Greetings!
As the new director of the School of Library
and Information Science, I would like to thank
Dr. Carl Orgren for his many years at the helm.
It is now five months since I stepped into this new
position. Needless to say, I have gained a
number of valuable experiences, both personally
and professionally.
I am now even more convinced that the
present day collision between information,
technology, and creativity provides a rich and
vibrant milieau of opportunities for individuals
educated in the discipline of library and
information science. The acumen of library and
information science professionals is increasingly
needed as societies, both global and local, evolve
into the 21st century.
As director, my primary goal is to ensure that
our students receive the best education, training,
and opportunities for their chosen careers. A
number of projects are underway concerning the
School's infrastructure, students, placement
options, and the curriculum. We are very excited
by our current recruitment prospects for a
professor in Information Science. Our web site
(http://www.uiowa.edu/~libsci)
will keep you posted of developments.
In the meantime, I invite you to peruse the
following pages that highlight our achievements in
the last year and those of our graduates. Two
alumni, Barbi G. Lehn and Paul Neff, are
profiled. We are proud of our graduates one and
all. I wish each of you a successful new year.
PADMINI SRINIVASAN
[Ed. Note: Dr. Srinivasan joined the faculty of
SLIS in 1989 and is currently an associate
professor. She holds a Ph.D. in information
transfer from the School of Information Studies at
Syracuse University. Her research interests are in
the design of information retrieval algorithms and
the interdisciplinary field of medical informatics.
She was appointed to a three-year term as
director, effective August 21, 1996, succeeding
Carl F. Orgren, who has returned to full-time
teaching, research, and service in the School.]
Faculty
The scholarly and professional activities of our
faculty members are reported on page 2. In a
recent study of LIS faculty productivity
("Authorship as a Measure of the Productivity of
Schools of Library and Information Science," by
Bert R. Boyce and Carol Hendren, in Journal of
Education for Library and Information Science,
Summer 1996), Iowa ranked among the top 10
of 57 schools, in the average number of papers
published by faculty.
We are currently engaged in an international
search to fill a tenure-track position in
Information Science. The appointment, to begin
in August 1997, will be a joint appointment with
Computer Science or Management Sciences, with
all teaching responsibilities in the School of
Library and Information science. We have
received a sizable number of worthy applications,
and plan to bring candidates to campus in the
coming weeks.
Students
Our enrollment remains steady. Last fall we
had 92 students registered in the master's
program. Their academic qualifications are solid:
An average undergraduate GPA of 3.36, and
average combined GRE Verbal/Analytical scores
of 1198. Our students come from 24 states and
two other countries. Twenty-seven different
subject majors are represented, and 23 students
hold advanced degrees. The students continue to
be a real strength of the School. Their
intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness, and
commitment to learning contribute greatly to the
vitality of the program.
Graduates
Follow this link to the job appointments of the 1995 and
1996 graduates. Our contacts
with employers confirm that the grads are
succeeding in their work and are making
significant contributions in their workplace. Two
recent grads are profiled on page 3.
Financial support
We are deeply grateful to the ever increasing
number of alumni and friends who support our
program with their generous gifts. We
acknowledge these gifts with gratitude (see page
4). Gifts to the University of Iowa Foundation
for SLIS have increased fourfold since 1992.
These funds have been used to upgrade our
technology resources, both hardware and
software, and to provide scholarships and
program enhancements.
In addition to the unrestricted gifts, we have
received two endowed gifts. One provides an
annual scholarship to a student planning to enter
an information career in the health sciences.
For these gifts, and all the ways in which you
support our program, we are grateful.
Sharon (Shay) L. Baker reviewed grant
applications for the U.S. Department of
Education. She summarized research on browsing
at the American Society for Information Science
conference and on marketing library collections at
the Florida Library Association conference. She
presented workshops on marketing and on doing
more with less for regional library systems in Iowa
and Ohio. She has designed a spreadsheet
program that will quickly and easily identify areas
of a library's collection that are over- and
underused, and she is now serving as a collection
development consultant for the Evansville
(Indiana) Public Library. A new edition of The
Responsive Public Library Collection: How to
Develop and Market It, which she is updating
with Karen Nyholm Wallace (SLIS, 1994), will
be released by Libraries Unlimited later this year.
Esther Bierbaum, professor emerita, returned to
Iowa in October to present a one-day workshop
on the 21st edition of the Dewey Decimal
Classification. She was a consultant on the
revision of the schedule for 570-599 (Biological
Sciences) for DDC 21.
Carl Orgren spoke at the 1996 annual meeting
of the Association for Library and Information
Science Education (ALISE) on implementation of
ALA's Committee on Accreditation standards.
He continues his term as secretary-treasurer of
ALISE. Last August, after sixteen years as
director of the School, Orgren happily and
enthusiastically returned to full-time teaching and
research duties. He has added Special Libraries
and Government Information Resources to his
repertoire of courses and is pursuing research on
electronic reserves and on discipline-differentiated
access to the power of citation indexing.
Jim Rice is chair of the School's Curriculum
Committee. He served as a representative to the
Liberal Arts Faculty Assembly last spring, and was
an evaluator on the State of Iowa Libraries Online
(SILO) project.
Padmini Srinivasan gave papers at the annual
meetings of the American Society for Information
Science ("An Investigation of Indexing on the
WWW") and the American Medical Informatics
Association ("Query Design in MEDLINE: A
Comparison with Expert Network and LLSF
Approaches"). She contributed scholarly articles
to Information Processing and Management
("Optimal Indexing Vocabulary for MEDLINE"
and "Query Expansion and MEDLINE") and to
Journal of the American Medical Informatics
Association ("Retrieval Feedback in MEDLINE").
She is presently a consultant for the National
Computer Systems on an analysis of the AIDS
Clearinghouse.
Feili Tu will present a paper at the 1997
American Culture Association convention in San
Antonio ("Lay/Popular Print Media and Its Use in
Promoting Prevention and Control of Eating
Disorders Among Adult Women".
Jean Donham van Deusen received an Old
Gold Fellowship, enabling her to complete
Synergy: The Library Media Program and Its
Context, a forthcoming book from Neal-Schuman
Publishers. She contributed scholarly articles to
the Journal of Curriculum and Supervision (Spring
1996) and the School Library Media Quarterly
(Winter 1995). In August she gave an
international presentation to school librarians in
Sweden, and she has given regional presentations
on assessment. She continues her work as a case
researcher for the National Library Power
Evaluation Project. She was elected to the
Executive Board of Directors of the American
Association of School Librarians.
Visiting faculty member
Feili B. Tu joined the faculty as a visiting
assistant professor for the 1996-97 academic
year. She is teaching courses in Information
Science and Technology, Systems Analysis and
Database Design, and Online Information
Systems.
Feili Tu comes to Iowa by way of Texas and
Taiwan. Prior to receiving a Ph.D. in Library and
Information Studies from Texas Woman's
University, she was a special librarian in the
Information and Computing Library of the
National Central Library for the Republic of
China, in Taipei. While in this position she
coordinated a project on providing electronic
periodicals on the Internet for public access. She
also served as one of the co-compilers of the new
edition of the Chinese Classification Scheme and
edited the schedules on computing, informatics,
and technology.
Services to the Lakota People
When Lehn, a Santee Sioux, became library
director last year, she saw it as an opportunity to
serve the Lakota people. Her goal: To remove
obstacles that interfere with access and use.
She turned the director's office into a reference
area with extended hours. She added a
photocopier and offered introductory free copies
to promote its use. She removed the lock from
the Indian Collection Room, making it more
readily available. And this unique collection will
soon get even more use, when its holdings
become known to researchers nationwide through
an online catalog on the Internet.
Lehn greatly expanded the multimedia CD-
ROM collection, noting that Lakota library users
have a culturally based learning style that is
auditory and kinesthetic, as opposed to visual.
She hopes in time to start a children's program,
because, as she observes, "There are so many
parents who bring their children to class and to
meetings, and they have nothing to do in here."
Lehn's management style reflects her awareness
of the cultural context in which she works. For
example, she accepts high staff turnover rates as a
contemporary expression of nomadic traits.
Lehn notes, with satisfaction: "Reservation
residents appreciate the library's responsiveness to
their immediate needs." She concludes: "I am
actively learning the system in which I work, in
order to be able to use it to benefit itself. It is a
good adventure for me."
Manager of Technology Services
In addition, Neff provides leadership in planning
for the library's future technological growth,
researching new developments in information
technology, particularly in terms of the Internet,
database access and development, and workflow
management. His department takes the lead in
any initiative that isn't directly related to public
services, and it fills an advise and consent role in
those that do.
As a member of the library management team,
Neff chairs or is a member of nine workgroups,
responsible for such tasks as publication of Web
pages and a new fire protection system for the
building.
Neff has maintained close ties with SLIS. Last
spring he was invited back to campus by the
student ASIS chapter. He spoke to a large and
enthusiastic audience on cataloging Internet
resources in a public library.
1971
1977
1985
ANGELA SECREST is coordinator of
technology/automation services at Missouri
Western State College in St. Joseph, MO.
1987
1992
PATRICK EMERSON is now head of the
systems department for the Linda Hall Library,
Kansas City, MO.
1993
KEVIN KENKEL is director of learning
resources at Dakota Wesleyan University in
Mitchell, SD.
1994
TERI FERSON CALDWELL is children's
services librarian at the Middendorf-Kredell
Branch of the St. Charles City-County (MO)
Library.
KAREN REICHARDT is systems librarian at
The Citadel in Charleston, SC.
IN MEMORIAM
MYRA CAO ('68) died on November 12,
1995. She had retired in 1987 after 19 years as
a tenured library faculty member at the University
of Southern California.
FRANCES MARTIN ('70) died on August 18,
1996.
Online Alumni Directory
Attention, SLIS grads: Are you interested in
letting your classmates know where you are and
how you can be reached by e-mail? We're setting
up an online alumni directory on our web site.
It's completely voluntary, of course. If you'd like
to be included, check out the instructions on our
website (http://www.uiowa.edu/~libsci/).
Users will be able to browse the list by name and get
year of graduation, job information, and e-mail
address. Questions? Contact Ethel Bloesch at
ethel-bloesch@uiowa.edu.
1995
MARY BADAMI: library aide, Burlington (IA)
Public Library.
LAURA BAIN: research librarian, Health
Capital Consultants, St. Louis, MO.
NEAL BAKER: librarian, Dickinson College,
Carlisle, PA.
JEAN BRUNSDALE: reference/documents
librarian, Illinois State University, Normal, IL.
ELYSSA CAHOY: children's librarian,
Burlington (MA) Public Library.
LESLIE CZECHOWSKI: public services librarian
and assistant archivist, Burling Library, Grinnell
College, Grinnell.
JOHN ELSON: library assistant, Engineering
Library, University of Iowa Libraries.
CYNTHIA EUBANK: library assistant,
Waterloo (IA) Public Library.
VALERIE FARRAR: library assistant,
Davenport (IA) Public Library.
JULIE GIERKE: media specialist, Luther High
South, Chicago, IL.
MARY GRAVITT: graduate student, University
of Northern Iowa.
MARIE HARMS: training/extension
coordinator, State Library of Iowa, Des Moines.
KRISTINE HARPER: teacher, Kirkwood
Elementary School, Iowa City Community
Schools.
PAUL HEALEY: reference/instructional services
librarian, William Mitchell College of Law, St.
Paul, MN.
DALE HEATH: reference librarian, Geneva
(IL) Public Library.
RACHEL HEINRICH: children's program
supervisor, Faribault (MN) Public Library.
SARAH HERLACHE: temporary position in
Map Collection, Arizona State University,
Tempe, AZ.
RODGER KELLEY: reference and technology
librarian, Gogebic Community College, Ironwood,
MI.
SUSAN KIENTZ: high school librarian,
Fairfield.
SUZANNE KINCHELOE: reference librarian,
Eric Friedheim Library, National Press Club,
Washington, DC.
DONALD KING: professor of history, Dordt
College, Sioux Center.
DEBORAH KUNATH: cataloger, Perma-Bound
Books, Jacksonville, IL.
AMY MCLANAHAN: children's librarian,
Hilliard Branch, Columbus (OH) Public Library.
NANCY SIMPSON: director, Oskaloosa (IA)
Public Library.
CHRISTA STARCK: librarian I, Gail Borden
Public Library, Elgin, IL.
HYON-SOOK (JOY) SUH: government
publications/data file librarian, Washington State
University, Pullman, WA.
PAM VAN HOUTEN SUKALSKI: adjunct
librarian, Southwest State University, Marshall,
MN.
ERIK SURBER: young adult librarian, Los
Angeles (CA) Public Library, Malabar Branch.
JENNIE VER STEEG: social sciences/education
librarian, Northern Illinois, DeKalb, IL.
CHERIE VINER: elementary media specialist,
Muscatine.
JANICE YANECEK: teacher, Clear
Creek/Amana School, Tiffin.
SCOTT ZIMMER: assistant librarian, Pacific
Oaks College, Pasadena, CA.
1996
SARA ADAMS: library media specialist, St.
Louis Park (MN) Junior High School.
KIRSTEN CLARK: electronic services librarian,
St. John's University, Collegeville, MN.
BRENDA COOK: library media specialist, Berg
Middle School, Newton.
KELLY CHRISTIANSEN COX: technology and
access services coordinator, Birchard Public
Library of Sandusky County, Fremont, OH.
SHELLI FEHR: youth services/outreach
coordinator, Scott County Library System,
Eldridge.
TIM GATTI: project librarian, State Library of
Iowa, Des Moines.
ANNA MARIE GUENGERICH: library
assistant, University of Iowa Libraries.
ELLEN HAMPE: library assistant, University of
Iowa Law Library.
PATRICIA HEINS: elementary media specialist,
Bettendorf Community Schools.
LYNN HOFFMAN: children's librarian, Allen
County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, IN.
EVA HOLTSMARK: information science
professional, O-Tech International, Ltd., McLean,
VA.
JULIA KIPLE: reference librarian & archives,
Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids.
JULIE LARSON: school library media
specialist, Maquoketa (IA) Middle School.
MOLLY OLSON: medical librarian, Rush
North Shore Hospital, Skokie, IL.
TIM O'SHAUGHNESSY: media specialist,
Assumption High School, Davenport.
MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN: library media
specialist, Rosemount (MN) High School.
SUSAN OWEN: software support technician,
Applied Systems, Coralville.
COLLEEN POWERS: library media specialist,
St. Paul's Elementary School, Davenport.
SUSAN REIMENSNYDER: reference librarian
for electronic resources, Deere and Company,
Moline, IL.
PAUL SODERDAHL: team leader for libraries-
wide information system and multimedia,
University of Iowa Libraries.
PAM VAN HOUTEN SUKALSKI: adjunct
librarian, Southwest State University, Marshall,
MN.
SARAH JAQUAY SWANER: youth services
librarian, Highland Park (IL) Public Library.
LYNNE WEBER: adjunct librarian, Mankato
State University, Mankato, MN.
MARCIA WHEELER: substitute library media
specialist, Davenport Community Schools.
STEPHEN WOODS: librarian I, Hardin Library
for the Health Sciences, UI Libraries.
MARILYN YEAGER: library media specialist,
Kennedy High School, Cedar Rapids.
Four one-credit-hour courses on electronic resources for libraries:
June 12-14 Video and CD-ROM Collection Development
for Adult Services
June 19-21 Multimedia Production in Children's and
Youth Services
July 10-12 Electronic Resources for Children and
Young Adults
July 17-19 Marketing Video, Multimedia, and
Electronic Resources in Libraries
November 8 29th Annual Festival of Books for Young
People. Speakers: Joan Lowery Nixon,
Penny Colman, Ted Lewin
Brochures and registration forms will be available six weeks in advance.
For more
information, call Ethel Bloesch toll-free at 1-800-553-IOWA, Ext. 5707, or
e-mail
request to ethel-bloesch@uiowa.edu
padmini-srinivasan@uiowa.edu
As the new library director at Sinte Gleska
University in South Dakota, Barbi G. Lehn (SLIS
class of 1993) is devoting her energies to making
the library a user-friendly place. Chartered by the
Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sinte Gleska University
(SGU) is the only reservation-based tribal
university in the U.S.
Paul Neff (SLIS class of 1994) wears many
hats in his position as manager of technology
services at the Arlington Heights (Illinois)
Memorial Library. Appointed to this newly
created position last August, Neff manages
resources related to the library's computer and
telecommunications infrastructure. His
department is responsible for the operation and
maintenance of the library's electronic
information systems, including the catalog
(Innovative), the library LAN, Internet services,
the telephone system and time clocks, and related
software and peripherals. He coordinates
training, documentation, procedures, and non-
technical support to staff and public, on an
ongoing basis.
KAILEEN THIELING is children's services
consultant for the Mississippi Library Commission.
SUSAN ANNETT was promoted to principal
librarian for public services at the Santa Monica
(CA) Public Library.
BETH ELSHOFF, media specialist in Muscatine,
was chair of the 1994 Iowa Children's Choice
Award. The winning author, Peg Kehret,
dedicated her next book to nine state award
chairs, including Beth.
JULIE PINNELL is now information services
librarian at the Nebraska Library Commission,
Lincoln.
VYLINDA BRYANT is media specialist at the
Cedar Road Elementary School, Chesapeake, VA.
JIM DUNCAN was appointed head of the new
Information Commons at the Hardin Library for
the Health Sciences, The University of Iowa.
MARLYS BRUNSTING is circulation/reserve
librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Green
Bay.
