In celebration of APLIC-I 50th Anniversary, we are posting profiles of many of our retired former members.  We are also seeking current contact information for colleagues who should be appearing in this blog or attending our Chicago Conference April 24-26 2017.  Please contact Jean Sack with former member information / your profile!

I was working at the Carolina Population Center at UNC-Chapel Hill when I first joined APLIC. I began at CPC in November 1993 and went to my first APLIC conference that spring in Miami. Jean Sack took me under her wing although she was also quite new, and made sure I met everybody and felt thoroughly connected. To this day, years out of the population arena, I still think of that conference as an exceptional example of collegial fellowship.

APLIC reinforced my inclination to think of the future. I still think one of the best things we did during my time in APLIC was to run an internet room during at least one PAA conference (in New Orleans) so attendees could check email, get help with internet questions, etc. It seems so “old hat” now that everybody has mobile devices and can be online anywhere anytime, but in 1996, that was definitely not the case. Most people didn’t have laptops or, if they did, they didn’t carry them around at conferences. Wireless was nonexistent. We arranged for computers, hardwired connections, and staffed the room during the entire PAA conference. It was great to work with a group of people willing to take a chance, to push the envelope, and to do something innovative to meet the needs of the people we served back on our home turfs.

It’s about people.
Smart, thoughtful, sharing people.
No group is better.

How do you envisage our information field progressing into the next 50 years?  Augmented reality and virtual reality may finally have a real impact on the non-entertainment world. I envision easier ways to visualize data in 3D with the ability to interactively manipulate it. How will libraries be involved in creating, storing, analyzing, accessing 3D data sets? (And make them retrievable?) Imagine having someone ask about the impact of climate change on the population in an island country and be able to pop the person into a virtual environment where he or she can experience the changes and alter variables to see how the impact might change?

What fascinating places, jobs, life-experiences have you had in the years since you were an APLIC-I member?
When I left CPC, the two things I knew I would miss most were my staff and APLIC. I was absolutely right. But I’ve had a great time since then getting deeply involved in teaching and learning technology, first at UNC and now at Duke. My current job is to explore new and emerging technologies and how they might be applied to higher education teaching and learning, and I love it. But I still miss the people I met in APLIC. They’re the best!

In celebration of APLIC-I 50th Anniversary, we are posting profiles of many of our retired former members.  We are also seeking current contact information for colleagues who should be appearing in this blog or attending our Chicago Conference April 24-26 2017.  Please contact Jean Sack with former member information / your profile!

Chris Matthews

I joined APLIC-I in June of 1996 as I started work as a consultant, primarily organizing collections for small nonprofits, particularly organizations working on health or gender issues in developing countries. APLIC primarily kept me in touch with librarians in the field, gave me moral support, and helped keep me up to date in information trends.

When I returned as librarian at Bread for the World, I had contacts I felt comfortable asking for help from. Workshops and luncheons kept me abreast. I usually came back from gatherings being very grateful for my relatively low demanding job, thinking “I’m so glad I’m not in their shoes! How do they manage??”

All professional contacts/associations provide invaluable support, and APLIC is good at that.

Bread for the World Institute, Volunteer archivist

In celebration of APLIC-I 50th Anniversary, we are posting profiles of many of our retired former members.  We are also seeking current contact information for colleagues who should be appearing in this blog or attending our Chicago Conference April 24-26 2017.  Please contact Jean Sack with former member information / your profile!

Anne Ilacqua

When I first joined APLIC, I was hired at Brown University Demography Library for the experience I had acquired as head of a special library in a large university. I had collection development experience, but the field I was entering was new to me. Fortunately, Carol Knopf, an APLIC member, was staying with the Demography Library and she was familiar with the faculty and students and with the collection. Also, the APLIC listserv produced prompt leads and answers to questions, and lending of unique materials.

I’m glad I had the opportunity to serve as a Board Member and, also, as a Co-President in charge of planning an Annual Meeting. In so doing, I acquired additional skills, perhaps too numerous to mention. I also recruited new members, by extolling the values of belonging to APLIC. Touring others’ libraries provided a valuable opportunity to spark ideas upon returning to one’s space. I am very grateful to the Population Studies Centers Directors for including and funding and providing meeting rooms for their librarians to meet at the Annual PAA Meetings.

Meetings with APLIC members from all over the country were occasions to look forward to, for the congeniality shared by like-minded, smart, friendly professionals in a specialized field of librarianship. I feel very fortunate to have been a part of this organization and I learned a lot from colleagues’ presentations and informal conversations.

I have been retired ten years. The library was disbanded (sigh) when Pop studies got a totally renovated bldg. on campus (a big deal!). I was kept on, as Information Specialist. When I retired, a Rockefeller Library librarian was assigned to assist students and faculty at Pop. Studies Ctr. Recently, I chatted with a former colleague still working in the larger University realm. It was somewhat troubling to learn that the reference collection had been moved to the stacks and the reference area converted to comfy chairs and nooks. One can imagine students reading, but more likely laptops and phones than books! That said, I embrace the world of electronic resources, which I take advantage of, daily.

With my husband, I have traveled to many places since retiring in 2006. Most notably, we spent a month in China, where he lectured at three universities. We were resident in Wuhan for two weeks and in beautiful Zhuhai, as well. As tourists, on that trip we spent a week in Beijing and a few days in Hong Kong. We cruised the Mediterranean, out of Barcelona, and we have forthcoming trips planned. Joe and I took a Viking cruise, last Fall 2015, from Budapest to Amsterdam. Also, we have rented a boat and cruised the Shannon River with son, grandson and daughter-in-law.  In 2017 we plan to travel to Russia and Scandinavia and to the National Parks in the US.