Finkelstein, Schofer named librarians of the year

Eliot Finkelstein and Yvonne Schofer have been named the 2005 Librarians of the Year by their peers in the UW–Madison Librarians’ Assembly. Finkelstein and Schofer were honored with the award at the Assembly’s annual High Tea on April 14.

Two Librarian of the Year awards are given to unclassified staff members each spring to recognize their contributions to the General Library System. One award recognizes a staff member who has worked in GLS fewer than 10 years; the other recognizes a staff member’s work in GLS more than 10 years. The awards, created in 1989, recognize staff that have made exceptional contributions to the libraries.

Finkelstein, who is the Librarian of the Year with fewer than 10 years of service, coordinates the Library and Information Literacy Instruction program at College Library. During the last seven years, Finkelstein has not only scheduled and taught many instruction sessions, but he has served on 21 campus and professional committees.

According to nominators, Finkelstein has earned the title “Mr. MadCat” for his extensive work with the libraries’ online catalog and he was instrumental in developing College Library’s Open Book Caf�, as well as redefining the recreational reading collection available near the caf�.

One nominator wrote that whatever Finkelstein is working on, “he is doing it with his usual diligence, good humor and deep commitment to making sure we’re meeting users’ needs; whether in our classes, in our collections, in our services or in the way we design our online resources.”

Schofer, who received the award for those with more than 10 years of service, works as the bibliographer for the humanities in English, and is responsible for collection development in the general areas of English language and literature, theatre and drama, journalism and mass communications. As the selector for British and American literature, she has also developed other extensive special collections including the Cairns Collection of American Women Writers, Little Magazines, as well as the 20th -Century Collection of first editions, and a recently received Amateur Journalism collection.

She diligently works to preserve, promote and display these collections.She won a grant to bring the American Library Association and National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit, “Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature,” to Special Collections last fall.

“Yvonne’s work is respected and appreciated by faculty and students on this campus, but her influence goes far beyond that,” said Helene Androski as she presented Schofer with the award. “She is also building collections of national and international reputation.”