We were thrilled to host the University of Iowa Libraries Advancement Council (LAC) on campus Nov. 29–31, 2024, and already look forward to their next meeting, scheduled for April 2025.
The LAC actively champions the Libraries and provides guidance and feedback to help UI Center for Advancement efforts to increase support through fundraising, advocacy, and engagement. Members bring a variety of backgrounds and experiences that enrich and broaden the Libraries’ efforts in supporting student success, high-impact research, and creative work.
Left to right, second row: Aaron Schaefer; Christie Krugler, chair; Jack B. King University Librarian John Culshaw; Virginia Eichacker; and Tom Rocklin.
The LAC had a busy agenda, which included getting out and about around the Libraries and campus. Sara Pinkham, exhibition and engagement coordinator, provided a tour of the fall 2025 Main Library Gallery exhibit, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories. It examined the role sports has played at Iowa throughout the changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics and explored Iowa’s first men’s and women’s teams at the turn of the 20th century, the emergence of big-time men’s sports in the mid-1900s, and the rise of women athletes from the 1970s onward.
The group also visited the Marvin Pomerantz Business Library and heard from Kim Bloedel, director of the library in the Pappajohn Business Building’s Biz Hub. The multi-service space is an ideal location for the library to provide assistance to Tippie College of Business students since it also includes a business writing center, tutoring services, and a café.
Barbara McFadden, an LAC member and Stanley Museum of Art docent, guided the group on a tour of its collections, which included the exhibit To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City. The celebrated pop artist created the previously hidden mural as a gift for Iowa’s Ernest Horn Elementary School.
LAC members had the opportunity to experience a behind-the-scenes look at the Libraries Annex thanks to Maggie Halterman-Dess, Annex coordinator. The 60,000 square-foot-facility is the only off-site high-density library storage facility in the state of Iowa and can hold up to 4.8 million volumes in its temperature controlled environment.
