Meet the Staff Profile

Although Heather worked in libraries throughout high school and college, she never expected or even wanted to become a librarian. Heather was fascinated by science, especially weather. Her father would often take her outside and demystify cloud formations in their home state of Florida, where summertime thunderstorms are frequent. As with many meteorologists, Heather knew at an early age of her keen interest in weather and planned to become a research scientist. She received a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of North Carolina - Asheville and an M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

While in graduate school Heather learned that UW-Madison offered a library graduate program. She was encouraged by her advisor to work on his climate research project while attending classes at library school. Tuition was free and additional education seemed like a good idea. Her intention was to return to the atmospheric science field with outstanding research skills learned from librarians. In her second year of library school, however, Heather realized that her unique computer skills, science background and love of research and teaching were a more rewarding combination in the library field than pure atmospheric research could ever satisfy on its own. Following her M.A. in Library and Information Studies, Heather became the Digitizing/Reference Librarian at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Library at UW-Madison. Primarily an Engineering library, Heather preferred to work alongside more atmospheric scientists. An opening appeared at the Boulder Labs Library in July 2001 and the rest is history.

Heather at her desk
in the Main Library

Heather is the newest of three Reference librarians. She spends three days a week at the Branch Library, and the rest of the week at the Main Library. As the Outreach librarian, Heather promotes our library services and gives presentations on library resources to the Laboratories and the New Employee Orientation. Heather also designs and updates the library web site.

Outside of work, Heather enjoys quilting, gardening, cooking, hiking and photography. She co-built a sea kayak and her latest hobby is classical guitar. If you'd like to see the quilts or the kayak, check them out at: http://www.daisydesign.us/heather/.

Added 5/15/03