THE FIRST MEMBERS

The founding meeting of the Cincinnati Chapter of the Special Libraries Association took place on May 12, 1927. According to the secretary’s account, a small group of special librarians met at the Procter & Gamble Company Library to discuss the desirability of forming a Special Libraries Association in Cincinnati. Before attempting to create a formal organization, they decided to contact other librarians with “several of the girls offering to get in touch with these persons and to ask them to attend the next meeting if interested in the plan.” A second meeting took place on June 2 at the Cincinnati Business Women’s Club and resulted in the election of officers from among the fifteen librarians attending.

The first President of the Cincinnati Chapter was Grace Stowell of the Procter & Gamble Library. E. Gertrude Avey, an employee of the Cincinnati Public Library, became the Secretary treasurer. Initially, the group did not strictly model itself after the national guidelines of the Special Libraries Association. Their proposed agendas were a combination of social and business meetings organized by the program and entertainment committees.

The group was aware of other similar associations with both national and state affiliations, but they were not officially in contact with any of these associations when they began to organize. At the June 28, 1927 meeting, the Cincinnati group discussed the Toronto chapter of SLA, which Elsie Schulze had visited. They also discussed how to determine an appropriate name for their new group. This meeting had eighteen in attendance. The first year there was a picnic in June, which became an annual event, and a Christmas party visiting the Charles P. Taft house. The group made note of some informative discussions that took place that year which included one on the making of the New York Times Index, reviewed by president Grace Stowell, and one on recommendations for the general usage and care of library cards.

This Cincinnati assembly of special librarians quickly began to broaden its membership, and in January 1928, plans were made to locate a wider range of Ohio librarians for the Ohio Library Association Conference being held in Cincinnati the following October. After further chapter recruitment, the office of Vice-president was formed in May 1929.

In the beginning, the members were all women and programs were held in conjunction with the Cincinnati Business and Professional Women’s Club. The absence of males in the chapter was noted by the National Special Libraries president who visited Cincinnati in 1929. In a letter he sent following his stay, Mr. William Alcott of the Boston Globe “commented on the lack of men in the chapter” (chapter minutes, Sept. 24, 1929). Many male professionals, such as Mr. Sand of Sand Bindery and Mr. George McClelland of the Littleford-Nelson Business School, were invited to speak to the librarians about their areas of expertise. In 1930 Harry Pence, librarian at The Cincinnati Enquirer, was the first male librarian noted in the minutes. The minutes made reference to an article he had written about special libraries which was published in Cincinnatian Magazine (Appendix). The first year a man held an office for the Cincinnati chapter was in 1938 when Dr. Walter Rothman from Hebrew Union College served as president.

EARLY ACTIVITIES

The Cincinnati Chapter was officially affiliated with the national Special Libraries Association in September of 1930 and was visited by Margaret Reynolds, President of SLA, in October 1930. By 1933 the first union list was organized by Louise Pritchard of the University of Cincinnati Library. She headed a committee to compile a list of the periodical holdings of the local libraries. In six months she had contributions from forty-five libraries and 3872 entries. The publication was sold for $2.00 a copy.

Getting in touch, and staying in touch, with the national board at SLA was an important aspect of the first decade of the chapter. At that time, national presidents still made regular chapter visits and quite a few came to Cincinnati in the initial years. Because national membership was declining in 1932, keeping in contact was as important on local and nation-wide levels. Special libraries were also affected by a world wide deterioration in the economy. In September 1935 the meetings were reduced to six a year. The chapter minutes stated, “we had visited all the libraries and perhaps the members were losing interest.”

The November 1935 meeting focused on growing financial problems within the chapter since the treasurer had reported being $173.00 in debt. The chapter minutes stated, “There being still a considerable debt, the President asked for ways & means of raising money.” Deliberation about fundraising resulted in recommendations to sell tickets for the run of a moving picture and to sell confections during Christmas. Both of these suggestions were adopted, and it was reported at the next meeting that the chapter had made $64.18. The candy sale continued to be an event for many years. Finally, after a call for membership dues, the group seemed satisfied with its operating budget.

During the late 1930s the chapter continued community interaction and held meetings at places such as Vernon Manor, the Milcroft Inn, and the Cincinnati Business Woman’s Club. At the February 1938 meeting Mr. Arthur R. Frey of the Globe-Wernicke Company was introduced. He gave a most interesting and helpful talk on filing. He defined filing as: ‘Housing of records so they can be found.’ He presented materials which included information on different types of filing methods. In 1939 it was announced that the chapter intended to publish a bulletin in time for the Christmas party that year. In 1940 they began a revision of the Union List, but World War II had a grave impact on further activities.

WAR PROJECTS

During the mid-1940′s, the war movement deeply affected the entire SLA. There was a Special Libraries Association Wartime Conference held June 22-24, 1943 during which officials of the organization made a call to the local chapters to help with the food conservation campaign and with the sale of war bonds. The Cincinnati chapter noted its activities in helping with the Victory Book Campaign and in rationing food and supplies when the occasion demanded. They donated money from the treasury to buy books for soldiers and decided not to have a Christmas party or hold a national convention during the 1943-44 year because of the expense.

“It was suggested that we send a five dollar gift of food to Mr Olah, our past president, now in the armed forces” at the December 1, 1942 meeting. The WAACS were featured speakers at a presentation on January 5, 1943, an event which demonstrates the interest of the association in the role of women in the military during war time. Other consequences of the war were mentioned. For instance it was noted that “the Hebrew Union College dormitory could not have us for dinner next meeting because of rationing” (chapter minutes April 6, 1943). Only spring and fall meetings were planned the next year because of food and gas rationing. It also seems jobs were harder to find during the war. The record notes that “the employment committee stated that … another prospect was seeking employment and again urged members to communicate with her upon learning of any available positions.” During this era there were two members on the National Membership Committee from the Cincinnati Chapter. Corine Simms of Lloyd Library served the 1943-44 term and Helen C. Little was active 1944-45.

In the October 1947 issue of the National Special Libraries publication it was noted that “because of the current high prices and continuing transportation difficulties, the meetings of the Cincinnati chapter were limited to four during the past year. No activities of importance can be recorded for 1946-47. Discussion of revision of the 1934 Union List of Science and Technological Journals was delayed. Nationally the organization stated that many chapters were having difficulty finding members to run for office during the 1945-46 term. This time span in the Cincinnati chapter is most lacking in records and shows little trace of an official slate of officers or members. The Archives Committee of the Special Libraries Association had been founded nationally in the spring of 1941. Kathryn Strong was chosen as Cincinnati’s archivist, yet the record keeping and organization of the position was not well established until after the difficult war years were over.

By the later part of the 1940s financial and war situations improved and the membership of the Cincinnati chapter grew to 94 in 1947. The group continued to appreciate the cooperation of various library organizations and encouraged membership throughout Ohio and neighboring states. They again started to travel to Kentucky and Tennessee for meetings with fellow librarians in order to share their knowledge and abilities. Chapter minutes noted that by the year 1946 an active publicity and membership campaign had drawn members from Ohio Libraries in Chillicothe, Cuyahoga Falls, Dayton, Columbus, Findlay, Osborn, Portsmouth, Springfield, and Yellow Springs. Members even came from Frankfort and Winchester in Kentucky and Oak Ridge and Nashville in Tennessee. There was even discussion of changing the chapter’s name to reflect the range of residence of its members. Eventually the Tennessee members formed the Oak Ridge Chapter, which was associated in 1953 .

In the meantime, with a total of 91 members present, the Cincinnati chapter celebrated it’s Twentieth Anniversary in 1947. The Cincinnati Chapter Bulletin to be published regularly again the next year after suffering a sporadic history in the early 1940s. Its publication has been constant since the 1948-49 issues. Eventually its name was changed to The Queen City Gazette . Initially,Chapter bulletins were published four times a year and contained messages from officers, meeting announcements, and a membership list. National officials, feeling it was a relevant activity, initiated the publication of bulletins in local chapters. There had previously been the AssociAte Members’ Bulletin (1932-1940) and the Chapter Activities Bulletin (later the Chapter Town Crier) which ceased to be published in October 1948. These bulletins which were provided by the association for all the chapters, eventually developed into individual newsletters.

MORE PROSPEROUS YEARS

During the next decade, the 1950s, there was more money for all library professionals, and this incited a return to more activities and a growth of treasuries. Locally, meetings and organized workshops were held often and the Chapter Bulletin became a monthly publication.

At the beginning of this era, there was a great deal of fear concerning the atomic bomb and the possibility of nuclear attacks. On November 8, 1950 the Cincinnati Chapter of the Special Libraries Association and the Public Library of Cincinnati “sponsored a lecture session [to] clear up many questions concerning the possibility of an atomic bomb attack on Cincinnati” (Atomic Energy Bulletin ). The program discussed the four classes of people in society at the time which included those who are deathly afraid, those who were indifferent, those who were not indifferent, but felt there was nothing they could do, and those who belonged to the Civil Defense Committee and planned to do something about it. There were also instructions for those in attendance regarding what to do when the bomb hit.

In May 1954 Cincinnati was host to the national convention of the Special Libraries Association. During this time our former President, Gretchen Little, was serving her term as the national president, which made the convention more exciting for local members. Other noteworthy speakers were present, including another former Cincinnati president, Eugene B. Jackson, who had moved on from Wright Patterson to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Washington, D.C. and Verling M. Votaw director of product research, Drug Products Division, The Procter & Gamble Company. Votaw was later to become the national president in 1960. [The convention was well attended, and a specific breakdown of activities and comparison with our recent National Convention held in June of 1993 can be found in the appendix.]

Also in the fifties the chapter activities were enhanced by the rebuilding of the Public Library of Cincinnati which was officially relocated on February 13, 1955. “Most of us here in Cincinnati have had various reactions concerning the outward appearance of the new building, and many have not been too greatly impressed with the ultra modern styling of architectural design,”a disgruntled patron commented.

During this year preparations were beginning for the national Fiftieth Anniversary celebration of the Special Libraries Association. Miss Jean Orr of the Public Library was appointed as Chairman to help compile a historical outline of chapter and national activities since 1909. In the publication of the fiftieth national anniversary, several energetic chapter members are lauded. Harry Pence, librarian at the Cincinnati Enquirer in the 1930s, was a founding member of the national newspaper division. The Cincinnati chapter was the 10th affiliation to be founded within the national organization. In the list of non-serial SLA publications Gertrude Bloomer,1962 chapter president, is listed as editor of the 1952 Union List of Serials in Pharmaceutical Libraries.

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES, 1960-1990

In the early 1960s the Cincinnati chapter became very active in the medical field and projects associated with health information. A directory of Cincinnati area special libraries and the services they provided was being developed, and a survey was sent focusing on medical libraries. SLA was working in conjunction with the Public Health Federation of the Cincinnati Area and used this joint effort as their entry in the SLA national H.W. Wilson Award contest. Apparently Cincinnati did not win this award, but they maintained their programs and activities and compiled “Putting Health Knowledge to Work” (Copyright 1964). This publication compiled information on the literature of health professions, government documents, and the holdings of Cincinnati area health library collections. The intent of the the publication was to bring to light a large portion of information that was formally unknown to most patrons. (Appendix B)

Another H.W. Wilson Award entry was also placed by the Louisville, Kentucky group of the SLA Cincinnati, Ohio Chapter in May, 1965. This entry centered on recruitment, local special libraries activities, and contact and cooperation with schools and universities in the Louisville area. Apparently this entry was an offshoot of the Cincinnati chapter efforts and, while no reference was given to it in the local archives, it was kept as a Cincinnati report by the national archives.

The H.W. Wilson award was outlined in a July 10, 1963 announcement. An entry had to include “a summary, not to exceed two typewritten pages, describing the manner in which the project was carried out, the groups contacted, and the results achieved, and a visual display not to exceed 12 square feet and to include samples of materials used and a presentation of results.” These visual displays were then presented at annual conferences. It seems competition for the awards was strong and it prompted chapters to get involved with their communities and the national organization at the same time.

During the late 1960s and 1970s the membership of the Cincinnati Chapter of SLA again began to drop. There were 79 members in 1960-1961 and only 62 in December 1966. The activities that were continued during these years were mainly meetings of speakers and joint activities with ASIS. The Gazette only came out twice, in November and March. The annual report noted work on a new Union List for Cincinnati , but membership was lacking to complete the project. In April of 1968 the count was at 67. The 1968-69 annual report to headquarters states that one of the problems was the extensive area the chapter was required to cover, reaching “some 300 miles from east to west, from Charleston, West Virginia to Owensboro, Kentucky, and 100 miles north to south, from Oxford, Ohio to Lexington, Kentucky” (Special Libraries). Joint meetings with other organizations continued to be held on suggestion from the association past-president, in order to find more local participants and a wider variety of activities. “Computer System Fundamentals” was a topic for one of these meetings, representing the dawn of the new era of technological influences in the library sphere.

The by-laws were revised in 1971 and a new Union List published in April, 1973. Cincinnati SLA became a member of the Ohio Library Association in 1974 and the Ohio Regional Library and Information Systems group was beginning to take shape. Dennis Hamilton, who is still very active in the chapter, was on OLA’s Development Committee and worked on the Ohio Library Development Program, which, once established, was intended, to “give new emphasis and direction to library development so that libraries can make an effective contribution to Ohio’s cultural, technological and economic growth.”

Later, in April of 1977, Olgo Carmen, the Cincinnati member of the Ohio SLA Chapters on the Ohio Multitype Interlibrary Cooperation Committee (OMICC), submitted a report on the activities of that committee. “The goal of the committee is to have a statewide multitype interlibrary and cooperation program endorsed by library and trustee organizations, the State Library Board, the Board of Regents, and the Ohio Department of Education.”

Advancement ,automation and the Copyright Act were big meeting issues in 1976. A speech “Implications for the New Copyright Act for Libraries,” was presented at a meeting in the spring of that year. Many of the chapter activities focused on inciting familiarity with new technology from this point onward, especially because of the establishment of OCLC and the introduction of more online searching. Mead Data Central representatives and Lexis/Nexis usage were an examples of a typical meeting topics. Speakers were recruited in response to the changing needs of members.

The 1980s were another leveling out time for the Cincinnati chapter’s membership. The numbers were down to 84 in 1980 and 78 in 1982. There were celebrations for the 50th and 60th anniversaries in 1977 and 1987 and the enthusiasm of the organization was ready to be rekindled. During the time period of the late 1980s and early 1990s, an active membership campaign and the hosting of the national convention helped to boost the morale of the local chapter. The number of people currently involved in the chapter is 190. Holding the 1993 Special Libraries Association National Convention drew many members together, and helped to bring more recognition to the organization throughout the city.

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES, 1990-Present

The past decade, the 1990s, was a busy and productive one for the Cincinnati Chapter of the SLA.  The Cincinnati Chapter instituted an awards program to honor its members and friends for their contributions.  Such awards include Meritorious Achievement, which recognizes a member’s notable and enduring contributions to the chapter; Information Management, which recognizes an organization that has made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the special librarianship; and the Horizon Award, which honors a Cincinnati Chapter member for the promise of becoming an outstanding member.

In September 1997, the Chapter celebrated its 70^th Anniversary at the annual membership meeting.  Guest speaker Judith Field, SLA Association President, spoke about changes in the library profession and the importance of involvement in professional organizations such as SLA.  The 70^th Anniversary celebration also attracted the attention of the Cincinnati Enquirer, which profiled the Chapter in a prominent article.  The PR section of the SLA’s Information Outlook also featured a peace about the chapter’s 70^th Anniversary.

The late 1990s were especially busy for the Cincinnati Chapter.  The advent of the Internet affected the environment of the libraries as well as librarianship.  The Chapter had a leading role in the professional growth of its members by focusing on locally organized meetings and workshops designed to elevate member capabilities through networking and education of the rapidly changing environment of librarianship.   For example, Mary Lynn Wagner, published an article on June/August issue of  the Queen City Gazette”, entitled “A Library Without Walls Does not Mean A Library Without Librarians”. This article discuses the role of librarians as information professionals in the electronic and increasingly challenging information management age.  At the same time, the affirmative Action/Career Guidance co-sponsored a meeting with the Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium.  The program featured a presentation entitled, “Information Work in Digital Age”, by Dr. Blaise Cronin, Dean, School of Library & Information Science at Indiana University.  Dr. Cronin spoke about what digitization will mean to libraries and librarians.

Also in 1997, the Cincinnati Chapter showed its presence on the World Wide Web. With Rosemary Young as Web administrator and Debra Oswald as her assistant, the Chapter unveiled its web site at its 70^th Anniversary celebration.  This web site was mentioned in SLA’s Information Outlook as one of the three most accessible chapter sites in the country.   In December 1998, with Fred Marcotte, as the editor of the Queen City Gazette, the first issue of electronic edition of the QCG was published on the on the chapter’s web site.  In 1999, the Chapter activated its listserv, which enabled members to communicate with one another in a timely and efficient manner.  Debbie Bogenschutz , who implemented the listserv, acted  as its administrator.

In May 1999 the Strategic Planning Committee’s Proposal to restructure the Chapter committees was unanimously approved; these changes took place in the 2000-2001 program year. Also, in 2000, led by Past President Pam Klein and her predecessor Edith Starbuck, the executive board reviewed changes to the Chapter Operating Procedures (COP) Manual.  The Committees that were the backbone of the chapter were changed to minimize committee chair positions, while maximizing member participation. The Executive Board consisted of six members elected by the Chapter membership: President, President-Elect, Director, Secretary, Treasurer, and immediate Past-President. The Board consisted of the members of the Executive Board, along with appointed committee chairs of both standing and ad hoc committees. The committees were: Awards Selection, Employment, External Relations, Membership, Mentoring, Nominating, Operations, Program, Publication/Gazette, Strategic Planning and Web Administration.

In 2002, the Cincinnati Chapter celebrated its 75^th Anniversary.  At that time, the Chapter has over 105 members who work in diverse information environments: Knowledge managers, Web producers, information architects, researchers, analysts, database designers, library directors, reference librarians, technical services specialists, archivists, consultants and students.

In 2007, the Cincinnati Chapter celebrated its 80th Anniversary.