This looked like something that professional librarians would appreciate
knowing about -
Roger Helbig
rhelbig@california.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Thien <rthien@earthlink.net>
To: Wordsmiths:; <Wordsmiths:;>
Date: Monday, June 04, 2001 12:41 PM
Subject: Time Inc. Institution Will Close Its Doors
A Time Inc. Institution Will Close Its Doors
By ALEX KUCZYNSKI
The New York Times
The cost-cutting at AOL Time Warner continues, and last week it
hacked
at what some long-term editors and reporters at Time Inc. had thought of
as
the very marrow of the company.
Until last week, Time Inc.'s editorial research library -- a huge
collection of volumes and archived clippings that occupies a floor and a
half at the Time-Life Building, plus extensive warehouse space --
employed
three dozen librarians and staff.
But last Thursday, George Vollmuth, the Time Inc. vice president for
finance and administration, and Isolde Motley, the company's corporate
editor, gathered the library staff and announced that the library would
be
closed, and half of the staff would be asked to resign. The remaining
staff
members will go elsewhere in the building to Time magazine and Fortune,
which will employ the librarians in smaller research units. At least
half
of the files and books will be moved into storage outside of the
building,
freeing valuable space, said a Time Inc. executive who had discussed the
plans with Vollmuth.
Closing the library was a significant symbolic loss for Time Inc.
reporters and editors, several executives said. It was open to the
general
population of Time Inc. journalists during long hours, and until
midnight
on closing days for Time magazine.
One reason for the closing is that although the library is open for
use
to all Time Inc. magazines, Fortune and Time -- the magazines that use
it
most often -- pay for its overhead out of their budgets, a Time Inc.
executive said. Their budgets are being closely scrutinized, so
publishers
are looking for any way to bolster the bottom line.
Not everyone was pleased with how the news was delivered. According
to
the executives and librarians, none of the librarians were acquainted
with
Vollmuth, who read his statement from a piece of paper, while Motley,
whom
some of them knew, stood silently behind him and offered no statement.
This
left some of the librarians -- long-time employees with, in some cases,
decades of tenure at the company -- feeling as if the Time Inc.
management
did not respect their welfare.
While a senior Time Inc. executive said the memo circulated to some
staff members reported that the department was being dissolved, Peter
Costiglio, a spokesman for Time Inc., said that closing the library
should
be seen not as dissolution but as an act of decentralization.
Sports Illustrated and People already have their own research
libraries,
he said, adding that now Fortune and Time will have their own smaller,
independent research libraries.
"Basically, the staff will be decentralized," Costiglio said, "and a
small central unit will still handle central database activities."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
_________
Dick Thien
Editor-in-Residence
The Freedom Forum
Lincoln, Neb.
402-423-7911
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