Summer 2006 Retirees
Elizabeth Breed joined the General Library System in 1972 as a Reference Librarian in the Reference Department of Memorial Library. For nearly 20 years, she has provided grant information on campus, in the community and throughout the state to academic and nonprofit clientele as supervisor of the Grants Information Collection. In 2003 Breed was named Librarian of the Year. Breed started the reference practicum program in cooperation with the School of Library and Information Studies, and was active in promoting "conservation consciousness" in the library when there was no lab, no microfilming and just a repair room with lots of Scotch tape. Breed loves horses and has an imported Icelandic horse, Nokkvi, that must be given commands in its native tongue. She discovered early on that the standard English command to stop, "whoa," means "go fast or giddy up" in Icelandic. A celebrated calligrapher, Breed was one of three Americans to be accepted into the prestigious Society of Scribes and Illuminators members' 75th anniversary exhibition in l976. The show was held in London and traveled throughout the United Kingdom that year. Regarding her time as supervisor of grants collection, Breed says, "Working with the grants collection has left me with a lifetime of subject matter for parties and writing material."
Sylvia Edlebeck began in 1975 in the Circulation Department, but she has spent most of her career in Central Technical Services with a focus on serials acquisitions. She has been responsible for writing and editing the Technical Operations Manual (what she calls her most rewarding job), maintaining the CTS Web page and supervising the Accounting Unit in the CTS Acquisitions Department. Edlebeck remembers that when she started work in the libraries in 1975, the South Stacks were relatively new and the stacks in general were not particularly crowded. Edlebeck says of her next step, "While I will miss my friends and certain things about my work, I also look forward to the time to devote to my other interests, among them music, gardening, kayaking, birding, drawing and (of course) reading." Edlebeck also has an antique business, sings with the University Choir and plays hand bells. Wisconsin Week wrote a feature about her last December.
Vicki Hill began working in the General Library System as a Library Assistant to the then Social Studies bibliographer, followed by several years as an original cataloger. In 1985 she became Social Sciences Bibliographer in Memorial Library, where she has developed collections in the social sciences and post-1945 Western Europe, taught many classes for faculty in Political Science, Sociology and Economics and worked together with other staff to produce Web pages on current Europe, the European Union and Global Studies Resources. Hill was named Librarian of the Year in 1996. When asked what she enjoyed most about her job, she replied, "Collecting unusual materials and working with other staff on really useful infrastructure-related projects like the gift review cage in Memorial 's basement." Retirement has been an interesting process for her; one surprise has been the fact that library administrators seem unclear about what she has been doing for the last 29 years. " At first I was upset about that," she commented, "but then I realized that I wasn't sure what they had been doing either! But I could have gotten away with a lot more—too late now." She hopes to spend the next year in Dublin, Ireland, working on a master's in Literary Translation at Trinity College.
Marianne Larson started as a library assistant in the Circulation Department in 1971, but her position has changed considerably since then. She has become the campus resource for all Voyager circulation-related transactions, including fines and fees processing, creating patron records and holds and searching and processing of requested library material. Larson's first job was working for Felix Pollak in Special Collections—the interview for the job required her to recall the locations of rare books from the initial tour he conducted during the first part of the interview. It has been said that no one can find a misshelved, mismarked book like Larson. A pioneer of the women's hockey team, Larson was one of three women who petitioned the campus to make women's hockey an official club sport; she served as the first player/coach and was the first woman to take Bob Johnson's hockey coaching class. Ice time at the Shell, which is still followed today, was originally arranged around her schedule as part-time employee. Larson says, "I enjoyed my work here, the people I met and the friends I have made, some of whom are now lifelong friends."
Ron Larson first began in the General Library System on April Fool's Day in 1977, providing technical support service to the Memorial Library Circulation Department. He now manages Memorial Library Circulation Desk operations and has also been the liaison between the library and the campus McBurney Disabilities Resource Center. Larson was the co-founder of one the first cooperative book stores in Madison and co-manager of Madison Book Coop in fall 1969. He started the book store in a converted school bus which he would drive up and down State Street. When asked in his library job interview how long he planned on working with the library he replied, "forever." "One of the main things I will not miss is having to say, 'Step back to the desk please,' when the exit gate alarm sounds. I will miss the constant mental challenge of trying to keep up with changes and dealing daily with interesting library staff and patrons," Larson says.
Ann Pollock joined Memorial Library as a Reference Librarian in 1983. She has been responsible for handling e-mail reference questions (AskMemorial) as well as responding to other e-mail queries that come in through various feedback forms on the library Web sites. Pollock has also maintained technical services functions of Reference Department books. Lee Konrad wrote in the Memorial Library Community News Director's Column: "Like many librarians, I never knew that I wanted to become a librarian. I had never even considered it, that is, until I met Ann Pollock. During the 1980s I made extensive use of Memorial Library, both as a student and as a member of the staff at the Office of International Studies and Programs. Ann was one of my "go to" librarians, in large part because of the keen interest she displayed in whatever it was I was researching, and in large part because she seemed to be having FUN! Her demeanor as a public service librarian quite literally led me to the decision to pursue a career in librarianship." Pollock says in regard to what she will miss the most, "The staff! They are an amazing group of talented, educated and interesting people. I miss those who have already retired and will miss those that I leave behind. I know that we are lucky here and that not everyone works in such a collegial atmosphere."