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Jane Botham received her Master’s Degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Library and Information Science. Before becoming Coordinator of Children’s Services for Milwaukee Public Library (1980-1998), she worked at New York Public Library, San Francisco Public Library, New York State Library and as the marketing director at Bradbury Press.

As Coordinator of Children’s Services, Jane was a leader of youth services staff at the Central library and the 12 neighborhood libraries as well as the Mobile Library in the Milwaukee Public Library system. Jane was noted for her clear vision, passionate advocacy, children’s and teen book expertise, and unceasing commitment to bringing librarians, community organizations, book creators and kids together to provide respectful child- and family-centered library service.

Jane Botham was a true force in youth services in Milwaukee, in the state and nationally. Her leadership in youth services was well known and fell into a number of categories:

Innovation

Jane’s experience in other large metropolitan libraries as well as her five years in publishing gave her a unique perspective on creating responsive services. “After having worked in publishing, Botham was able to share with library colleagues a valuable understanding of the publishing industry and its relationship to children’s librarianship.” [“Botham Honored as DSA.” Children and Libraries, Spring 2009. pp 55-56,]. She celebrated books and book creators, championing author visits to Milwaukee and creating the highly successful Poetry Concerts in the 1980s that brought nationally known children’s poets to the city. While chairing the Caldecott Committee in 1992, Jane facilitated a series of discussions for children and parents to involve them in the process of evaluating art in picture books.  An extension of the Milwaukee Reads program, this project was done in cooperation with the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Education.  [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. October 22, 1992 and MPL Brochure “Let’s Talk About Picture Books for Children”]

Collaboration/Networking

Jane felt strongly that the library was an integral part of the community. She forged many invaluable collaborations and networks between the library and Milwaukee arts, educational, schools and community groups and individuals. She brought together leading youth-serving organizations like museums, nature centers, and cultural organizations to meet bi-monthly and created vibrant community collaborative programs with them including one with renowned author Nancy Eckholm Burkert and the Milwaukee Art Museum. [“Art Literature and Poetry: Milwaukee PL Supports Culture.” School Library Journal, June/July 1987, pp 32-36] These creative and multi-faceted programs were beneficial to the citizens of Milwaukee, the organizations, the individual artists, authors, and community workers, as well as providing opportunities for librarians to grow professionally and become integral members of their neighborhoods and the city-at-large. As Jane herself said, “I think networking is the ultimate tool for children’s librarians. The more people you know, the better off you are.” [“Reading, Responsibility and Respect: Jane Botham on the Three R’s of Library Service to Children.” School Library Journal. September, 1994. pp.134-138]

Mentorship/Teaching

Jane was a mentor not just to the MPL youth staff but also to many, many Wisconsin Library Association Youth Services Section members and youth librarians throughout the state. Jane’s leadership, wise counsel, and support of youth librarians was legendary. There are many career librarians in Wisconsin – many now also retired  – who were fortunate to be counted among her proteges. She encouraged MPL librarians and youth librarians around the state to become active in local organizations and state and national library association work. Jane energized staff and proteges not only to attend conferences and seminars, but to take an active role in presenting and speaking on panels locally, statewide, and nationally as well. That support, which included making appointments of WI children’s and teen library staff to Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) committees, brought the voices of many Wisconsin professionals to the tables at ALA and created life-long library leaders in children’s work and library management positions on the state and national level.

Advocacy/Leadership

Jane was a strong advocate for quality children’s books, the importance of children’s library services in the constellation of services that libraries offer, and the training of youth services librarians to be leaders in their libraries and communities. Her voice was always an important one at any table of librarianship. She also recognized the fundamental powerlessness of children and advocated tirelessly for their right to read and to be informed by children’s literature. She was a strong leader and an exemplar of excellent library service locally, statewide and nationally and served as the President of the Friends of the CCBC during her career. After her retirement, she continued to advocate and support excellence in youth services and youth publishing and to mentor WI youth librarians.

Meeting Children Where They Are

Jane was a strong proponent of the public library serving the “whole child,” with their wide and varied interests. She focused on ways to listen to what children showed interest in and tying service and recommendations for materials conversationally into any interaction. She worked with others to create welcoming, supportive environments and services for children and families – always encouraging staff to get up and greet kids and families as they enter the library. She believed in respecting kids and treating them fairly. As Jane once said, “Children need to have adults who support them in their interests and who can respect them for who they are. That’s what a librarian can do more than anything else.” [“Reading, Responsibility and Respect: Jane Botham on the Three R’s of Library Service to Children.” School Library Journal. September, 1994. pp.134-138]

Supporting Professional Development

Jane’s leadership and coaching was evident on a daily basis within Wisconsin. She was an unstinting champion of making good books available to kids. She encouraged and developed MPL librarians’ critical skills in evaluating, critiquing, reviewing, and promoting children’s books, from both a literary and visual perspective. She helped facilitate appearances of many children’s book creators to Milwaukee for library programs, including Ashley Bryan, Kevin Henkes, Ava Weiss, Phillip Pullman and many others. She instilled in librarians an appreciation for the heritage and importance of children’s librarianship and literature and the role children’s librarians could play in the future of the profession.

Miriam Erickson (May 21, 1932 – Sept. 24, 2024) began working in the library world in 1968 and fifty-four years later continues to support libraries today. As a school library media specialist, she was a visionary leader who demonstrated in practical terms how the internet, online resources, library automation, and interlibrary loan could revolutionize not only her small district’s school library services but also those for other Door County schools and public libraries. Her influence stretched across Wisconsin.  A one-woman idea machine, Miriam never took “no” for answer, instead responding “couldn’t we just…” and then articulated another strategy to reach a goal.

At a local level, Miriam was a Home Economics teacher for Gibraltar Area Schools in 1960 and held that position for eight years before she attended UW-Milwaukee for two summers, where she earned her Master’s in Library Science in 1974.ⁱ

In 1968, Miriam became the school library media specialist at Gibraltar High School, a position she held until 1998.ⁱⁱ   She was a pioneer in bringing Internet access to schools and libraries in northeast Wisconsin. She became “the unwavering force that drove Gibraltar into the connected age, and in 1979 succeeded in getting a terminal installed that connected Gibraltar to the library at UW-Green Bay (UWGB),” according to a 2015 Door County Pulse article entitled “Getting Connected: Unlikely Group Brought Internet to Northern Door County.”ⁱⁱⁱ  In the 1980s, Miriam also helped create the first computer network in the area at Gibraltar. ^iv

In a June 9, 2022, interview with Nicolet Federated Library System (NFLS), Miriam recalled her role in “Bringing in [library] automation – bringing technology to the process. It was a big endeavor because some people were very much afraid of it – they were afraid of losing their jobs. It was a big change, but it was for the betterment of services for our clients – so it was worth the effort.”^v

In the public library realm, Miriam served as the president^vi  and treasurer^vii  of the Door County Library Board, a member of the Door County Library Foundation, Inc., and as a member of the Friends of Door County Libraries.^viii Tracy Vreeke, System Director for the Nicolet Federated Library System and former staff member at the Door County Library, recalled Miriam’s “wealth of knowledge and history,” how Miriam encouraged her in her pursuit of career growth in the library profession, and “steered (her) toward some scholarship options to help (her) fund (her) way through library school and attain an MLIS.”^ix

At a regional level, Miriam was a strong supporter of library cooperation and collaboration. One prime example is that when the WISCAT project started in the early 1980s, Miriam led a contingent of Door County libraries in volunteering to beta test the MITINET cataloging program.  MITINET allowed non-OCLC libraries to contribute their titles to WISCAT. She and her fellow librarians provided valuable feedback on the MITINET program to make it easier and more intuitive to use.  From a broader perspective, Miriam realized that it would be advantageous to the Door County schools and public libraries to get their titles into WISCAT, Wisconsin’s statewide library catalog. Contributing their collection records to WISCAT enhanced resource sharing to the ultimate benefit of the students and public library users in Door
County.^x

Miriam joined the Nicolet Federated Library System Board^xi in 1990 and was their longest standing board member at 32 years of its 46 years of existence, serving as president and chair of the Personnel Committee and is someone “to whom other long-standing board members look for advice and background on many library issues.”^xii  Miriam served in leadership roles^xiii as a member of the Northeast Wisconsin Intertype Libraries (NEWIL) Board. She was an early advocate for use of educational television programming in classroom, and in the 1980s and 1990s she was a board member and served as president of the Northeast Wisconsin In-School Telecommunications Board (NEWIST). As a librarian and educator, Miriam not only supported the creation of educational television programming on socially sensitive issues such as suicide, teen pregnancy, AIDS, and sexual abuse, but she also encouraged teachers in her school and in other districts to use the programs in their classroom lessons. The programs were aired on Wisconsin Public Television’s daytime programming for classroom use as well as for evening viewing^.xiv

At a state level, as a long-time member of WLA and the school library division, Miriam was named School Library Media Specialist of the Year in 1984 for her exemplary school library program and its integration of multiple new technologies.^xv As a Door County Library trustee, she worked tirelessly to integrate various technologies to improve users’ access to library resources. In 2000, Miriam was named Wisconsin Library Trustee of the Year by WLA.^xvi

Beginning in 1985, Miriam was an active member of the Wisconsin Education Media & Technology Association (WEMTA) [formerly WEMA], serving as a member of the Board, chair of the Legislative Committee, and chair of the Collaboration Committee.^xvii For her advocacy and legislative efforts, Miriam received the following WEMTA awards: Special Service Recognition Award (1986), Award of Excellence (1991), President’s Award (1999), and the
Emeritus Award^xviii (1999).^xix

Miriam was first appointed to Wisconsin Council on Library and Information Network Development (COLAND)^xx, a group that identifies and studies issues affecting all types of Wisconsin’s libraries, in 1991. Appointed and re-appointed to COLAND by five different Wisconsin Governors (both Democratic and Republican), she was chair of COLAND in 2011 and vice-chair from 2019 to 2022. ^{xxi xxii}

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) frequently called on Miriam’s experience as a school library media specialist including appointing her to PK-12 Technology Plan Committee. In 2002-2003, Miriam contributed her expertise to the updating of the Wisconsin DPI PK-12 Technology/Information Literacy Plan. Miriam was a member of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Advisory Committee and in 2000-2001 served as chair of the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund Advisory Committee.^xxiii

Miriam co-authored an article in the Summer 1983 issue of the Wisconsin Library Bulletin entitled “Getting to Know Your Computer: Love at First Byte,”^xxiv in which she shared her philosophy about the computer being an integral part of the Instructional Media Center.

Although Miriam promoted the use of technology and online resources, she loved high quality children’s and young adult books. To support excellent literature for students K-12, Miriam served on the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Advisory Board.^xxv

At a national level, Miriam was a member of the American Association of School Librarians and worked on several AASL committees. Of greater significance, however, is that Miriam served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIS) in Washington, DC, from July 9-13, 1991. ^xxvi After the conference, Miriam hosted an annual meeting in Door County of all the Wisconsin delegates to work on Wisconsin library issues. ^xxvii Those informal annual meetings ensured that the objectives set during the 1991 WHCLIS conference were strategically carried out in Wisconsin.

In 2000, the Wisconsin DPI’s Division for Library Services added Miriam to the American Library Association (ALA) American Association of Library Trustees (ALTA) National Advocacy Honor Roll, ^xxviii an award for “Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Library Service.” Individuals and organizations named to the Honor Roll were those who had actively supported and strengthened library services at the local, state or national levels over the last 10 years.^xxix Additionally, in 1992, the national Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) recognized Miriam as Wisconsin Media Specialist of the Year for her early and innovative use of technology in school libraries.^xxx

Miriam retired as a librarian in 1999 with decades of library service on her resume; however, she continued to advocate for all types of libraries and remained very active in library, educational, and cultural activities in her Door County community and at the state level. She said in her June 9, 2022, interview with NFLS that “It’s just been a pleasure working in this field of endeavor, and I’ve enjoyed it. I was a teacher for eight years; and when I switched to library services, it was a different field but one that I really thoroughly enjoyed. It’s been a fun ride!”^xxxi

A Wisconsin native, Miriam obtained a BS degree from the UW-Stout, and holds a master’s degree in Library Science from the UW-Milwaukee.^xxxii

Sources:
ⁱ Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
ⁱⁱ Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
ⁱⁱⁱ Getting Connected: Unlikely Group Brought Internet to Northern Door County (https://doorcountypulse.com/getting-connected-unlikely-group-brought-internet-to-northerndoor-county/)
^iv Miriam Erickson Named Philanthropist of the Year By Andrew Phillips, Peninsula Pulse – July 22nd, 2010
^v June 9, 2022, Zoom interview of Miriam Erickson by Lori Baumgart, Nicolet Federated Library System
^vi Email from Laura Kayacan, Door County Library, to Becca Berger, NFLS Board PresidentElect, on August 22, 2022
^vii October 18, 2021 Door County Library Board Meeting Minutes, page 28, stored at https://www.doorcountysheriff.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10182021-1056
^viii Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^ix Letter from Tracy Vreeke to the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Steering Committee, August 23, 2022
^x Bob Bocher email to Helen Adams, May 19, 2020
^xi NFLS website: https://www.nfls.lib.wi.us/board.html xii Letter from Tracy Vreeke to the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Steering Committee,
August 23, 2022
^xiii Wisconsin Library Bulletin, November-December 1975, page 192, 326:
https://books.google.com/books?id=n_caAAAAMAAJ&lpg=RA1-
PA326&dq=miriam%20erickson%20gibraltar%20school%20district%20wi&pg=RA2-
PA182#v=onepage&q=miriam%20erickson&f=false
^xiv Eileen Littig, NEWIST director, interview by Helen Adams, August 14, 2022 ^xv Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xvi Alice Sturzl email to Helen Adams, November 11, 2019
^xvii Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xviii WEMTA Emeritus Members listing: https://www.wemta.org/membership/emeritusmembers.cfm
^xix WEMA Membership Directory, 2005, p. 7-8. xx Email from Marko Uzeirovic, Appointments Director, Office of Governor Tony Evers to Lori
Baumgart on July 21, 2022 xxi Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020 xxii https://dpi.wi.gov/coland/members
^xxiii Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xxiv Getting to Know Your Computer: Love at First Byte by – Miriam Erickson with Gary Jones, Wisconsin Library Bulletin, Volumes 77-78, pp. 51-52 (Summer 1983) xxv Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xxvi Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xxvii Larry Nix email to Helen Adams, November 8, 2019
^xxviii Letter from Patricia H. Fisher, ALTA President to Miriam Erickson, dated April 10, 2000 xxix Larry Nix email to Helen Adams, November 8, 2019 xxx Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xxxi June 9, 2022 Zoom interview of Miriam Erickson by Lori Baumgart, Nicolet Federated Library System
^xxxii Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020 xxxiii Email from Lori Holtz, Administrative Assistant, Door County, August 18, 2022
^xxxiv Email from Laura Kayacan, Door County Library, to Becca Berger, NFLS Board PresidentElect, on August 22, 2022 xxxv Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xxxvi October 18, 2021 Door County Library Board Meeting Minutes, page 4, stored at https://www.doorcountysheriff.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10182021-1056
xxxvii Alice Sturzl email to Helen Adams, November 11, 2019.
^xxxviii Email from Marko Uzeirovic, Appointments Director, Office of Governor Tony Evers to Lori Baumgart on July 21, 2022 xxxix Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020 xl Wisconsin Educational Media Association 2003 Directory, p. 8.
^xli Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020.
^xlii Wisconsin Educational Media Association 2003 Directory, p. 7.
^xliii Miriam M. Erickson Resume, December 28, 2020
^xliv Wisconsin Educational Media Association 2003 Directory, p. 8.
^xlv https://www.wemta.org/membership/emeritus-members.cfm
^xlvi Alice Sturzl email to Helen Adams, November 11, 2019
^xlvii American Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) Advocacy Honor Roll Honorees, 2000:
https://www.ala.org/ala/alta/altaadvocacy/advocacyhonorroll2000/AdvHonRollBan2000.htm

Nancy Marshall (1935-2018) was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame at the Wisconsin Library Association Conference in Wisconsin Dells on October, 10, 2019.
 
Following her graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a master’s degree in Library Science at the age of 39, Nancy Marshall quickly made a name for herself both statewide and nationally.  Throughout her career, Marshall was a leader in the library community, particularly in the area of library cooperation, resource sharing, and copyright. 
 
From 1972 until 1979, she served as founding director of the Wisconsin InterLibrary Services (WiLS), a cooperative organization for resource sharing, guiding it through its first years of operation.  In 1976, she was appointed to the newly established position of Director of the Wisconsin Library Consortium. During this time, she was a member of the OCLC Board of Trustees and served as president of the OCLC User’s Council. During the mid-1970s, she worked on the development of a statewide union list of serials as a member of an ad hoc committee of the Council of Wisconsin Libraries.  She also served on the board of directors of MIDLNET, the Midwest Library Network, an academic consortium representing 9 states.  According to Charles Bunge, a  contemporary of Nancy’s and a 2009 Hall of Fame inductee, “Nancy had great interpersonal and organizational skills, and she made WILS work.  Networking and resource sharing were growing in importance in Wisconsin at that time, and WILS was a key component.”
 
From 1979 until 1986, Nancy was the Associate Director of Libraries for Public Service at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  During her tenure, she continued to focus on copyright and resource sharing.  She served on the working group of the Wisconsin Library Network Plan and was a member of the Statewide Committee on Interlibrary Loan and Reference Referral.  In regard to her continuing work with the American Library Association, she became an expert on copyright, especially fair use issues and the rights of libraries and library users to copy and use copyrighted materials. During this time, she also served as president of the American Library Association’s Reference and Adult Services Division.  In 1982, she was honored as the Wisconsin Library Association’s Librarian of the Year.
 
In 1986, Marshall accepted the position of Dean of the University Libraries at the College of William and Mary, where she remained throughout the rest of her professional career.  Her many accomplishments include the growth and modernization of Swem Library, planning and fundraising for two separate renovations and expansions, which more than doubled its size and transformed the 1965 building into a state-of-the-art facility.   During her years as Dean and continuing thereafter, Swem has been ranked among the best college libraries in the nation by the Princeton Review.  In addition, Marshall played a key role in the formation of the Virtual Library of Virginia, a statewide academic consortium that facilitated the collective purchase of online resources to serve the state’s higher education students.  Marshall retired in 1997, the same year that she was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer.  Two years earlier, she received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies for her outstanding leadership in library service.
 
A two-time cancer survivor, Marshall went on to enjoy a productive retirement, which was spent, for the most part, in Maine.  She had always had a fascination with Clement Moore’s poem, “Night Before Christmas”.  As she described it to a Portland Press-Herald reporter, ““I started out buying Little Golden Books, the 29-cent versions, and then I began collecting other copies from around the world with different illustrators. I got obsessed.”  Starting in the 1960s, this obsession grew to include more than 1000 books, manuscripts, memorabilia, and realia in her personal library and inspired her to write the book, “The Night Before Christmas:  A Descriptive Bibliography of Clement Moore’s Immortal Poem”, published in 2002.  She donated her collection to the Swem Library in 2005, and each year since then items from her collection are put display during December and January.  A gallery on the library’s first floor, adjacent to the Special Collections Research Center, was named in her honor.

Robert (Bob) Bocher dedicated his career to the use of technology to improve library service to the public, emerging as a state and national leader in this field.  He worked for decades to improve resource sharing throughout the state and saw the proliferation of library system and multi-system shared integrated library systems which helped make Wisconsin number one nationally in public library resource sharing per capita.

Bocher championed the development of library systems’ wide area networks through his tireless work with BadgerNet, WiscNet, TEACH and the federal e-rate programs to help bring fast and affordable advanced telecommunications to Wisconsin schools and libraries, including those in small and rural communities. Through this work, Bocher became both a state and national e-rate expert.
   
During his career with Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and continuing on into retirement, Bocher lent his expertise to libraries nationally through his work with many information technology committees and as an ALA Fellow. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) which administers the federal E-rate program and the Universal Service Fund (USF).

Locally and statewide he was always available to answer questions and provide consultation with both library system and public library information technology projects. He always provided assistance with never ending patience and a smile. Bob Bocher actually gave a true and sincere meaning to the old cynical, bureaucratic line, “I’m from the State and I’m here to help.”