Cara Schatz
703.647.4917
cara@sla.org
Donna Scheeder and Barbara Semonche Inducted Into
SLA Hall of Fame
News Division 'Legends' Honored for Lifetime of Work
on Behalf of Profession and SLA
Alexandria, Virginia, February 16, 2010 -- Special Libraries Association (SLA) named Donna Scheeder and Barbara Semonche as the 2009 recipients of the SLA Hall of Fame award in honor of their pioneering work in the field of news librarianship and their prolonged and distinguished histories of service and leadership to SLA.
Hall of Fame recognition is reserved for SLA members at or near the end of their active professional careers to recognize service and contributions to the association.
"The names Barbara Semonche and Donna Scheeder have been synonymous with mentorship, service, and leadership in this profession for many years," said Gloria Zamora, 2010 past president of SLA. "Their contributions to this association have had a lasting impact on so many. From young emerging leaders to former presidents and board members to their colleagues in the SLA News Division and their local chapters, one would be hard pressed to find an SLA member who hasn't been touched in some way by either of these amazing professionals. Barbara and Donna are so deserving of this award, and I am so pleased that we are able to honor them in this way."
Donna Scheeder
Donna Scheeder, a member of SLA since 1978 and its president in 2000-2001, recently returned to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress (LOC) to serve as its first-ever deputy chief information officer. She previously served as the director of law library services in the Law Library of the LOC, where she provided management and oversight for the provision of a wide range of information and collection services for the U.S. Congress, the courts, federal agencies and the public. Scheeder instituted a number of new programs in the Law Library, including the digital reference "Ask a Librarian" service. Before that, she served for 30 years in the CRS in increasingly responsible positions, climaxing in her appointment as deputy assistant director of the Information Research Division.
Scheeder has been a consultant to parliamentary research libraries and organizations and has traveled to Japan, Brazil, Australia and Canada to give keynote addresses, lectures and workshops. She is currently a member of the Governing Board of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). Scheeder previously served IFLA as the vice chair of the Professional Committee (2005-2007), and on the IFLA Standing Committee on Parliamentary Libraries and Research Organizations (1997 to 2009). She has presented at the Computers in Libraries, Internet Librarian, Internet Librarian International, On-Line, and KM-World conferences.
Scheeder has worked hard on behalf of SLA and continues to serve the association with distinction. In addition to her term as president, she served for three years on the board of directors as treasurer (1994-1997) and was chair of the Finance Committee. She has also been a member of the Strategic Planning and Office Operations Committees.
Scheeder has been extremely active in the News Division of SLA, which she chaired in 1993-1994. She has also been active in the Leadership and Management Division, where she served as government relations chair (1998-1999). For the Washington, D.C., Chapter (DC/SLA), she has served as chair of the Government Relations Committee (1997-1998), chair of the Hospitality Committee (1981-1982; 1985-1987), and chair of the Scholarship Benefit Committee (1983), as well as on the chapter's board of directors as recording secretary (1983-1985) and as president (1988-1989).
Her contributions over the course of her career have earned her recognition as an SLA Fellow (1998) and as recipient of the John Cotton Dana Award (2004), SLA's highest honor. She has also received the Ralph Shoemaker Award and the Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor from the News Division and the Board of Directors Award from DC/SLA.
Barbara Semonche
Barbara Semonche has been a member of SLA for 32 years, first joining the association in 1977. In June 2009, she retired from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she served as director of the school's library for nearly 20 years.
After graduating from the UNC-CH School of Library Science in 1976, Semonche discovered that her local newspaper, The Herald-Sun, did not have a library. She contacted the managing editor and offered to start one, and the first Herald-Sun library opened on September 29 of that same year. During her 13 years as the Herald-Sun's library director, Semonche built a staff to provide reference and research services to the entire company and launched a clipping file microfiche project as well as a computerized newspaper indexing program with software developed in collaboration with IBM.
After a decade managing a newspaper library, Semonche found that there was no official definition or job title for what she and hundreds of other news librarians had been doing for over a half century. The U.S. Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) had no classification for news librarians. Semonche prepared a document detailing what news librarians do and which job titles were appropriate. It was tested, accepted and entered into the DOT by 1991.
In 1990, Semonche went to work as the founder and director of the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication's Park Library. In addition to managing the library's print and electronic resources, she was a frequent class instructor and research coach for students, faculty and international media scholars.
In 1993, Semonche launched a new electronic discussion list for SLA's News Division called NewsLib. By the time she relinquished her responsibility as list administrator in 2006, NewsLib subscribers--a mix of news librarians, media researchers, reporters, journalism educators, students, and vendors--numbered nearly 1,200 people representing 30 countries.
Toward the end of her career, Semonche was honored as a distinguished alumna by her colleagues at the UNC-CH School of Information and Library Science. NC/SLA presented Semonche with the chapter's Meritorious Achievement Award for Distinguished Service; SLA's News Division presented her with the Joseph F. Kwapil Award for Meritorious Contributions to the Profession, the Agnes Henebry Award of Honor, and the David Rhydwen Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributions to the Field of News Librarianship. She was named an SLA Fellow in 1995 and was later presented with the Rose Vormelker Mentoring Award (2000) and the John Cotton Dana Award (2004), SLA's highest honor.
About SLA
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves about 11,000 members in 75 countries in the information profession, including corporate, academic, and government information specialists. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. For more information, visit us on the Web at www.sla.org.
Note to Editors: B-roll, headshots and high-resolution photographs are available. Please contact Cara Schatz in the SLA PR Office to schedule an interview or request additional materials, e-mail: cara@sla.org or 703.647.4917.
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