Library, Department & Team News

Art Library
All three of the Art Library's student assistants went to Portugal to work on the Torre de Palma project (the Fine Arts Department-sponsored archaeological dig). While they all felt guilty leaving the library, they didn't quite feel bad enough to stay! Nonetheless, their leaving provided us with the opportunity to hire Leigh Bader, an art student who will be beginning her second year in the fall.

Ekstrom Library

Wendy Bronson, Says Goodbye
The big news around here is that I am finally practicing what I have been preaching for lo these many years. To paraphrase Bilbo Baggins' Farewell Speech in The Fellowship of the Ring: I am immensely fond of you all, and ten years is too short a time to work among such excellent and admirable colleagues. But I want to make an ANNOUNCEMENT. This is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOODBYE!

Actually, I am not leaving now, but at the end of June. However, I have been telling David that I might leave soon for so long now that I though I'd better make it definitive. David always said that I would know when the time was right. Sure enough, I do, and it is.

There have been little signs for some time, as when the window in my GroupWise screen slowly and inexorably migrated to the left and eventually settled, tantalizingly, just off the screen. Thanks to Eric's good graces I learned to just maximize the whatchamacallit on the doohickey, so that I can still read my mail. This migration has the Help Desk mystified, but I know a message from the spirit world when I receive one. As a matter of fact, computers have often seemed the (somewhat malevolent) medium of such messages to me, like when my printer just wouldn't work for love or money. After much travail we finally called the repair person, who found a little orange piece of plastic in its bowels with the simple admonition REMOVE on it. My relationship with computers is a little more complicated--wonder, irritation, and suspicion are just a few of the ingredients--than my unconditional love for books, and I have seen the writing on the screen (or just off it) for some time now.

After years of searching I finally found work that pays less than the University and simply could not pass up the opportunity. When on retreat at Loretto Motherhouse (just outside Bardstown) I learned about an apprenticeship program on their organic farm that combines physical work, learning about sustainability, and spiritual direction as well. I think the most advanced technology they use is a 1940's Allis Chalmers tractor. That I discovered this program is due in no small part to David, who introduced me to Elaine Prevallet's writing several months ago (Elaine is the director of the retreat center at Loretto) and who is also friends with Jack and Maggie Jezreel and godfather to their oldest daughter. (Jack has developed the organic farm at Loretto.) My enthusiasm for exploring this program dovetails with my recently (and rapidly) growing interest in studying at seminary. The people at both Loretto and the Louisville Presbyterian Seminary are very supportive about seeing where this leads and are flexible about the time frames, so Nikki and I will just see what happens in the coming months.

As I stated before, ten years is far too short a time to spend with you. The only sadness I have in leaving here is parting from the many good friends, staff members and students alike, that I have met here. But I am sure I will be around fairly often, and you will no doubt see me lingering in the Browsing section now and then, just as I always have.

Office of the University Librarian
New Hires
Martha Parry has been hired as Library Assistant III, Grade 10, in Stacks Maintenance effective May 17, 1999. A graduate of Ball State University, Martha's career includes library experience at Ball State and Purdue, along with lots of retail and customer service work.

Jessie Roth has been hired as Administrative Associate II, Grade 25, in the Office of the University Librarian effective May 31, 1999. She comes to us from the Psychiatry Department and also previously worked in Ekstrom and Kornhauser Libraries.

Rebecca Rumbley has been hired as Library Assistant II, Grade 8, in Ekstrom Circulation effective May 3, 1999. During the past year Rebecca has been a student assistant in Circulation and the Office of the University Librarian.

Sally Wren has been hired as Program Assistant III, Grade 12, in the Office of the University Librarian effective June 7, 1999.

Retirement
Karin Burton will be taking early retirement from her position as Library Assistant II, Grade 8, at Kornhauser Library. Her last day of work will be June 1, 1999.

Promotion
Congratulations to Kathy Rogers, who has been promoted to Library Assistant IV, Grade 12 (the position previously held by Parthenia Durrett), in Kornhauser Library effective May 24, 1999.

Resignation
Sally Gray has resigned her position as Library Assistant III, Grade 10, in Government Publications effective May 31, 1999.

Reference
Glenda Neely has been elected to the ALA Reference Division's BRASS (Business Reference & Services Section) Board of Directors and will serve as an At-Large member for a three-year term beginning July 1, 1999.

Special Collections
Fine Field Trip
Bill Carner, Barbara Crawford, Susi Knoer and Amy Purcell went on a field trip to the East Market Street art galleries to see the Photo Expo of local photographers. The galleries were: Swanson Cralle East Market, Vine Gallery, Herz Gallery and Zephyr Gallery. The group was in search of additions for the Photographic Archives’ Fine Print Collection.

Stacks Maintenance
The theses are in perfect order! The theses are in perfect order! The theses are ... oh, forget it.

In other news:
We welcome Martha Parry, the new Stacks Maintenance Supervisor.

Stacks Maintenance moved its quarters from 409 to G35. After adjusting to the drastic shift in atmospheric pressure, we are back to business as usual.

Ben King and John Burton volunteered to help Dave Loeffler and Stacks Maintenance replace lights on the third and fourth floors. Their efforts are appreciated.

Mike Purcell installed new PC wallpaper on the 3rd and 4th floor computers that states the rules for accessing the Internet on the Libraries’ public PCs. (The PCs are for research, not games, email or chat rooms.) He also changed Netscape so it goes through the Libraries’ proxy server. The proxy server denies access to commonly used chat rooms, online game sites and web based email sites. This has greatly reduced boisterous chat room hijinks and other undesirable Internet activity.

Physical Plant stripped and re-finished the floor in Stacks sorting station 310.

Kersey Library
It’s a girl!!!
Jan Kulkarni and his wife are proud grandparents of a little girl born to their son and his wife on May 28th! She weighed 7 lbs, 8 ozs. Jan and his wife set out for Chicago last Friday to be with his son and wife and their newly born daughter! No pictures yet! Apparently the hospital wouldn't allow it. Pictures will come later!

"Tallyho!”
Carol Brinkman and her mother call her "Tally" and she is a new member of the family! She is a sweet, typically Dalmatian, puppy that Carol and her mother adopted from one of the local pet organizations. Tally is just getting adjusted to her new home life and its routines and doing very well. I wonder how Tor, Carol's horse, is going to take to this new member of the family? Hmmm!

Conferences/Meetings
Jan Kulkarni attended the Kentucky Geological Survey and Coal Information Network of Kentucky meeting in Lexington April 29. Mark Paul attended the Solinet conference in Atlanta on April 28 thru April 30. In May Jan Kulkarni attended the KCVU (Ky Commonwealth Virtual University) conference on the 17th & 18th at Marriott East, Louisville. The theme was “Linking Technology To Enhanced Learning.”

June/July Birthdays
Michael Weinert and Marcia Kotlinski both celebrate their birthdays in July. What a month for celebrations! Kersey Library extends these wishes to all the library personnel celebrating their birthdays in June and July. Have a happy one!

In closing Kersey Library would like to wish everyone a very Happy 4th of July! Enjoy and keep safe on this very busy holiday.

Law Library
Happy Derby!
David Ensign, Director of the Law Library celebrated Derby day with a twist this year. On Derby Day, May 1, David married Juliet. Juliet is a paralegal at Brown, Todd & Heyburn.

Happy Week After Derby!
On May 8 Melissa Long Shuter also walked down an aisle. Melissa graduated with a Master of Public Administration.

Music Library
Sarah Reid, a graduate student at UK's library science school, will be working at the Music Library this summer as part of a work practicum toward her degree. She will start work in June and finish in August. Sarah will be learning about the many wonders of cataloging. Welcome Sarah!

University Archives & Records Center
In May, Tom Owen led several international groups of visitors on historical tours of Louisville. His guests included Irish journalists, Salvadoran church partners, and German social work students. Tom also spoke about Louisville to a bus load of new University of Kentucky faculty and deans. The academic leaders receive dramatic exposure to their new Bluegrass home through this arduous five-day road trip.

For the 30th successive year, Tom Owen will spend a beach vacation with friends at North Leitchfield Beach, South Carolina.

Mary Margaret Bell attended the Voyager Users Group meeting in Chicago in April and the opening of the Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual University and Library in Louisville May 17 and 18.

Kathie Johnson and Sherri Pawson received the royal treatment when they recently visited the library and museum at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. At the library, they spent an intensive three days touring the inner sanctums rarely seen by outsiders. The librarians and archivists took them through every aspect of the library and the amazing research that goes on there. They were provided unlimited passes to the museum.

University Archives is the repository of historical records of the Hillerich & Bradsby Co. and Kathie and Sherri were dispatched to Cooperstown to "learn from the experts" as they are working with H & B on a project to enhance UARC's H & B collection for research and display in H & B's bat museum.

If you see Kathie, ask her about Jackie Robinson's uniform. Or shake Sherri's hand (the hand that held Nolan Ryan's cleats). They wish every business trip could be this much fun!

Kathie Johnson spent Friday, May 23, at a workshop sponsored by the Society of American Archivists entitled "Copyright and Fair Use for Archivists." The workshop was held in Washington, D.C., and attracted archivists from as far as Salt Lake City and Minneapolis, and as close as the Library of Congress. At the end of the day it was obvious that although they had learned a lot, most questions about copyright and fair use fall into that gray area known as "check with your institution's counsel." While Kathie was at the daylong workshop, husband Ron spent the day at the Smithsonian, with no one nagging him to leave the Air and Space Museum! Luckily, the trip also included a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where Kathie was able to visit her uncle's grave site and the Women in Military Service to America (WIMSA) Memorial, and a stay with friends in Fairfax County, Virginia.