Federal Librarian Winter 2010

Fabulous Feds

by Cynthia Shipley

The Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) are pleased to announce that Roberta I. Shaffer, our current Executive Director, has been appointed Law Librarian of Congress.  Her appointment was effective 30 August 2009.

In announcing his selection, Dr. James Billington, Librarian of the Congress said, “Roberta Shaffer brings to this critical management position both extraordinary vision and demonstrated leadership skills that will continue the Law Library’s historically exemplary service to Congress and to the public while addressing the challenges of providing the legal research and reference services in our rapidly changing and technologically-driven world.

Terrence J. Metz assumed the position of Library Director at the U.S. Naval War College Library on 28 September 2009.  His previous position was Vice President for Library and Information Services at Wheaton College, Norton, M.A.

Linda Rothstein joined the SHAPE International Library in Mons, Belgium staff in March 2009 as Public Services Librarian.  She comes from the Tampa Bay area, where she was branch manager of a library in the Pasco County Library Cooperative.  She earned her Master’s of Library Science degree from the University of South Florida. 
   
Congratulations to Virginia Sanchez, Librarian, Long Beach (CA) Public Library and Naval Special Warfare Intelligence-1 SEAL Team-17, US Navy (Reserve Component) who was awarded the Meritorious Service Award from the National Organization for Mexican American Rights (NOMAR) on 26 August 2009.  This award recognizes the recipient’s significant contributions to our Nation’s Global War on Terrorism; demonstrated role model qualities and core values; and noteworthy efforts in advancing opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

Nilya Carrato joined the Navy General Library Program (NGLP) Washington, DC, June 2009.  Nilya comes to NGLP from Virginia Military Institute where she wore a uniform to work everyday due to her commission into the Virginia Militia.  When she resigned from VMI to work with NGLP, she also had to resign her commission. 

Michele Chronister has a new position as a Presidential Management Fellow for GSA where she is a web manager for USA.gov and a community manager for USA.gov’s social media efforts.

Mike Colarusso, previously Reference Librarian at Barr Memorial Library, Ft. Know, KY became the Library Director in September 2009 at Landstuhl Main Library at US Army Garrison Kaiserslautern, Germany.  He received his degree from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 2007 and served as an Infantry Non-Commissioned officer in the US Army from 2001-2006.

Julie Blankenburg, Supervisory Librarian, Forest Products Laboratory National Forest Service Library U.S. Forest Service, Madison, WI reports that the Forest Products Laboratory will be celebrating its centennial in 2010.  In preparation, they have finished an oral history project in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin.  Digital audio recorded interviews with 52 current and former employees are included.  The interviews were conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Oral History Program in cooperation with the Forest Products Laboratory, to document the Forest Products Laboratory’s history in their work to promote healthy forest and forest-based economies through the efficient, sustainable use of our wood resources in Wisconsin and through the U.S.  The oral histories are posted at:  http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/FPLHist/.

Jill Golden, Library Technician at the Research Library, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies from 31 October 2004 – 18 July 2009 resigned from federal service and returned to her home in Louisville, Kentucky for the summer.  She will be greatly missed at the Research Library, but she moves on to a new adventure.  Jill will attend Stanford University in Sept 2009 to obtain a Master’s Degree in the Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Program.  She was awarded a full scholarship and will also receive a government stipend in support of her ongoing language studies. 
   
During her tenure at the Marshall Center, Jill embarked on a series of acquisition, outreach and service enhancement initiatives.  She demonstrated a thirst for learning and self-improvement and was actively engaged in all areas of librarianship.  She excelled in a multi-cultural, multi-language environment, providing as little or as much assistance as needed to customers based on their library experience and expertise.  Her sensitivity to cultural differences madder her just the right person for “first contact” with customers.  Moreover, she not only adapted well to change, she embraced and contributed positively to it. 
   
Highlights of her five year federal career include:
  • Employee of the Month – Dec 2006
  • Federal Library of the Year (small size category) – team member – 2006
  • Federal Library Technicial of the Year – 2007
  • American Library Association scholarship – Aug 2007
  • MC Junior Employee of the Year – 2008
She received a Masters in Library and Information Science, Syracuse University Dec 2008 with a 3.943 grade point average!

Jill was presented with THE COMMANDER’S AWARD FOR CIVILIAN SERVICE before she departed from Germany.  We wish her all the best for a bright future and hope she will consider federal service again.

Cynthia Shipley was selected Library Program Manager for the USMC Marine Corps Community Services General Libraries, Headquarters, Marine Corps Base, Quantico, VA.  She was previously Deputy Director, Lifelong Learning/Libraries for Marine Corps Bases Japan.  She began her new duties in June 2009.

Denise A. D. Bedford, PhD. has been appointed the Goodyear Professor in the Information Architecture and Knowledge Management (IAKM) program, School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University.  The Professorship was made possible because of the generous support of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.  Dr. Bedford will begin her teaching and research on the Kent campus Spring 2009.

Dr. Bedford holds a PhD. in Information Science from the University of California, Berkeley.  She has been the Senior Information Officer at the World Bank Since 1997, where she is responsible for management of World Bank’s core metadata strategy, including content type strategy and the various ontologies that support Bank metadata.  Prior to her position at the World Bank, her career has involved large systems design, configuration and implementation, project and contract management, multilingual architectures, semantic analysis and knowledge organization systems, knowledge management, business process engineering and architecture, search system design and evaluation, and information governance.  She will be retiring from her position at the World Bank just prior to beginning her appointment at Kent State University. 

She has taught courses for the online Knowledge Management concentration in the Information Architecture and Knowledge Management (IAKM) program at Kent State University since Fall 2007 as well as courses at the University of Tennessee, Georgetown University, Catholic University of America, University of Richmond, and George Mason University.

Congratulations to Dr. Vee Herrington for winning the FLICC 2008 Federal Librarian of the Year Award! Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress, presented the award at the Library of Congress on Thursday, 22 October 2009.

Dr. Vee Herrington became the Chief, U.S. Army Military Intelligence Library, Fort Huachuca, AZ in July 2003.  She opened the MI Library at its present location (a warehouse) six years ago.  Prior to her arrival, the MI Library was just a collection at the Ft. Huachuca Library—it was under funded and practically forgotten.  Within two years, the MI Library was selected by the Library of Congress as the winner of the FY 2005 Federal Library of the Year award for small libraries.

In 2008, the MI Library Division was expanded to include the Training Materials Support Branch, which does the printing of the course materials for the Intel Center.  In addition, the Virtual Footlocker was added to her responsibilities.  The Virtual Footlocker is a searchable repository of course materials for the school; students can create their own footlocker and access materials from anywhere in the world.  An extensive remodeling project was completed in 2008 and included a CyberCafe, Wi-Fi, a covered park-like area outside where the students do role-playing and have meetings, and extensive technology upgrades, including 50 thin client computers, a Smart Board and a SCOLA Dish for worldwide foreign language center broadcasts.  With new furniture and new study areas, the library became a popular spot for meetings and group study.  Both the attendance and circulation increased by 30% from FY 2007 to FY 2008, reflecting Vee’s focus on customer service.  Considering the library is in an old warehouse, visitors often remark that the MI Library is “awesome” – it is very colorful, with the world flags hanging from the rafters and large area rugs throughout the library.

Vee is an excellent role model for Army librarians, having proven that one person can make a big difference in the success of a library.

Hurlburt Field Library US Air Force Hurlburt Field FL was awarded FLICC 2008 Federal Library of the Year (Small Library) on 22 October 2009.  This library was recognized for its unique and trendsetting programs to meet the lifestyles of its users implementing hundreds of morale boosting programs (see separate article on Commando Santa in this issue).  Hurlburt Field Library continues to support the military mission and improve the quality of life at its base.  In 2008 the library delivered a number of information services through its commercially hosted website, administered 1,100 books specific to field unit missions and simplified access for almost 7,500 active duty personnel via the library’s information portal.  Hurlburt Field Library is continually recognized for its excellence in customer care the library excels in being effective versatile and dedicated to the customer.

On Nov. 20th 2009 the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Library celebrated the International Year of Astronomy with the unveiling of new mural-sized images from NASA’s great observatories.  The images gave patrons a stunning view of the Milky Way’s core as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory.  The International Year of Astronomy 2009 commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning a telescope to the heavens.  Nathaniel Laubner, Base Librarian, also gave a presentation on the three space telescopes and images.  The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Library was one of 152 institutions chosen to participate in this event.  The Galactic Center images are on permanent display at the Base Library.

Following a four-month search, Tammy Kirk has been hired as Reference Librarian at the Naval War College in Newport, RI, effective December 7, 2009.  Tammy most recently served as a librarian at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA.  Tammy is replacing Julie Zecher who became the NWC Acquisitions Librarian on August 3, 2009.

Mike Arsenault, Fiscal Technician at the Naval War College Library in Newport, RI, is a Chief in the Seabee Unit of the Navy Reserves and was deployed in Iraq from June 2008 through May 2009.  Mike will redeploy to the CENT-COM Middle East region again in January through September 2010.

Lucille M. Rosa, Head of Technical Services at the Naval War College at the Naval War College in Newport, RI, was re-elected to the position of Library Trustee for the Town of Freetown, MA.  She is currently exhibiting two photographs in an exhibit called “The Navy in Newport and Narragansett Bay” at the Naval War College Museum.

Alice K. Juda, Reference Librarian at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, RI, was one of the ten recipients of the 2009 “I Love My Librarian” Award administered by the American Library Association (ALA) with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York / New York Times.  This award is given annually to librarians who have demonstrated outstanding public service – librarians who make a difference.  Mrs. Juda was nominated by a former NWC student (Chaplain Corps) who is currently serving in Iraq.  The ceremony was held at the Times Tower in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009.

Bonnie D. Davis, age 67, of Freeport Fla., passed away Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at her residence.  She was born Jan. 16, 1942, in Conway, S.C., to the late Authur and Francis Ammons.

She graduated from Winthrop College and went to serve as a librarian for all of her life, later retiring from the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Fla.  Bonnie became a resident of Freeport in 1987 after moving from White Plains, Md.

Geraldine Chang Brosman passed away on 12 November 2009 in Minot, ND.  She was born in Hawaii in 1929.  She was an Air Force librarian who worked at Brady and Johnson Air Force bases in Japan and Torrejon Air Force Base in Spain.  She retired from Minot Air Force Base Library in 1984.  Geri, as she is remembered, was an active member of ALA and AFLS/FLRT until she retired.

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