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Albert “Skip”
Theberge
of reference at the NOAA Central Library
Albert
“Skip” Theberge
Chief of Reference at the
NOAA Central Library
When Skip
Theberge
was a young officer onboard the Surveyor
in
Norton
Sound,
Alaska,
with
the
Environmental Science Services
Administration Corps (now the NOAA Corps),
he says he would have
laughed at the idea of becoming the chief
reference librarian for the
NOAA Central Library. But, after 27 years
in the NOAA Corps, that’s
exactly what he did. His work immerses him
in communicating NOAA
science to diverse audiences within and
outside of NOAA.
Skip is a
graduate
of the Colorado School of Mines with a
professional degree in
geological engineering. He also has a
master’s degree in management
from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Why is
your
work important?
As chief of
reference at the NOAA Central Library, my
work is part of the larger
mission of the NOAA Central Library and
its affiliated NOAA libraries.
We are a vital part of NOAA’s invisible
infrastructure. The libraries
help NOAA researchers and policymakers by
giving them electronic
journal subscriptions, the unified NOAA
libraries on-line catalog,
access to NexisLexis, access to tens of
thousands of NOAA-related
photographs through the NOAA Photo
Library, and bibliographies on
diverse topics. The libraries also provide
citation analysis, training,
guidance on acquisition and development of
metadata, and other
information-related services. Also, the
NOAA libraries are the primary
stewards of NOAA’s intellectual heritage.
How do
you
help wider audiences to understand and
appreciate NOAA science?
The NOAA Library system as a whole is in
many cases the first stop for
people seeking information on NOAA
science, programs, and policies.
Besides providing classical reference
services, a function of the NOAA
Libraries is to understand the structure
of NOAA and direct patrons to
the appropriate office. The NOAA Central
Library has led or contributed
to a number of agency efforts that enhance
public appreciation of NOAA.
I’ve been involved in all of these
efforts:
The Central
Library
also provides tours to interested groups
from outside of NOAA, as well
as in-house groups. I provide information
on NOAA heritage to NOAA
Corps Basic Officer Training Classes and
help introduce young officers
to the NOAA values of service and
stewardship. I also have written many
publications on aspects of NOAA history
and heritage, as well as making
presentations at conferences and outside
organizations.
What do
you
enjoy the most about your work?
First and
foremost
is the day-to-day interaction with people
throughout NOAA and the
outside community. On any given day I
might assist people in any part
of NOAA, anywhere in the world. Second, I
enjoy the everyday access to
one of the major science libraries in the
Western Hemisphere. While
conducting research for others, writing
papers, or helping build
Library products, I constantly am
surprised and amazed at the depth of
our materials. Each day brings a new
discovery. Third, I find it quite
gratifying to help build products that can
help the NOAA community and
the larger community of outside users of
the Library.
Where
do
you do most of your work?
Most of my work
is
done within the NOAA Central Library.
However, I do a considerable
amount of reading, writing, digitization
of imagery, and other
functions at home. There is insufficient
time in any given day to do
either what I have to do or want to do
relative to NOAA-related work.
What in
your office could you not live without?
In today’s
world,
access to the computer for both
communication and information
harvesting is absolutely imperative.
However, I grew up in an
environment that placed high value on
books and their relation to
learning. I probably never would have come
to work in the NOAA Central
Library if I could not experience the
personal satisfaction that comes
from holding, opening, and investigating
the content of books that
range through centuries of time and
spatially from the surface of the
sun to the bottom of the sea. I am truly
fortunate to work in our NOAA
Library.
If you
could invent any tool to make your work
more efficient and cost were no
object, what would it be? Why?
I make no
claims to
being an inventor so have few suggestions
in that field of endeavor.
However, it would be good to have faster
and more efficient optical
character recognition scanning technology
to digitize and make
accessible the vast holdings of the NOAA
Central Library and NOAA
Library system. Digitizing much of the
collection is necessary to
preserve our intellectual heritage. Many
documents in the NOAA Central
Library and field libraries have
deteriorated or are in danger of
significant deterioration. The costs of
maintaining large library
spaces are driving considerations for
downsizing of library facilities.
When
did
you know you wanted to pursue a career
in science?
Although I have
a
career in NOAA science, I have never
thought of myself as a scientist.
I was trained as an engineer and spent 27
years in NOAA Corps, but also
did stints in other parts of NOAA
including liaison to Scripps
Institution of Oceanography. While there,
I was introduced to a whole
host of problems, instruments, and
techniques that I hadn’t dreamed
existed, as well as being associated with
the excitement of the quest
for scientific discovery and
understanding. During my time at Scripps,
I saw many world class scientists refer to
the history of their
organization, its past accomplishments,
and its luminaries in helping
them “sell” their programs and concepts.
Accordingly, I became
interested in the history of our agency
and the history of ocean
sciences. I had already been a heavy user
of the NOAA Library and
unexpectedly was offered a position here
in library reference following
retirement from NOAA Corps. I can honestly
state that I never
consciously thought that I wanted to
pursue a career in science or even
along its periphery. It just happened.
How did
you
become interested in communicating about
science?
While at the
Colorado School of Mines, I took the
easiest English course I could
find to fulfill a humanities requirement.
It involved little work with
the exception of a class project. As I
dabbled somewhat in landscape
photography, I made a presentation on the
ability of imagery to convey
difficult concepts that neither the spoken
nor written word could.
Classroom discussions ensued, touching on
various concepts of reality
and truth – concepts I had presumed to be
embedded in a photograph.
Although I and many others still wrestle
with many of these concepts, I
became intrigued with how best to capture
and convey both “truth” and
“reality.” Much of my career has been
spent accordingly, dealing with
error bounds in surveying work, best
algorithms to use in presenting
the truth of data and cartographic
products, and in trying to unravel
the truth of imagery, the written word,
and spoken word. I don’t know
if my concern with such concepts stems
from this one “easy” course, but
that course certainly has influenced me
for many years.
What’s
at
the top of your recommended reading list
for a young person exploring
career options?
Perhaps heresy
for
a librarian, I can make no recommendation
for the top of a recommended
reading list. Instead read widely and with
an open critical mind. Seek
other viewpoints, compare and integrate as
needed. I prefer
autobiographies, biographies, accounts of
scientific expeditions, and
accounts of explorations. If pursuing a
career in science, there are
numerous books that deal with the
evolution of scientific ideas. I do
recommend The Rejection
of Continental Drift by
Naomi
Oreskes, The Ice
Finders by Edmund
Bolles, and any number of books dealing
with Charles Darwin and the
theory of evolution. For both an
understanding of how we came to be an
American nation as well as a look at 18th
century science, read and
absorb all you can on Benjamin Franklin.
What
part
of your job with NOAA did you least
expect to be doing?
If someone had
told
me in 1969 when I came into the
Environmental Science Services
Administration Corps (a pre-cursor of
today’s NOAA Corps) and was
assigned to the then ESSA Ship
SURVEYOR working
in
Norton Sound, Alaska, that I would someday
become the chief of
reference of the NOAA Central Library, I
would have told them they were
insane.
Do you
have
an outside hobby?
Playing with my
grandchildren (can’t wait ‘til my
grandsons and granddaughters are old
enough to start throwing a baseball with),
reading to them when they
can sit still long enough, and sometimes
still dabbling in landscape
and weather photography. I would also like
to travel the full extent of
the U.S. coastline (done significant
amount with work, but would like
to fill in the holes) someday and hit most
of our national parks and
monuments.
What
would
you be doing if you were not working for
NOAA?
I’m forty-three
years into working for NOAA and still
having fun. If it gets more
difficult or significantly less enjoyable,
I stand ready to retire
again anywhere from two weeks from now to
twenty years from now. I will
cross the post-NOAA bridge when I get
there. My mantra has always been
(and most days I mean it), “Another great
day in paradise.”
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