By Suzanne Arist, Informant Committee and Reference Librarian
Karen Krupka has served as Treasurer of our Chapter for three years, managing the Chapter’s finances. She explains that much of the Chapter’s income comes in an allotment from SLA headquarters, determined by the number of members in the Chapter.
That money covers most of the chapter’s expenses, like the web site, awards, conference stipends, and more, but not meetings. Chapter meetings are run to break even. The fees we pay for meetings generally cover food. So meeting sponsorship is important for gratuities and audio-visual equipment.
Meeting Services Automated
During Karen’s tenure on the Chapter’s Executive Board, it has initiated Survey Monkey for meetings registration and PayPal for members who choose to pay online for meetings.
Karen generates financial reports using Quicken. The Executive Board reviews them at its monthly meetings. The Board uses these to determine how best to allocate funds. The Board works with the Budget Committee Chair, Janet Hartmann, and her staff, to create a Chapter Budget.
Over the years, Karen has served on various committees in the Illinois Chapter, including Hospitality and Chapter Manual (now Recommended Practices). She has held positions in the Legal Division , both on committees (Division Manual, Annual Conference Program Chair, and Newsletter) and on the Executive Board as Treasurer.
In A Well-Seasoned Firm
Recently Karen began a new job as Technical Services Librarian with the law firm McGuireWoods LLP. The firm is over 170 years old and is one of the largest law firms in the United States. It has offices coast to coast in the U.S. and in Europe. The firm practices various types of law including corporate, healthcare and employee benefits packages. All the offices in the U.S. except Pittsburgh have library staff.
The Chicago staff of McGuireWoods includes a Library Supervisor, Reference Librarian and a Technical Assistant in addition to Karen. At McGuireWoods, Karen works with a print collection that includes many books and serials common to large law firms. Her library also has print material on specialized topics.
Prior to her work as a technical services librarian, Karen was a reference librarian with a law firm for 22 years. She gradually added technical services responsibilities. Eventually she joined a Technical Services Roundtable under the auspices of the Chicago Association of Law Libraries and took classes to familiarize herself with technical services, which became the main focus of her work.
Unseen Yet Necessary Part of Special Libraries
Both Karen’s B.A. and M.A. degrees were from what was then known as Rosary College, now Dominican University. Her B.A. was in Home Economics. She spent a number of years in retail management before enrolling in Library School.
When not at work, Karen sings in a choir at a community college. The choir has three concerts a year, one on Veteran’s Day, one on Christmas and one in the spring. She does water aerobics at her local park district facility. And she crochets and does needlepoint.
“I suspect that many library school students may not realize that there are technical services positions in special libraries," Karen advises, "so I would encourage them to contact someone in the field while they are still in school. There probably will be someone willing to mentor them and to explain what they do, so that they can take some appropriate coursework.
She encourages librarians to attend meetings and be active in their professional associations, no matter which one they feel is appropriate, adding "I have recently rediscovered the value of networking and highly recommend it.” She stresses, “Volunteer for something. You’ll be surprised at how much fun it can be.”
Contact Suzanne Arist at suzarist@sbcglobal.net [1].