Reference librarian retiring after 31-year career

A reference librarian who has held several roles during her 31-year career, including head of the interlibrary loan department and coordinator of the Foundation Collection, will retire this spring from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Kansas native Kathleen Heuvelman, who came to UWSP in 1970 after three years as a high school librarian in Ulysses, Kan., will leave her post at the end of the semester.

Heuvelman says she has found her day-to-day contacts with students, faculty and community patrons of the UWSP library to be both challenging and rewarding. It is challenging when she is asked to help find very specialized information (involving knowledge of more than 100 research data bases as well as traditional print sources) and rewarding when her efforts lead to answers needed by researchers.

Heuvelman’s outstanding assistance to researchers was recognized in 1989 when she was honored for distinguished service by the Central Wisconsin Chapter of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.

Committed throughout her career to library resource sharing, Heuvelman says the automation of libraries has led to a revolution in searching for information beyond the walls of the building.

"When I began here in 1970, interlibrary loan relied on paper tools such as the National Union Catalog, a 754–volume list of books published prior to 1956. Now the existence of worldwide union lists and electronic networks have made sharing library materials a global reality," Heuvelman says. She has seen interlibrary loan requests increase from 1,900 in 1970 to 8,600 in 2000, a 355 percent increase.

She developed and promoted the UWSP library’s Foundation Collection, one of only three in Wisconsin. It is affiliated with the Foundation Center in New York and is considered a primary resource for the region’s grant seekers. The Foundation Center’s database is the most comprehensive electronic funding research tool available. "Everyone loves it," she says, "even noncomputer users find the software to be friendly."

An assistant professor, Heuvelman holds degrees from Emporia State University, University of Denver, and Cardinal Stritch College. She has been recognized in state and national directories as an expert on interlibrary loans and document delivery systems. She helped establish the first digital document delivery system within the UW System and was a pioneer in developing one of the first online borrowing request services. She served on the statewide library automation committee which selected the Web-based integrated library system used throughout UW campuses.

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