burness, Clement Vitek, and Milton Prensky, published in Editor & Publisher. Topics covered included news library administration, personnel, salaries, physical facilities, hours of operation and level of service. While some of the particulars have been affected by the intervening 30 years, the basic tenets are applicable and worthy of review. This message was directed toward top newspaper management rather than news librarians.

At the June 1972 SLA conference, the Newspaper Division approved standards for newspaper library staffs. The standards, published in ANPA's Library Bulletin for December 21, 1972, listed the qualifications, education or experience, and duties necessary for professional and nonprofessional staff. For the first time newspaper libraries were classified according to the number of people served in other departments. The standards recommended that for organizations with 150 or more employees, that one library professional be hired for every 40 served plus one clerk for every 10 served. For news organizations with fewer than 150 employees, the standards recommended one professional for every 50 served plus one clerk for every 15 served.

Professional standards and librarian images interact on a number of levels. While Newspapers Career Directory, edited by Robert W. Fry, includes a chapter on newspaper librarians, other sources offer a more humorous glimpse of news librarians and their work. Cartoonist Jeff MacNelly immortalized Miss Pruneflake, the Tattler Tribune librarian, in a December 1985 issue of his syndicated "Shoe" cartoon. A more entertaining, but hardly more factual, account of British newspaper libraries can be found in the Michael Frayn comedy Alphabetical Order. A review of one of the American productions appeared in the fall 1985 issue of News Library News. That particular issue offers some illuminating insights into news librarian images. News librarians have demonstrated on several occasions their sense of humor. Examples included the staff of the Raleigh (North Carolina) News & Observer library in 1986 dressing as morticians, carrying funeral wreaths, and sporting buttons claiming, "You write 'em; we'll bury 'em." National Public Radio librarians won awards, not for their renowned reference expertise, but for their humor and imagination in staging a parody of parades in Washington, D.C., in 1988. News librarians' sense of professionalism is balanced by their growing sense of humor about the way they are perceived.

In 1991 the Employment Security Commission of the U.S. Department of Commerce, after lengthy urging from News Division members, revised its job title and description for news librarians. Following field visits to several news libraries, a job description was prepared. The U.S. Dictionary of Occupational Titles eliminated the job title "morgue clerk" and replaced it with a new title, "news librarian." A detailed, up-to-date professional job description was carefully drafted and approved. It established basic standards for news librarian education and provided descriptions of news librarian responsibilities. At last, news librarians had a professional identity, validated by the U.S. government, to match their performance.

A 1956 article in Journalism Quarterly called newspaper librarianship a neglected field. This was true enough at the time, for academic courses about newspaper librarianship in schools of library science did not exist. Nearly 40 years later, newspaper librarianship is rarely mentioned except in general courses on special libraries. While there are a significant number of M.A. theses on various types of special libraries, there are few on newspaper libraries.

Early on, few newspaper librarians had degrees in library science. By the 1980s the trend toward professional librarians in news organizations was gaining momentum. Surprisingly, more news librarians were entering the field with not only graduate degrees in information science but advanced degrees in journalism or the humanities. In addition, they came with expertise in computers and management skills. They not only came prepared to tackle the library tasks, but were ready to accept broader responsibilities in the organization. This new breed was now becoming an active, if not well-recognized, partner in the total news enterprise.

The contribution of the news library to reporting has largely been invisible. Recent research used focus group interviews and two survey instruments to study how news library staff and editorial staff in a large metropolitan daily newspaper perceive the contribution of the news library to reporting. Ward, Hansen and McLeod concluded that the well-established library in their research plays a significant but unacknowledged role in news production. News and library staffs have frequent contact and news library staff expertise is recognized, but library staff do not generally get byline credit for their contributions to news stories.

Late in the 1950s Evelyn Smith, librarian in the School of Journalism at Syracuse University, took the initiative and scheduled a two-week training course for community newspaper librarians. Agnes Henebry, librarian with the Decatur, Illinois newspapers, assisted with the course planning. By 1965 Rose Vormelker, former Cleveland Press librarian, began teaching a similar course in newspaper librarianship. The intensive, day-long, two-week course at Kent State University offered library science students the basics in newspaper librarianship. She continued offering the course for more than 20 years. Titled "Newspaper and Other Mass Media Libraries," it earned students four credits. The course description stated that since newspaper and mass media libraries differ from other libraries in the clientele they serve, the nature of the materials they contain and the problems of administration they present, the course would be designed to address these fundamental issues. Course content covered the history of journalism, library staff management, materials selection and procedures, filing systems, indexing policies, reference services, microfilming projects and equipment. Tours of area newspaper and broadcast libraries were also arranged.

As students begin to investigate newspaper librarianship as a career, a greater impact is expected in library education. Recognizing that this pattern needed strong encouragement to continue, the Newspaper Division, with guidance from Lou Thomas, Rose Vormelker and Agnes Henebry, launched its Student Stipend Award program in 1978. The annual award, initially only $200, grew to $1,500 by 1992 with support from the division treasury and gifts from Bell & Howell. The Newspaper Division knew that the future of newspaper libraries did not lie with the self-taught. Professional leaders in this field required professional training and education.

The 1960s and 1970s were periods of significant professional growth for newspaper librarians. The American Press Institute (API) offered a two-week seminar for news librarians in 1967. A repeat seminar was sponsored in 1971 for one week. The earliest such seminar had been offered by API in 1948. In 1986 API offered a three-day course on news library technology. API was not the only trade organization to sponsor news library seminars. The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA) sponsored several three- and four-day workshops in the 1970s and 1980s.

Not content to allow other organizations to lead the way, the Newspaper Division members organized preconference seminars at the national level. The idea emerged during the Newspaper Division conference in Boston in 1971. According to personal accounts at the time, it was Gail Thompson, then librarian with the Miami Herald, who expressed concern about the kind of training needed for newcomers in the field of newspaper librarianship. The question had merit, and division members swung into action. The first preconference seminar on newspaper library basics was held in Pittsburgh at SLA's annual conference in 1972. Agnes Henebry, Rose Vormelker, Lou Thomas, Homer Martin and David Rhydwen led the workshops, consultations and demonstrations. The day-long session focused on the needs of the small and one-person newspaper library. The success of these seminars was such that they have been offered at every national annual conference since 1972. The target of all these preconference seminars was news librarians who were newly hired or facing reorganization. Special coaching and guidance was also offered to staff from small, one-person newspaper libraries. Those members with long, successful experience with clipping files, photo archives, reference service, microfilming, equipment purchase, space design, budgeting and reporting, automation, library management and newsroom politics served as discussion leaders, coaches and counselors. Oral presentations were supported with clear visuals and prized handouts. Many of these papers are still available to members through the library of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, renamed in 1992 the Newspaper Association of America. Joy Hill, photo librarian with USA Today, was a much-sought-after speaker on photo archiving. To accommodate the growing demand for her expertise, she wrote over a dozen columns on the topic for News Library News from 1980 to 1984. She also responded to requests for photo library consultations.

In the 1980s the Newspaper Division conference program included special seminars for veteran news librarians on advanced library technology. Selected topics included electronic libraries, digital photo archiving and computer-assisted journalism. These seminars were considered of such value that many members typically registered for both the basic and the advanced programs. An added bonus was that these seminars also generated significant revenue for the division treasury. Funds were then available for the division to enhance its publications and seed regional seminars.

Unsatisfied with limiting its educational programs to members at national conferences, the Newspaper Division decided to expand its constituency. Between 1978 and 1983, an audiovisual task force of several division members went into action. Spearheaded by Kathy Trimble, then with the Toledo Blade, Michele Kapecky, formerly with the Detroit Free Press, and Kathy Foley, then with the Houston Post, the task force prepared the slides, wrote the scripts and made the tapes for five slide-tape presentations on various news library operations. With funds from the Special Libraries Association and the Gannett Foundation, professional technicians were employed to assist in the production of these 15- to 20-minute slide-tapes. Multiple sets were made for rental or purchase. For a modest rental fee, news librarians, journalism classes and schools of library science could borrow any one or all of the audiovisual materials to see and hear firsthand what it was like to "mark" papers, maintain subject-authority lists, build reference collections, and select, index and file photos and microfilm clippings. The slide-tapes became an excellent introduction to news library basics. However, an update, perhaps on videocassette, needs to be made to cover the impact that technology, particularly in the areas of automation and digital photography, is having on news libraries.

The development of regional news library continuing education seminars was another trend manifesting itself in the 1980s. One of the shortcomings of seminars held at national conferences was that usually only the chief librarians could attend. News library staffers were rarely able to participate. The Newspaper Division addressed this situation by providing seed money for regional continuing education programs. This approach had greater appeal for smaller papers because it was less costly in terms of travel and days off from work. News library support staff and even newspaper management got involved in the seminars.

News library professionals, such as Dargan Richards from the Columbia, South Carolina State Record, Lany McDonald from the Raleigh, North Carolina News & Observer, Shirley Mooney with Vancouver, British Columbia's Pacific Press, Ltd., Homer Martin, Jr. from The Record in Bergen, New Jersey, Diane Miller Sponsler with the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph, Barbara Apple from the Waukegan, Illinois Sun, Louise LeGette, then with the Tampa Tribune, James S. Scofield with the St. Petersburg Times, Bob Isaacs with the Ft. Lauderdale News & Sun Sentinel, and Ron Larson from the Wisconsin State Journal, arranged for one- and two-day regional seminars and workshops. Toward the end of the 1980s, the frequency of these regional programs declined. As we approach the next century, there is mounting evidence that the practice needs to be revived. News librarians from smaller papers still need professional training and consultation. As national conference travel budgets are being cut or eliminated due to industry downsizing, the need for less costly state or regional continuing education programs will increase. Fortunately, two News Division members, Diane Sponsler and Barbara Apple, have prepared written guidelines for regional news seminars, which are presented in their chapter in this book.

The success of these continuing education efforts spread to the development of individual state news library associations. Notable among these is Florida's news library group, whose members have met at least annually since the mid-1980s. This professional network at the state level enables news librarians to keep up-to-speed in the fast-paced news search and retrieval scene. A 1991 APME News article by Bob Isaacs, Ft. Lauderdale News & Sun Sentinel library manager, offers some timely tips to his colleagues about new technologies. Topics discussed include optical imaging, graphics storage, information marketing, books on disk and microfilming records.

Another Florida-based organization having an influence on newspaper librarianship is the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Since April 1990 Poynter, first with librarian Jo Cates, then with replacement Nora Paul, has held annual week-long seminars with a small, select group of librarians and news staff to address mutual concerns. These seminars emerged in response to a need to make news librarians full partners with journalists in the accelerating pace and depth of news coverage. Fueling this need, at least in part, were such events as the proliferation of online databases, digitized photos, computer-assisted journalism, and the expansion of newspapers into specialty markets. Parallel with this need was the concern about the future of news librarianship. What is the image and substance of this profession? What are the initiatives required to integrate the news and library operations? In 100 years of newspapering, librarians have been on the periphery. In the remaining years of this century, technology, complexity, competition and change will either drive them toward the core or away from it. The blueprint has not been drawn yet. If news librarians want to be active partners in the total publishing enterprise, rather than merely "data chasers," then they will have to display interest and knowledge beyond traditional professional boundaries. The Poynter Institute appears to have a vital role to play in shaping the future of newspaper librarianship.

Veteran, experienced news librarians were expanding their professional roles to include consultation activities. For a time in the 1980s, The division maintained a Consultant Referral Service. Newspaper managers seeking to launch or revitalize in-house libraries contacted the division for a list of qualified members interested in providing desired services. Consultation involved site visits, interviews with news management and news staff, planning sessions with librarians about space, equipment, budget, policies and procedures, demonstrations, and finally, reporting and follow-up activities. Always, the emphasis was on what could be done to make the library serve its clients in the best, most effective and efficient way possible at the present and in the future.

A bulletin for newspaper librarians was started as early as 1948. At the SLA June 1948 conference in Washington, D.C., the Newspaper Division approved publication of a newsletter or bulletin, as it came to be called. Division Chairman Agnes Henebry appointed Milton Prensky, then director of editorial research for Pathfinder magazine, as the first bulletin editor. Annual subscriptions of $2.00 were immediately sold to about 100 librarians. This early bulletin featured articles by newspaper librarians on library efficiency and simplicity, public information requests, personnel and training, microfilming, space conservation and filing of foreign names. A series was published on individual newspaper libraries. With the November 1950 issue, the bulletin design was changed to a 6" ´ 9" pamphlet in a multilith format. In 1953 the number of issues was reduced to four a year and the mimeograph format resumed. The name was changed in 1954 to Newspaper Libraries. To publish the bulletin, the editor had to plan each issue, secure materials, edit them, handle publishing arrangements and, finally, address and mail each issue. It was difficult to find a newspaper librarian willing to devote the required time to serve as editor. Even more of a problem was that the subscription charge of $2.00 per year was insufficient to cover expenses. At its 1956 annual meeting, the Newspaper Division decided to discontinue publication until these problems could be solved.

In 1957 the American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) added a Library Bulletin to its membership service. This publication continued until 1975. Its purpose was to provide a method of disseminating information about libraries to newspaper librarians, editors and other executives of newspapers not having full-time librarians. While not a Newspaper Division publication, it covered many of the topics of vital professional interest to newspaper librarians. The articles and announcements were prepared by the ANPA staff, including its librarian. It was distributed to many of the division's members as well as newspaper executives. A complete collection is stored in the library of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), formerly the American Newspaper Publishers Association. ANPA's Library Bulletin was superseded by its Memorandum to Newspaper Librarians in 1976. It was considered the Newspaper Division's official newsletter until 1978.

Following a 22-year hiatus, the Newspaper Division resumed publishing its own bulletin in 1978. The publication was enthusiastically greeted by division members. However, issues were irregular. The same problems returned; bulletin publishing took more time and money than enthusiasm could sustain. The bulletin's name changed almost as often as the editors. Newspaper Librarians was the title for two issues in 1978. Short Takes was the banner in summer 1978 and fall 1979. The issues were still mimeographed. By 1980 the bulletin's flag was News Library News. The issues numbered two or three a year until 1982, when the bulletin became a quarterly newsletter.

Newsletter funding was in part subsidized by the Special Libraries Association's allocation to the division. The financial support was not enough to maintain the quality and frequency of publication, so advertising was solicited and accepted by the Newspaper Division. The increased revenue reached the point where the bulletin could be professionally designed and printed. The average number of pages per issue increased from 4 to 24, sometimes reaching 36. Photos, graphics, and spot color were added. Beginning in 1990 the newsletter was published on coated or "slick" paper.

Articles continued to be written by news librarians, but more contributions were coming from news editors, vendors, graduate students and others interested in the field of newspaper librarianship. Features and photos appeared on international newspaper libraries, new and rejuvenated libraries, broadcast libraries, and magazine libraries, as well as one-person libraries. Minutes of business and committee meetings, regional seminar announcements, library consultation reports, surveys, research questionnaires, book reviews and other features were printed. Special issues focused on workshops, seminars, demonstrations and tours offered by the Newspaper Division at annual conferences.

The increase of Newspaper Division membership from approximately 225 in 1978 to 660 in 1991 is attributed in large measure to News Library News' success in keeping members on the cutting edge of professional developments in a timely fashion. Among SLA's division and chapter newsletters, News Library News consistently draws admiration and respect for its lively writing, attractive format, compelling articles and professional contribution to librarianship. In time, back issues were microfilmed. An annual name and subject index was prepared for the 1984-86 issues and was published in the fall issues. News Library News received an ISSN number in 1990. Efforts at promoting subscriptions targeted library science and journalism schools.

Innovation continued. Retrospective access to division archives and publications improved. In 1990 M. J. Crowley, library manager for the Philadelphia Inquirer and News Division archivist, arranged for VU/TEXT to provide data storage and free searching for an online index to the News Division archives. These archives include ANPA (now NAA) transcripts of annual conference speeches and presentations. This database also contains a document listing the archives' file headings. This document serves as a guide to searching the headings or names for each group of files. Presently, documents may be retrieved from the NAA Library in Reston, Virginia. A full-text retrieval of News Library News articles on VU/TEXT began in the summer of 1990. DataTimes also offers a News Division Database. It can be accessed by connecting via a modem and terminal into DataTimes' computers in Oklahoma. A subscription to DataTimes is not necessary. Division members can now access News Library News's information gold mine more conveniently than ever before.

Other News Division Publications

Guidelines for Newspaper Libraries was first published in 1974 by the American Newspaper Publishers Association. It was updated in 1976 and completely revised in 1983. Chapters on newspaper library policies, procedures and practices were written by veteran division members. It is still available from NAA in Reston, Virginia; the price is $25. The editorial board for the 1974 edition included Anne B. Jennings, owner of the consulting firm Newspaper Library Services; Ernest Perez, librarian with the Houston (Texas) Chronicle; Agnes Henebry with the Lindsay-Schaub Newspapers; Rex Schaeffer from the Gannett Rochester Newspapers; and Gayle Thompson from the Miami News library. The 1976 edition was in reality a supplement that included three new chapters. Alison Oppedahl, librarian with the Detroit Free Press, was the editor. For the 1983 edition the editorial board included Ellen Wood Brisco, formerly with the Contra Costa Times; Michele Kapecky and Chris Kucharski from the Detroit Free Press Library; Kathleen Trimble with the U.S. News & World Report; and Shirley Mooney, Lindsay Corbett and Barbara Valle from the Pacific Press, Ltd. library.

Basic Specifications for a Full-Text On-Line Automated Newspaper Library System emerged from the Newspaper Division's Automation Committee in 1979. The specifications were the result of the joint efforts of a wide range of newspaper automation experts including newspaper librarians, data-processing personnel, and systems vendors. The specifications were approved by the division membership in 1979. The publication was highly successful in terms of readership and revenue for the division. It has been superseded by the division's 1987 publication Automating Newspaper Clipping Files. The editorial board included James S. Scofield from the St. Petersburg Times library, Andrew V. Ippolito with Newsday's library, Kathleen Trimble from the Toledo Blade library, Ernest Perez with the Houston Chronicle library and Beverly Russell from the Seattle Times library. Additional contributors were Shirley E. Mooney, formerly with the Vancouver Sun and Province; Barbara Newcombe, then with the Chicago Tribune; Sandy Hall, formerly with the Arizona Daily Star; and Harish Trivedi, formerly with the Dayton Journal Herald.

The 60th Anniversary Commemorative Publication of the Newspaper Division of the Special Libraries Association, 1924-1984 was printed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1984. It was distributed by the Newspaper Division. The 44-page edition is now out of print, but is located in the News Division's archives. The commemorative editor was Nan Stoddard, librarian for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Yvonne Egertson, librarian with the ANPA Foundation, Judy Grimsley from the Orlando Sentinel, and Joan Stern, formerly with the Los Angeles Times assisted.

Newspaper Libraries: A Bibliography, 1933-1985 was compiled by Celia Jo Wall and published by the Special Libraries Association in 1986. The author, a former newspaper librarian, recognized the need for a bibliography when undertaking research in the area. She discovered that the professional literature of newspaper libraries had not been well documented. This was the first comprehensive treatment of newspaper librarianship. The body of the work is organized into several categories, including history, administration, classification, indexing, microforms and automation. Author and subject access is available, but no annotations are offered. It is still in print. The price is $35.

Automating the Newspaper Clipping Files was edited by Mary Jo Crowley, library manager for the Philadelphia Newspapers. It was published by the Special Libraries Association in 1987 and is still in print. The price is $30. As with the guidelines publications, chapters were written by division members knowledgeable in the field of automation. The Newspaper Division Automation Committee involved with this publication included Kathy Foley, librarian with the The Washington Post; Anne Legett, librarian with the State-Times (South Carolina) Morning Advocate; Homer Martin, Jr., librarian for The (New Jersey) Record; Shirley Mooney, librarian with the Pacific Press, Ltd.; Ernest Perez, librarian for the Chicago Sun-Times; Judy Sall, librarian with the Dallas Morning News; and Kathleen Trimble, librarian for U.S. News & World Report.

In the latter decades of the twentieth century, more sophisticated information services and equipment arrived. Professionally trained, experienced information specialists figured more prominently in news library staffs in the 1980s and 1990s. This trend was, however, just another step in developing full partnership with the journalistic enterprise.

In 1986 a survey of Newspaper Division members presented the most complete information to date on news librarian salaries, database use, library automation, staff job titles and union representation. The survey was conducted by the Automation Committee of the division. Results were published in a special issue of News Library News. In need of updating, it nevertheless provides a baseline for future surveys. James Hunter, Columbus Dispatch librarian, spent more than 200 hours of his own time analyzing the survey data.

Surprising to most newspaper librarians is the strong and vital participation by magazine and broadcast news librarians in the early decades of the Newspaper Division's history. It was in the 1980s that special-interest groups were formed in the division with the goal of attracting new members among the media partners. The involvement of broadcast news librarians, such as Laura Kapnick from CBS, Joe McHugh, formerly with NBC, Jeannette Kopak with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Vicki Dawson from Channel 13, and Kee Malesky from National Public Radio, paved the way for a new special-interest group within the division. Long-time division participation from news magazine librarians, such as Time's Ben Lightman, Newsweek's Ted Slate, National Geographic's Virginia Hills, and U.S. News & World Report's Kathy Trimble, prompted a recognition, at last, that the membership was not comprised exclusively of newspaper librarians. Programs and workshops designed for these special news librarians appeared at annual conferences. The division acknowledged this growing trend in membership from broadcast and magazine news organizations and in 1987 changed its name from the Newspaper Division to the News Division of the Special Libraries Association.

These broadcast and magazine librarians joined their newspaper comrades in tackling the technological challenges of the decade. Advanced technology such as computer-output microfiche, optical disks, computerized indexing, automated full-text retrieval systems, digital photo archiving, online database searching, spreadsheets, computer-assisted reporting, and media polling appeared on the scene. News librarians were going to be ready with the professional skills and talent to select, manage and master such electronic wizardry.

The explosion of the information age has special meaning for news libraries. It is sort of "Goodbye, Gutenberg; hello, Mr. Chips." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many newspapers went from hot type to cold type, that is, to electronic front-end typesetting. Even smaller newspapers could amortize multi-million-dollar computerized typesetting investments in a relatively short period of time. Sadly, this technological advancement eliminated long-time newspaper craftsmen, typesetters. As a result, within a few years, newspapers were able to reduce the number of their employees significantly with a substantive improvement in productivity. That meant dollars saved and profits increased. Some have speculated that newspaper libraries were able to reap some of the benefit of this increased corporate savings. By the end of the 1980s, over 150 United States and Canadian newspapers had electronic full-text storage systems operational or in the development stage. That number is constantly increasing.

A brief history of automated newspaper library systems acknowledges that The New York Times' Information Bank led the way in 1971. The original Information Bank consisted of a computer index and abstracts of articles in the Times and other selected publications, with coverage extending back to 1969. This pioneering system was the first newspaper database to become publicly available in online form. Full-text capacity was added to The New York Times Information Service in 1981. In 1983 the marketing and distribution rights to the Information Bank were sold to the Mead Data Corporation and NEXIS was born.

Other newspapers experimented with different approaches to automating their libraries' clipping files. The Detroit Free Press began using a system called Miracode in 1971. This system used a numerically coded index to the microfilmed full text of articles stored in 16-mm roll microfilm cassettes. These cassettes could be searched using an automated microfilm reader-printer. A system designed for internal use only, it was not installed at any other newspaper and it was replaced in the early 1980s by VU/TEXT. In 1976 the Louisville Courier-Journal installed INFO-KY with DEC PDP computers for an online index and microfiche storage. The system allowed a user to search the index and to control reader-printer display and reprinting from the keyboard. The Toronto Globe and Mail introduced the first full-text, online electronic newspaper library system in 1977 using the QL software. David Rhydwen's 1977 article in Special Libraries gives the first account of a full-text computerized storage and retrieval system.

From the early 1980s, other full-text electronic news library systems evolved, including VU/TEXT, DataTimes, Mead Data Corporation and ELS, to mention just a few of the over 20 systems on the market. Currently the trend is away from huge, mainframe computers to smaller, but still-powerful computers equipped with modems and a variety of database-management software packages to enhance, annotate, analyze, print, download or transmit information. Integrating text and graphics in electronic storage and retrieval systems is on the horizon.

In 1985 newspaper libraries had reached a watershed year. More than 50 papers were using commercial electronic systems for full-text storage and retrieval of newspaper stories. Start-up costs were high and remained so for several years. Dedicated full-text hardware-software packages still range from $50,000 to $400,000. The advantages, however, seem to be overcoming the costs, at least for large-circulation papers. Besides offering convenient in-house and remote access, these systems are encouraging news libraries to explore potential revenue from the general public.

Access to full-text news databases, such as NEXIS, VU/TEXT, DataTimes, Dow Jones News Retrieval System, BRS and DIALOG, is becoming more frequent in larger news libraries. Since Knight-Ridder's purchase of DIALOG in 1989, DIALOG has been mounting an increasing number of full-text newspaper databases on its system. Tapping into these electronic sources is costly but justifiable when compared to more costly and less fruitful alternatives.

A study of information technology changes in large newspaper libraries was an important contribution by Hansen and Ward. The study researched 105 newspapers with circulations of over 100,000. Newspaper librarians and newsroom managers described the availability of electronic news libraries, commercial database subscriptions, fax and other information technologies. Sixty-seven percent of newspapers had an electronic library, and 90 percent had commercial database subscriptions. The authors also discussed the implications electronic libraries have on public access. They speculated that online access to large municipal newspapers seems to negate the preparation of locally prepared newspaper indexes. The impact of this technological development on public access to information in newspapers is beginning to have a profound effect.

Larger, better-financed newspaper libraries have obviously led the way in the development of electronic libraries. Smaller news libraries have had a struggle. Unlike their colleagues from larger newspapers, these news librarians lacked budgets for computers, books and travel to professional seminars. Without management support, money, education and training, these librarians were struggling to meet the information needs of their newspapers. A descriptive study by Hegg compared information storage and retrieval methods in 20 smaller newspapers (under 52,000 circulation) located in several states. The author discovered on her visits that not only was there a paucity of automation, but 6 of the 20 newspapers had no library at all. Significantly, the status of the library increased with newspaper circulation size.

But librarians from smaller newspapers have been discovering ways to incorporate this electronic technology, albeit on a smaller scale, in their libraries. Working with in-house computer systems and data-management staff, librarians were getting space on the front-end electronic typesetting equipment to establish news indexes, ready-reference directories and subject-authority files, to mention just a few information tools. The division newsletter, News Library News, was filled with path-breaking accounts, usually in the column, written for librarians of smaller newspapers, titled "Small, but Good!"

This was also a period when smaller newspapers were awakening to the possibility that not just the big, metropolitan papers could have a quality in-house library. Investigative reporting required a skilled information support staff. Recognizing that the journalistic function of "watchdog" could not be left to large papers exclusively, midsized and smaller papers were beginning to invest in the talent and the tools to support their own news staffs. They were hiring professionally trained librarians knowledgeable about database searching and information management. The trend was for news libraries to be expanded, upgraded, and improved.

An eloquent statement of the mission of strong, effective, professional newspaper libraries was prepared by James Scofield, former librarian with the St. Petersburg Times. His keynote speech, originally delivered at a 1984 regional seminar of North Carolina news librarians, was reprinted in Editor & Publisher. An oft-quoted remark from that speech is "Newspaper managements must remember, and perhaps be reminded occasionally, that excellence costs, but in the long run, mediocrity costs far more." Joseph Kwapil, the founder of the Newspaper Libraries Division, made a speech 64 years earlier with a similar theme. "At a conservative estimate I should say that every dollar judiciously spent on the morgue will add at least ten to the physical valuation of the newspaper property on the whole." Kwapil went on to say that the morgue, when conducted on a modern basis, is an indispensable department of any well-regulated newspaper.

Just about any technological change in a news organization has an impact on the news library. Witness the advent of the electronic darkroom in the 1990s. The arrival of digitized photos via AP's Leaf System is a prime case in point. This advanced technology arrived on the scene without electronic or computerized archiving capability. That meant that if any of the hundreds or thousands of photos streaming across a newspaper photo editor's computer each week needed to be saved for subsequent access, the desired photos had to be printed and filed in cabinets. There had to be a better way.

In 1991-92 the News Division, under the direction of then chairman Lany McDonald, created a task force of selected members to research the problems of digital photo archiving. Further, the division would seek opportunities to discuss these problems with the Associated Press and the inventors of its Leaf System. McDonald was placed on an AP advisory committee, and the task force went to work.

Well-researched reports on the electronic darkroom and digital photo archiving appeared in News Library News by Mary Ann Skinner from the Newsday library, George Schlukbier from the Sacramento Bee Editorial Library and other members in 1990-91 detailing the process and its impact on news libraries. The archiving system is not yet defined, but a proposal by Kathy Foley, librarian with the Washington Post, is making headway in charting the territory. News librarians are taking their rightful place as knowledgeable information managers in this newest area of technology.

Newspaper managements are interested in a return on their investments from departments that hitherto had not been sources of revenue. News libraries, with their growing research collections and electronic access expertise, began to look promising for news information packaging and marketing possibilities. The early beginnings were small and limited.

David Hughey in 1983 referred to newspapers meeting the challenge of electronic publishing and commercial profitability via the special collections in news libraries. The need for providing to the newspaper's public retrospective local information, well categorized, conveniently located and attractively priced, is compelling.

Documenting news library practices in information marketing started with a survey in 1982-83. Shirley Mooney Aabjerg, now retired from the Pacific Press, Ltd. library, undertook a survey of newspaper library information marketing practices by Newspaper Division members. Although the response rate was low, she found a wide range of these activities, everything from charging the public $.10 for a clip photocopy and $3.00 for a microfilm print to an hourly fee for research. She reported that a few newspapers, mostly large circulation ones, operate a special in-house service, usually separate from the library, to accommodate public requests for photos, back issues and other information published in their papers. This charge for service came about in some newspaper libraries as a way of managing the flood of requests. While possibly acceptable in metropolitan areas, it usually meets with publisher and public disapproval in smaller cities and towns. The library in these cases is supposed to provide the service as part of maintaining the paper's good will.

A slightly different role some larger news libraries are taking on is that of information broker. For a fee ranging from $25 to $75 per hour, news librarians will research their clip and microfilm files, conduct online searches and produce the actual documents.

Not until the establishment and acceptance of electronic news databases did news library revenues surge. The advent of online full-text news databases opened publishers' eyes about other possibilities for revenue. Early on, database service vendors tempted newspaper management with the possibility of revenues from public use, thereby offsetting the heavy financial start-up and maintenance costs. For large metropolitan newspapers, news database revenue can range from a few thousand dollars annually to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Royalties from subscription sales of newspaper microfilm have generated returns ranging from modest to significant. Librarians now are making efforts to boost revenues by actively demonstrating microfilm's value for other libraries, even to the point of negotiating royalties so that a better bargain can be had for budget-minded clients. In-house newspaper indexes marketed to the public usually yield only modest revenues due to the labor-intensive costs.

A few of these libraries advertise their commercial services. Income ranges from a few hundred dollars per year to thousands dollars. This income usually goes directly to the newspapers' general revenues. Sometimes such revenue is credited to the libraries' budgets. In hard economic times this bottom-line approach becomes a potential standard to measure the library's value, which is fine as long as the contributions continue to increase. One wonders about the librarian's position when such monies diminish.

Another problem is emerging in this area of information marketing, the ethics of selling it. Nora Paul, formerly director of The Miami Herald library, addressed the issues of information selling. The Miami Herald advertises its library reference services to the public. The revenue generated is substantial. But Paul discovered potential conflicts of interests between revenue and satisfied customers. The Miami Herald's lawyer counseled that confidentiality of information requests could not be guaranteed to public clients. The problems centered on how librarians can balance the interest of the news organizations with the privacy rights of the public clients. Tips from research requests could be passed on to the news staff. While this is not a concern to some clients, others might legitimately feel otherwise. Newspaper libraries considering getting into the public information business can expect situations to arise requiring a delicate balancing act between the needs of the clients and the needs of the newsroom. Guidelines need to be clearly established and followed.

The decade of the 1990s began with a reversal of fortunes for many newspapers. A stagnant economy, further declining readership, rising costs and eroding advertising revenues resulted in a downward spiral for the press and networks as well. Top management responded in a businesslike fashion with downsizing and restructuring. Some newspapers folded or merged. Many news libraries took cuts in budget, staff and space. However, news libraries were not the only departments to take the cutbacks. It was a struggle to guard against a siege mentality. The clarion call seems to be to do more, work harder and manage better with less of everything but dedication and enthusiasm. As might be expected of professionals, news librarians responded well. Not in recent memory had there been such an opportunity to understand clearly the importance of working together to help the profession and the industry. Articles describing how news librarians are surviving this neorecession filled News Library News. It is generally agreed that this situation is not yet over and, in fact, may deteriorate before it improves.

In 1993-94 the News Division of the Special Libraries Association will celebrate its 70th anniversary. Newspaper libraries existed long before the introduction of the News Division. It took world wars, civil conflict, national disasters and journalistic competition before newspapers realized the importance and value of investing in their own in-house libraries. News librarians are part of a larger journalistic heritage, one that is deeply embedded in our country's convictions as well as its Constitution. They are part of this country's commitment to freedom of the press and the concomitant goal of freedom of information. This commitment is part of the excitement and responsibility of the news library profession.

On the periphery, but still of concern, is the need for developing a wide-ranging information policy for our profession and country. Typically, news librarians have been too absorbed in their daily routines, escalating technology and developing professional identities to address these broader concerns. As they secure their positions in news organizations, members of this new breed of information specialists must look beyond their parochial and corporate interests. Preservation and archiving of historical newspaper collections, videotapes and photographs demand attention. The ethics of information selling concern everyone. Defining public access to information, determining the value and accuracy of information, and establishing its cost must be part of the news librarians' future agenda.

Information storage and delivery systems will dominate news librarians' agenda, but other topics affecting the growth and development of the news industry deserve careful study. There are several ways to undertake this study, but a good place to begin is with The Freedom Forum Media Studies Center's 1992 report titled Media at the Millennium. In it are highlights from a symposium covering such crucial topics as "The Future of the Media," "The Future of Media Studies," "Converging Technologies," "Free Expression in the Information Age," "Media and the Political Process," "Affirming Diversity--Multicultural Media," and "International Communication." The Baby Bells' entrance into electronic information selling has profound implications for the news industry.

Likewise, desktop publishing, compact disk technology, optical imaging, hypertext, and multimedia are already stimulating changes across broad spectrums of society. Issues of open access to public-records laws and the corresponding right to privacy will continue to confront us. Who will train and educate the journalists of the future? One journalist recently invented a new, multimedia computer, called Reporter's Workbench, that packages journalists' varied news resources into one handy PC system. Are news libraries a part of this new technological development? Are news librarians even aware of what is happening, let alone what might be happening in their industry? If so, how will they respond to these new and different demands on their time and talents?

Managing information resources is just part of what news librarians do. The bigger task will be not only finding the answers to questions, but discovering what questions need asking and then packaging the data and analysis in ways to be most effectively used. News library managers of the 1990s must continue, more than ever before, to read, study, learn, plan, experiment, cooperate, communicate and evaluate. There are few other professional organizations better prepared to lead news librarians into vital contributions to the media in the twenty-first century than the News Division of the Special Libraries Association.

Today, most of the United States' 1,700 daily newspapers have some sort of news archive/library. It is rarely, if ever, referred to as the morgue. This development is matched by network broadcast news organizations. However, fewer than one-third of these news organizations have librarians who are represented in the membership of the only professional organization prepared to promote high-quality news library service. No longer can this competitive industry tolerate the morgue of yesteryear. It is just too costly to continue operating a poorly arranged, inadequately staffed, space-wasting, time-consuming, out-of-date, impossible-to-find-anything warehouse.

Newspaper librarians will need to prepare themselves for an expanding news role. The effort will require not only new skills and knowledge, but a willingness to actively participate in the development of new technology. Times and methods have changed, and so have the news industry and its libraries. Regardless of whether the tools of the twenty-first century news librarian remain scissors, file cabinets and telephones, or become computers, optical discs and satellites, the vital ingredient will always be the individual's professionalism and enthusiasm. One element that has remained constant is the news librarians' prime directive. It is still "Information, please, and make it fast, accurate and comprehensive."

Baltimore Sun                                        Mark S. Watson, assistant managing editor

Boston Globe                                         William Alcott, librarian

Boston Herald                                        Paul P. Foster, librarian

Brooklyn Standard Union                   Joseph J. Early, managing editor

Buffalo Evening News                         Emma R. Keil, librarian

Cincinnati Enquirer                             Harry Pence, librarian

Columbia School of  Journalism           J. W. Cunliffe, director, and Anna Trenchard, clippings dept.

Des Moines Register                             W. W. Waymack, managing editor

Detroit News                                           Lee L. White

Kansas City Star                                    R. E. Stout, managing editor

Los Angeles Examiner                          Gertrude Blackledge, librarian

Louisville Herald and Post                  Robert Montgomery, managing editor

Milwaukee Journal                               Agnes J. Petersen, librarian

New York Daily News                           Maurice Symonds, librarian

New York Telegram & Evening
                 Mail                                        Matthew Redding, librarian

Oakland Tribune                                    Emilie Honzik Condon, librarian

Portland Evening Express and
                Sunday Telegram                   Alice Nichols Lundberg, librarian

St. Louis Globe-Democrat                     (no name listed for the editorial secretary)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch and
                Pioneer-Press                         E. Kimball King, librarian

Schenectady Gazette                             David W. Benjamin, city editor

Seattle Post-Intelligencer                     Raymond D. Holmes, librarian

Springfield Republican                         Howard K. Regal, managing editor

Toledo News-Bee                                    F. M. Heller, editor

University of Illinois                               Frank W. Scott, director of  journalism courses

Washington Star                                     C. Fred Cook, librarian

1923-25: Joseph F. Kwapil             Philadelphia Public Ledger

1925-26: William A. Alcott            Boston Globe

1926-27: John H. Miller                   King Features Syndicate

1927-28: Agnes J. Petersen            Milwaukee Journal

1928-29: Maurice Symonds            New York Daily News

1929-30: Joseph F. Kwapil             Philadelphia Public Ledger

1930-31: Ford M. Pettit                   Detroit News

1931-32: David G. Rogers              New York Herald Tribune

1932-33: Mildred A. Burke            Chicago Tribune

1933-34: Alma Jacobus                   Time Magazine

1934-35: Blanche Davenport         Christian Science Monitor

1935-36: Ralph J. Shoemaker         Philadelphia Public Ledger

1936-37: Matthew Redding            New York World-Telegram

1937-38: Mary H. Welch               Boston Globe

1938-39: Frances S. Curtiss           Detroit News

1939-40: Paul P. Foster                   Philadelphia Inquirer

1940-41: Maurice Symonds           New York Daily News

1941-42: Stephen A. Greene          Providence Journal-Bulletin

1942-43: Albert A. Mason            Worcester Telegram

1943-45: Charles Stolberg             New York Sun

1945-47: F. Heaton Shoemaker      Philadelphia Inquirer

1947-48: Joseph E. Molloy            Philadelphia Inquirer

1948-49: Agnes C. Henebry          Decatur Herald and Review

1949-50: Robert E. Grayson           New York Herald Tribune

1950-51: Milton E. Prensky           Pathfinder News Magazine

1951-52: Ruth Braun                       Detroit News

1952-53: Chester M. Lewis            New York Times

1953-54: Lee Cheney Jessup        Nashville Banner

1954-55: Robert A. Diehl                Detroit News

1955-56: Charles A. Brown III       Minneapolis Star and Tribune

1956-57: William D. Chase             Flint Journal

1957-58: Helen M. Orcutt               Toledo Blade

1958-59: Elliott E. Andrews           Providence Journal-Bulletin

1959-60: Chester W. Sanger        Christian Science Monitor

1960-61: David A. Rhydwen        Toronto Globe and Mail

1961-62: Jack K. Burness              Washington Post

1962-63: Clem Vitek                       Baltimore Sun

1963-64: Elwin S. Greene              Worchester Telegram

1964-65: Rex Schaeffer                  Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

1965-66: Marian M. Orgain         Houston Chronicle

1966-67: Roy T. King                    St. Louis Post-Dispatch

1967-68: Josephine R. Johnson  Louisville Courier-Journal

1968-69: Andrew V. Ippolito      Newsday

1969-70: John J. Doohan             Kansas City Star

1970-71: James S. Scofield         St. Petersburg Times

1971-72: John Frankland             Milwaukee Journal

1972-73: Carol Lindsay                Toronto Star

1973-74: Edward W. Quill           Boston Globe

1974-75: Homer E. Martin, Jr.    The Record

1975-76: Joseph O. Mehr            Providence Journal-Bulletin

1976-77: Alison Oppedahl         Detroit Free Press

1977-78: Lou Thomas                 Baton Rouge State Times/Morning Advocate

1979-80: Sandra K. Hall              Arizona Daily Star

1980-81: Julia Vance                    Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1981-82: Shirley Mooney            Vancouver Sun and Province

1982-83: Harish Trivedi              Dayton Newspapers

1983-84: Barbara P. Semonche Durham Herald-Sun

1984-85: Carolyn J. Hardnett    Baltimore Sun

1985-86: Kathy Foley                 The Washington Post

1986-87: Diane Miller                  Pantagraph

1987-88: Bob Isaacs                     Ft. Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel

1988-89: Richard Geiger              San Francisco Chronicle

1989-90: Sharon Ostmann         Orange County Register

1990-91: Lany McDonald           News & Observer

1991-92: Margaret Neu               Corpus Christi Caller Times

1992-93: John Cronin                 Boston Herald

1993-94: Donna W. Scheeder    Library of Congress,  Congressional Research Division

APPENDIX C

        1948-51:         Milton Prensky (Pathfinder magazine)

        1952:              Agnes C. Henebry (Decatur Herald and Review)

        1953:              Charles A. Brown III (Minneapolis Star and Tribune)

        1954:              William D. Chase (Flint Journal)

        1955-56:         Elliott Andrews (Providence Journal and Bulletin)

(No newsletter was published from 1957 through 1977.)

        1978 (Issue no. 1, 2/78)      Janice Lewis (Chicago Sun-Times)

        1978 (Issue no. 2, 5/78)      Barbara Newcombe, Mary Huschen, Isobel Metz (Chicago Tribune)

        1978-79 (vol. 1:1-vol. 2:2)  Ellen Wood (Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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