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Inside this issue... Thoughts from the WAAL Chair--Julie Fricke
One of the things high on my to-do list for 2005
is to take a more active role in library legislation. To that end,
I will attend Library Legislative Day in Madison on Tuesday,
February 8th. I hope many of you will also consider attending.
We had a
stronger WAAL turnout last year, and it would be wonderful to have
even more WAAL members attend this year.
As is customary, the WAAL conference offers an
engaging mix of programs to enrich everyone’s professional
interests. Program topics include:
The poster session and reception will be held in the Monona Terrace Community Room overlooking the lake. In addition to the informal presentations and networking opportunities there will be a vendor showcase with demonstrations of new products and services available to academic libraries. And be sure to register for the post-conference, on Friday, April 22: Bridging Learning Differences in the Workplace and the Classroom. This workshop will share insightful communication and collaboration techniques--skills useful to the entire library community. Of course, all of this converging takes place in
the capital city of Madison, Wisconsin, where there are outstanding
libraries to
tour, great restaurants to enjoy, and numerous city, campus and
government sites to explore.
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Convergence:
Librarians and the Web |
One of the great joys of being a public servant in a rapidly changing library world is the opportunity to interact on a regular basis with student and community members who are, shall we say, of another age. Our senior customers often possess a sophisticated level of technological expertise, but just as often, they enter today’s library with little or no knowledge of computers, electronic databases, and the other tools that are central to our trade. |
The two brief stories below are by no means meant to “poke fun,” rather they are offered in the spirit of helping us all keep in mind that the starting point for a reference transaction will vary greatly depending upon our customer’s previous computer and library experience, and that if we are sensitive to this, the rewards can be great.
When I was an instruction librarian in Milwaukee, I would do regular walk-in workshops, many of which were attended predominantly by seniors with varying degrees of computer skills. One morning I began the session by asking the participants to use the mouse (after explaining what the mouse does) to select the library’s home page. As I surveyed their progress, I noticed that the mouse at the computer of one of the ladies in attendance appeared to be missing. Just as I noticed this, I also noticed a rather peculiar tapping beneath her desk. After asking a couple of questions, I discovered that this was her first time using a computer, and she was building on her experiences of using a sewing machine in which she used a foot pedal to control the speed. I was fortunate enough to have many opportunities to work with this individual, who eventually went on to build her own craft web page.
Also, while working in Milwaukee, I assisted an elderly gentleman in establishing a “hop mail” account as he called it (he really meant a hotmail account). I asked him first if he was familiar with email and he said that the only mail he ever had anything to do with came out of his mailbox. We went in and set up the account (during which I learned that he was an accomplished blacksmith and glass blower) and he left after thanking me many times. I wondered what he planned on using the account for and found out a couple of weeks later when he came to the desk with tears in his eyes. He had spoken to his son who was in the Army and given him his hotmail account information. They only spoke by phone about once a month, but his son had access to email on a weekly basis. In the father’s account that day was a long letter from his son, one that the father would spend the next three hours replying to. For a man who had never before used a keyboard, he was typing about 35 words a minute when I left that job to come to Green Bay.
These two experiences are ones that I will never forget, and ones that I turn to often for inspiration. We have much to learn from our senior customers, and there is much we can teach them. We must be sensitive to the fact that many are venturing for the first time into a foreign world. We are their guides. If I am ever lucky enough to be able to step into the past, I hope there is somebody there that will patiently show me how to go about surviving without my laptop and PDA.
2005 WAAL Information Literacy Award
The WAAL Information Literacy Committee is very pleased to announce Abigail Loomis as the 2005 winner of the second annual WAAL Information Literacy Award.
Abbie has a long tenure of service in library instruction and a deep commitment to the advancement of information literacy, not only on the UW-Madison campus, but also on a state and national level. She has made significant contributions to establish, promote, advance and educate people about information literacy standards. As a result, she has impacted a great number of students, faculty and staff at her institution as well as numerous teaching librarians and academics within the WAAL community and beyond.
Abbie was a charter member of the WAAL
Information Literacy Committee, and was instrumental in drafting
and formalizing WAAL’s Information
Literacy Competencies and Criteria for Academic Libraries in
Wisconsin which state libraries continue
to use within their instruction programs and as they work
to develop library assignments and courses. The Association of
College and Research Libraries (ACRL) looked to the WAAL Information
Literacy Competencies as a guide when developing its national
information literacy standards.
Through her work on the WAAL Information Literacy committee from
1997-2001, Abbie helped plan and sponsor many programs covering
different aspects of instruction. She has been a frequent
presenter at WAAL conferences, sharing techniques as well as her
philosophical perspective. She also participated in developing
the committee’s Best
Practices which promote an exchange
of instructional practices and ideas with librarians throughout
the state.
Abbie Loomis was also actively involved in writing the proposal to bring ACRL’s Immersion Program to Wisconsin and helped organize the 2001 Wisconsin Immersion Program that was held at Edgewood College that year.
Abbie played a key role in helping to make information
literacy a required component of the UW-Madison undergraduate curriculum
via the CLUE
online tutorial. CLUE and the library instruction
classes are campus-wide endeavors that reach more than 4,000 students
annually. As the Coordinator of the Library and Information Literacy
Program at the UW-Madison campus, Abbie continues to collaborate
with numerous librarians and faculty -- working to
develop
instructional resources that address all subject areas, and
tie together the instruction programs within the General Library
System.
Again, we are very proud to announce this year’s winner:
Abigail Loomis, an exemplary academic librarian who has made significant
contributions to advance information literacy.
Look for her session at this year’s WAAL conference in Madison.
Announcing...WisBlawg
--Bonnie Shucha, Reference & Electronic Services Librarian, UW Law Library
The UW Law Library is
pleased to introduce
WisBlawg, a new blog offering legal
research news, information on Web research tools and technologies,
and announcements of local workshops and events.
WisBlawg is available
at http://wisblawg.blogspot.com/
WisBlawg is syndicated for those wishing to subscribe using a blog aggregator/reader such as Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com). For those who prefer to receive updates via email, there is a subscription form available from the site.
People & Places in the News
Beloit College
The Library at Beloit College has merged with the IT department to form the Information Services and Resources (ISR) Division headed by the former library director, Charlotte Slocum.
On June 16, 2004, system migration planning became a reality and library staff enjoyed a recognition and celebration luncheon to mark the transition from DRA Classic to SIRSI's Unicorn.
Joel Paulson joined the staff in September as Technical Services Librarian. Joel earned his MLIS from UW-Madison and was previously employed by Kraft Foods. He replaces Lisa Viezbicke who has become the Information Services and Resources Division's Assistant Director for Library Services.
In October 2004, the library hosted an exhibit of selected rare books from the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, Missouri. Bruce Bradley, Librarian for History of Science, accompanied the works and provided a keynote address titled, "Four Footed Beasts, and Forest Trees: A tour through five centuries of natural history books."
Gateway Technical College
Sylvia Linton has joined the Elkhorn campus as a Library Instruction and Reference Specialist.
Marquette University
Marquette University’s new Raynor Library welcomed its one millionth user in October. In the first semester (Fall 2003), library turnstiles registered more than double the traffic compared to the previous year's figures recorded by the old Memorial and Science Libraries.
An unusual exhibit of Tolkien’s literary manuscripts continues in the campus’ Haggerty Museum of Art through January ’05. Only a small percentage of the 11,000-page manuscript collection is on display at the museum, but the selection offers revealing insights into the author’s creative process. Many of the documents and sketches have never been exhibited outside of the Libraries, including Tolkien's handmade book, Mr. Bliss.
The Libraries’ Department of Special Collections and University Archives recently received two research collections that enhance two special collecting programs: Catholic Social Action and Christianity in Native America. The Don Doll, S.J., Collection includes color transparencies, prints, and oral history interviews for the award-winning photographer’s book, Vision Quest: Men, Women, and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation (1994). The National Black Sisters’ Conference recently donated to the archives an extensive collection of historical records dating from its founding in 1968.
UW-Baraboo/Sauk County
Marcia Thomas will be starting as the new Director at the UW-Baraboo/Sauk County T.N. Savides Library on February 14, 2005. Marcia comes to UW System with more than twenty-five years of library experience, having served at Illinois Wesleyan University and the Eureka, Illinois, and Bloomington, Illinois, Public Libraries. Marcia is also an accomplished scholar, with an impressive background in research, writing, editing, and professional presentations.
UW-Eau Claire
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Got kids? UW-Eau Claire's McIntyre Library welcomes them! The library opened the doors in September to a family-friendly study room. Through this pilot project, all university students and staff with accompanying children have access to adjoining rooms offering study space as well as play space. The rooms, formerly occupied by the CESA/Ameritech Homework Helpline, are outfitted with a computer workstation and printer, wireless access, study tables and chairs, a refrigerator, and a campus telephone. The adjoining play area offers a wide selection of toys, games and books for children, all donated by library staff. |
To use the room, families obtain a key at the circulation desk along with a form that outlines the room policies and asks for feedback. So far, the feedback has been very positive, and most respondents have indicated that the availability of the room affected their decision to come to the library. Parents have expressed appreciation for a safe and convenient space that provides resources to keep kids occupied as well as the peace of mind in knowing that their kids are not bothering other library users.
UW-La Crosse
Jen Holman, Acquisitions Librarian, wrote the article "Can SFX Replace Your Homegrown Periodicals Holding List?: How the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Made the Transition," which is forthcoming in The Serials Librarian 47(4).
Charles Marx, Cataloging Librarian, retired after twenty-five years at UW-La Crosse. Charles had been very active in statewide library organizations including chairing WAAL, serving on the board of WLA, and chairing and serving on many WLA committees. In his retirement, Charles will have more time for competing in (and winning) national trivia contests, riding his bike, and continuing his community service projects.
Stefan Smith, Outreach Librarian, published the article, "Designing Collaborative Learning Experiences for Library Computer Classrooms," in the December 2004 issue of College & Undergraduate Libraries, 11(2).
UW-Madison
Steve Baumgart joined Memorial Library as Co-coordinator of Instruction, January 5, 2005. Steve formerly served as Reference Coordinator for Loyola University Chicago, Science Library.
Jo Ann Carr presented programs on Electronic Resources for Children's Literature and Partnering for Technology Literacy at the GWETC and WEAC conferences in October, 2004. On January 13, she also coordinated a national invitational symposium to explore the development of an Education Information Collaborative. Thirty of the top Schools of Education were represented at this symposium held at the Gutman Library at Harvard University.
Peter Cupery, Information Services Librarian at the CIMC, has announced that he plans to retire, effective January 4, 2005. Throughout his thirteen years of employment at the CIMC, Peter has been known for the high quality, personalized, reference assistance that he has provided to faculty, staff, and students.
Deborah Helman has been named the new Wendt Library Director. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from the same institution. She will join Wendt Library on January 18, 2005.
Tom Murray, Director emeritus of Wendt Library, received the Spring 2004 College of Engineering's Bollinger Academic Staff Distinguished Achievement Award. He retired in August, 2004.
Pamela O'Donnell joined College Library, November 1, 2004 as the new Public Services librarian. Pamela holds a Master's degree in Library Science as well as a Master's degree in Art from UW-Madison and a Bachelor's degree from Lawrence University.
Looking for something to fill a winter's evening or several? Then, consider a selection from Books We Like--a list of recommended reading, compiled during the annual (December) book-sharing event of the Librarian's Assembly.
UW-Richland
Anne Grunow has joined the staff at UW-Richland as Associate Academic Librarian. Anne has Bachelor’s degrees in History and Art History from UW-Madison and a MLIS with a specialization in Archives, also from UW-Madison.
UW-River Falls
Cindy Gandrud, Senior Academic Librarian in the Chalmer Davee Library at UW-River Falls, left her position as Head of Cataloging on December 31, 2004. She had been with the University's library since 1989. Cindy was an active member of WAAL. She chaired the Nominations Committee in 1998, presented at several conferences, and served as WAAL secretary in 2001. Cindy is leaving the University to spend more time with her three year old son, William. She can be reached at her new e-mail address: cgandrd@pressenter.com.
UW-Rock County
Evelyn Payson has retired after more than twenty-one years with the UW System--eight at UW-Rock County, and thirteen at UW-Whitewater. She has been a member of WAAL since 1983 and has chaired the WAAL Membership, Nominations, and Publications Committees, as well as serving on conference planning committees for both WAAL and WLA, and, recently, as the WAAL Legislative Liaison.
UW-Stevens Point
Dr. Patti Clayton Becker, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the University Library's Reference Department, has published Books and Libraries in American Society During World War II: Weapons in the War of Ideas.
Mike Jan is UW-Stevens Point's new--and very first--Records Manager/Assistant Archivist. Mike comes to UW-Stevens Point from the Harley-Davidson Corporate Archives in Milwaukee, where he has been employed as a contract archivist. He has also served as an intern at the Milwaukee Urban Archives and the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University.
Wisconsin State Law Library
The Wisconsin State Law Library received the 2004 Wisconsin Library Association "Webbie" award for Best Reference Site.
WAAL Board Members
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Calendar of Meetings & Events
Education & Enrichment Opportunties
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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:
May 16, 2005Material 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 Burkart
(Chair), Julie Fricke (Web), Marlys Brunsting, Karen Dunn (Newsletter
Co-Editors)
© 2005 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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