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December2024AnnaStadick |
We are proud to highlight our members who commit their time and resources to helping Wisconsin libraries and librarians thrive through their work with the Wisconsin Library Association. Each month, we will be sharing their stories and hope you will be inspired to learn more about our programs or get involved! Fill out the Lead with WLA form and be connected with other change agents, leaders, and committees that can use what you have to offer. Anna Stadick | December 2024
For which library, institution, or organization are you currently employed? UW-Parkside
How many year(s) have you been a member of Wisconsin Library Association? Five
What has been your favorite or most impactful function or event of WLA? The virtual WAAL conference of 2021 was most impactful, because after a year of COVID distancing and functional isolation, it offered connection, life rising out of the ashes and progressing. The in-person in 2022 helped me feel like the library world was going to be okay.
How has being a member of WLA impacted you or your career? Since I started at UW-Parkside over fifteen years ago, my career has been solidly in academic archives and libraries. Both WLA and WAAL bring me into connection with non-academic librarians and I find we have so much in common. This dialog impacts my career because when I learn, for instance, what public or school library patrons expect or are accustomed to, I learn something about the library past of the patrons walking into the university library for the first time, and that is enormously helpful.
Do you have a library role model (in Wisconsin or elsewhere) that has provided you with inspiration or guidance? Please share a little bit about it. This question made me realize that there are so many kinds of library inspirations and role models. I'd love to give a shout-out to the person, whose name I don't recall, undoubtedly an unpaid parent volunteer, who opened up the one-room library in our little parochial school each week. She read passages of many kinds of books to us in first grade. That room became a special occasion and portal to every possibility, which I would love every patron to experience in their library. I want to thank Tim Ericson, the long-time director of the Archival Studies program at UWM, for teaching me so much and being an effective and inspirational mentor who helped me get my start. Jo Cates, my predecessor library director at UW-Parkside, was a role model who showed us all how to be bold and innovative, especially in space transformation and programming. But today, I often turn to my fellow UW library directors all over Wisconsin for inspiration and guidance. That group contains an abundance of expertise, experience, and wisdom. Honestly, I haven't met a colleague who hasn't inspired me, taught me, or changed my mind in some way. I am also inspired by our students. Do you have any advice for new WLA members? Whenever I've attended conferences--WLA, WAAL, or others--I have tried to attend some session that seems not to have anything to do with my job or area, and I have nearly always found that it enhanced my understanding of libraries, their mission, and activity. There is always a relevant takeaway. It's mind-expanding, like ordering the thing on the menu you believe you won't like and finding you are wrong. Try that, too.
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