Debus-López and Breed named
best of 2003

Karl Debus-López and Liz Breed have been selected as Librarians of the Year 2003 by their peers in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Librarians’ Assembly.

The awards are given annually to recognize outstanding contributions to campus library services by two unclassified staff members of the General Library System. One award is given to someone who has worked for the system more than 10 years and another to someone who has been on the staff 10 years or less. The Librarians' Assembly created the awards in 1989.

Under 10 years
Debus-López, chief acquisitions librarian and head of the Acquisitions and Serials Department in Central Technical Services, began work with the GLS in 1998. He also reviews and negotiates electronic resource licenses, working closely with campus library directors, selectors, and University Legal Counsel. In addition, Debus-López serves on numerous local and national library committees and editorial boards.
From 1989 to 1998 he worked in the Washington, D.C., area at:
• the National Library of Medicine in Serials Records;
• the National Agricultural Library;
• and at the Executive Office of the President Library.
Nominators cited Debus-López for being a “consummate professional who by his intelligence, hard work and dedication, makes many of our jobs easier.”

Over 10 years
Breed has been in the Memorial Library Reference Department since 1972, where, in addition to general reference work, she supervises library school students during their advanced reference practicums and oversees the campus Grants Information Center. Her grants Web pages are among the most visited pages of the UW–Madison Libraries Web site, drawing e-mail inquiries from around the world.

According to one nominator, "The Grants Information Center is one of the best examples of the Wisconsin Idea (since) the people who use the Grants Information Center also develop arts, environmental, and educational programs that enrich us all."

Breed is also a calligraphy artist, photographer, and creator of illuminated manuscripts. She taught for four years in the UW–Madison Art Department in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s and established a cooperative art studio on State Street in the late 1970s, which is still operating.

She has exhibited widely throughout the United States, written numerous articles on writing, gilding, the history of calligraphy, and the book arts. She has exhibited her works around Madison and was invited to exhibit and lecture on nature photography at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

Breed has also exhibited calligraphy across the country in such cities as New York and Chicago and was one of only three Americans accepted into a prestigious 60th Anniversary Exhibit of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators held in the United Kingdom in 1981. Her work is also represented in the Newberry Library history of books and printing collection in Chicago.