June 9, 2003
SLA News Division Awards: New York City
"The Conventional Career of James S. Scofield"

           

Good evening everyone. My name is Barbara Semonche and it is my honor to present the News Division's Certificate of Achievement Award. This is a unique award in that it is not presented annually because it is based on exceptional  accomplishment.

Before I begin, I have a request. Will all first-time conference attendees please identify themselves?  Thank you. What I have to say this evening is meant especially for you. Veteran News Division members can take a back seat, for now.

"Listen, my young colleagues and you shall hear
about the triumphs and trials of
Jim Scofield's conventional career."

We are celebrating a News Division record tonight. This conference is Jim Scofield’s 40^th consecutive conference [Note: go to http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/who/ConferenceThemes.cfm for a list of SLA conferences from 1963 forward.] and therefore a rare opportunity for us to honor Jim. Admittedly, this record may not compare in star power with such consecutive record holders as: 

Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games played between 1982 and 1998

NFL’s George Blanda's 340 consecutive games from 1949 to 1975

LPGA’s Babe Didricksen Zaharias' 17 consecutive amateur golf tournament winning streak between 1946-47.

Consecutive records are as much tests of character as of talent and strength. Also, they are not limited to sports figures. Interestingly, sports reporters and news researchers have some traits in common. Both have a healthy respect for records.

There are very few folks here this evening who will remember that Jim started his career in newspapers as a sports writer at age 16 for the Hammond (Indiana) Times. He later became assistant sports editor and then Sunday sports editor. He joined the St. Petersburg Times in 1962 as a copy editor, and the following year, 1963, was named chief librarian. He attended his first News Division conference in St. Louis in 1964.

However, Jim did not entirely abandon his reporting career when he became a library director. In his lifetime he met, interviewed, and wrote about such international newsmakers as: Aristotle Onassis, Archbishop Makarios, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Further, Jim has been a White House guest of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and George H. W. Bush. But it was on a fateful evening in June 1968 that Jim had his reporting skills tested. A tragic event occurred in Los Angles at the same time and in the same place as the SLA annual conference was being held. Jim was listening to a speech by Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the Ambassador Hotel Ballroom. When an assassin shot and killed Kennedy, Jim responded in keeping with his profession. Within a few hours Jim had filed three stories about the assassination with his paper, the St. Petersburg Times, which published them with his byline.

Conferences came and went, some with more notoriety than others. There was the chemical spill in Atlanta (1981), the raging dust storms in Winnipeg in 1985, the five tornadoes in Denver (1988), and the hotel fires in Cincinnati in (1993) and in Montreal (1995). And Jim Scofield was there. All this is not to say that attending conferences is dangerous to your health, but it is not for the faint of heart.

In the next few years, Jim faced greater opportunities for leadership and responsibility. He became chairman of our Division in 1971 at the San Francisco conference. That decade launched a period of discovery and diversity. Jim, with colleagues from the US and Canada, addressed the challenges of computerized newspaper archiving. The widespread publication of that committee’s technology guidelines quickly became the standard in an emerging industry.

Other challenges came in the late 1970s. Our Newspaper Division as it was known then, realized that its growing membership included folks who were not from newspapers. They came from news magazines, television, radio, academia, and state and federal government. Our Division’s name did not reflect that diversity. It had to change. Or did it? What would we change our name to? Media Division? News Division? There was no agreement, only argument. Actually there was a volatile debate that protracted our conference business meetings for several years.  Over time, Jim and a handful of other Parliamentary savvy leaders held our Division together. It wasn’t until 1987 that we were ready to vote. “News Division” we became and remain. Compared to what our Division endured, SLA’s current proposed name change efforts barely rise above polite discourse.

For these contributions and others, including his inspirational article titled “The Mission of Newspaper Libraries,” Jim was presented with the Henebry Award in the 1985 conference in Winnipeg and honored with the Kwapil in 1987 in Anaheim.

Jim retired from The St. Pete Times in 1992, but he continued his steadfast support of our News Division and its members. Still, there is more to Jim’s life. 

In recognition of Jim’s memorable contributions to his country, as well as his mercy missions to Greece and Cyprus, he was one of six Americans of Hellenic heritage selected in 1994 to receive the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Throughout four decades, Jim has distinguished himself as a sports reporter, library director, speaker, writer, consultant, and compassionate citizen of the world. He is also much admired as a mentor and raconteur. Jim has not only set a record for our News Division, he has established himself as one of our very own champions.

And to our young colleagues this evening, I suggest that in the future, when confronted with a professional challenge, ask yourselves, "What would Jim do?" Or you could ask the person who almost matches Jim’s record: Jessie Scofield. Jim is her husband.  Speaking of the future, Jim, what do you say to our invitation of "same time next
year?"

News Division's 
CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION AND RECOGNITION*
*Note: this certificate has had various names including: "Special Recognition Award" and 
"Certificate of Achievement" Award 

"This award, first approved in 1984 by the Newspaper Division, is given periodically to an individual or institution for outstanding contributions in the field of information science and/or news media librarianship."

Past honorees are: 

1984:    
                Nan & Paul Stoddard, St. Louis Post Dispatch     
[Note: the honorees this year were recognized at the Newspaper Division's annual business meeting not at the Awards Banquet.] Bob Isaacs presented letters of appreciation for the design and publication of the Newspaper Division's 60th Anniversary program to Nan and Paul Stoddard.]
            
1986:     
                Bell & Howell Micro Photo Division

                Aurora E. Davis, Kansas City Star and the Columbia/Boone County Project team for publication of Access to Public Information: A Resource Guide to Government in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri

                A. DeSa, Times of India, Bombay, India, 
for his development of the Times of India index and classification system.

1988: 
             Celia Jo Wall, Murray State University, 
in recognition for her bibliography of news librarianship, Newspaper Libraries: A bibliography, 1933 - 1985, published in 1986 by SLA.

1989: 
                Dr. John Rothman, New York Times, 
in recognition for his pioneering work in developing The New York Times Information Bank.

1992: 
                DataTimes, Oklahoma City, OK, 
for its support in publishing and distributing the News Division's membership directory

2000:    [Note: this award was identified this year as "Special Recognition Awards"] 

                Justin Scroggs, Time Inc., 
for his outstanding editorship of the 75th Anniversary program

                Carol Ann Martin, Bell & Howell, 
for distinguished service to news libraries during UMI career

                Gary Price, George Washington University, 
for his original "Lists of Lists," a World Wide Web reference resource

2003:

                James S. Scofield, St. Petersburg Times, retired
for his record of 40 consecutive years (1964-2003) attending SLA News Division conferences

Jim Scofield with his wife Jessie and friends John Cronin, Barbara Semonche and Carolina Hardnett.

SLA CONFERENCE CITIES: 1963-2003

• 1963:            Denver
• 1964:            St. Louis
• 1965:            Philadelphia
• 1966:            Minneapolis
• 1967:            New York City
• 1968:            Los Angeles
• 1969:            Montreal
• 1970:            Detroit
• 1971:            San Francisco
• 1972:            Boston
• 1973:            Pittsburgh
• 1974:            Toronto
• 1975:            Chicago
• 1976:            Denver
• 1977:            New York City
• 1978:            Kansas City
• 1979:            Honolulu
• 1980:            Washington, DC
• 1981:            Atlanta
• 1982:            Detroit
• 1983:            New Orleans
• 1984:            New York City
• 1985:            Winnipeg
• 1986:            Boston
• 1987:            Anaheim
• 1988:            Denver
• 1989:            New York City
• 1990:            Pittsburgh
• 1991:            San Antonio
• 1992:            San Francisco
• 1993:            Cincinnati
• 1994:            Atlanta
• 1995:            Montreal
• 1996:            Boston
• 1997:            Seattle
• 1998:            Indianapolis
• 1999:            Minneapolis
• 2000:            Philadelphia
• 2001:            San Antonio
• 2002:            Los Angeles
• 2003:            New York City