Travis named Bulletin editor; Changes coming in print and Web versions

Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, Jun/Jul 1997

Irene L. Travis, longtime ASIS member and experienced generalist in the broad field of information science, has been selected as the new editor of the Bulletin of the American Society, for Information Science, effective with the current issue.

Travis has been an active member of ASIS since 1968, and she has served in a number of editorial and programmatic roles throughout the organization. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science.

Richard B. Hill, publisher of the Bulletin and ASIS executive director, says the decision to appoint Travis to the role was based in large part on the broad range of expertise - both editorial and substantive - that she can bring to the magazine during this exciting era.

"Not only are we eager to continue the growth of the Bulletin in its more familiar print version," Hill says, "but we are also experimenting with ways to make the electronic Bulletin a viable member service and resource. Irene will contribute a great deal to those efforts."

Travis began her career after graduate school as a faculty member at the University of Maryland College of Library and Information Service, specializing in subject retrieval of information and cataloging. She subsequently joined a Washington, DC-area defense contractor, where she remained for eight years as a consultant to government agencies in subject retrieval systems and library automation and as a researcher in an R&D group. During that period, her interests grew to include the application of artificial intelligence to subject description and retrieval, and technology forecasting.

In 1988 she joined the Information, Technology and Facilities Policy Staff of the World Bank. As a manager and customer representative, she worked intensively with the problems of electronic document management, including records management and archives, and in the introduction of other new technologies, such as the Internet.

"The field of information science has entered another exciting era in which ASIS has an important role in both encouraging information professionals to understand the technical changes underway and helping them relate new technologies to the customers they and we serve," Travis says. "The Bulletin has always been an important tool for ASIS, and I'm proud to have the opportunity to expand its coverage of the field, while experimenting with ways to compete in the electronic realm that is emerging."

Travis is currently based in Austin, Texas, where she returned last year as an adjunct lecturer at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas and as a consultant. She holds an MLS and Ph.D. in librarianship (with a concentration in information science) from the University of California at Berkeley.

"Among other goals, I plan to capitalize on the synergy that exists between JASIS and its research bent and the Bulletin 's practical, news-oriented approach to achievements and advances in information science," Travis notes. "Many opportunities and challenges exist, and I am excited to take them on."

ASIS Sponsors IIA Session

The American Society for Information Science (ASIS) developed and sponsored a special session that was included in the April Technology Workshop of the Information Industry Association.

DNS Not Available - Is the Internet Going to Break? took a look at the Internet and the status of reliability, congestion and performance on this superhighway. Among the questions addressed in the session were

What are the problems with traffic?

Will technology provide a "bandwidth bonanza" in the future?

When might a technological solution to the traffic jam reach the mass consumer market?

What is Internet II?

Discussing these questions was a panel of experts that included the following:

Clifford A. Lynch, immediate past president of ASIS and director, Division of Library Automation, University of California;

Robert Pepper, director of the FCC's Office of Plans and Policy; and

George Strawn, division director, Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure Staff, National Science Foundation.

News from ASIS Chapters

For its May meeting, the Delaware Valley Chapter (DVC) of ASIS planned a program entitled International and National Developments in Fighting Database Piracy-and the Ensuing Debate. Jacques Catudal of Drexel University was to discuss European and American initiatives for database protection and the continuing debate affects everyone.

In April, the Delaware Valley Chapter was a cooperating society with the Philadelphia chapter of the Special Libraries Association in a technology day session featuring a number of ASIS members. Among them were Robert Dougherty, research analyst at the Institute for Scientific Information; James Rush, former ASIS president and executive director of PALINET; Jacqueline Trolley, director of corporate communications at Institute for Scientific Information; and Barbara Peters, senior information specialist at Wyeth-Ayerst.