APLIC-INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATOR

Summer/Fall 2004, Issue #80

President's Message

By Anne K. Ilacqua, Brown University

Population and family planning librarians are special librarians in a very narrow field. In APLIC-I we work together congenially,collegially and cooperatively. Whether you work in academia, in a government agency, in an NGO or in the private sector, with colleagues or as a "solo" librarian, and whatever your title, "librarian", "manager", "head", "director", "coordinator","information specialist", your membership in APLIC-I has many benefits. Some of these benefits include: instant "informal" interlibrary loans of books, print documents, pdf documents, delivered by USPS, fax or electronically, the opportunity to donate or receive duplicate materials, continuing education at the Annual Meeting and both "virtual" and face-to-face networking. Occasionally the suggestion is made that because APLIC-I is small in comparison to other professional organizations, we should align with a larger organization. However, many of us already belong to larger organizations and appreciate the more focused milieu that APLIC-I provides.

It is especially important, during these times which present challenges brought about by organizational changes and by changes in our clienteles' information-seeking behaviors that we take advantage of the opportunity to share both our concerns, our ideas and our solutions.

Not many, if any of us, began with a career goal of becoming a "population" or "family planning" librarian. Those new to the field quickly learn to call on the more seasoned in this organization for answers to "how to do it" and "where to find it."

As I come to the end of my 10th year in APLIC-I, I am reflecting on the number of active members who have moved on- frequently as a result of the "shifting sands" of organizational change. I hope that the Communicator's readers will think seriously about joining us next Spring as we explore the issues involved in "Ringing in a New Era: Changes in Population Librarianship."

Save the Date: APLIC-I 2005 Annual Meeting

APLIC-I's 38th Annual Meeting, "Ringing In A New Era: Changes in Population Librarianship," will be held at the Philadelphia Marriott, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 28-30, 2005.

Check the 2005 Annual Meeting web site for details, updates and for the registration form.

Open Positions

APLIC-I Secretary

After many years of service as APLIC-I's Secretary, Kay Willson would like to be relieved of her duties. This is a recording, not a corresponding secretary position. The chief duty is to take notes at the two annual Board Meetings and the Annual Business Meeting. Please consider giving back to APLIC-I by taking on this task. Contact Kay: kwillson@futuresgroup.com with a cc to Anne: anne_ilacqua@brown.edu if you would be willing to consider offering your services in this way.

APLIC-I Communicator Co-editor

After five Issues of service, current Vice-President and forthcoming APLIC-I President, Nykia M. Perez, would like to pass along her duties as a coeditor of the APLIC-I newsletter, the Communicator. If we have more than one volunteer, Yan Fu, who has co-edited seven issues of the newsletter, would be happy to relinquish her duties as coeditor of the Communicator to a newcomer. Please contact either of us to volunteer and/or to find out more about the duties of a coeditor: Yan Fu yanfu@umich.edu and Nykia M. Perez, nmperez@pop.upenn.edu.

2004 Annual Conference Presentations

For those of you who may have missed the annual meeting or for those of you who want a refresher, PDF's for the conference presentations are now available on the 2004 Conference Schedule at: http://www.aplici.org/conferences/2004/index.html

News from the Field

SLA Presentations

At the Special Librarians Association 2004 Annual Conference in Nashville, TN, two of our members participated in the June 9th, 2004 panel on: "The Best Social Science Websites, Part Two (Geography, Demography, Immigration)". This event was sponsored by the Social Science Division of SLA and Sage Publications. The moderator was, Liz Green, from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Speakers were: Kelly Blessinger (2.61 MB), Reference Librarian & Specialist for Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, she spoke on Geography; Zuali Malsawma (2.11 MB), Population Reference Bureau, Washington D.C., who presented on Demography; and Elana Broch (2.62 MB), Donald E. Stokes Library, Princeton University, who presented on Immigration. Handout from Panel discussion (79 KB).

Spotlight on a Member

By Joann Donatiello

I started as the Population Research Librarian at the Donald Stokes Library at Princeton University on July 1, 2004. One of the first pieces of advice my new colleagues gave me was to join APLIC-I and specifically the APLIC-I listserv. As a newcomer to the field of population studies, I have found it helpful and look forward to working with other members at meetings and conferences. In October, I attended my first board meeting and was impressed by the collegiality and professionalism of the group.

Prior to my arrival at Princeton, I was the Information Specialist/Librarian at the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University where I started the library from scratch and spent four and one half years building the collection and services. Prior to that, I was the Reference and Special Collections librarian at the Guggenheim Library at Monmouth University for four years. While there, I managed the state and federal documents collections, the archives and other special collections. I received my MLS from Rutgers University in 1995. While in library school, I worked as a public librarian and managed a library research project focusing on the costs and benefits of library services.

Although I worked at my college library and loved it, it took me a while to decide that it would be my profession. Librarianship was a career change for me. I also hold an M.A. in political science with a specialization in public policy and survey research from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University and have been an assistant lobbyist for the American Chiropractic Association and a market research project director. I have also worked as a market research consultant while living abroad for four years.

As for leisure activities, I am a potter and enjoy wheel-throwing as well as hand-building. I have had pieces exhibited at two New Jersey colleges. I enjoy cycling and walks along the canal near my home as well as traveling. And of course, being from New Jersey, I love the Jersey shore!

Spotlight on a Member Library

By Gretl Cox

Family Health International
Institute for HIV/AIDS
Arlington VA

Information Resource Center

The Information Resource Center contains a collection of material aimed at supporting the research activities of FHI/Arlington as well as FHI field staff. We provide useful and timely information in support of the Institute for HIV/AIDS and respond effectively to requests from within the organization as well as to non-FHI requesters. Its small collection contains about 800 books, 25 journal titles, 30 newsletters, reports, conference proceedings. There is also a video collection of approximately 350 video tapes produced by FHI field offices and commercial video publishers. Publications by the FHI Institute staff are distributed by a dissemination specialist. The collection is focused around literature related to HIV/AIDS prevention and care, sexually transmitted infections, opportunistic infections, tuberculosis, social and legal issues centered around this disease.

The AIDS knowledge base, AIDS Awareness, an internal document distribution service about HIV/AIDS, reaches back to the beginning of the epidemic. It is located in both FHI libraries. FHI staff receive a monthly listing of cutting edge articles and may request articles of interest to them. Four years ago there were forty to fifty articles per month, now there are 90 - 100. Last year more than 2400 articles were distributed to FHI offices all over the world.

Gretl Cox is the Information Research Manager. She works closely with the FHI/NC library staff, thus expanding the Center's capabilities and resources. Gretl has spent the last 12 years of her library career working in development: at the USAID Development Information Center, as their library used to be called;, at John Snow Inc. in family planning and maternal health projects. She started at FHI almost four years ago. Originally she thought of being a rare books librarian. Being a Solo-librarian always has good and bad sides. The variety of material and requests, is one of her favorite aspects of this work: "Today I am working for the Country Director in Rwanda on a literature search about peer educators; the next day I purchase books on nutrition and HIV; the following day I collect articles on risk taking behavior of youth in West Africa at the US National Library of Medicine. Networking with other health and population librarians, especially with APLIC is a wonderful resource and support.

Our work centers around a grim and often discouraging disease, but we hope that our work will make a difference.

Happenings: Calendar of Events

Compiled by Yan Fu and Nykia M. Perez

APLIC-I Call for Submissions & Volunteers

The APLIC-I Communicator Needs You

Conference & Workshop Reporters needed to report on any conferences or workshops that our members have attended that would be of interest to other members. Please send us brief or in-depth reports for the next issue of the Communicator. E-mail the APLIC-I Communicator Editors if you are interested in assisting with the Conference Issue: yanfu@umich.edu & nmperez@pop.upenn.edu.

"Spotlight On Our Members" will profile a different member of APLIC-I in each issue of the APLIC-I Communicator. The member is selected from the membership list and is then interviewed by one of the Editors or members can volunteer to participate. The goal is to foster a broader appreciation of the diverse membership of the association. Do you have a story you would like to tell? Talk to us.

"Spotlight On Our Libraries" will profile a different type of information organization as per our APLIC-I in each issue of the APLIC-I Communicator. A member library is selected at from the membership list and is then asked to contribute a short description of their organizations library or information services. Members can also volunteer to participate. The goal is to foster a broader appreciation of the diversity in our member's organizations and to share the different types of work that APLIC-I members do. Did you want to know how another library does "it"? Here is where we will try to provide you with some answers.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you, Yan Fu yanfu@umich.edu and Nykia M. Perez, nmperez@pop.upenn.edu.

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Last updated 12/20/04