Wegner Celebrates Fifth Anniversary with State Library

Mary Wegner is celebrating her fifth anniversary as State Librarian.  The Commission of Libraries appointed her State Librarian on October 23, 2001.

When asked about the highlights of her tenure so far, Wegner mentioned:

·        the development of the partnership with the AEAs to make EbscoHost databases available to all school, public and academic libraries in Iowa, so that Iowans have a seamless network of online resources available to them;

·        the development of the Iowa Center for the Book and the All Iowa Reads and
Letters About Literature programs;

·        the passage last spring of the legislation returning teacher librarians to the Code of Iowa; and

·        the current PLOW (Putting Libraries on the Web) project which will provide e-mail hosting, Web site hosting, and Web page development for 300 Iowa public libraries.

Said Wegner, “I’ve had the great pleasure of traveling to many Iowa libraries of all types and everywhere I see the same thing:  friendly and creative librarians doing so much with so little, working hard every day to provide the best possible services to their library customers.  I want all of Iowa’s librarians to know that I am very appreciative of their high level of commitment to serving their customers.  I grew up in Iowa, went to school in Iowa, and have worked my entire career in Iowa.  Working with Iowa librarians is the best part of my job.  They make me proud.”

She continued, “At the close of my first five years as State Librarian, it is good to look back at what we have accomplished, but important to also look forward.  One of the things we know about our work together is that the technology and the environment are rapidly changing…and our work is not done.  We must all work to identify and meet the changing needs of Iowans.  And we must also work to position libraries of all types so that they are seen as essential to their communities, whether that community is a town, a college, a school or a corporation.  We must redouble our efforts to Tell the Library Story, finding new voices and new places to tell the story."

"Here's to the next five years!"