Opening a new door

by Anna Jackson

One of Steenbock Library's "Happy Valley" members has left the valley. Gretchen Farwell retired late last month after an association with the UW-Madison Libraries that dates to 1967.

In spite of decades in library service, it may come as a surprise that she never intended to become a librarian. In fact, when she graduated from St. Olaf College she wanted to become a history teacher. Her library career began only after former assistant libraries director Gerhard Naeseth visited the school where she was teaching and mentioned a job opening in the libraries. Ever since, she has always found her way back to the campus libraries.

Farwell describes having three separate careers in the UW-Madison Libraries. Her first career lasted from 1967 to 1970, the second from 1974 until 1976 and her final career from 1984 until this summer. In those 20 plus years, Farwell has worked with four different library directors, she has chaired or helped initiate several library committees, and she has become a familiar face in the leadership of the campus libraries.

Farwell began working at Memorial Library in August 1967 in the Serials/Acquisitions Department as a library technician, shortly after beginning library school. For two years, she was on campus working and "running over the hill" between Memorial Library and Henry Mall for her classes. During this "career" she also worked at the information desk and later became a serials cataloger, working under the supervision and mentorship of Jean Rowley.

In June 1970, Farwell and her husband, Dan, left Madison for the Twin Cities. Four years later, she was back in Madison and received a job offer at Memorial Library. Shortly after accepting the head of serials cataloging position, however, Farwell found out that she was pregnant with her second child. The library accommodated by offering her two months leave of absence and two months of reduced time, "which I thought was just wonderful at the time," Farwell recalls. Two years later, in 1976, Farwell left the libraries again, this time to stay at home with her young children.

Farwell took an eight-year hiatus from working in campus libraries, but she did not abandon them altogether. During her leave she taught two beginning reference courses, was project director for the 1978 Governor's Conference on Libraries and Information Services and kept in contact with her former coworkers. So it did not come as a complete surprise when Jennifer Younger telephoned Farwell in 1984 and offered her a part-time position in classification, assigning call numbers to cataloging records. She eagerly jumped back into the library scene and in 1987, she began a permanent job in User Services. In 1990, she left Memorial Library to become the head of User Services at Steenbock. And in 1994, she became the assistant director at Steenbock Library, where she worked until her retirement.

From her vantage point in the campus libraries, Farwell has watched the nature of the libraries change through the years. Farwell says she missed the introduction of OCLC automation during her time off. But when she returned to the libraries in the 1980s, she became involved with the implementation of NOTIS. When she moved to Steenbock, Farwell was intricately involved in its automation. She says the switch to automation has significantly changed the work environment and it gave her "a much broader perspective on how electronic access to information is transforming our society."

Now Farwell says she is leaving the libraries at a "critical period." She says the Internet has had a dramatic impact on how librarians do their jobs and she enjoyed being a part of this metamorphosis. Changes brought about by the electronic revolution, however, give librarians a new challenge, according to Farwell. People are not coming into the libraries as much as they once did. "I'm afraid librarians could become irrelevant if the public doesn't understand how we can help them."

Farwell says that working in Memorial Library gave her a window on the turbulent world that transpired on Library Mall during the Vietnam War. She was working at the Memorial Library Information Desk when protesters marched through the library one day and ransacked the card catalog. After they left and the mess was cleaned up, library employees found that one drawer had disappeared. This event resulted in the creation of a second catalog stored in Randall Stadium.

Farwell also has vivid memories of some formidable figures in the libraries. While working at Memorial Library, Farwell and some colleagues decided to propose to former libraries director Louis Kaplan that they attend the ALA conference in Chicago. As he did with many of her coworkers, Kaplan intimidated Farwell. Nonetheless, Farwell and a coworker decided to approach Kaplan. He eventually allowed the employees to attend the conference, but Farwell says she'll never forget that day. "We were quaking in our shoes to go ask for something from such an austere person."

Farwell also recalls an encounter with a new secretary who had worked at Memorial Library for a few weeks. "One day she came up to me," Farwell recalls, "and she said, 'Gretchen, can you tell me where the books are?'"

Farwell admits that this is an unusual case, but she says when she began working in the libraries, the quantity and quality of orientation depended solely on the supervisor. During her tenure, Farwell strove to "make sure people get better orientation when they begin working here and to make sure staff voices are heard by management."

Farwell has been a key participant in the development of the New Colleague Program, which pairs an older staff member with a new colleague. She was on the Supervisory Working Group Committee and the Librarian's Assembly Executive Committee. She also chaired the Reference Coordinator's Committee and was involved with the early days of the Bibliographic Instruction Program.

At Steenbock, Farwell had the opportunity to dabble in just about everything. She taught BI courses and also had the opportunity to work with the public at the reference desk. She says Steenbock has been "a delightful place to work" with a staff that works well together. She says she will, "definitely miss the people. Not only are they colleagues, but they are my friends, too."

Now Farwell heads to Door County where she and her husband built a house, although she says it is still "a work in progress." But don't expect Farwell to just sit around. She has invited any and all to her new abode. In addition, she took 70 boxes from her father's personal library to her new home. The boxes contain records and family archives dating from the 1600s, and Farwell hopes to work on family history projects. And it just so happens that there is a new library opening in Door County that may need the occasional help of a seasoned vet. But for now, Farwell says it is time for a break.