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WAAL Board Candidates for 2005

Note: Due to sudden personal obligations Barbara Jamieson was forced to withdraw her candidacy for Vice Chair/Chair Elect. The Nominations Committee would like to thank all candidates who agreed to run for office for 2005.

Ballots will be mailed to WAAL members in mid-August. Completed ballots must be returned to the WLA Office by October 1, 2004. The results will be announced at the WLA Annual Conference and posted on WLA's Website.

Vice Chair/Chair Elect Candidates: Ron Edwards and Alberto Herrera Jr.

Ron Edwards is the Director of Library Services at Chippewa Valley Technical College. He recently served as a member of the WAAL Conference Program Planning Committee and has held previous positions within WLA as Chair of the Library Careers Committee and Foundation Advisory Board member, as well as numerous positions within ACRL and LAMA.

In addition, Ron represents the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) as Chair of the WTCS Library Directors Executive Committee. He is also a member of the WTCS 2004 Tech Expo Planning Committee and Co-chair of the eTech Library Standards Committee. Other state and local participation has included the Indianhead Federated Library System (IFLS) Advisory Council of Librarians and MORE Directors Council, and Wisconsin Association for Career and Technical Education (WACTE) Communications and Membership Committees.

Alberto Herrera is the Coordinator of Research Services at Raynor Memorial Libraries, Marquette University. Alberto has recently returned to Wisconsin to continue his tradition of service to WAAL and Wisconsin academic libraries after holding management positions in both Florida and Minnesota libraries.

Alberto has been actively involved in WLA and WAAL over the years, organizing WLA Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT) presentations at both WLA and WAAL Conferences, as well as chairing the WLA SSRT. He has also presented at several WAAL Conferences, as well as for other organizations such as the UW System’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity. In addition, Alberto has been active in ALA, ACRL and LAMA for several years, serving on the LAMA Government Affairs Committee and chairing the RUSA Committee on Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking.

Vice Chair / Chair Elect--Candidate Ron Edwards		Vice Chair / Chair Elect--Candidate Alberto Herrera Jr.
“I sincerely appreciate the nomination and look forward to serving as WAAL Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect with great enthusiasm. WAAL represents academic librarians from across the state committed to enhancing the profession of librarianship and the educational process for their respective library users. Having worked at a private liberal arts university, state public university, and technical college academic library, I have had the opportunity to apply an array of professional experiences to a variety of user-centered initiatives. Although my primary duties as WAAL Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect involve attendance at WLA/WAAL meetings and are fairly structured, I plan to advocate for more multidisciplinary collaboration and diversity in our academic libraries." "In our quest for expanded information literacy, technology, better customer service, training, and more effective strategic planning, addressing these concerns is essential if we are to move forward in the academic community.”		“Having recently returned to Wisconsin after having worked out of state for five years, I was pleased to be asked to run for the position of Vice Chair/Chair Elect of WAAL, warmly remembering my participation and attendance at past WAAL conferences. Wisconsin's active and vibrant state association for academic librarians offers members opportunities for learning and networking with colleagues not available in all parts of the country." "If elected, my objective will be to work to help keep WAAL strong in membership and active in promoting the exchange of information by facilitating interesting programming on current issues and maximizing opportunities for networking. I bring my knowledge of academic institutions in Wisconsin to the position of Vice Chair/Chair Elect; currently I am Coordinator of Research Services at Raynor Memorial Libraries at Marquette University and previously with the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Libraries as an Outreach/ Reference Librarian, Department Head and a SLIS/SOIS Instructor. I am a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am a past Chair of the WLA Social Responsibilities Round Table. I have also been a speaker and panel presenter at WAAL and WLA Conferences as well as LCOMM workshops. I have also chaired the Library Services to the Spanish Speaking Committee of RUSA-MOUSS." "The need for a forum such as WAAL is especially great in times of rapid change within the profession, such as we are now experiencing.”

ACRL Liaison Candidates: Nancy McClements and Ed VanGemert

Nancy McClements is the Head of Reference at Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently serving as the President of WLA and has also served as the WAAL Chair in 2001. She has served on both WLA and WAAL Conference Committees and is on the current 2005 ACRL Conference Committee. Nancy has also been involved in various professional organizations such as the South Central Library System Multitype Advisory Library Committee, Wisconsin Educational Media Association, and the Web Manager for Wisconsin Women Library Workers.

Ed Van Gemert is the Deputy Director/Associate Director for Public Services of the General Library System at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ed is currently serving on the CUWL Resource Sharing Committee, CUWL Reference Coordinators Committee, and the LSTA Advisory Committee. He was chair of WAAL in 1999 and has been actively involved in the organization for many years.

ACRL Liaison--Candidate Nancy McClements		ACRL Liaison--Candidate Ed Van Gemert
“If elected, I would try to put a more personal face on ACRL by promoting their programs and making their issues reflect our issues. As is typical, I came to learn of the importance of ACRL by its works—two excellent national conferences and the literacy immersion program. I would take this opportunity to improve my knowledge of the rest of ACRL—its funding possibilities, its advocacy role, and its new strategic plan. In return, ACRL and its chapters would benefit from my knowledge of WAAL’s excellent record in improving learning, teaching, and research in our state’s academic libraries.”		“I readily agreed to have my name put into nomination as a candidate for ACRL liaison to the WAAL membership. If elected, it would again be time for me to give back to the organization that I have taken so much from. I regularly attend ALA conferences and I am willing and able to fulfill the specific liaison and reporting activities required. I’ve been fortunate to be able to take advantage of some of the professional development programs offered by ACRL. For example, in August of 2003 I attended the ACRL/Harvard University Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians. I would encourage others to consider attending this and other ACRL sponsored programs. A particular area of interest and focus for me would be to bring selected ACRL staff development opportunities to all of Wisconsin’s academic libraries.”

Member At Large: Marc Boucher and Sue Riehl

Marc Boucher is the Library Director at UW-Washington County. Prior to coming to UW-Washington County he worked at Ripon College. He has been actively involved in WAAL, serving on the 2002 WAAL Conference Planning Committee. Since 2003 he has been the representative for the Colleges to CUWL as well as the CUWL representative to the WiLS Board.

Sue Riehl is the Cataloging Coordinator at the Elton S. Karrmann Library, UW-Platteville, where she has worked since 1996. Sue has been actively involved in WAAL since 1999 when she was a member of the WAAL Professional Development Committee. She served as chair of that committee in 2001 and 2002. Sue co-coordinated the planning of the Leadership Conference held in conjunction with the WLA Annual Conference in Appleton in 2001. She is the current WAAL Member-At-Large. Sue is also a member of the WLA Intellectual Freedom committee. She has been actively involved in the Southwest Wisconsin Association of Libraries as a member of the Conference Planning Committee, the Nominating Committee, and as Chair of the Association.

Member at Large--Candidate Marc Boucher		Member at Large--Candidate Sue Riehl
“WLA and WAAL are strong organizations that are made up of such talented and dedicated librarians that I am honored to be nominated as WAAL Board Member at Large. I look forward to the opportunity to participate in an expanded role as part of an organization that has proven so valuable to the library community in our state." "As a member of the WAAL board, I would seek to preserve the high level of cooperation among our various components of the library community across the state. Since this position would serve as the WAAL representative on the WLA board, I would work to make sure that the needs and concerns of the academic libraries and librarians are voiced at WLA. My focus on the WAAL board would be to improve the communication and dialogue among professional academic librarians from all backgrounds across the state. In addition, I would seek to further encourage WAAL's commitment to professional development for our academic librarians."		“Librarianship is a profession that is characterized by the desire to provide service to others. I believe that WLA and WAAL, our professional organizations, are so successful because of the desire of the members to serve the organizations. I have been active in WAAL since 1999 and I enjoy the interaction with my peers, service to the organization and its members, and planning efforts immensely. WAAL offers numerous benefits to its members but the greatest benefit is the ability to work with others to support and strengthen our professional organization and its activities. I welcome the opportunity to continue to be active in WAAL, and to represent my peers at the WLA Board meetings as well as to work with my peers to further the goals of the organizations, and to participate in the future direction of WAAL."

Secretary: Dineen Grow and Carolynne Rosenberger

Dineen Grow is the User Services Supervisor at Memorial Library in UW-Madison. She has worked at Memorial Library since 1979, and as the supervisor of user services since 1984. She began serving as the chair of the Circulation Implementation Group in 1998 and has held that position continuously for seven years. Dineen regularly attends WAAL conferences, serves on university committees and task forces and has presented sessions at statewide paraprofessional conferences on library security and implementing library circulation systems.

Carolynne Rosenberger has been the Monographs Catalog Librarian at the UWM Libraries at UW-Milwaukee since 1999. Prior to coming to UW-Milwaukee, Carolynne worked from 1980-1999 at the Waukesha County Technical College. She has been actively involved in WAAL and WLA, serving on the WAAL Membership Committee, the WLA Nominations Committee, and on the 2003 WAAL Conference Planning Committee, Local Arrangements.

Secretary--Candidate Dineen Grow		Secretary--Candidate Carolynne Rosenberger
“Thank you for the nomination for the position of Secretary. If elected, I look forward to the chance to meet with colleagues from across the state to share ideas and discover new approaches to common problems. I believe that I possess good communication skills and would bring a strong front-line perspective to the discussions.”		“As a long-time member of WLA and WAAL, I understand the importance and advantages of both of these organizations to the growth and advancement of libraries and librarians in the state of Wisconsin. The WLA and WAAL annual conferences, staff development for members, mentoring possibilities and networking opportunities are invaluable, and these organizations continue to provide the opportunities as well as the 'strength in numbers' that is critical to libraries in the challenging budgetary climate we all face." "As a member of the WLA nominations committee, I helped nominate qualified candidates for state offices. As a WAAL membership committee member, I worked to recruit and retain membership in the academic library community. A logical next step would be to serve in a more personal capacity, and I feel honored to be nominated to serve WAAL as secretary. I pledge to do my best. Our membership deserves no less.”

2004 WAAL Directory--Now Available

The 2004 edition of the WAAL Directory is now available from the WAAL Web site: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/waal. As access to this Directory is limited to WAAL members, login and password is required. This login and password were distributed via email to the WAAL membership by Directory Committee Chair, Michael Watkins.

The Publication Committee thanks the WAAL Directory committee members--Michael Watkins, Sylvia Beardsley, Yvonne Niesen, Jeanne Foley and Stephanie Judge for their efforts to update the directory.

Any additions or corrections can be sent to the attention of Michael Watkins (watkins@uwosh.edu).

WAAL--Our Capital Convergence, April 20-22, 2005

Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, Madison, Wisconsin

Deadline for conference proposals: Friday, October 1, 2004

The 2005 WAAL Conference Planning Committee invites proposals for sessions to be held at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Proposals and recommendations for presentations, panels, workshops and poster sessions are welcome.

Our conference theme this year is convergence (con-ver-gence or con-ver-gen-cy: a coming together from different directions, especially a uniting or merging of groups or tendencies that were originally opposed or very different). Converging proves to be an effective strategy for academic libraries coping with reduced budgets, increased user expectations, and constant technological change. The convergent analogy lends itself to these topics, among others:

Converging domains, Information Content and Information Technology,
Collaborating with UW System Libraries on resource sharing initiatives,
Changing the way we do business in Acquisitions and Collection Development,
Integrating library research instruction into the curriculum,
Sharing best practices, supervising, cataloging, customer service tips, blogs,
Utilizing electronic courseware and library services for distance learning,
Forging new library liaisons with interdisciplinary faculty,
Centralizing off-site storage facilities,
Using the Web to provide library resources,
Recruiting a new generation of academic librarians,
Applying retail techniques to create customer-based libraries,
Archiving trends for libraries in the 21st century,
Profiling subject-oriented library collections on the UW Madison campus.

If you are interested in planning or presenting a program related to these suggested topics, please draft a brief proposal which details:

1) An abstract of the program (300 words or less),
2) Presenter name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and contact information,
3) Format (panel discussion, poster session, etc.),
4) Equipment needs.

Send your programming ideas or suggested speaker names to Jo Ann Carr carr@education.wisc.edu or Cheryl O'Connor caoconno@wisc.edu by October 1st.

We look forward to converging with all of you at our next annual conference in April.

The 2005 WAAL Conference Planning Committee:

Jo Ann Carr, Steve Frye, Kathy Myers, Cheryl O'Connor, Chris Grugel, Mark Rozmarynowski, Michael Cohen, Vince Jenkins, Deb Strelka, Julie Fricke, Abbie Loomis

Cuban Libraries Tour

--Trish Iaccarino Peterson

During the week of April 17-24, 2004, I traveled to Cuba as part of a program entitled "Libraries in Cuba: A Professional Research Seminar Exclusively for Librarians." The seminar was led by Ann Sitkin of the Harvard University Law Library and travel arrangements were made by Common Ground Travel of Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was a legal trip made under a general license, which allows, among a short list of other legitimate travels, academic researchers the opportunity to conduct professional research in Cuba, provided a series of strict guidelines is followed. As such, we were able to travel to Havana directly from the United States.

Photo courtesy of Trish Iaccarino Peterson.

In addition to filing a travel affidavit with the U.S. government stating that I would abide by federal regulations, I submitted, as part of my application package, a research proposal that outlined what I planned to study while there. My plan was, specifically, to study the state of library technology in Cuban community and academic libraries and to determine how computer technology is used for resource-sharing among Cuban libraries. I also stated that, as a professional with a keen interest and some experience in international librarianship, I planned to add to my research base of comparative knowledge and experience in libraries around the world.

Eleven librarians and two library school students participated in the seminar. In addition to me and Ann, the seminar leader, there was a special librarian from one of the Wisconsin state agencies, three additional academic law librarians (one from New York City, two from Seattle), an archivist from Lowell, Massachusetts, three more people from the various libraries at Harvard, and a librarian from Haverford College in Philadelphia.

Our schedule was comprised of eight-to-twelve-hour days of visiting various libraries and information agencies with some time and opportunities scheduled in for working on our individual research projects. In addition to the aforementioned agencies, we also took a walking tour of Old Havana one afternoon with the city historian to discuss architectural preservation and restoration issues, visited the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) in Havana, traveled to the Ernest Hemingway Home and Archives (Finca Vigia), visited Moderna Poesia, the oldest bookstore in Cuba, and stopped at Ediciones Vigia, a publishing house in Matanzas.

Photo courtesy of Trish Iaccarino Peterson.

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting the Jose Marti National Library in Havana, and meeting with the director, Eliades Acosta, whom I had read a lot about prior to going to Cuba. It was quite an honor to actually meet him in person! In addition to arranging a comprehensive tour of the National Library for us, Acosta spent a good part of the afternoon with us explaining not only the history and functions of the national library, but the structure of the national public library system and the Cuban independent library movement.

The national library serves many of the same functions as our own Library of Congress, but in addition, it serves as the head of the public library system, providing consultation, support, and directing public library policy throughout the country. In addition, there are fourteen regional, or provincial, libraries in Cuba, one in each province, which are hierarchically just below the national library and provide some of the same support services on a smaller scale. Finally, there are approximately 400 municipal libraries, located in most towns and villages.

Acosta spent a fairly significant amount of time discussing the independent library movement in Cuba, since it has received so much international attention in recent years. According to him, the movement started in 1998 by several long-time political dissidents who started calling themselves librarians because of the positive image it projected. They are not trained librarians and many receive books and salaries from the U.S. Interest Section in Havana. Many are also funded by the Cuban-American National Foundation, an ultra-conservative organization made up of Cuban exiles living in Miami. Much of what has been published about the independent library movement in the United States has been biased, and Acosta is aware there is a lot of misinformation floating around. He encourages American librarians to come to Cuba to study the movement and to publish more objective information about it. Unfortunately, we tried to contact several of these independent librarians while we were there, and in all cases, their phones had been disconnected and there was no forwarding information available.

Problems common to most – if not all – Cuban libraries include lack of current materials, lack of funding, difficulties in material preservation/restoration (due to lack of supplies, trained personnel, and the Cuban climate), and lack of technology. There are no large-scale computer networks in the country, and few libraries are automated. The national library does host a preservation/digitization lab and sends electronic materials to the provincial and municipal libraries on CD-ROM. They also have a Web site (http://www.bnjm.cu), have been automated since 1997, and are preparing for a large-scale retroconversion project. However, interlibrary loan and resource-sharing throughout the country is, at best, difficult. With so few library catalogs online, no one really knows who owns what items, and with the lack of technology infrastructure, items often have to be located and requested via the telephone.

A visit to the main library on the University of Havana campus clearly illustrated some of these issues. The flagship campus of Cuba, University of Havana has 7,000 full-time residential students (and many more part-time and/or remote learners) and 22 libraries. The campus has a local area network and a Web site. However, each library on campus has its own catalog, and work is only now getting underway to create a university-wide OPAC. Online databases are not available, and books, most of which have been donated, are outdated. There is no preservation lab. The supplies are too expensive and there is no one at the university trained to do this type of work. Some preservation work is provided by the National Library, but some never gets done. Digitization, according to one of the university librarians, is not possible now. There is some Internet access in the libraries, but it is only available to staff. Student researchers must ask a librarian to do searches for them. We were assured that there was Internet access in the campus computer labs, but one of our colleagues was told by a university professor later in the week that access is limited to 90 minutes a month. We were not sure if this was due to financial constraints, or if the Cuban government does not want people wandering around the Web - thus they are only allotted enough time to do critical work and then log off. The fact that surprised me the most, however, was that the main library's hours are 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. They were once open on Saturdays and on Sunday mornings, but given the current budget situation, weekend access is no longer possible.

Public libraries have fared a bit better. They do get some funding from the government for new materials, although many of them, too, house vast numbers of donated books. The staffs and reputations of public libraries in Cuba, however, are inspiring. Staff members of the Bauta Public Library, located about 30 miles from Havana, provide dozens of programs for patrons each year, including arts and cultural programs, workshops and services for people with disabilities, many children's programs, and genealogical workshops. They even sponsor a "Librarian in the Community" program where librarians take books into the surrounding neighborhoods via bicycle. With Cuba's huge emphasis on universal literacy, public libraries are seen as extremely important institutions.

In addition to the libraries mentioned above, our group visited the public library in Cienfuegos, in the southern part of the island, and the provincial library in Havana. We were also scheduled to visit the library at the University of Cienfuegos while we were in that city, but unfortunately, the university cancelled our visit a day or two before we arrived. Although we were glad for the free morning given our otherwise tight and hectic schedule, we were more than a little disappointed not to be able to visit an additional academic library.

As you can probably surmise, my research plans for the trip were not entirely successful. The state of library technology in Cuba is, at present, barely existent, although there is an enormous interest in developing it. The use of computer technology for resource sharing among Cuban libraries is completely non-existent, although this capability will surely follow the development of appropriate infrastructure. I did, however, learn quite a bit about Cuban libraries during my brief visit, which was my third objective.

Depending on what happens with U.S.-Cuban policy in the future, Ann Sitkin plans to continue taking groups of librarians to Cuba. She hopes to take the next one in February 2005, to coincide with the international book fair in Havana. Please feel free to contact me at if you have any questions about my experience or if you would like me to put you in touch with Ann regarding future librarian tours. If you have an interest in this area, I would highly encourage you to go. It was a wonderful experience and I can guarantee you will learn a lot about Cuban libraries!

The WAAL Newsletter welcomes articles of interest to academic librarians. Please consider sharing summaries of research or research in progress, announcements/results of meetings or conferences, and news of staff changes and/or accomplishments. Deadline for the next issue:

Material should be sent to:
Karen Dunn
Steenbock Memorial Library
550 Babcock Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1293
(608) 263-3899
kdunn@library.wisc.edu

WAAL Publications Committee:
Stacey Burkhart (Chair), Julie Fricke (Web), Stacey Burkhart, Karen Dunn (Newsletter Co-Editors)

© 2004 Wisconsin Library Association. Portions may be quoted or copied if credit is given. Contact the WLA Executive Director when quoting or reproducing extensively. WLA Phone: 608-245-3640; Fax: 608-245-3646

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