Trees van Aanholt:
I entered library pace in 1979: after try-outs in a hospital, a public, and a secondary school library, I decided in 1980 to leave this special area. I planned a new study and moved to Nijmegen. By coincidence I could do another try-out: my lucky entrance in the university library behind an information desk, and I never started my art study. I changed this job in 1989 for one in the library of Tilburg University. I’m currently Head Information Services and all my activities, in the field of operational management, are focussed on the department of customer support. In the past years I got the opportunity to do several things and participate in all kinds of committees and projects.
Kasper Abcouwer:
My name is Kasper Abcouwer and I am 29 years old. After studies in physical geography and almost two years of research and development work in Ecuador, I switched to the Pierson Révész Library at the University of Amsterdam last December. Only knowing libraries as a user, this change in profession was taking a chance. Until now working as an information specialist turns out to be very interesting and motivating.
Astrid Balsem:
In 1988, I graduated from Leiden University in Italian language and literature. During my studies I took courses in Information Science and Book History at the University of Amsterdam. Since 1991, I have worked in the Rare Book Department of Amsterdam University Library, initially as a subject specialist of book history, since 1999 as an assistant curator. From 1996 onwards, I have also been involved as a project manager for the print collections. The Special Collections of the library are heading towards a major operation: the moving of all rare books, manuscripts, maps and prints to a new building, scheduled to take place in 2005. At the same time management targets are changing. I want to be there, well equipped with the knowledge needed to help my colleagues adjust to a new situation.
Peter Blok:
I studied philosophy at the Unversity of Groningen in The Netherlands, with an emphasis on philosophy of language, logic and algebraic linguistics. I took my PhD (1993) at the same university on a subject in the interface between semantics and pragmatics. In this period, I developed a strong interest in computational linguistics, which brought me to the IBM-scientific centre in Heidelberg (Germany) where I participated in the Logic Programming based Machine Translation program. In 1998, I became the managing director of the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Since October 2001, I have worked as director of the Scientific Information Services, housing and facilities of the Faculty of Science. My main interest are the technological developments in the distribution of information in a scientific environment.
Joost Daams:
I was born on the first of January 1970. I finished my study as an ecological historian at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, in 1993. I took up another study for librarians and information specialists at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, which I finished in 1997. After several jobs I have been working at the medical library of the Amsterdam Academic Medical Centre since 1999. Currently I work there as a manager logistics and services (acquisitions, Inter-Library Loan, information desk) and as a clinical librarian (instructions in online databases, literature searches and inquiries on products and services).
Josie Driver:
I have worked in the computing field for many years, in both higher education and in commerce. I have been Electronic Services Development Manager at Leeds Metropolitan University for four years. I manage two teams, the bibliographic services team and the online services team. The bibliographic service covers the full range of acquisition and cataloguing functions, including cataloguing of electronic resources and development of self-services for the Learning Centres. The online team develop web-based material for the Student Portal, Learning Centre Online, Skills for Learning etc. as well as supporting the operation aspects of the electronic services.
Laurel Dryden:
I am the manager of the Information Management Services Section in the Library of the International Labour Office, a Geneva-based specialized agency of the United Nations. I began my career in public libraries in New Zealand, but apart from brief assignments as a children's librarian and as a cataloguer, I have, until fairly recently, mostly worked in specialized libraries providing information services. First as a research librarian at the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, followed by jobs in the Queensland State Reference Library, Brisbane, Australia, and the International Trade Centre (another UN agency). Since the early 1980s I have worked at the ILO. I began my career here as a reference librarian, but during the 1990s, even while managing the Information Services section of the Library, I began to focus more on the subject analysis of publications included in the ILO Library's database. In 1998 the change was completed and I became the manager of the Information Management Services Section of the Library.
Vidar Iversen:
I graduated from Oslo College in 2000 with a degree in library and information studies. I have previously studied a one year course in history and english. My daily job is at the reference section of the National Library of Norway, which I have been with for two years. I'm also working with issues connected to digital libraries and e-reference, such as QuestionPoint. I am 26 years old.
Eeva Laurila:
At this moment I work as a head of the Law Library in Helsinki university. Before this I was involved in licensing electronic resources in Finnish National Electronic Library, FinELib, taking care especially of STM journals and databases. During my library career I was also a secretary of Helsinki University Library Committee, an information specialist in the Institute of International Economic Law, and a librarian in the Central Union of Agricultural Produces in Finland. I have been involved in the library sector all together for 12 years. By my basic education I am master of agricultural sciences and information specialist. Leisure: I like to spend with the family in our summer cottage, enjoy sauna, swimming in the lake and gardening.
Sinikka Luokkanen:
In 1989 I graduated in physics from the University of Helsinki and in 1992 I qualified as Information Specialist. From 1989 to 1998 I worked as librarian in the Department of Physics, University of Helsinki. From 1998 to 1999 I was operating manager of the VTLS of Finland supporting the Finnish customers of the VTLS library system. In 2000-2001 I was a planning officer in the Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki. From 1 July 2001 onwards, I have been the chief librarian of the Kumpula Science Library, which was established in March 1st, 2001.
Meg Message:
I have worked in academic libraries for seventeen years and have been a senior manager at Leeds Metropolitan University for the last four years. Leading a multidisciplinary team of staff, I am responsible for the management and development of Learning Centre provision at City Campus to support the needs of the academic programme. I also have a principal responsibility taking a lead role for staff development across Learning Support Services. For six years prior to this I was manager of the European Information Centre, based in the University Library and part of a network established by the European Commission.
Bhaksho Raj:
I have been recently appointed to my current post as Assistant Director (Planning and Administration) in Information Services at the University of Birmingham, UK. My role involves leading and directing my Division and for ensuring the efficient management of financial, human, spatial and equipment resources. My career began with Bedfordshire County Council working in the County Record Office. My career history has mainly been in Local Government in Administration Management covering Personnel, Finance and Information Management. I also have experience in the Private Sector, working for a leading training organisation called The Industrial Society, as part of a national Inner Cities Programme. I have a Masters Degree in Business Administration and half way through an Open University Psychology Degree.
Liisa Rajamäki:
I have graduated from the University of Helsinki majoring in history and afterwards qualified as an Information Specialist. Since 1974, I have headed the Theology Library at the University of Helsinki. Besides administrative duties I have been responsible for acquisitions, but as it is a small library, I have dealt with all aspects of library work. I have participated in many cooperative library bodies and projects at the University, e.g., been for a long time a member of the University Library Board. I have been nominated to lead the collaboration of the City Campus Libraries (Helsinki University Library, Undergraduate Library and five faculty libraries) in 2002-2003.
Eloy Rodrigues:
I work at Minho University Libraries, I'm Head of Information Services, and I'm interested in digital libraries and information behaviour.
Birgitte Sønderkær:
I work at the library of the Aarhus School of Business as deputy librarian and team manager of the Acquisitions and Information Services team. My main responsibilities are to coordinate acquisitions of books, databases and journals in print or electronic form and to coordinate information services, i.e., reference services, virtual libraries, tailored information to students, teachers and researchers via personal librarians, and user instruction. As I have worked more than 25 years in the library, I have had a number of different functions and have been in charge of several development projects. The latest project called "Electronic Information Services and Publishing of Research Results" was partly financed by Denmark's Electronic Research Library. The rapid development of the library towards an electronic library and the changing demands of the users are challenges that I find very interesting. I am 52 years old and still eager to learn. My favourite hobbies are travelling, tennis and reading.
Bistra Stambolova:
I'm born in Varna, Bulgaria on 24.01.1946. In 1973, I took my degree in University of Economics - Varna . Since 1978 I have been working in the University library of the University of Economics in Varna. I spent 14 years in the Loan department (from 1978 till 1992), 8 of them as a responsible of the department. Since 1992 I've been working in the Acquisition department where I'm still working as a responsible of the department. In 1982, I specialised in Sofia University in bibliography and library sciences. I'm married and am a mother of two grown-up sons.
Olga Steen:
My studies are in the areas of information systems and management. I have a degree in Software and Computer Engineering (1991) and an MSc in Management Information systems (1996), both from the University of Minho, Portugal. More recently, in 1999, I completed a certificate in management studies in the UK. During my studies and research years I worked as IT trainer and computing lecturer. In 1995, I went to England to take up a research fellowship at the University of Kent. But research wasn't me, so in 1997 I decided to make a career change towards user support, service provision and management. I joined then the systems group at the library of Canterbury Christ Church University College, UK. With this job I entered the 'library world'. Since 1999, I have lived in the Netherlands working as the head of the Information Centre at Telematica Instituut, a research institute in the area of ICT. I manage a four-person team responsible for effectively support researchers and other support staff in their varied information needs.
Ray Tier:
I have been in my current post as Assistant Director, Information and Computing Systems for four and a half years and have recently been appointed Deputy Director of Information Services. My responsibilities include the management and development of the University's C & IT infrastructure, networks, corporate email and web services, computer clusters, library management systems and electronic information services. My previous career has been spent entirely in C & IT for the past 20 years at a Senior Management Level, in higher education, private industry and local government. A graduate of Cambridge University, my interest include travel, art and architecture.
Saskia Windhouwer:
After graduating at the Library and Documentation Academy of Amsterdam in 1988, I started working as a librarian at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF). In 1991, I became head of the library, and in 1998, I was appointed head of a new department of AMOLF, the Central Information Agency. This department was responsible for the whole of the information services at the institute: library, internet, intranet and database management. In the same year, I started following AMBI courses on Information Technology. I first analysed the problems of the information services at AMOLF, then I designed, built and maintained the intranet and internet, and finally I designed databases (for an Oracle database). Since 2002, I have worked as a Central Information Specialist at the Netherlands Institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). NIOO-KNAW has three centres in the Netherlands. My main job is to reorganise the obsolete libraries to modern (electronic), uniform libraries and assist the employees with finding and managing their information.
Mark Wolffe:
Present post: Faculty Librarian and subject specialist Architectural Sciences, TU Eindhoven (Netherlands). My previous employment has been divided between working in (scientific) libraries and in tertiary education. Prior to taking up my present post, I was employed by the Faculty of Architecture at the TU Delft. My task was to develop better assessment methods for testing design skills of undergraduates. Other work in the field of education includes research and (postgraduate) teaching in the applications of remote sensing for urban research. Before reading for my degree, I worked for a number of years in a university library. First in the "Short Loan" section and at the loan desk of the main reading room, later in the Manuscrips and Archives Division. I left this job to follow a degree in Architecture and finally graduated with an MSc in Urban Planning and Design. I later completed a post-graduate course in document and information management. From the above it is clear that my interests and skills are in the fields of the Architectural Sciences (tertiary) education, and scientific libraries.
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