8/8/2002

NOTABLES

~ See photos from retirement party for five
~ John Tortorice steps down
~ WHS librarian James Danky wins ALA award
~ CCBC director Ginny Moore Kruse retires
~ Provost thanks Dennis Hill for Appeals work
~ Julie Schneider and Sylvia Contreras add duties
~ In passing: Veronica Szabo
~ Memorial Library west doors open up

LIBRARY NEWS

PUBLISHED

25 YEARS AGO IN THE LIBRARIES

NOTABLES

• Retirees Sandy Pfahler, Yvonne Lee, Milan Radovich, Ken Rouse and Mary Tipton celebrated their library careers Thursday, June 27, at an open house in the Petrovich Reading Room (Room 212 Memorial Library). Their cumulative experience represented more than 140 years of service in the UW-Madison Libraries. 

- See photos from the engagement
- Browse the program from the open house
 
• The Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries say farewell to development specialist and Friends liaison John Tortorice, who will take a position as a program administrator in the history department. 

- Read the full story
 
• Wisconsin Historical Society librarian James Danky received the Reference and User Services Association's Isadore Gilbert Mudge-R.R. Bowker Award at the 2002 ALA conference held in June in Atlanta. The award recognizes distinguished contributions to reference librarianship. A $5,000 cash award augments the accolade; Danky announced he will donate the money to the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America. 
  
  "Mr. Danky's work has centered around efforts to give historical voices to those who have traditionally resided outside the dominant cultures in America: African Americans, Native Americans and women," said award committee chair Danise Hoover. "Without his efforts, entire segments of our national history would be unfindable." Visit the RUSA Web site for more information about the organization's other awards.

 
• The Friends of the CCBC will host a program and reception Friday, Sept. 20, to mark the August retirement of CCBC director Ginny Moore Kruse. She has been director of the CCBC since 1976. Prominent statewide and nationally for her expertise in children's and young adult literature and intellectual freedom, Kruse has overseen the development of CCBC information services for students and ways of delivering adult continuing education opportunities to librarians and teachers throughout the state and nation. She founded the CCBC Intellectual Freedom Information Services, for which she and the CCBC have won both state and national awards. She has also served on numerous national literature award committees, including the Newbery, Caldecott and Coretta Scott King. Kruse plans to remain professionally active during her retirement. 
  
  The Sept. 20 event will be from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Harrison Parlor of Lathrop Hall. In the meanwhile, an informal campus reception was held for Kruse at the CCBC, in Room 4290 Helen C. White Hall Friday, July 26, from 2 to 4 p.m.

- See pictures of the informal Kruse retirement party
- Read a 1997 Messenger Magazine story about Kruse and her work at the CCBC
 
• Senior academic librarian Dennis Hill recently stepped down from five years of service as chair of the Academic Staff Appeals Committee. The Academic Staff Appeals Committee reviews or hears all appeals of nonrenewals, nonretentions of probationary employees, layoffs, discipline and dismissals and grievances. Hill oversaw 25 cases during his tenure as chair. 
  
  On behalf of the university, Provost Peter Spear thanked Hill for his work on the committee. 
  
  "It is clear that your leadership has not only affected those directly involved in each of the cases you have overseen, but also many others through the precedents established in your conclusions," wrote Spear in a letter of appreciation to Hill. "Again, thank you for your willingness to fill this important, but difficult, responsibility for so long. The university community will miss your leadership."

 
• Effective Aug. 1, Julie Schneider, collection development and resource management, Health Sciences Libraries, and Sylvia Contreras, interim co-director and assistant director for finance and technology, HSL, will assume the duties of the digital resources and cataloging coordinator. Schneider and Contreras are taking over for HSL academic librarian Deb Cady, whose last day was July 31. 
  
  Schneider will be responsible for all electronic journal subscription purchases, license agreements and general billing questions. Contreras will be responsible for activating journals, troubleshooting, cataloging and monitoring the HSL-resources pages and e-mail.

 
• Retired Memorial Library staffer Veronica Szabo, 82, passed away Thursday, July 4, at the Attic Angel Retirement Home. She was born June 27, 1920, in Budapest, Hungary. Veronica Szabo was married for 44 years to Dr. Charles Szabo, assistant professor at UW-Madison. 
  
  She lived, worked and traveled around the world in Europe, Chile, Canada and the United States where she made constant use of her knowledge of Hungarian, German, Spanish and French. Before her retirement, Veronica Szabo worked as a librarian for UW-Madison Libraries. Her friends will also remember her as a generous contributor for the English libraries in Transylvania and for sponsoring a Hungarian girl's education. 
  
  She is survived by her brother, Gabriel Gyarmati, of Chile. Her husband preceded her in death in 1992. A Christian service will be held in Hungary where she wanted her remains to be buried. Friends were welcomed to remember her at a memorial service Aug. 1 in Madison.

 
• Effective Aug. 26, the Memorial Library west corridor doors that are currently "Exit Only" to Langdon Street, Library Mall and the State Street pedestrian mall will be open seven days a week from the library's opening time to 5 p.m. After 5 p.m. the doors can only be used as exits. In preparation for this change, additional security cameras will be added to the west corridor; signage on the doors indicating that they are "Exit Only" will be changed; and UW-Madison Libraries Web pages with this information will updated.

- View a map of Memorial Library that shows the west corridor doors

LIBRARY NEWS

• Internet Explorer is set to replace Netscape as the university's preferred Web browser. A public service forum for the purpose of introducing IE to campus library public service staff will take place Thursday, Aug. 15, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Room 126 Memorial Library. This session will be repeated Monday, Aug. 26, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the same room as the first forum.

PUBLISHED

• A UW-Madison Libraries Web slide show, crafted by Betty Ferris, communication specialist, will appear both on the Libraries Web site and as a direct Click from the UW Foundation's Web page. It was originally created for the UW Foundation's sixth Biennial Women in Philanthropy Conference and was presented at the Pyle Center in fall 2001. The presentation featured narrators Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, associate dean for the Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, and Robin Douthit, dean of the School of Human Ecology. The slide show focused on women, primarily UW-Madison alumnae, whose legacy of past gifts is still visible throughout the university. 
  
  The title comes from a work by Maya Angelou called "Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now": "When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream, whose face we will never know, will benefit from our action." 

- View "Bread Upon the Waters"
 
• In Parallel Press' latest chapbook release, "Small Acts," poet Mary Mercier explores how minuscule events reveal principle life themes. Many of the poems in "Small Acts" relate to Mercier's sense of place as a writer, "meaning all of those things which have, over time, connected me to particular places or particular 'kinds' of places," she said. 

- Read the full story

25 YEARS AGO IN THE LIBRARIES

• From the "Tote that barge, file those cards" file, Jan. 21, 1977, courtesy of Sandy Pfahler, GLS administration retiree: "The time has come when you have to do your filing assignment. ... You would have filed your cards earlier but the rumors kept coming up. 'The temperature down there [in public catalog] is 55 degrees today with a stiff wind blowing out of the northeast,' or, 'You'd better not go down today, the light fixtures are swinging dangerously,' or, 'You can't file today, the rods are frozen to the drawers.' ... 
  
  "As you enter the public catalog room the cold air hits you. You involuntarily shiver and you hunch your shoulders as you approach your drawer of cards. Edna is hunched over her desk blowing on her hands. The thermometer on her desk registers 58 degrees and the papers on her desk are fluttering from the breeze. Edna is wearing a heavy wool pants suit with two sweaters under the jacket. She wishes she had a pair of duofold underwear for library use. She vows that she's going to price a pair on her next shopping trip. ... 
  
  When the wind is just right in the public catalog and the cards whip out of your hands, filing isn't too bad. But don't forget that sweater and snow boots. (Memorial Library is in the process of revamping the heating system.)" 
  
  Submitted by Lorraine Hawkinson to Added Entries.

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Libraries@UW-Madison is written by the staff of the News and Editorial Office. The editing interns are Erin J. Buege ebuege@library.wisc.edu and Andrew Wallmeyer awallmeyer@library.wisc.edu. Please send questions, comments or story ideas to Don Johnson, djohnson@library.wisc.edu, 262-0076, 330C Memorial Library.