WiLS July 2016 Member Interview: Jane Roisum, Fox Valley Technical College

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 interview Jane Roisum, Library Manager at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) Library.

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

Books and libraries have always been important to me. I grew up in Rio, Wisconsin where my parents kept our home well-stocked with reading materials including newspapers, magazines, and the latest new books from Scholastic magazine. When I went to college at UW-Madison, I knew I had arrived in Library Heaven.  At that time there were 25 different libraries. I could not believe all the wonderful resources suddenly available to me as a student.

I fell into a library career almost by accident. My husband and I moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma so he could get his Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University. I was looking for a job in Mechanical Drafting, but the only position I could find was working the second shift in a town about 15 miles from Stillwater. Because we had a 3-year-old son, I needed a day job close to where I was working for childcare. I found an interesting open position for a Government Documents library assistant. I got the job and worked at OSU for two years. This is where I fell in love with libraries.  When we moved back to Wisconsin I found a job at Lawrence University Library and 5 years later I moved to Fox Valley Technical College Library where I have been for 20 years as of this June. I have been a member of WLA and ALA for 20 years and have grown with the help of these organizations.

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

Our library culture is very non-hierarchical.  We all have our own special areas of expertise; we complement each other and make a great team. I feel we are all equal and each position is important to the success of the library.

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

Our community is very wide ranging. We have students coming straight from high school and students who have not been in school for decades.  It is always interesting and challenging to have such a variety of patrons with different computer and study skills. The library is part of the Student Success Center and we work closely with other departments to give our students the best educational experience.

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

FVTC is always striving to help and encourage students to be successful. FVTC’s Learning Innovations (Wisc-Online) team has come up with an online computer skills class to teach basic skills to students new to computers.  We promote this in the library and to our greater community.

The Student Success remodel in 2014 has allowed for flexible study areas within the library. There are small group study rooms with idea paint, computers with big screen TVs, and special software for specific areas of study.

Our library works closely with WiLS and WISPALS (11 Wisconsin Technical Colleges consortium) to learn how to make our library work more smoothly. The WISPALS libraries are just a phone call away; I do not know what we would do without their invaluable help. In our monthly meetings, we discuss many issues. In our July meeting, we will be discussing Open Educational Resources. We are trying to find economical textbook choices for our students to provide greater and less expensive access to resources that will help them succeed.

Through evolving consortium and library environments, we are exploring interesting ideas and solving problems.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share here?

Last semester we started a Library Card Drive Day. We wanted our students to get Appleton Public Library cards. Because of its great success last semester, we are planning to repeat it the first week of each semester.  In addition to the great resources for FVTC students, the Appleton Public Library actively encourages young readers.  Because we have many students with young children, we want them to take advantage of these library resources.  Also, APL has many other resources that complement FVTC library’s collection.

Hooray for collaboration! These interviews are part of a series of interviews with both WiLS library and vendor partners.  Your feedback is appreciated.  If you have any to offer on this article, or suggestions for upcoming interviews, contact Andrea Coffin at .