University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Magazine | Page 22
From Friends President Michael Chaim
https://www.library.wisc.edu/
friends/about/
“We share the
Libraries’ goal of
welcoming the
broader community
to the scholarship
that takes place at
UW–Madison.”
22 | LIBRARIES Fall 2015
As the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Friends of the Library Board transitions to a
new slate of officers for the coming year, one
can’t help but be reminded of the roll call
of distinguished UW–Madison Friends and
associates who have served in past years. Past
Friends presidents have included some of the
University’s finest scholars, such as Frederick
Cassidy and ellsworth snyder, as well as its
greatest citizens, like Art Hove. My immediate
predecessor, Maria Saffiotti Dale, is both
a fine scholar and an exemplar of the idea
of service that UW–Madison prizes. These
individuals have grown and maintained
the Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries
as one of the longest-lasting library friends
organizations in the nation—67 years and
going strong.
I came to the Friends board 11 years ago
through a different route. As a bookseller for
many years, I was recruited to fill the post
that Trudy Barash of the former Canterbury
Books, Caryl Askins of Paul’s Books on State
Street, and others had held on the Friends
board. I was pleased to be part of the Friends’
ongoing connection to the community.
Intrigued with the idea of getting to know
the UW’s wonderful library system, I signed
on, and I’ve been absorbed in exploring the
Libraries ever since. We move and work
among a collection of treasures on the UW–
Madison campus—the dazzling collections
in the Mills Music Library, the maps and
reliefs in the Geography Library, and the
world-renowned archives of the Wisconsin
Historical Society. In fact, the Friends
highlight several of these collections each
year in our “Treasures of the Libraries” event
series.
Bookselling was a rewar