John Small became North Central College's second Clare and Lucy Oesterle Director of Library Services on August 1, 2008. Issues of immediate interest to him include electronic resources, outreach, instruction, and collections. John is looking forward to meeting everyone in the community, and extending library services and support to all.

John has a bachelor of arts in history from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a master of arts in library and information studies from Northern Illinois University. An experienced library administrator, he was most recently the University Librarian at DeVry University, where he was responsible for the strategic planning and fiscal management of all 23 campus libraries. During his tenure there, he unified the libraries into one system.

Prior to going to DeVry, John served as Resources Librarian at Central Missouri State University, where he was responsible for the electronic resources collection, was involved in campus governance, and was heavily involved in the design and implementation of a new library building.

After making a mid-life career change and earning a master of arts in library and information studies degree from Northern Illinois University, Rosemary Henders followed a path through a public library and a community college library before landing at North Central College, where she found her passion as Oesterle Library’s Instructional Services Librarian. “I switched from an education major as an undergrad to a double major in psychology and sociology, earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. Apparently I was saving up that teaching energy for the academic library!”

Rosemary feels privileged to be included in the academic lives of so many NCC students, having contact with all of the English 115 and 125 classes, as well as most IDS 125, many speech communication classes, and a variety of other Arts & Letters courses. “I meet many of our students first when they come to library orientation during Welcome Week; by the time I watch them receive their diplomas four years later they’ve become an important part of my life. I love to watch them mature from that rather mundane Speech 100 topic I first help them research to the sophisticated research topics that round out their college careers.” When Rosemary takes a break from instruction, she creates exhibits for the library, edits the library newsletter, and selects library resources in all Arts & Letters disciplines.

In her spare time, Rosemary loves to garden, travel, and read. She also applies her love of teaching to ESL tutoring for Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley. She has two adult children, both NCC graduates.

Meet Aimee Walker, Coordinator of User Experience. You may be more familiar with her as Aimee Sayles ’06 in the role of part-time Reference Services Librarian, or prior to that as a Student Coordinator.

Regarding her new position, Aimee says, "I'm so excited to be back on the campus I call home. I'm looking forward to working with the faculty in the Division of Economics and Business and implementing new and exciting library technologies that will benefit the entire campus community." In addition, she spends her days updating and maintaining the library web site and managing the Reference Collection.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in broadcast communication with a business minor, Aimee went on to earn her master of library and information science degree at Dominican University. She has served on a national library instruction conference planning committee for LOEX 2008 and is currently a member of a statewide committee, the I-Share Instruction Team, providing continuing education experiences for the members of The Consortium of College and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI).

In her spare time, Aimee enjoys gaming, spending time with family and friends, and traveling.

Tom Gill, Instructional Media Coordinator, is probably the most visible library staff member. He can be spotted all over campus installing or maintaining the vast array of audiovisual equipment faculty and staff rely on for instruction and other presentations. In addition to researching and selecting the most up-to-date and effective equipment to meet campus needs, Tom is often called upon to troubleshoot problems on a moment's notice.

His day starts at 7:00 a.m., ensuring that equipment is functioning for those early morning classes and other functions. The Instructional Media Lab is a popular spot where faculty and staff can capture and edit videos, create DVDs and streaming video/audio, scan and edit photos, and create other multimedia projects, receiving instruction from Tom as needed.

Tom, who has worked at the Library for eleven years, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in industrial design from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His artistic talent is evident in the many posters and signs he creates for library functions. He also puts his passion for photography to good use as the library photographer.

In addition to photography, Tom's hobbies include woodworking, painting (watercolor, acrylic and oils), gardening, and hiking with his three sons.

Janet Miranda is one of two part-time Reference Services Librarians at Oesterle Library. That means you will only meet her if you visit the library during the evening or on weekends.

Janet brings a wide variety of experience to her job. She has worked in both public services and technical services departments in large and small academic libraries, as well as working inlaw library and a public library.

Janet comments, “I love working in an academic library because I enjoy hearing what students are researching and I enjoy hearing about their adventures and the study abroad trips they take. I cannot imagine not working in a library. I have been told I'm addicted to reading. Many times when I used to catalog books my co-workers would call out in unison to ‘stop reading the books!’”

Janet has a BA from Northern Illinois University in English and journalism and earned a Master of Library and Information Science degree at Dominican University in 1996.

In addition to reading she enjoys traveling. She is excited that her children are now old enough to read, research, and travel with her.

Meet Heidi Kaul, Circulation and Reserves Assistant. If you are a professor putting materials on reserve for your class or a student borrowing an item that is on reserve, Heidi is the person who manages the service.

In addition, she keeps the circulation operations running smoothly, including tracking down overdue items so that other patrons may check them out. Heidi also oversees the maintenance of the shelves so that you can easily find the materials for which you're looking. Heidi feels the best part of her job is that she gets to interact with and assist everyone who uses the library.

Heidi graduated from North Central College with a bachelor's degree in psychology and religious studies. She has worked her way up the ranks, starting out as an Oesterle Library Student Assistant, rapidly moving up to Student Coordinator when that job was created. In her free time Heidi enjoys going to concerts and movies, and spending time with family and friends.

Jennie Johnson is a whiz at solving electronic journal delivery problems for library staff and patrons. Perhaps it’s the satisfaction of successfully troubleshooting and solving quirky access problems that inspired her to pursue a master’s of library and information science through the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee’s online degree program. Jennie manages the library’s print journal collection as well as the online collection.

You will frequently see her out in the Periodicals Room sorting, filing, and labeling as well as helping students find what they need and use the digital reader printer to access articles from microforms. She is also one of the rotating staff at the Information Services Desk. Problem solving is definitely one of Jennie’s favorite activities, though she admits to just enjoying working with students in general, be they Library Student Assistants or researchers needing a little nudge in the right direction.

Jennie earned a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in history at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, where she worked three years as a student assistant in the library. She lives in Chicago and enjoys exploring the city when she’s not reading or indulging her love of food: cooking, baking, dining out, or entertaining.

Without Nancy Kamrath, Oesterle Library would not have orderly, easy to locate books and media on its shelves. As Cataloging Assistant, Nancy does collection maintenance, and of course, cataloging. Cataloging an item involves making sure it matches the description that the library has for it in the online catalog, seeing that the appropriate call number is attached, and any necessary corrections have been made.

Nancy works with the student assistants in the processing of the new materials. You may also see her behind the Information Services Desk assisting students with their library needs. Her job as Cataloging Assistant allows students to find the well maintained items that they need.

Nancy Kamrath has a bachelor’s degree in education from Lewis University and taught elementary school prior to taking a job at the Naperville Public Library, and later at Oesterle Library. Outside of work, Nancy likes to line dance, hike, and read.

As Oesterle Library's Access Services Coordinator, Belinda Cheek wears several hats in support of day-to-day library operations. One of her major responsibilities is supervising the library's Access Services staff—the people who make it possible for you to check out materials from the library.

Belinda also maintains the software and systems used by the library to keep track of materials and borrower records. But not everything Belinda does is behind-the-scenes: you'll also see her answering reference questions, and teaching library instruction sessions.

Belinda Cheek received her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from North Central College, and he Master of Arts in Library and Information Studies from Northern Illinois University. As a student at North Central, Belinda worked at Oesterle Library and was inspired by her co-workers to continue her education in library science. When not at the library, Belinda directs her church's handbell choirs and enjoys reading.

Technical Services Coordinator Emily Prather-Rodgers learns something new every day, “either because I pick up a new book about something I've never heard of, because I'm helping a student research a topic in an unfamiliar field, or because I have such smart colleagues who are willing to share their interests and expertise.”

All this while making sure library materials are ordered and made available online or on the shelves by the technical services staff in a timely manner; overseeing special collections, including the Sang Jazz Collection, the Leffler Lincoln Collection, and other rare and special items, helping to maintain the Library Services Web page, and serving as liaison to the science division!

Emily earned a bachelor of arts degree in art history at Transylvania University, followed by a master of science in library science from the University of Kentucky. She’s worked in libraries since she was 21years old, and at Oesterle Library since August, 2007.

Emily serves on the NCC judicial board, as well as on several American Library Association committees, and volunteers at Naper Settlement. She owns two cats and likes to garden.

Variety is the spice of life for College Archivist Kim Butler. "It's always something different," Kim comments in explaining why she still enjoys what she's been doing for nearly ten years. "Some days my job is working to organize and figure out which papers, photographs, videotapes, or 3D objects to keep permanently as they come in from offices that no longer need them. I love coming across treasures that have been buried for a long time and now I've been able to make them accessible once again. Other times my job is working with researchers or doing research using the materials I've already organized in the Archives; the questions and subjects are always different."

Kim was initially attracted to the job as the school's first full-time professionally trained archivist because it offered the opportunity to do all facets of archival work. "The opportunity to organize an archives from scratch is not something an archivist gets to do too often, if ever, in their careers." She regularly creates displays for the library lobby and around campus on subjects that pique her interest. Kim has a missionary zeal for teaching faculty and students how many ways the Archives' primary resources can be used.

Kim holds a bachelor of arts degree in American history from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master of arts degree in history from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Her previous work experience includes the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives, Chicago Historical Society, and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, camping, traveling, and playing with her two dogs.

Part-time Reference Services Librarian Jane Egan works evenings and weekends at the Information Services Desk helping students with research. Jane invites the NCC community, "Please do stop by and ask for help with any questions you may have in the library."

Prior to moving to Illinois, Jane worked at the University of Wisconsin (UW) - Milwaukee library as a Reference Librarian and Library Instruction Coordinator. What does she like best about her job? “Helping people and the challenge of assisting students to find particular data or articles on their topics. The most important part of my job is to introduce the students to the diverse resources available to them and teach them the skills to feel comfortable using them during their college careers.”

Jane earned her master of library and information science degree from UW-Milwaukee. She also has a B.A. in French with a minor in European History from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's in French from UW - Madison.

Oesterle's June Johnson facilitates the exchange of books and articles between North Central College and other schools: she is in charge of Interlibrary Loan. June is also the Reference Services Assistant, showing students how to gather information using online resources. Junes loves the library atmosphere, which allows her to interact with people of varying ages.

June received her associate degree from Joliet Junior College and has taken classes in the library technical assistant program at College of DuPage. After working at the Bolingbrook Public Library for five years, June made the move to Oesterle Library in order to become more involved in the interlibrary loan system.

June is very active outside of the library and enjoys most sports including golf, softball, camping, boating, biking, and of course, reading.

Diana LeVerso Canna, Oesterle Library's new Secretary, has come full circle as she returns to North Central, where she earned a degree in sociology in 2003. The skills she developed running the office of a small court reporting agency for the past 6 years make her eminently qualified to handle the bookkeeping, correspondence, reports, statistics gathering, and many other tasks that support the smooth operation of the library.

Diana is new to the library world, having worked in Admissions as an undergraduate. She is, "looking forward to working in an academic environment, being back on campus, and working with other campus staff, in addition to working with the Director and the students."

Married to NCC alum Joe Canna '03, Diana enjoys knitting, music, and spending time with family and friends in her spare time.