Biographies and Statements submitted by candidates for President of the KLAS Users' Group

Nominee: Elke Bernal Bruton, Orgeon Talking Book and Braille Services

Biography:

Elke Bruton is the Public Services Librarian and KLAS Administrator for Talking Book and Braille Services of the Oregon State Library.  Elke joined the Oregon State Library in 2006 as a student worker and has been in the position of Librarian since 2007. Elke's role as Public Services Librarian is defined by the following roles: outreach coordinator, customer service guru, czarina of cataloguing, and KLAS administrator. 

Elke holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Washington State University and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington's iSchool.  Elke has served on the Program committee for the Users' Conference for the 2010 and 2011 conferences.  In 2010 Elke was elected Vice President of the User Group and in that capacity served as chair for the Program Committee for the 2011 conference. Elke has one husband, one step-daughter, one cat, and one dog.  In her spare time, Elke is a semi-avid seamstress and performs Madrigal music at Renaissance fairs; the seaming and the singing fit well together as Elke creates and alters many of her own period costumes. 

Statement of Purpose:

I look forward to working between our User Group and Keystone to strengthen our understanding of the system and to support more active participation from the User Group as a whole.  As President, my main objective will be to empower KLAS Users to take active roles in our trainings and group discussions. I'm not interested in 'hearing my own voice' but instead I'd rather serve in a mentoring capacity to encourage more of our User Group to speak up and have their needs heard and met.  Our group is full of creativity, knowledge, and experience and I feel it's my duty to promote the sharing of that information...after all, I'm a librarian so that's kind of my 'thing.' 

Nominee: John Phillos, Delaware Library Access Services

Biography:

John came to library work late in life after working in various other fields including: a corporate jet pilot, a blacksmith, an electrician, and a stint as a sailor in the US Navy, not necessarily in that order.  He started working in public libraries in Delaware in the early 1990's and worked his way up to the position of director of the Delmar, DE public library before attaining his current position with the State Library.  Upon being hired by the State Library in 2001, he was made the Regional Librarian for the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (now named Delaware Library Access Services (DLAS) and has held that position ever since.

John's education includes an AAS in Human Services from Delaware Technical and Community College, a BA in Behavioral Science from Wilmington (DE) College and an MA in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona.

Statement of Purpose: 

Because of my varied life experiences, I have always been able to interact with my patrons and co-workers from a point of common perspective.  I believe this ability, along with the knowledge that I have gained working with Keystone for the last 10 years, will enable me to serve as President of the KLAS Users' Group and to represent the users and facilitate discussions within the group on issues facing us as we move forward with the digital transition.