5 Questions with a Loon – Christine Bowersox

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Melissa Sievers
Christine Bowersox and her good buddy Ben Franklin at UPenn

Title: Reference Librarian
Library: Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Location: New York, NY
AALL Member Profile (July 2018): https://www.aallnet.org/member-profile/christine-bowersox/
AALL Spectrum articles: “Collection building in the 21st century” and “Dialectic of transformation: the shaping of a name.”

Five Questions:

1. In five words, describe the library of your youth…and your vision of a library 20 years from now. My favorite place to be.
I cannot tell you how many days/hours of my youth were spent there reading, attending story time, and countless lectures, crafts, and book sales. The library 20 years from now exists in a way that is less tied to the printed word and is space of community, technology, and knowledge. There are definitely still librarians and they still rock!

2. Favorite book series from childhood? The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin. I just bought a copy of the first book of the series, Kristy’s Great Idea, as a gift for my (very pregnant) sister to keep the love alive.

3. Favorite thing about living in upstate New York? Although I don’t live upstate any longer, I can say that my favorite thing that I MISS the most is the close and quick access to the beauty of the outdoors. I miss being able to walk or drive quickly to gorgeous parks whenever I want.

4. How long did it take you to become a librarian? I started the library program at Kent State University in the Fall of 2008, transferred to the University at Buffalo, and finished in Summer 2012. My path to librarianship was more of a stroll.

5. Three goals for the year? Attend more Broadway shows, travel to new places instead of revisiting the same places, and eat less sugar.

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5 Questions with a Loon, Super-sized Edition – Steve Roses

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Melissa Sievers
  • Steve Roses at the W.S. Hein booth, 2019 AALL Meeting & Conference in D.C.
  • Steve and family
  • With Jeff Goldblum, 2017 ALLUNY Spring Institute
  • Take two, for those who prefer no glasses!
  • Shopping at Costco with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)

Title: Director of Sales
Company: William S. Hein
Location: Maplewood, NJ (Born in Brooklyn, NY. Grew up in Longmeadow and Sudbury, MA)
Website: https://www.wshein.com/company-directory/

Ten Questions:

1. Library of your youth? Goodnow Public Library in Sudbury, MA. A very relaxing place to read and study.

2. Library of the future? Free Starbucks when you come in….

3. Favorite film adaptation? The Shawshank Redemption, based on the Stephen King work.

4. Favorite musical group? The Beatles

5. Favorite cuisines? Chinese, Indian, Japanese

6. Favorite city in North America? Vancouver, B.C.

7. Favorite country outside the U.S.? Canada

8. Favorite kind of bread? Naan

9. Favorite actor? Bill Murray

10. Favorite show? SNL

Bonus: Last photo taken from your phone? This lovely sun-drenched view of New York from the plane.
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5 Questions with a Loon – Stephen Weiter

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Melissa Sievers

Bio:
Steve Weiter has been Dean of Oakland University Libraries since 2015 and is still a “recovering Law Librarian.” He has been an ALLUNY member since 1997 and served as ALLUNY President at some point in the distant past. Might have been 2004 – Google it (or check out the ALLUNY archives for more history)! Having worked in various library types over the past 25 years, he is retiring in mid-August in order to fling flies at fish, lose golf balls in the woods, and generally stir up trouble in other settings.

Title: Dean, University Libraries
Library: Oakland University
Location: Rochester, MI
Website: https://library.oakland.edu/people/bios/index.php?bio=Weiter

Five Questions:

1. Three people with whom you would love to have dinner? They have to be alive in order to share dinner right?

  1. Stephen King
  2. Dave Berry
  3. Bruce Springsteen

2. Skill you’d like to learn? I always wanted to be able to sing like Bing Crosby, tell jokes like Groucho Marx, and dance like Fred Astaire.

3. Three goals for the year?

  1. Spend more time fishing
  2. Build a kitchen island with my son
  3. Play “syzygies” in a Scrabble game

4. Favorite book? So many to choose from, but the two I go back to read repeatedly are The Stand by Stephen King and A Game of Thrones, the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice, by George R.R. Martin.

5. If you could change one law, what would it be? Copyright. I would repeal the Sonny Bono “Protection of Mickey Mouse Act” (112 Stat 2827), withdraw from the Berne Convention, and revert to the Statute of Anne (8 Ann. c. 21; or 8 Ann. c. 19).

And because sometimes five questions aren’t enough, I present two bonus Q&A’s!

6. Favorite thing about your job? I have been fortunate enough to work with many talented and dedicated people throughout my career, and for that I am grateful. And I have truly enjoyed helping others find the info they need. But right now, my favorite thing about my job is I get to retire from it August 16.

7. Favorite item in your library? We have a set of pens used by LBJ to sign all of the “Great Society” civil rights legislation passed in 1965. The plaque is the only one I have ever seen referring to an American Congress as “fabulous.”

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