University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Magazine 2018SpringLibrariesForJoomag | Page 22

A Message from the Friends President
Dear Friends,
A
s my final term as president of the
Friends Board ends, I’ve thought
about whether I should look back at
the past three years, recap, ponder…
write the usual type of remembrance.
Then I realized, no—that’s not what
the UW Libraries are doing right
now! The Libraries are looking ahead
in many ways, large and small, and
the Friends’ ongoing challenge is to
look ahead with them. And so in that
spirit, here are a few changes and
challenges ahead for the Friends:
One challenge is to keep up with
the changing needs of the Libraries,
and allocate our grants—made
possible by your gifts—accordingly.
The things that students and faculty
expect from campus libraries have
changed dramatically in recent
years. Study spaces and technology
services, for instance, have become
much higher priorities. As longtime
print lovers, the Friends have always
supported “old media”—and will
continue to do so, with investments
in Special Collections and other
areas. At the same time, the Friends
have made an effort to learn and
support the current and future needs
library.wisc.edu/friends
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22 | LIBRARIES Spring 2018
of the Libraries. We will no doubt
accelerate that effort in coming years.
You should know that your gifts to
the Friends support future uses of
the Libraries, as well as help preserve
their collections and their past.
You may already have read about
the Libraries’ master plan for the next
25 years. It’s an ambitious multistage
plan that will, without fail, change
as it moves along—what 25-year plan
doesn’t? The plan addresses critical
needs not only of the UW–Madison
Libraries, but of the campus and
broader user community as a whole
(for the entire campus, as well as
users around the world, rely on
the UW–Madison Libraries). The
Friends, many of whom have years
of experience with campus libraries,
are well-placed both to give feedback
to library planners, and to help the
larger community adapt to change.
I expect that we will be involved
in that task, in concert with Ed Van
Gemert’s successor. (And in passing,
I’d like to thank Ed on behalf of
the entire board for his support of
the Friends, as well as his deep care
for, and commitment to, the UW
Libraries).
The Friends will continue to reach
out to library supporters in various
ways, including Friends-sponsored
events each semester. The Friends
book sale is a highlight of our event
calendar…although my wallet may
not agree with that sentiment! Here
too, we continue to evaluate how
to make this very good thing even
better. The inimitable Jim Dast has
turned the Friends book sale into
the best library
book sale in
the state, and
as we make
plans to keep
this going for
many years to
come, we’d like
to ask for your
feedback. What would you like to
see at the book sale? What, from
your perspective, would improve it?
Jim and a working group of Friends
board members have been discussing
these questions. If you’d like to weigh
in, please call Libby Theune, our
Administrator, in the Friends office.
We’d like to hear from you.
I’ll allow myself a backward glance
before ending, to answer the old
question, “what have I learned?”
Well, when I joined the Friends
board years ago, and even more as
board president, I learned what most
library professionals know well—that
libraries, certainly including the
UW–Madison Libraries, are not the
static, unchanging entities that they
can appear from the outside. (You
may have known this already, and be
smiling at my ignorance). They are
one of the most dynamic places on
any campus, and certainly that’s true
at the UW–Madison. I’ll continue
to support them and to watch every
move with interest, and I hope you
will too.
With gratitude,
Michael Chaim
Walking the Walk of Community Engagement:
Friends Board Member
Jim Fleming talks with
Fellow Board Member
Mary Rouse
JIM FLEMING worked at Wisconsin Public Radio,
where he