Carol Brach
Carol is the Head of the Engineering Library at the University of Notre Dame. While she’s been at Notre Dame for 15 years, she previously worked in the corporate world. She works mainly on collection issues like which subscriptions to keep and how best to provide library support as new research areas emerge. Did you know that ENR published an article in 1929, written by geologists warning of storm-tide hazards in New Orleans? As for her membership benefit in the Division, she states: networking helps to share the knowledge we gain every day on the job as “specialized” librarians. We have unique experience to share, a wealth of experience when you add all of us up, and we all have one thing in common, we love what we do and it shows.
Sharon Butcher
Sharon is currently working as the Reference Librarian at the AEDC Technical Library at Arnold AFB in Tennessee. She has several stories about her most interesting research project, only one is shared here: our lab analyses indicated tainted pigment in a fabricated pipe product, but the pigment supplier repeatedly denied supplying such. As part of the task force, I searched chemical literature for analytical techniques for this specific pigment. Such an article appeared from Indian textile sources, amazingly coinciding with the pigment supplier’s confession of having supplied bad product. The warehouse of pipe had to be disposed of properly with EPA oversight. Our stewardship rep was most happy for the this article and the lawyers haggled out some sort of settlement.
Kate Crognale
Is the Librarian for CAE SimuFlite for the past several years. CAE manufactures simulators and trains corporate aviation pilots & maintenance technicians. Kate works with a diverse group of instructors, courseware developers, regulatory & sales staff, engineers and clients from around the world. Two projects stand out… Researching the requirements to fly from the U.S. to the Beijing Olympics in a corporate jet and locating a satellite image/map of a small town in the United Arab Emirates to document a client address for the TSA because there were no house or street addresses. Found it by searching for landmarks near his house – a hospital, a park & a school to triangulate. The only worry with that project was ending up on a watch or no fly list because of that search. Networking is what brings Kate to the Division. As a solo with a “weird” collection, as one vendor put it, it’s great to be able to share problems, strategies and tactics with colleagues. Plus the Division serves as a huge, helpful resource base when you hit a dead end searching for a publication or report.
Mary Crompton
Is the Librarian at Northrup Grumman in Rolling Meadows, IL, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. One of the most interesting/challenging projects she is working on is how to handle “knowledge transfer” (KT). This specifically relates to employees who are within 1-3 years of retirement. How do you capture their experiences, the intellectual property in their heads before they leave!?! The core team Mary is on has several things in place, but are working on developing more. When asked what she gets from her membership in the Division, Mary states: networking opportunities and visits with vendors at annual conference to look at possible new products for the library.
Yvonne Curry
Recently celebrated 10 years as a Technical Information Specialist for the Praxair Technology Center in Tonawanda, NY (5 miles from the Canadian border). Her work consists mostly of engineering, chemical & patent research. One of the latest projects is converting their traditional library into a state-of-the-art research center. This involves having daily newsfeeds of engineering and company-related information, computers for searching engineering databases and monthly training session/webinars on such topics as: Knovel e-books, Scifinder, RSS feeds, local university library policies, Podcasts, blogs, e-journals and more. As for her Division membership, she’s seeking networking with other Division members and sharing/receiving information.
Scott Curtis
Linda Hall Library is the home of Scott Curtis. He is the Head of Reference Services there. While most of Scott’s work deals with confidential clients and their requests, he does share that the most fun, in a non-confidential way, he’s had while at Linda Hall has been working on an exhibit called “The Year the Space Age Began,” that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the founding of NASA and the beginning of the space race. Scott, like Mary, values the networking opportunities of the Division the most.
Marion D’Amboise
Hatch Energy Information Research Centre, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada is home to Marion. As she says, “forever on honeymoon!” One of her best projects recently was helping to implement the new Inmagic Genie for Hatch libraries around the world. There were 7 databases, some in older Inmagic format, some in MS Access, and one in LibWin to bring together. After conversion, we now feel like professionals with everything in one place and a nice working platform to boot. As with the majority of Division members, networking is the number one reason for belonging to the Engineering Division for Marion.
Christine Drew
Christine Drew has been working at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the Gordon Library for 4 years now. Most of her users are from the engineering department and include both undergraduate and graduate students. An interesting question that came across her desk was to search for a very specific heat treatment surrounding AISI 4150. She also states that they have a Fire Protection Engineering graduate program, so she’s always up for a fun fire code question. Her membership in the division is based on wanting to know how to connect the engineering students to the library AND their alumni with their corporate library, if there is one. She also likes getting updates on products that will help the students and faculty. She would also love to know more about what engineers need to know and how they research in
the workplace, to prepare them with skills before they graduate from WPI.
Cynthia Eastman
Cynthia Eastman works for Kennedy/Jenks Consultants in San Francisco and is our 2011 Engineering Division Program Planner (read…if you have a program idea for the 2011 conference, she’d love to hear from you). The weirdest question she’s gotten is to find the composition of squid ink, while the most interesting topic for research has been the effects of salt on certain crop yields. Her membership in the Division affords her networking opportunities and the chance to keep up-to-date with vendors and their products.
Amy Emrick
Is currently the Technical Services Librarian at Hanson Professional Services in Springfield, IL. Hanson is a consulting engineering and architectural firm. One of the most interesting projects she has worked on recently has been to find a line item in the recent U.S. budget about a specific railroad relocation project in Indiana. my says it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The biggest membership benefits from the Division are networking and news that she can share with her engineers.
Pamela Enrici
Pamela Enrici is the Engineering and Science Librarian, the Music Librarian and co-ordinates library instruction at the University of Minnesota – Duluth campus, on the shores of Lake Superior. She picked up the Science Librarian work when a colleague retired last year but has been an engineering librarian for over 25 years. When asked her most interesting project to date, she replied, I think it’s not so much the research questions but working closely with the students and faculty. I like to think I really make a difference at times. Membership in the Division provides networking, keeping up with vendors and products.
John Galloway
Works as an IP Analyst for KBR in Houston. He is responsible for the evaluation of KBR’s technology, competitor’s and clients foreign patent portfolio filing practices. Networking with others in the Division is what he lists as his number one reason for being a member of the Division.
Kathleen Gust
Began working at Stanford University Engineering library in 2008 after 21+ years at the Research Library at Hewlett Packard Labs. The Engineering grad program is one of the largest at the University. Kathleen is responsible for supporting faculty and grad students in Civil, Environmental and Materials engineering. She believes she was hired primarily because of her experience with nanotechnology and working in a digital environment while at HP. Stanford Engineering Library is working on replacing their print library with an entirely digital library by 2010. New library information can be found at: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/eng/about/floor_plans.html. Hope everyone will take a look. Division membership is looking for new ideas from recent library remodeling and a chance to contact vendors and demand more e-resources.
Gale Harris
Works at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Ft Worth, TX, as the Head Librarian. When originally asked about her favorite project, at that time, she was working on a complete remodel of the Library space. She was doing research, shopping for furniture and equipment, calling other librarians to discover what they see as the future of the Research Library, be it corporate or academic. Here’s hoping that project is complete and she’s moved into her brand spanking new space. Networking is one thing that the Division provides as well as meeting many colleagues in the profession. Gale likes knowing there are others in the same boat as she is. The other plus from her membership in the Division is the opportunity for leadership. She’s held the position of Government Relations chair for several years and is the current immediate Past Chair of the Aerospace Section.
Ben Hoganson
Owner of a freelance research firm called Autumn Elm Information, Ben offers on-demand research librarian services in science and engineering. He has previously worked for a corporate electrical engineering laboratory and a US Department of Energy laboratory. Some of his specialties and interests include searching Dialog, Web development and design, studying business analytics and strategy, and studying R&D investment and scientific productivity. He is the owner of the Swaying Branches blog. He finds being part of the Engineering Division community helpful in maintaining awareness of the daily activities of engineering librarians.
Gail Kammer
Works full time for Burns & McDonnell, an engineering/architecture/consulting company in Kansas City, MO. The most interesting project she worked on recently was to figure out the number of pounds of paper based information products the company purchased in 2007. As for her membership benefits in the Division, Gail states “the Engineering Division of SLA allows me to keep in touch with other engineering librarians and to see what sorts of things they are thinking about and doing. What is new, what changes are coming up for the future. It allows me to see how my ideas fit in and to see if I can incorporate any additional ideas into my current work flow.
Kendra Levine
Is the Reference Librarian at the Institute of Transportation Studies Library at UC Berkeley and completed her MSLIS/MSIS dual degree from Drexel in December 2008. One of the interesting projects she has worked on is helping someone look at the different ways people decide on parking spaces. Do they circle the block for the best one or do they park a little further away and walk. As for division membership, she is wanting to network with other librarians, learn about new ways engineers access/digest information and how to best serve them.
Sara Loree
Is the Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, PA. When asked about her most interesting project to date, Sara states “Many of our students are first generation college students who have limited experience with higher education. I have really enjoyed working with them to develop their research skills. It often involves last minute, hurried reference sessions, but they are so appreciative that it makes it all worthwhile! And, it is fantastic when they return to report and A on the assignment!” For her membership in the Division, she is looking to learn more about science and engineering libraries and resources plus networking.
Anna McGowan
works at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Rockville, MD as the Section Chief for the Technical Information Center which includes the public Document Room and the Technical Library. Raising visibility of the Technical Library has been the work Anna has the most pride in. It’s been done thorough a series of “Drop-In” Clinics on Library resources as well as revitalizing the Technical Library Advisory Board. She’s also been involved in a pilot cross-training to share knowledge with the Section and broaden the work experience of the Section staff, most of whom are librarians. Conference attendance to expand her knowledge of engineering resources as well as gaining from the various presenters is one of the reasons that Anna is a part of our Division.
Michael F. Moore
Works at the MITRE Corp. in Bedford, MA. He works with the Systems Engineering Process Office, organizing current awareness newsletters, helping create Guidebooks on MITRE systems engineering and project leadership, provides content capture of technical exchange meeting and research services. e joined SLA to find out what it was like since he works closely with systems engineers. While he is more active in the Military Librarians Division, he does keep his hand in the engineering world.
Daureen Nesdill
Is the head of Science and Engineering at the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library in Salt Lake City. (although since this was originally done, that position may have changed) The most interesting project I have worked on is TRAIL. We are a group of engineering and government document librarians working to digitize legacy federal technical reports. We are each at a different library from Kansas to Hawaii, meet weekly by phone and meet a few times a year in person. We are in our third year and have about 4000 documents scanned. Recently, we have been working with the University of Michigan to have them (Google) start scanning for us. We would then continue to scan the odd pieces. What do I get out of the SLA Engineering Division? As chair, I learned a lot and met a lot of great folks. I want to keep up the relationships, network to learn and learn even more from my corporate library colleagues.
Edna Paulson
Is working as Team Lead for Outreach/Customer Service at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI) in Hanover, MD. We’re a contractor facility operated by Chugach Industries, Inc., and we’re the repository for NASA scientific and technical information such as technical reports and papers, contractor reports and conference proceedings. The NASA scientific and technical information (SI) program is described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_STI_Program and http://www.sti.nasa.gov/STI-public-homepage.html. Not long after joining CASI, I participated in the redesign of our main STI database, and later in planning and testing enhancements. Great fun and I learned a lot! I’ve met so many great people through SLA who have become valuable colleagues and friends, and I hope I’ve done the same for them. I’ve been in the Engineering Division and Aerospace Section for about 7 years and I hope to continue to share information and make contacts that are rewarding on both sides.
Gretchen Peterson
Is currently working as an Introtrieve employee, located at Eaton in Milwaukee, WI. Her most interesting project has been to create, deploy and manage the library instruction program for our global employee database. She views networking with other librarians to learn about new resources as her reason for Division membership.
Jean Piety
I retired January 31, 2008 after 50 1/2 years at the Cleveland Public Library with the last 28 1/2 years as Manager of the Science and Technology Department. Two highlights of my career in CPL cover donations to the Science and Technology Dept from the Western Reserve Kennel Club (WRKC) and the Materials Handling Collection of shop manuals and parts catalogs. The WRKC members started donating time and money in the early 1960s. By 1980, I supervised the annual monetary donation to maintain the collection, with the result of having one of the largest dog collections in the country. Businessman Ed Pommerening collected materials handling equipment shop manuals and parts catalogs going back to that industry’s inception in the 1930s. By January, he donated 16 bankers’ boxes, whose contents the staff was still inventorying when I retired. It is truly an impressive collection. He based his decision on the conviction that we would properly archive and make the collection available to a worldwide audience. I want to maintain my contact in the Engineering Division. Thank goodness for email. There must be something sexy about engineering. Retirement has been an adjustment but as one friend’s card said: “Jean, people like you don’t really retire, they just stay busy in comfy clothes.”
Hemalatha Ramachandran (Hema)
Is the current chair of the Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division. She works at California State University – Long Beach. One of the fascinating projects that she has worked on regards launching Caltech into the digital collections arena by digitizing the computer science tech reports – the project began in 2000 and established Caltech’s leadership in the open Archives initiatives area – years before the term “Institutional Repositories” was created. She went on to establish more archives and her work was the model that was used for subsequent project at Caltech. She was a member of SLA thru 2004 and then took a break until 2008 when she came “back home”. She is also a member of the Engineering Libraries Division of ASEE although she finds that SLA offers me the best opportunities for networking within Science and Engineering. She particularly likes the mix of academic and corporate librarians.
Tom Rink
Tom Rink has his own webpage: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/-rink/ and a blog: http://guncarryinglibrarian.wordpress.com while working at Northeastern Sate University, Broken Arrow campus. Before this he was the Librarian for the Tulsa Police Department. He retired from the force in April, 2008 after 25 years of serving as a police officer. His most interesting project was creating a library from scratch for the police dept. One of the most challenging research question had to deal with compiling statistics for “One Day in the Life of USA’s Children” compiling statistics on number of teen pregnancies, number of abortions, number of homicides, number of runaways and number of school dropouts per day in the US.
Karen Robertson
Karen is on the library staff at Boeing company, serving a population of about 150,000 employees. Trying to get the most value possible from our budget for electronic subscriptions, including purchasing decisions, connecting the resources to the right users, etc. is intriguing her at the moment. Her Division membership allows her to learn from colleagues and share ideas on a variety of topics.
Ron Rodrigues
Ron Rodrigues has been with Dialog/Proquest since 1973 and a Science/Engineering Librarian for over 30 years. He is a Senior Content Specialist at Dialog, responsible for the development of engineering and physical science seminars that he teaches around the world. He also helps customers with information needs assessments and the development of custom interfaces. Ron and Dialog are again Vendor Partners with the Division this year in New Orleans. If you see him, stop and say thank you for his continued support of our Division.
Jeff Rothal
Is currently working for the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, CA. He works primarily in mechanical, astronautical & electrical engineering with some operations research & physical sciences thrown in for good measure…with whomever walks in, calls, contact us online, etc. He recently worked with a student who was doing a literature search involving the manufacture & testing of a microsatellite (or was it a nanostellite?). His SLA membership provides for networking, plus learning how to better market our services & products to our engineering students, staff & faculty.
Erin Rust
Erin is a librarian for Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ. She’s been there almost 4 years now and before that she worked at University of Arizona, which is also where she got her library degree. When asked what her most interesting research project to date has been, Erin says the most interesting request are often on topics that are new and innovative — so much so that often the resource we need are foreign or very, old, which make procuring them a challenge — and I like a challenge! Networking and meeting other librarians who do what I do keep her coming back to the Division.
Elizabeth Schefler
Elizabeth works as the Library Services Manager for Lummus Technology in Bloomfield, NJ, now a part of CBI. At the time she responded to my survey, she had just moved into a new space and was helping the dust settle. The move meant that her most recent project then was reducing the size of the collection by 1/3 and planning and making it fit in the new space. Interesting project, especially since this was something she had never done before! My guess is that she is now back to running the Library for the chemical engineers, issuing a daily newsletter, creating and monitoring patent searches and looking for new ways to deliver the information her engineers need. She is definitely interested in learning from others what works and what doesn’t.
Wendy Scott
H. H. Angus & Associates is where Wendy is the Librarian and Records Manager. The firm has been in business since 1917 so there are lots and lots and lots of records to keep track of. Wendy as been there for 15 years and has worked on reported failures of EPDM hose in industrial applications, Canadian government guidelines for heliports, anaerobic digesters and whether the snowfall in Toronto was greater on Jan 2 or Jan 14-15, 1998? The last topic was a wager between 2 firm principals who were wagering a bottle of wine on the answer that Wendy found. Networking and help with obscure questions are the reasons for Wendy’s continued membership in the Engineering Division.
Emily Sigman
I am a Librarian/Information Specialist and work for an engineering association (ASHRAE) as a solo librarian of an archival library. My collection consists of everything we have published since inception in 1895. It also includes a sizeable rare book collection that includes many early, seminal works in the fields of heating and ventilation, clean air, and sanitation. I have non-ASHRAE items from the 1920s to date, but I do not actively collect anything but our publications. ASHRAE published books, standards, and technical papers in the fields of hearting, ventilation, air-conditioning, refrigeration, energy efficiency, indoor air quality and related “green” topics. I also have an archive of early papers, correspondence and documents. Probably the most interesting project that I’ve worked on would be the various things that we did to celebrate our centennial in 1995. I did most of the research that lead to a series of videos, using the words and images of our early founding members, a history of the Society called “Proclaiming the Truth,” a “museum” of both the society history as well as that of the industry that was displayed during our 1995 winter meeting in Chicago, plus articles in our monthly member newsletter titled “How ASHRAE Came to Be” that covered some event that occurred during each of our years. The other most important task here was the actual establishment of the library itself from a roomful of books haphazardly placed on shelves to a useful, organized library, with nearly every item cataloged. The only downside is that when our building was renovated the space allocated to the library was reduced so a good 40% of the collection had to be put into storage. I am not very active in the division although I do keep up with what’s going on. Unfortunately, as long as I work for ASHRAE, I won’t be able to attend SLA as I must work at our association’s winter and annual meetings that occur during the same time frame as SLA.
Amy Smith
Also works for Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ. (when this was originally sent) The most interesting project isn’t all that interesting, according to Amy,…space is at a premium at our site and so the library is facing a space reduction. That means we have had to go through our periodical archive and cull all that is not needed AND put our collection in storage for a month so our space can be remodeled. We hope to start putting our books back on the shelves next week (mid-Dec 2008). Networking opportunities, mentoring opportunities; learning opportunities; the chance to meet with colleagues once a year to share learning and knowledge are Amy’s reasons for being an Engineering Division member.
Penny Sympson
Has been working for 7 years at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc., a failure analysis firm. She’s in the process of scanning 30 years worth of client reports, adding document properties to them and then posting them on the company intranet. Membership in the Division nets her discussion/evaluation of products, networking, discounts from vendors and an ability to work on SLA to run commercials/create ad campaigns for special librarians.
Diane Talbut
Works for BAE Systems (formerly Lockheed Martin) for ~10 years. Recently finished a bachelor’s in Human Development. Wears multiple hats in the job but the “quirkiest” role is that I order and catalog software. This used to be done by engineering, but now has expanded plantwide and it’s a challenge to ensure that everyone is licensed properly. States that the networking is the biggest perk of membership…along with being able to bounce ideas off of others or to understand others accomplishments/failures.
Estee Tanaka
Works as the corporate librarian, in the engineering library, at Hawaiian Electric Company. Graduated from the Univ of Hawaii, Manoa in 2006 and has served as treasurer and vice president for the Hawaii Chapter. Most interesting thing done is working on the historical information detailing the history of Hawaiian Electric Company and the history of Honolulu, currently working on saving, taking inventory of and cataloging that collection…phew, it’s exhaustive!!! States that the networking is valuable as a solo librarian and not an engineer!!
Dianne Taylor-Harding
Works in the Information Services Division of the Queen Elizabeth II Library at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Does library reference and library instruction, collections management for Engineering, Earth Science and Reference. One of the most interesting projects worked on happened years ago, before the world wide web, when connectivity involved a telephone and acoustic coupler. Provided document delivery support for an isolated class of senior government executives, who each had to product a major research report on a current transportation issue at the end of their 6 week retreat. Demanding but satisfied my ingenuity, imagination and all my librarian skills! States that membership in the Engineering Division provides update information for collections management and awareness of new public service initiatives.
Nedelina Tchangalova
Currently is a reference librarian at the Engineering and Physical Science Library at the University of Maryland. Weeding part of the collection to free up some study space for students has been one project recently completed while working with the faculty to support their research needs, all with the tight budgets we all are experiencing is also a daily challenge. As a member of the Division, her reasons for continuing her membership is to network with other colleagues as well as discovering if there are collaborative projects that she could work on that would support the engineering community as a whole.
Elaine Thompson
Currently works at the Harris Group Inc in Portland, OR and coordinates library services in all of our locations. The most interesting projects are the ones that demonstrate the value of our library to the various engineering teams throughout the corporation. And my membership in the Division gives me networking, sharing of information and resources.
Joanne Tobin
Retired from Georgia Tech Library in Aug 2008…congratulations! Worked with the Georgia Tech community and the general public, mostly with patent and trademark research. Great project to see through to completion was to see new patents issued to some of the faculty and grad students that I assisted. Looking for membership in the Division to help in providing ways to keep current in the area of engineering librarianship and hopes to be able to continue networking by attending annual conference, when possible.
Sara Tompson
Is the Associate Dean for Public Service at the University of Southern California. Also a former chair of the Engineering Division. Currently is working leading the “S1” Strategic Planning Implementation Task Force that is drafting recommendations, in detail, for more recognized and more effective instruction, outreach and reference services. States that Division membership gives models and ideas for helping academic librarians respond more positively to change.
Dan Trefethen
He is currently the webmaster with a defense program for the Boeing Company. When asked about his most interesting project (that he could talk about) to date, he states: wrote and produced a video on air traffic management with Boeing Video Services. Really nothing to do with librarianship, but these were engineers who needed someone to prepare something for a lay audience and I AM an English major. Also, I originally joined the Engineering Division when I joined SLA in 1978. It is still my “free†division membership on my annual dues. We had a lot of engineering companies in Seattle that had librarians, and it made sense as a student coming out of school to go where the crowd was. Subsequently I worked for an architecture/engineering firm, but don’t really work in engineering anymore. But since Engineering is my original division, I’ve been reluctant to drop it. And it just adds to the networking possibilities.
Sandra Tucker
Works as the Head of Science & Engineering Services at Texas A&M University Libraries for the past several years and where she also worked in the 1980s. For the 18 years in between, she was the research librarian and manager of information services at the Texas Transportation Institute, there in College Station. When I asked about interesting projects, Sandra says: served on a Library committee that revamped the library budget, eliminating small funds allocated to specific academic disciplines; served on a search committee that recruited and helped hire eleven new library faculty members in 2 years; worked as principle investigator on the project that developed the website for the Transportation Pooled Fund program (http://www.pooledrfund.org). Since she is relatively new to the Division, she is hoping to develop a network of contacts comparable to her network in the Transportation Division.
Priscilla Ubysz
Is one of the managers of the Pratt & Whitney Library and Information Services group. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies which is a conglomerate of aerospace and building systems companies such as Otis (elevators), Carrier (air conditioning), Sikorsky (helicopters), Hamilton Sundstrand (space suites, electronics for aircraft, propellers), Fire and Security and others. Is also an adjunct faculty member at Southern CT State University for the School of Communication, Information and Library Science. One interesting project when I was working in our corporate office was finding the exchange rate for French francs in the late 1700’s. Found an article that talked about how much Thomas Jefferson paid for a bottle of wine in France and how much it was in dollars at that time. Reason for membership in the Division includes networking, resources in engineering and new product discussions/recommendations.
Susan Vazakas
is a Science/Engineering Librarian at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. he Library she is in on the main campus (not the medical campus), which is about 15 minutes away via shuttle bus. usan states that the toughest and most interesting questions come from the Biomedical Engineering Design teams.These teams of students shadow Hopkins doctors, find out what their problems are and work to build solutions. The students are brilliant and it’s amazing to see the things they invent each year. Here’s a spot that has an article on what 2 of the teams have produced:
http://www.bme.jhu.edu/news/newsDisplay.php?displayarticle=tru&type=depthi&id=86. Division membership for Susan provides information on new products that might be of use to the students as well as information on how other academic librarians reach their patrons.>
Tom Volkening
is the Engineering Librarian at Michigan State University and has been there for 25 years…Go Spartans! In 1995 he worked as part of a team that was developing a database of internet accessible resources for small manufacturers The team had people from Business, Engineering, our computer lab and the Library. What’s happening in the engineering world outside of academic libraries and networking are what keep Tom coming back to the Division.
Don Welch
Has been at Bell Helicopter Textron for 21 1/2 years although he was a sportswriter at the Daily Oklahoman when he headed back to school for his MLS. The request that really got his eyes open to challenges of “the hunt” was one made just six to nine months after starting in the library at Bell. An engineer wanted an article from a French journal from the 1870s, and he only had a vague sort of reference, or memory, to the date of the publication. He was sure of the title of the journal, however. Back in those days you had to use the phone a lot to find anything, even letters sometimes (not email), so I got on the phone right away. I eventually found myself talking to a librarian at the Library of Congress, and I was like a kid in front of Santa Claus. I was humbled and in awe of “the librarian at the Library of Congress”, who was like the keeper of the secrets of the world. He pretty much validated what I felt, too, to shorten the story. He found the article for me in a day or two and mailed it to me. I was impressed and inspired. Membership in the Division nets confidence that there is always backup or support, whether it’s specifically for something tangible, like an article, or whether for ideas and experience upon which I can draw. I just feel better tackling an issue or problem knowing that a lot of “art” and smarts are available to me.
Gina Williamson
Is in an R&D Library for ExxonMobil and when asked to talk about her most interesting project in 35 words or less said…because it is an R&D site, I can’t answer that except to say that I do a lot of literature and patent searching! Her reason for belonging to the Division is for the networking, keeping up with resources and services available in the engineering field.
Ruth Wolfish
Is a former corporate librarian (AT&T and Bell Labs) working for a Publisher in a great job. Is also SLA Chapter Cabinet Chair Elect, so is still very much involved in the profession. Works for IEEE as a Client Services Manager answering Librarian to Librarian questions to make sure you get the answers you need, and I provide in person and online training + assistance with marketing and outreach. Her most interesting project is presenting workshops at ACRL and the Charleston Conference and in 2009 at the UK Serials Group on Marketing Your Collection with an Academic Librarian. As for Division membership benefits – better understanding of the needs of Engineering so I can take it back to IEEE and to SLA.
Terri Zimmer
As of January of 2009, Terri works at R.V. Anderson Associates Limited, a multidisciplinary engineering firm with a focus on environmental and sustainable engineering in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although Terri says something interesting comes along almost every day, the most interesting project worked on has been research for our sustainability group on “green initiative” items like green roofs and water saving techniques. Networking and sharing of ideas that will help my engineers and information management team work more efficiently is the reason for belonging to the Division.
