University Wire
08-01-2001
(Daily Illini) (U-WIRE) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Leigh Stewart Estabrook, the outgoing dean of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, has successfully juggled an academic career and a 37-year marriage to her husband Carl, while raising their five children.
When asked how she managed all this, she smiled.
"I have a good husband," she said.
Estabrook will be stepping down from her position as dean Aug. 20. She was hired as dean of LIS in 1986, with no previous university administrative experience. She had taught as an associate professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies and at Simmons College's School of Library Science.
"It was a risk (to hire me) because it was my first university administrative post," she said. "I'm not sure the University would take that risk now," she added with a grin.
Hiring her was a fortunate choice, according to Associate Dean Linda Smith, who has been on the LIS faculty since 1977.
"(Estabrook) has enhanced the visibility of the LIS school nationally and internationally, by making presentations and doing consulting in other countries," Smith said.
Last year, Estabrook went on a three-week trip to China, to give presentations on different topics. She explained that paper and movable type were invented in China.
"The Chinese interest in literacy culture and books is longer than Western civilization," she added.
Smith said working with Estabrook has been a rewarding experience, saying she is "very creative," "very intelligent," and "extremely friendly."
"She has lots of ideas, she has enhanced all aspects of the school," Smith said.
While Estabrook was dean, the school expanded from one floor of David Kinley Hall to its current building at Fifth and Daniel streets. Two new wings were added to the building this year.
Smith believes Estabrook has also been a good role model for her students.
"She is a good example of how you can be both quite successful professionally and also be devoted to your family and their needs," Smith said.
The core of the library and information sciences field is, as Estabrook put it, "how do you store information, and how do you get it back when you need it?"
The field combines scientific knowledge about how humans store and retrieve information and technical knowledge about computer information processing.
"It's the convergence of the old-fashioned librarian and computing technology," Estabrook said.
She pointed out how cumbersome it can be to search and retrieve information by computer.
"If you try to find files and you can't find them in your computer, can you imagine what a problem it is to organize and store information in the digital age?" she said.
In the past 30 years, and particularly in the last decade, Estabrook has seen many changes in her field. The world of communications and computing has undergone major changes, such as the advent of VCRs and the Internet. This has affected policies regarding information exchange.
"There's been a profound change on the breadth of policy issues," Estabrook said, adding that such issues include copyright legislation and intellectual property rights.
From a more practical point of view, innovations such as e-mail can pose riddles. The University, for example, wants to store Estabrook's personal papers in the library archives.
"'What about e-mail,?' I asked them," she said, referring to her e-mail correspondence with faculty members at the University and other institutions.
Currently, the LIS school offers an undergraduate minor, a master's degree and a doctorate degree. The school also offers a distance learning master's degree, which combines on-campus training with Web-based instruction.
Estabrook came up with the distance learning idea in late 1995, and the program was running by the following July. She remembers this as one of the highlights of her career, calling the day the program went into effect "a real high."
She is also quick to point out that the program wouldn't exist without the collaboration and help of her staff. She believes that her staff and her working environment have been crucial throughout the years.
"I have an unbelievable staff," she said. "I love to help create an environment where everybody can do their best work."
Kathy Painter, who has worked at LIS since 1979 and is currently a secretary, said Estabrook is always supportive of her employees, ready to listen to their suggestions and ideas.
"She trusted us to do our job," Painter said. "She didn't micro-manage the staff."
Painter also added that she feels particularly grateful to Estabrook because, after a 1993 car accident, she lost an arm and was able to keep her job.
"She (Estabrook) told my coworker: 'Tell Kathy she has a job no matter what,'" Painter recalls.
After her term as dean ends, Estabrook will continue teaching at the LIS school. She also plans to work with the Chicago Public Library system to devise a strategic improvement plan.
Of her partial retirement, she said: "The reason I'm quitting (as dean) is because I found myself saying: 'we've tried that before.'"
The School of Library and Information Science will honor Estabrook and celebrate the new building additions on Sept. 21, at 10:30 a.m.
In the meantime, Estabrook plans to enjoy a trip to the Galapagos with her 8-year old grandson.
(C) 2001 Daily Illini via U-WIRE
No comments:
Post a Comment