Getting to know: RMSLA member Betsy Herzog

Where do you live?

Basalt, Colorado

Where do you work, and what’s your title?

I am the Librarian and Knowledge Manager at Rocky Mountain Institute.

What’s the mission of your organization?

Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) is an independent, entrepreneurial, nonprofit think-and-do-tank, and our mission is to drive the efficient and restorative use of resources.

When did you become an SLA/RMSLA member?

I became an SLA member when I was in graduate school at the University of North Carolina. I moved to Colorado to work at Rocky Mountain Institute in 2008 and joined RMSLA right away.

What drew you into an information career?

I was always drawn to work in an academic setting and so I initially wanted to work at an academic research library. Over time I realized that I can have a tremendous amount of impact working with and for industry, outside of the university setting.

What’s the best thing about being an information professional?

I enjoy supporting the mission and vision of RMI using my unique set of skills. My colleagues and patrons are very appreciative of the work that I do, whether that means conducting research, providing resources, or organizing our intellectual capital. It’s a rewarding position to be in.

What’s the next great thing you want to learn?

I always want to become more proficient in the areas that we work in–engineering, energy, building science, economics, finance, etc. My background is in the humanities, not the technical sciences, so I always have a lot to learn.

Are you a member of any other professional associations?

No.

What do you love to do in your non-work time?

I participate in a lot of the “-ing” sports: running, skiing, biking, hiking.

Tell us something about yourself that we’d never think to ask.

I am a twin.

What’s your favorite thing about SLA and/or the Rocky Mountain Chapter?

Since I live and work in such a remote area, I don’t get to participate in a lot of the RMSLA events in person. However, I do take full advantage of the SLA and RMSLA listservs, asking for advice and support from the SLA communities. It’s extremely valuable to me to know that there is a community of professionals who I can connect with easily over e-mail.

It’s time for the latest installment of RMSLA’s semi-regular feature on getting to know a chapter member.

Name:

Heidi Longaberger

Where do you live?

Englewood, Colorado – the old part, near eclectic South Broadway, where you can buy a tire, visit a myriad of medical establishments and get some good Thai food, all within one block.

Where do you work, and what’s your title?

I am owner and worker at Longaberger InformationWorks. I work out of the house and various coffee shops across the south Denver metro area. I know where to find the good DSL!

What’s the mission of your organization?

Finding, synthesizing, analyzing and presenting the right information for meaningful execution.  I’m the upstream making the downstream more effective.

URL for your organization and/or its information center:

My website is under construction, so I direct everyone to my LinkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/heidilongaberger

How long have you been an SLA/RMSLA member?

Since 1995.

What drew you into an information career?

Researching my projects in school was kind of fun. I’m prone to going off on tangents, and I always ended up surrounded by a stack of books and magazines (remember those?) that were possibly related to my  project, but maybe not. That, and I’m probably a “know-it-all” so I may as well get paid for it.

What’s the best thing about being an information professional?

It’s the perfect combination of catering to my curious and introverted nature, and at the same day feeding the extrovert split personality that emerges on some days. So I get to “play around” on the internet and in databases, write, and talk to real live people.

What’s the next great thing you want to learn?

Time travel.

Are you a member of any other professional associations?

Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP). I would highly recommend this organization to any info pro, even if you are employed with someone else. If you don’t have your own business you can still join as an associate member. The networking and level of expertise in that group is amazing.

What do you love to do in your non-work time?

Heidi and Thomas take a jump

I have a horse, and we play around a bit at things: Dressage, jumping, trails, trying not to kill Heidi. I also like to grow my own things to eat, and have re-taken up painting and drawing lately, which I did a lot of as a kid then inexplicably abandoned for a few years. I just painted the ocean on my bedroom wall, and plan to do a mural on my garage—my neighbor is thrilled

Tell us something about yourself that we’d never think to ask.

Hmm – this could go in a number of directions. I’m not allergic to anything, have never been to Africa, cannot do downward-facing dog or a split (not even as a kid), and inexplicably can’t get through a Jane Austen novel, but I like the movies.

What’s your favorite thing about SLA and/or the Rocky Mountain Chapter?

It’s a very active chapter, with lots of opportunities to volunteer and expand your horizons, such as the webinar program I did last month [follow link to view the slide deck] – thanks for running that!

Remember to register for the Colleague Connection by Thursday, March 31st! This is a GREAT networking opportunity. Colleague Connection is an annual event sponsored by Colorado library organizations to encourage networking and learning among students, paraprofessional staff, librarians, trustees, vendors and friends of libraries. Networking happy hour from 5:00-6:30 PM, with dinner and keynote to follow.

Date: April 6, 2011
Time: 5:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Cost: $35.00
Register: http://tinyurl.com/CollConn2011

KEYNOTE: CHANGE HAPPENS! …And Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Work

Transformational leadership is all about change, and emotional intelligence (EI) helps people deal with the change effectively.  Camila will share her thoughts and ideas on how emotionally intelligent leadership is helpful in designing and implementing change in our libraries and why it works in these changing times.

Presented by Camila Alire, Past-President of the American Library Association for 2009-2010, currently serves as Professor of Practice (adjunct) for the Simmons College PhD program in library managerial leadership and professor (part-time) at San Jose State University's LIS executive MLIS managerial leadership program. She is Dean Emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. She has served as Dean/Director of Libraries at University of Colorado at Denver.

RMSLA will be running an occasional feature, its RMSLA NETWORK: Spotlight On!  as a way of helping our geographically challenged chapter members get to know each other and the incredibly varied work we do better.  Carol Ayer of the National Forest Service bravely stepped up to the challenge and was willing to be the first off the diving board.  Thank you, Carol!

Curious about the National Forest Service Library?

What do forest fires, economics, archeology, and skiing have in common?  They are all topics that we research at the National Forest Service Library (NFSL).  NFSL is headquartered in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado with branch libraries in Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico.

Our mission is to provide scientific and technical information services to the 30,000 employees of the U.S. Forest Service.  Our staff consists of 10 professionals, and approximately 25 other full and part-time positions (library technicians, students, contractors, etc.).  About 20 of the positions are in Fort Collins.

Our services include licenses to electronic resources ranging from Web of Science to the Foundation Directory, document delivery/ILL, reference and literature searching, a current awareness service (the Monthly Alert), and various web services.  We are a very busy library that is heavily used by our customers and we enjoy strong support from Agency leadership.

Our web site is on our agency intranet so it’s not publicly available.  However, you can access our OPAC at http://fsinfo.fs.fed.us/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon.

Carol Ayer, Program Manager, NFSL

now, no RMSLA profile would be complete without knowing more about the info pro as an individual. So we asked Carol to step up to the microphone and tell us just a little bit about herself, too.

 I’ve worked for the FS since 1972—started out doing forest fire dispatching.  I’m a Univ. of Washington Library School alumnus (M.Libr.-1977) and I’ve been managing FS libraries for over 30 years!  I also worked at Oregon State Univ. Library and Multnomah County Public Library.  Before Colorado, I worked for the FS in Utah; Washington, D.C.; Alaska; and Oregon.  I have 2 Arabian/Pinto horses—“Kaycee” and “Khlassy”.  Kaycee is retired and I’m training Khlassy in dressage—I hope to be competing with her next season.  I love to travel.  My most fascinating trip?  Morocco.

I’m sold, Carol is definitely a candidate for One Very Way Cool Librarian with a good handle on work/life balance. And how many of your colleagues realize the Forest Service supports this level of research?  Thank you, Carol!

So who’s going to be next up?  This is an easy way to reach out and extend your professional network. Send your profile to mrodney@rslresearch.com and we’ll get you on the blog.

Marcy Rodney

mrodney@rslresearch.com

Congratulations to Rocky Mountain Chapter member Kathleen Rainwater! Her excellent article on automotive industry research just came out in FUMSI (which stands for Find, Use, Manage and Share Information). Kathleen does a great job defining industry segments and provides loads of valuable resources for this industry. Great job Kathleen!

Scott Brown, RMSLA (past) Past President