WiLS January 2016 Member Interview: Steve Ohs

One of our greatest joys at WiLS is hearing our members tell the stories of the big and important work they are doing – interesting new projects or initiatives, or even interesting and new approaches to old projects.  And, in addition to hearing about it, it makes us even happier when we can share those stories with other members.   Each month, WiLS is proud to feature an interview with one of our library members.  This month, we are very happy to share the insights of Steve Ohs, Administrator / Director at Lakeshores Library System.

Why did you, personally, choose to work with libraries?

In 2007, I felt that I needed to make a career change. Librarianship appealed to me a great deal, so I got in touch with two friends who had gone into the field. I spent some time with them learning about their MLIS program, meeting their classmates, and meeting lots of librarians. I was immediately impressed by the dedication of the profession to meeting the informational needs of people. I became really interested in cataloging & other forms of metadata. The original plan was to go into academic librarianship, but in 2005 the opportunity to work at Lakeshores Library System (LLS) tapped me on the shoulder, and looking back I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What is unique about the culture of your member libraries? How do you influence it?

This is a really interesting question to me as a public library system person. LLS has evolved in large part to suit the unique needs of our member libraries. I think this is true for each of Wisconsin’s 17 public library systems – we have all evolved a little differently. We, like many other systems, are proud that we can provide our libraries with a strong set of services in spite of the fact that we have a small (yet intrepid) staff. We also have a wonderful corps of member library directors and staffers, who contribute a great deal to the success of the LLS community. So, I guess, my answer is more about what is not unique about LLS as a public library system.

What do you think is important to know about the patrons or community you work with? What helps you understand those needs?

It is immensely helpful to be as well informed as possible in regard to the individual challenges (political, funding, administrative, etc.) that our member libraries face. Each institution is unique. Trying to have a situational awareness of the challenges our members face is, perhaps, the thing that is most challenging to me about the job. If we understand our members, we can tailor our service package to what they really need.

What big ideas are being worked on at your library / system? What problems are being solved?

Right now, we’re just finishing up the process of moving our system office across town. We’ll be converting the SHARE Consortium database over to Unicode (finally!), and then undertaking a really exciting project to migrate the public libraries in Kenosha County into the SHARE Consortium. The process has been marked by a lot of anticipation and positive energy, and it feels really good.