Featured Speakers
Ruth Barefoot, Manager, Libraries-The San José Way, is a long-time promoter of marketing collections. She has 30 years of library customer service in four states, and Barnes & Noble Bookstore Management as well. She has been a long-time promoter of merchandising library collections in her work as a Children's and Young Adult Librarian, and a Branch Manager. Ruth provides a unique insight due to her recent management of San José's flagship pilot, Calabazas Branch Library. She is currently manager of the San Jose Way, the unit in charge of innovation for the San Jose Public Library. Ruth will share much of what she has gathered working on the building team that is designing 16 new libraries and subsequently designing training to further assist in implementing of the The San José Way model throughout the Public Library.
Sanford Berman
“Understand who it is you are working for, and it is not to satisfy bosses or supervisors or simply to obey abstract protocols, it is for the…library user population. They’re the ones you’re working for—nobody else, and if you keep that in mind, everybody’s going to benefit.”--Sanford Berman.
Sanford Berman began work in libraries in 1957, and has worked in a variety of public, university and special libraries since then. He was the head cataloger at the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota for more than 25 years, where he built a catalog that was legendary for its accessible subject headings.
Berman has often been referred to as the conscience of the library profession for his tireless support of improved subject access, removal of discriminatory language in subject headings, equality of access to people living in poverty, and a variety of other social issues. He exemplifies commitment to making libraries—and the world—a better place. In 1988, he received the Honeywell Project Anniversary Award for Peace and Justice. In 1989, he received the American Library Association Equality Award, and, in 2004, he received honorary membership in the American Library Association, one of the highest honors bestowed by the ALA. He is sought after as a speaker nationally, and his passionate (and controversial) addresses leave those who hear him with plenty of food for thought.
Sean Carroll is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Carroll's research has centered on those genes that govern body patterns and play major roles in the origin of new features. Major discoveries from his lab have been featured in TIME, US News & World Report, The New York Times, Discover, and Natural History. He is the author of the book "Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo" (2005, W.W. Norton), which was a finalist for the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Science and Technology) and selected by USA Today and Discover as one of the top popular science books of 2005. He is also author of the forthcoming "The Making of the Fittest" (2006, W.W. Norton), co-author with Jen Grenier and Scott Weatherbee of the successful textbook "From DNA to Diversity: Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design" (2nd ed; Blackwell Scientific), and has published more than 100 original scientific papers, including many in the leading journals Nature and Science.
In addition to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigatorship, Dr. Carroll also has received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, the Shaw Scientist Award of the Milwaukee Foundation, numerous honorary lectureships, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also was chosen as one of America's most promising leaders under 40 by TIME Magazine in 1994.
Dr. Carroll earned his B.A. in Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, his Ph.D. in Immunology at Tufts Medical School, and carried out his postdoctoral research with Dr. Matthew Scott at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He lives in Madison with his wife Jamie and two sons.
Susan Dailey is the author of A Storytime Year, published by Neal-Schuman in 2001. She is currently working on a second book that will focus on using music in preschool programs.
Susan has more than 30 years of library experience—starting as a high school page—and currently is a branch manager in the Wells County Public Library in northeast Indiana. In 1994, Susan was chair of the Children’s and Young People’s Division of the Indiana Library Federation.
Since the publication of A Storytime Year, Susan has presented workshops in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Arizona, and, in 2004, she conducted two workshops in Wisconsin. Even if you’ve heard Susan, you’ll discover new materials and ideas.
Pete Hautman’s young adult book Invisible is the winner of the 2006 Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award. In this fierce, disturbing novel, Hautman spins a poignant tale about inner demons, and how far one boy will go to control them. Mr. Hautman’s other young adult titles include Mr. Was, No Limit (formerly titled Stone Cold), Hole in the Sky, Sweetblood, and Rash, published earlier this year.
In 2004, his young adult novel Godless, "the story of a skeptical teenager who helps found a fanciful new religion, in which a water tower is transformed into a god,” won the National Book Award for Young People's Fiction. Hautman also is the author of the New York Times Notable Books for adults Drawing Dead and The Mortal Nuts, as well as Short Money, Ring Game, Mrs. Million (a Minnesota Book Award winner), Rag Man, Doohickey and The Prop. His credits include a long and impressive list of children’s non-fiction books, written under a pseudonym.
Hautman attended the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and the University of Minnesota. He lives with mystery writer and poet Mary Logue in Golden Valley, MN, and in an old farmhouse in Stockholm, WI.
They are collaborating on a new series for middle-graders called The Bloodwater Mysteries, the first title of which -- Snatched -- was published in May 2006.
Kevin Henkes grew up in Racine and now lives in Madison with his family. He is the winner of the 2005 Caldecott and Charlotte Zolotow Awards for the picture book Kitten's First Full Moon. His novel Olive's Ocean received a 2004 Newbery Honor Book citation, and Owen was a 1994 Caldecott Honor Book. Recently, Kevin was selected to receive the first Sterling North Literary Award and chosen to give the prestigious 2007 ALA/ALSC Arbuthnot Lecture. He was named a WLA Notable Wisconsin Author in 2001.
Three of Kevin's novels have received the Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award, which is WLA's coveted children's literature honor: Sun & Spoon (1998), Protecting Marie (1996) and Words of Stone (1993), and the picture book Kitten's First Full Moon received the Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award in 2005. In 2004, the novel Olive's Ocean was named "Outstanding" by the YSS Children's Book Award Committee. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Wemberly Worried, Chrysanthemum and Owen's Marshmallow Chick are among the books featuring Kevin's "mouse neighborhood" that have appeared on one of the YSS lists of Outstanding Children's Books of the Year.
Kevin has said, "I've thought of myself as an artist since I was two years old, and drawing is more natural to me than writing. But now, more and more, I love writing. I love being able to dig a bit deeper. When I'm writing fiction, I can dig deeper into a character's psyche than I can with a picture book, and I like that." One critic has pointed out that the "words in his picture books are so carefully selected so that even the texts of his board books demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of his characters, narrative pace, the importance of reiteration, and the sound of the text. His evolution as a writer of superb novels displays these gifts, too, along with the profound insights about childhood he brings to all his writing."
Robin Jones has served as director of the Great Lakes ADA and Accessible IT Center since its inception. Prior to that she served as founding director of an independent living center in the Chicago area. She has extensive experience as a trainer regarding all titles of the ADA for business, government and disability organizations within the Great Lakes Region and beyond. Robin has been actively involved in helping business and government meet their obligations under the ADA In addition, she has been actively involved in advocacy efforts on the local, state and national levels in relation to individuals with disabilities and is recognized as a key resource regarding ADA compliance.
C. Paul Martin, a physician specialist in Internal Medicine from Marshall, MN, has a background in patient communications and rural graduate medical education in addition to his 30-year practice in rural out-state Minnesota. He has developed and hosted a biweekly medical radio show and writes a biweekly newspaper column emphasizing patient behavioral skills and medical media evaluation. He has planned, directed, and taught Elderhostel presentations and gifted student activities. Adjunct medical endeavors have included selection as a Bush (3M) Medical Fellow and 23 years as a test writer for a national medical examination.
His avocation is the investigation of the parallel historical development of modern medicine, especially infectious diseases, forensic science and detective fiction, facilitated by his membership in the Baker Street Irregulars, the international association of devotees of Sherlock Holmes and the detective story.
Dr. Martin has spent a lifetime as a book collector and mystery aficionado, and has spoken extensively on the diverse facets of mysteries and the similarities between medicine and detective work.
He is a board member of the Minnesota Coroners and Medical Examiners’ Association and served as its president in 2005.
Nancy Kruschke McKinney began Successful Organizing Solutions (S.O.S.) as a business in 1999, and as founder and owner she created the company to help individuals and entire businesses increase their effectiveness and efficiency through organizing skills and practices.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from North Central College in Naperville, IL, Nancy began her organizing career with 10 years of professional experience at American Express Financial Advisors. She earned her Certified Financial Planner Designation and in her first year helped double the district manager's business and increased the business production of each advisor within the district. Nancy traveled throughout Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, and Upper Michigan training advisors and their staff members in Practice Management to help them increase their business through the use of effective systems, client databases, and efficient paper and computer files.
Nancy's passion for organizing led her to start her own business—Successful Organizing Solutions—so she could focus exclusively in this area. Nothing puts a bigger smile on her face than customizing the right tools, techniques, tricks, and systems for a client!
Nancy is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Middleton, Monona, Greater Madison Chambers of Commerce, and the National Association and Wisconsin Chapter of Professional Organizers. She also is the co-author of “Action Organizing Tips for Your Office—Ways to Get and Stay Organized” and “Organizing Your IEPs” (for special education teachers).
Minnesota Crime Wave
William Kent Krueger is the author of the Cork O'Connor mystery series, which is set in the great Northwoods of Minnesota. His work has received numerous awards, including the Anthony Award and Barry Award for Best First Novel, the Minnesota Book Award, and Friends of American Writers Prize. In 2005, his novel Blood Hollow received the Anthony Award for Best Novel. The next book in the series, Copper River, was released in August.
Carl Brookins was a freelance photographer, a Public Television program director, a Cable TV administrator, and a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, MN, before he became a mystery writer. He has reviewed mystery fiction for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and for Mystery Scene Magazine, and his reviews also appear on his own website, and on other Internet sites like Books n’ Bytes and ReviewingtheEvidence. Brookins is an avid recreational sailor, and with his wife and friends has sailed in many locations around the world. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Private Eye Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Brookins writes the sailing adventure series featuring Michael Tanner and Mary Whitney and the Sean NMI Sean private investigator detective series. He lives in Roseville, Minnesota.
Ellen Hart is the author of 21 crime novels, a five-time recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, and a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Crime & Detective Fiction. Entertainment Weekly recently named her one of the “101 movers and shakers in the gay entertainment industry.” She is currently working with an independent producer in Hollywood to turn An Intimate Ghost into a full-length feature film. For the last eight years, Ellen has taught “An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery” through The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Her newest novels are No Reservations Required (A Sophie Greenway Mystery, June 2005) and The Iron Girl (A Jane Lawless Mystery, August 2005).
Scott Niedermeyer has been in sales and sales Management for a $550 million international commercial furniture company for the past 25 years. He and his team crafted customized architectural furniture solutions for Fortune 1000, healthcare and higher education clients that often surpassed $1 million per order. Since selling his company, he’s become a sales consultant because he loves the “art of the sales event” and the “strategic hunt.”
He has turned this passion into a book on sales called Street Smart Selling. His presentations are customized to the client or industry and include industry specific role-plays that reinforce and create interesting group interaction and learning. Sometimes he plays the devil’s advocate, sometimes he reinforces what you've been saying and doing all along, and sometimes he offers new direction and a refreshing outside perspective from outside your box.
Tia Nelson was named Executive Secretary of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands in October 2004. She oversees the management of approximately 78,000 acres of Trust Lands located in northern Wisconsin, the State Trust Fund Loan Program, four Trust Funds valued at over $617 million, and the Original Land Records Program, which includes land survey records dating back to the 1830’s. Since her appointment, she has overseen record Trust Fund earnings totaling $52.2 million to Wisconsin’s public school libraries and a $50.6 million increase in the State Trust Fund Loan Program.
Ms. Nelson was previously with The Nature Conservancy for 17 years, first in government relations and then as senior policy advisor for the Latin America Region. Beginning in 1994 she led The Nature Conservancy’s climate change program, and played a key leadership role in climate change and in developing forest protection and restoration as a climate change mitigation strategy. She has developed and negotiated climate mitigation projects with industry, environmentalists and numerous governments around the world, including the United States, Belize, Bolivia and Brazil. She has conducted forest carbon workshops around the world and has been a frequent expert speaker on the topic of forest carbon offset trading.
Ms. Nelson served as an advisor to several councils including the World Bank’s Bio Carbon Fund, the Chicago Climate Exchange, the Climate Neutral Network and was recently appointed to the Board of Visitors for the Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies. In 2000, Ms. Nelson was the recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leadership Award. Long before her work with The Nature Conservancy, she worked for the State of Wisconsin, beginning her employment with the Department of Natural Resources as a fisheries technician and later the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
Janet Peters leads the Accessible IT initiative at the Great Lakes ADA and Accessible IT Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Formally the director of PACER’s Simon Technology Center, she has more than 10 years of experience promoting equal access to technology to help individuals with disabilities reach their potential.
The Great Lakes ADA & Accessible IT Center provides information, materials, technical assistance and training on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Accessible Information Technology (IT). Accessible Information Technology incorporates the principles of universal design so that people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities can access information disseminated electronically.
Carrie Russell has been ALA’s Copyright Specialist since 1999, and is the author of a monthly column on copyright in School Library Journal. Carrie is also the author of numerous articles on copyright and information policy that have appeared in such journals as Library Trends, Library Issues, Public Libraries, School Library Journal, and Library Journal. Her book, Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians—described in one review as “the single best overview of the copyright policy issues facing libraries today—is available from ALA publishing.
Before coming to ALA, Carrie worked for 15 years as a practicing librarian, most recently at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Carrie is a frequent speaker at state, regional, and national library conferences, and is renowned for her straightforward, librarian-friendly approach to copyright. She is currently working on a book on international copyright.
Manuel Urrizola, Head of Monograph Cataloging at the University of California, Irvine Libraries, received his BA from Amherst College in Massachusetts and his MLS from the University of California, Berkeley. His interests are libraries and public speaking.
Manuel’s professional activities have centered on the recruitment of new people to the library profession, and as Chair of the ALCTS Membership Committee, he promoted outreach to other professions, to library support staff and to students. He currently serves as a representative to the ALA Recruitment Assembly.
Whether as a program panelist, career-day speaker, workshop trainer, or internship mentor, Manuel continually promotes libraries and librarianship. In May of 2004, he was invited to facilitate the Cal Poly Pomona Bibliographic Access Services Retreat.
The winner of several humorous speech contests, Manuel often performs at civic organizations and professional conferences, and he frequently is invited to give talks on public speaking at university classes and library workshops. He recently gave a humorous after-dinner speech at the 2006 Ohio Library Council Technical Service Retreat, where he also presented a session the following day on public speaking for librarians. The Chinese American Librarians Association has invited Manuel to be the master of ceremonies at its annual banquet every year since 2002.
He is the editor of Great Moments in the History of Technical Services, compiled by his colleague Wendy and featured in the January 2006 edition of American Libraries. He and Wendy also coordinate Brief Lunchtime Talks, a series of informal talks on a variety of interesting topics given by members of the UCI Libraries.
Maureen vanAmerongen, footloose and fancy-free as a young adult, traveled extensively around the world, first spending a year crisscrossing Europe by bicycle on an independent study of art history, languages and cultures. After a year of teaching English in Japan, she embarked on a solo grand tour of Southeast Asia, wandering as far as Pakistan, up the Silk Road, and across China. She discovered the world was a multi-faceted gem of diversity.
At 40 she became a mother. On Sept. 11, 2001, her son’s first day of school, her life changed profoundly. A world she knew and loved was in crisis.
With the support and encouragement of fellow members of the Friends of the Library in Pine River, WI, Maureen developed a program designed to introduce very young children, their teachers and their families to the wonderful diversity of world cultures. As a volunteer, she has presented the Passport to the World program weekly in local classrooms, and has adapted the program for a local Summer Library Program and for the art galleries of the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Maureen lives in rural Pine River with her sculptor/great cook husband John, son Stone, and dog Busy. For cultural diversity, the family also keeps a pied-à-terre in Milwaukee.
Jennifer Wilding is adjunct staff for Consensus, a Kansas City-based nonprofit that provides civic engagement and public policy services for the community and clients (www.kcconsensus.org). She is the author of Making Book: Gambling on the Future of Our Libraries, a 2004 study of library structure and governance in metro Kansas City. Wilding also led the Consensus team working on Libraries Together in Scott County, Iowa, in 2005. Libraries Together engaged citizens and stakeholders in determining how the four public libraries in the Davenport area should best be structured, governed and funded.