Professorial Lecture
Carol Pitts Diedrichs
Revised November 18, 2002
Introduction
One of the fundamental purposes of the Professorial Lecture is an opportunity for the new professor
to showcase the research agenda which enabled him or her to achieve the rank of Professor. When
I look back over the 15 years of dossiers and CVs that I've created as a faculty member at Ohio
State, here's how I have described the focus of my work:
In my 15 years as a department head or assistant director, I have worked to build a departmental/divisional culture which focuses on meeting the needs of our primary customers, the collection managers, while maintaining efficient operations. Despite challenges in personnel, equipment, and workload, the Technical Services Division continued to meet all of its basic priorities consistently and in a quality manner. Each year the basic priorities of the Division were accomplished as expected: serials were checked in within 48 hours of receipt; the materials budget was expended and balanced with departmental and University records; monograph orders were placed on order quickly and effectively, newly received monographs and serials were cataloged and made available to library users. Our vendor relationships have been enhanced and refined; new initiatives and contracts have allowed us to maximize discounts and minimize service charges. Significant change and innovation has been implemented throughout technical services to more effectively acquire and catalog books and journals. All has been accomplished with fewer staff resources than any library of our size and complexity. At the same time, our technical services operation is viewed inside the University Libraries and in the larger library world, as a leader. We embrace new technologies and ways of doing business to more effectively serve users. Most recently, I have been able to combine the agendas of technical services with the needs of collection management more effectively as Assistant Director for both. Specifically, I bring to every discussion with each constituency the needs and concerns of the other.
My plans from year to year focus on the continued evaluation of new products and
services to enhance productivity and efficiency as well as the effective use of existing
staff resources. Maintaining a creative approach to new ways of doing business and
new solutions to problems is one of my primary goals. For the collections, I continue
to focus on anticipating and responding to the needs of faculty and students.
Resource allocation is creative and aggressive and tied to the mission and goals of the
University as those evolve and change.
My primary research interest continues to be the management and automation of
libraries with particular emphasis on technical services and collection management.
Much of my early work focused on acquisitions organization and innovation. As my
responsibilities expanded to encompass all of technical services, my research also
expanded. My focus continued to deal with the use of automation and technology to
improve efficiency, but also expanded to deal with innovation as well. Most recently
my focus has been on collection development issues such as cooperative collection
management and the usage of electronic journals. I have always tried to tie my
research interests to the day to day demands of my teaching responsibilities so that my
research better informs my decision making for the Libraries.
As this summary shows, I've spent my career focused on the technical services and collections aspects
of library work. To many of you not associated with libraries, I've described what I do for a living
in a variety of ways:
You may also have heard my husband, Frank, describe what I do as "buying the books and serials
(and I don't mean breakfast food)."
My research progression closely mirrors the issues and challenges I face as a library manager.
In the 1980s, it is clear that I was concerned with three things:
In the 1990s, my focus shifted to issues such as
In the late 1990s, I moved from the department head level to the assistant director level. My research
agenda evolved to match those increased administrative responsibilities and the addition of collection
management roles. My research then and now focuses on
Fostering innovation
It is this last item, change management and fostering innovation, that I'd like to discuss in more detail:
Why is innovation important for technical services and collection management today? In libraries
today, conditions such as the economic climate and the speed of technological change, as well as
changing patron expectations, demand a new approach to technical services. With more limited
monetary and human resources, libraries are struggling to provide the services and materials offered
in the past, as well as new services. Libraries are faced with an ever-growing set of challenges and
opportunities; hand and hand with an economic downturn, increasing demands for accountability and
diminished staff resources. These current conditions impel technical services and collection
management librarians to consider new ways of doing business, to foster innovation and to implement
innovative ideas. The business world has been forced to downsize and restructure in order to remain
competitive. Libraries do not see themselves as being in a competitive business because libraries do
not usually compete with other libraries for patrons. But, the reality is that libraries are in a
competitive environment with other information providers. Libraries must innovate to remain
competitive.
This infiltration of technology into the lives of most individuals has also resulted in changing patron
expectations. Students now come to campus with extensive PC skills. For example, Sally Rogers,
Tschera Connell and I were reviewing job applications from graduate students last week. This was
the first time in a very long time that I had seen such applications -- I was amazed at the computer
skills the average graduate student possesses -- frankly it is an embarrassment of riches when you are
looking for assistance with statistical applications, web site development and spreadsheets. Not only
is it common for these students to possess these skills, they also have a litany of computer
programming skills available for the taking. And bear in mind, this is before they are very far into their
graduate careers.
Students are accustomed to a video culture which values action, speed, and instant gratification.
Patrons are no longer content to be told that a book can be requested for them or that it will arrive
in two weeks. The availability of information in electronic form has increased the pressure on public
services librarians to provide support and training for these electronic products. IT departments are
pressured to upgrade hardware and software constantly to stay abreast of what users expect as well
as the technological demands of the electronic products.
Let me give you an example. The Serials/Electronic Resources Department has experienced these
increased demands in the speed with which it is expected to investigate, negotiate and provide
electronic resources for patrons. In the past, it was not unreasonable to expect a 30 to 90 day
turnaround for the order and receipt of new books or journals. Today, collection development
librarians expect electronic products to be made available almost immediately on request. The ready
availability of information on the Internet, particularly the explosion of the Web as a tool, has already
and will continue to expand expectations. In addition, libraries must find the financial resources to
provide those new tools.
The current value placed on timeliness and efficiency leads to increasing dissatisfaction with existing
backlogs and the time required to process material. Patron expectations reflect their familiarity with
more instant gratification; in the past librarians dealt with patrons who did not want to use a
computer, now librarians work with users who complain when they have to search a paper index.
Not every innovation is successful. Librarians must be prepared to take risks, experience failure, and
try again. For example, in the 1980s, researchers experimented with expert systems designed to
perform original cataloging. The thinking at the time was that artificial intelligence could be applied
to original cataloging in such a way that all activities would be performed by the machine making
catalogers obsolete. [1] It is clear today that expert systems and tools such as the LC's Catalogers'
Desktop facilitate and improve the process of original cataloging, but expert systems have failed to
provide the sophisticated analysis provided by experienced human catalogers.
Innovation has a variety of definitions. Thomas D. Kuczmarski believes that "innovation is best
described as a pervasive attitude that allows businesses to see beyond the present and create a future
vision." [2] When the leadership of an organization or even a single department has an innovative
mind set, that mind set can be transmitted over time to the people working with those individuals.
A key factor for instilling an innovative mind set in technical services is working with staff to ensure
that they see that their work has an impact on the patron. Innovation has to become an integral part
of the way managers approach each problem and work with each issue facing their organizations.
Successful innovation in technical services involves three key components: the ability to envision the
future, the use of intuitive thinking and creativity, and well-managed implementation.
Envisioning the future
How does a manager foster innovation? Envisioning the future is a key first step in fostering
innovation. Envisioning the future may sound a bit grand; envisioning a goal may be an easier way
to get started. Successful innovation will result in changes to the way people do their jobs. To be
successful, the people who have to make a strategy or vision work must be integral to the process
of developing that strategy. Convincing people even to consider the strategy, particularly one that
is new and different, is a major task. Librarians will be challenged to convince staff about the need
for change, but will also be called upon to convince supervisors, upper-level administration, and peers
that a new approach is warranted. In technical services, the idea of accepting approval material
without review or with no return options, is becoming common in large research libraries. Not only
must acquisition staff be persuaded that this is a viable alternative to consider but collection managers
must also be persuaded.
A vision for a particular goal can help picture what things will be like once the goal is accomplished.
In 1996, the Copy Cataloging Section was merged with the Acquisition Department. Following that
merger, we crafted a vision of eliminating an eight week copy cataloging backlog and maintaining a
one week turnaround on that material for the future. The staff knew a few things about that vision
-- that if they eliminated the copy cataloging backlog, there would not be as much opportunity to
misplace an unprocessed book. The department would be able to locate rush material more quickly
or actually have already processed the rush title by the time the rush request was received. The
department would not receive as many complaints or be considered inefficient. Instead, the
department would be considered a department with a good service attitude and reputation as well as
a place where a collection manager could get real help and assistance. Today we still maintain and
achieve this goal of processing material very quickly the requests to locate rush material still in
processing is almost zero.
Another example of envisioning a goal and achieving it was the use of new security software in the
III system to allow the direct, online entry of order requests by the 40+ collection managers or their
staff. Until this implementation, collection managers had been restricted to paper orders which
required typing on 3x5 forms in each branch library and then retyping in the order entry process. In
the past, one of the priorities was to require the submission of a paper Materials Request Form for
each order request to meet audit standards. This requirement met the internal auditor's stipulations
for a collection manager's signature on each order request. The new workflow de-emphasizes the
importance of the paper order request and focuses on new goals of issuing orders more quickly and
eliminating redundant keying and subsequent errors.
The department's vision of the future included the development of this software which would allow
the collection managers to key their order requests directly into the system. With the new software,
the department would be able to eliminate the submission of paper orders, reduce the transit time for
the orders to arrive from collection managers, eliminate the occasional loss of paper order requests
in the campus mail system, and capture information once at the point of entry in the system rather
than multiple rekeyings.
The Acquisition Department tested this new procedure initially with a few different collection
managers who represented different approaches and concerns in their selection process. This test
helped the department address issues such as where should information be placed in the record and
what should be done about additional printed information (e.g., publisher flyers) which may be needed
in the order process. Today, at least 5 years later, all collection managers and virtually all order
requests are received in this manner. Orders are rarely lost; many orders are placed very quickly and
all within 3 to 4 weeks. New innovations have evolved from this one which allow collection
managers to enter order requests into the database of our primary vendor again reducing errors and
rekeying and increasing the speed of delivery.
Ignoring Conventional Wisdom
A second strategy for implementing change, ignoring conventional wisdom, has been used in the
implementation of Passport for Windows during the order request process. In the past, the
conventional wisdom at OSUL was that on receipt of the piece all of the bibliographic work done
previously was ignored. Even though the OCLC number had been keyed into the order record, that
information was not used in the cataloging process. In essence, the person cataloging the title did
not make use of the information found earlier but started the entire process of searching OCLC over
again. Several years ago, Marsha Hamilton, Head of the Monographs Department [3], conducted
an informal study comparing the OCLC record selected at the point of order with the OCLC record
later used for cataloging. Her findings revealed that well over 90% of the OCLC records identified
at the point of order were subsequently used to catalog the piece. This study helped convince
individuals in technical services that the conventional wisdom was in need of reconsideration.
With the implementation of Passport for Windows to download an OCLC record in real time at the
point of order, technical services also took the opportunity to evaluate and implement cataloging on
receipt. In many cases, the correct bibliographic record was being selected and added to the system
before the piece arrived. Thus, by combining the receipt and copy cataloging processes, material
moves more quickly to the shelves with fewer handlings. The conventional wisdom that acquisition
staff do not have bibliographic expertise or that cataloging staff cannot interpret order records is no
longer valid.
Intuitive Thinking and Creativity
The second key component in fostering innovation is the use of intuitive thinking and creativity.
When new trends are emerging, people who can think intuitively are especially valuable. They are
the people who first ask questions such as: Do approval titles really have to be reviewed by collection
managers? Intuition has been defined as the ability to see the woods not just the trees, to see the big
picture, and to grasp opportunities. Although intuition is often hard to define, "most would agree
that intuition is:
Today's library environment involves a high level of uncertainty, has few precedents on which to base
decisions, often lacks reliable facts to guide decisions, requires quicker decisions with less time for
reflection, and often offers several plausible options to consider. Individuals who are able to use their
intuition rather than requiring hard facts on which to base every decision will be the most successful
technical services managers of the future.
Creative breakthroughs are most likely to occur when individuals have time to think about things
away from the work at hand and the day to day crisis. Few librarians have the luxury of scheduling
in a little "thinking" time during the course of the work day. Instead, librarians must look for other
opportunities to "think" such as being stuck in traffic, driving on a trip, or exercising. It is during
these "thinking" times that flashes of insight occur.
Fostering creativity and innovation depends on a culture where new ideas are solicited, valued, and
encouraged. Failures will occur, but these too must be handled with care or staff will fear proposing
new ideas or approaches. Let me give you an example from outside the world of libraries. The
assembly line at a laser drum assembly company in southern Ohio uses a process that is repetitive on
the shoulder resulting in injuries. The line already had pneumatics installed for other purposes and
an employee (in this case, my sister-in-law, Dana) recommended that the pneumatics be used for this
operation instead of putting all of the stress on the shoulders of the workers. Her strategy was
implemented and has been a big success. That may seem pretty routine, but what is not routine is the
pride with which she reported this success to our family at Thanksgiving and then again just before
Christmas when she was acknowledged publicly at the company picnic. The value of acknowledging
and fostering creativity crosses many kinds of organizations including libraries.
Well-managed Implementation
The third key factor is well-managed implementation. Most librarians have had experience with
creative thinkers who always have new ideas and, in some cases, seem willing to implement new ideas
regardless of the potential outcome, often just because they seem like interesting new ideas.
Innovation is different from creativity. Creativity includes activities such as brainstorming and
thinking without the constraints of implementation. Creativity and idea generation do not necessarily
imply innovativeness; innovation is also the implementation of those ideas in the working
environment. [5] Each innovation must be supported by an implementation process that takes the idea
step by step through each aspect and works out the problems so that the innovation is successfully
implemented. The idea must move from the conceptual stage right through to production. [6]
Libraries need both creativity and innovation; they need staff to think beyond the box but also with
a realistic view to how something could be implemented. Some innovations are actually rather small
and do not require extended discussion or implementation. This ability to make daily and independent
adjustments for improvement is often labeled as empowering staff. Although that term may have been
overused, its meaning--instilling personal responsibility in each staff member--is critical to successful
innovation. Staff need to be responsible for looking for ways to improve processes and services in
everything they do.
I like to use an example of effective project implementation for a centralized selection process in place
at a public library in Indianapolis. [7] This library addressed the issue of juggling available funds and
the plethora of purchase choices by implementing centralized selection for the main library and all
branches. The biggest fear surrounding centralized selection was the fear that all branches would
look exactly alike with no opportunity for diversity as it relates to the particular community being
served. At the beginning of the process, the library hired a collection development librarian to
coordinate everything. Initially, she spent four days in each branch to familiarize herself with their
collections and specific needs. On an ongoing basis, she spends time each year in each branch
working with the staff, working the reference desk, and analyzing the collection to look for dated and
weak areas. Each branch is expected to communicate its special needs to the collection development
librarian. Branch librarians have unlimited rights to request titles to replace a lost or missing title or
because the title was not supplied through the centralized selection process.
As part of implementing centralized selection, the library had subject areas that they wanted to change
through centralized selection. Before implementation, the library administration thought that they
were weak in the science and technology areas because many librarians were intimidated by the high
costs. In other cases, the branch librarians had liberal arts backgrounds and felt unqualified to
evaluate prospective titles. Personal bias was also evident; for example, they were afraid that they
were not paying enough attention to the male patrons. They were also surprised to find that subjects
that had routinely been collected only for the main library were in demand at other branches once
readily available there. Resistance was expected and accepted, but the outcome of that resistance was
unanticipated. "When centralized selection began, librarians at one branch were up front about their
keeping track of the titles they were receiving that they thought would not circulate. They later
admitted that they had thrown the slips away after one year because indeed the materials were
circulating. One of the most articulate opponents of centralized selection agreed that it was
wonderful for computer books, confessing, 'I never had a clue in that area.'" [8] An unexpected
problem was how to deal with saturation levels -- when is enough material on a topic enough? This
last quote seems an appropriate summation of that problem:
This is an excellent example of a successful implementation of an innovative idea.
This case study also supports the importance of middle managers in the process of innovation and
particularly implementation. As a result of numerous studies with Fortune 500 companies, Rosabeth
Moss Kanter [10] concludes that middle managers are the vital element in organizational innovation.
They are essential to idea generation as well as playing a major role in implementation. These
individuals are also referred to by terms such as early adopters of technology and opinion leaders,
terms synonymous with innovators. True innovators have an impact beyond their own area of
responsibility. Making changes in one's own area is simply that, efficient and effective change.
Innovation is broader because it includes having an impact beyond the innovator's own organizational
unit. The reason that this is innovation is that the manager has to seek support among his peers as
well as higher up in the organizational structure. Thus, the manager must have a wide network of
contacts from which to gain support. The manager also has to have the resources and information
to make the innovation happen. For example, in the case of Indianapolis public library, these middle-management librarians led the implementation of this new approach to selection. They had the insight
to hire a collection development librarian to coordinate the process. They worked with the branch
librarians and the vendor to implement and refine the plan. Their roles in the implementation phase
of the project were to maintain the momentum of the project and foresee problems that put the
project in jeopardy and resolve them.
Innovation is essential for the survival of libraries in the rapidly changing information world. In
particular, technical services will be expected to acquire and process material more quickly than ever
before and with fewer human resources. The economic environment and the speed of technological
change demands and provides new alternatives. Changing patron expectations have accelerated the
need for rapid evaluation, selection, and implementation of these new alternatives. The choices
available from vendors will continue to proliferate. As a result, strong, competent managers are an
essential component to this process. These managers must continue to envision the future, to think
intuitively and creatively, and to implement innovation effectively.
Personal remarks
This summary should give you a good background on the type of research agenda I have pursued for
the past 15 years at Ohio State. Library faculty are somewhat unique and different from teaching
faculty. While research and publication is a fundamental part of our roles at OSU, there are two other
legs to the three-legged stool that is a library faculty member's role -- job responsibility and service.
I'd like to talk about those aspects of my career briefly.
Mentors
Mentors have been instrumental in my development as a professional librarian. These mentors range
from Mrs. Hires, the Shreve Island Elementary School librarian, who I helped setup a new elementary
school library one summer as a child. So, library work must have gotten into my blood at a very early
age -- and yes, I was a nerdy little kid who read a lot.
That experience and regular bicycle rides to the local public library branch are surely the roots of my
love of libraries. My strong Southern Baptist roots took me to Baylor University as a college
freshman. I'd like to be able to tell you that I went to Baylor because they had a library science
program but in truth, it was simply the only place that I wanted to attend college. By chance, in those
days Baylor had an undergraduate program in library science. What you may not know is how
unusual it is to have an undergraduate degree in library science (and essentially useless!). To be
considered a professional librarian, you must have a masters' degree in library and information
science. As a result, many librarians come to the field after having spent time working in another
discipline or at least having an undergraduate degree in another discipline. There are very few
remaining undergraduate programs in library science and they certainly aren't accredited by the
American Library Association. But my years at Baylor brought me into contact with two mentors,
Ed and Elaine Jennerich, a librarian couple who encouraged me to continue my Baylor education with
a masters degree. My parents, Mae Nell and Leland Pitts, understood the importance of that degree
and helped me go directly to the University of Texas at Austin to pursue it immediately after finishing
my undergraduate degree. I think that my father realized that the fastest way to get me fully educated
and employable was to focus on finishing that degree in one year instead of working part time and
taking several years to finish.
With my newly minted MLIS in 1981, I began my first job as a temporary serials cataloger at the
University of Houston. My six years at Houston were certainly the foundation of my career in many
many ways. UH fosters a culture of innovation and growth which is unique among academic libraries.
It was a place in the 1980s (and still today) where young, inexperienced librarians were given lots of
opportunity and responsibility at a very early career stage.
My first year at Houston was spent in what was fondly called "the projects." I was hired to do
retrospective conversion of serials on a temporary contract. I had absolutely no library work
experience (let me tell you, I was lucky to have a job!).
About a year into my work at Houston, the library had a failed search for a head of acquisitions. One
of Houston's assistant directors, Dana Rooks, had been told by the director, Robin Downes -- "find
a solution. Don't we have someone in the library that we can promote?" At the same time, Dana had
been hearing about me from the Placement director at the University of Texas library school. So one
day in September 1982, I received a call from the administrative offices asking me to come for an
appointment with the director. Now for those of you who know Dana and Robin, you'll also realize
that I was delighted to be called in to see Robin -- why? -- because Robin only delivered good news.
If there was bad news to be delivered, you got a call from Dana! Robin offered me the position but
then asked that I talk to Dana who had all of the details.
Well, the details were a bit on the "under the table" side. As you can imagine, UH was taking a big
risk in appointing one so young and inexperienced to manage a $1 million materials budget and 10
staff. Their offer was that I would be the head of acquisitions for one year, but if at any time during
that year they thought that I was not succeeding, they would come to me and I would quietly step
down. The upside for me was that regardless of the outcome, they promised me a permanent position
-- remember I only had a 2 year temporary one. And, oh, by the way, they needed an answer by the
end of the day. Of course, as you can imagine, this deal was highly illegal but I was 24 and thought
I could do anything I set my mind to.
When I returned to Dana's office at the end of the day to accept the offer, she asked me if I had
spoken with my parents. Again bear in mind that I am 24, have 1 year of library experience, no
management or financial training and am being offered this dept head's position. My response was
that indeed I had spoken with my mother, Mae Nell, who's response was:
It's about time they recognized your potential!
Dana has continued throughout my career to be a wonderful friend and mentor and she tells this story
on any occasion she gets.
Let me skip ahead to my years at OSU lest you think we're going to be here all night at this rate. I
was hired as Head of Acquisitions at OSU in 1987 by Bill Crowe, who was Assistant Director for
Technical Services and Bill Studer who was Director of Libraries. My family thought I had lost my
mind taking a job in Ohio -- other than having heard of Buckeye football teams, they had a hard time
with the idea of anyone choosing to live in Ohio.
My career at OSU has flourished. I was lucky enough to arrive on the scene in the formational days
of OhioLINK and have been part of many of the activities which have shaped its growth and
development. I came to OSU as an instructor (the very lowest of the 4 faculty ranks) with 6 years
of library experience and a grand total of one published paper. So, for those of you at the beginning
of your tenure and promotion journey at OSU, it can be done! I started at OSU 15 years ago today
and undoubtedly they have been the best professional years of my life.
I thought when I came to OSU, I would work here 3 or 4 years and then move back to the south.
I remember Gay Dannelly saying to me when I expressed that sentiment that "I might be surprised
how Ohio State gets in your blood." Indeed, it has. It's never boring here, we're often involved in
cutting edge change in the library world, we've had outstanding leadership in Bill Studer and now Joe
Branin. And, of course, that plan to move to the south was foiled when I married a native
Cincinnatian.
My years at OSU have been marked by the best that a career can offer. I've worked in an
invigorating professional environment in the Libraries; I been involved in service activities which
range from the American Library Association to the Big Ten consortium, CIC, to OhioLINK. As you
know, reaching professor status is the peak of the professorial ranks but it is by no means the end of
career development or pursuit of an active research agenda. Having reached this goal, I believe that
I can now turn my attention to grant seeking and research which will take longer to pursue.
Currently, I am involved in a grant with Tschera Connell and Sally Rogers to study how and why
faculty and students use electronic journals.
Thanks yous
I would like to close with some thank yous:
Library staff -- those of us who hold faculty positions have specific responsibilities related to our
positions which involve research and publication and professional service. Those roles and that work
is supported and enabled by the day to day work of the library staff. Technical services is a staff-intensive business -- while there are 8 librarians -- there are more than 60 staff. Those staff are the
bedrock, the infrastructure on which library service and success are built. I am very grateful for that
support and the congenial workplace they engender.
Library administration -- while I am myself a member now of the library administration, I can
certainly appreciate the role that group plays in the support and nurture of our faculty rank and the
tenure and promotion process. I am particularly grateful to Bill Studer, Bill Crowe and Joe Branin
for their support, encouragement and advice.
Professional colleagues in my professional work and travels I am often asked about the wisdom and
viability of librarians working in the tenure and promotion system. Many professional colleagues
outside of OSU sometimes express criticism and skepticism about this process. I can say
unequivocally that I have had a richer and more meaningful career because of the role of research and
service in my career. Most specifically, my work has been enhanced by my professional colleagues
here at Ohio State as well as throughout the country. My thanks to all of you.
Friends -- I have a number of friends here today. While they may not know a great deal about my
library work, they knew a lot about my golf and tennis games! Let me thank them for coming today
particularly those who drove here from Cincinnati.
Parents I'm mentioned my parents, Mae Nell and Leland Pitts. Leland died in 1989 but fortunately,
he was able to help me move to Columbus, see the library and meet some of you here today. My
father was a very quiet man but Mom, we know he would have a smile a mile wide on his face if he
could be with us today.
Of course, many of you have met Mae Nell, who I'm delighted to have with us today. If you haven't
had a chance to meet my Mom, you'd probably at least heard a story or two about her. I'd like to
tell you one brief one. I have been the editor of a journal called, Library Collections, Acquisitions
and Technical Services, for the last 12 years. As editor my name appears on the cover of each issue.
Shortly after the first issue of the journal came out with my name on it, my mom asked me to send
her a copy. Of course I did and it has since been reported to me that she has shown it to most of her
friends in Shreveport, LA. But, when she shows it to them she always says:
I don't have a clue what it says inside this
but that's my daughter's name on the cover!
That about sums it up unwavering support and unconditional love. Also, in case you can't pick her
out she's the one with the Southern accent.
Frank Finally, lest you think I've forgotten, I'd like to thank my husband, Frank. Not only is he my
best friend but he's a wonderful supportive partner of my work. His support comes in all forms
he's a sounding board and a wise counselor. His support also comes in very tangible ways in truth
he keeps the home fires burning while I work here in Columbus and travel regularly for work. He
does everything from cooking and grocery shopping to giving the cat his daily drugs. I couldn't do
it without him.
Thank you all for coming today and sharing in this celebration with me.
Note: Much of this presentation is drawn from the following publication:
Diedrichs, Carol Pitts. "Using Automation in Technical Services to Foster Innovation." Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 24, no 2 (March 1998): 113-120.
REFERENCES