In his own words…

01 What do you most miss about campus?
I loved walking through campus in the winter. There is something so special about the old UW buildings covered in fresh snow and the cozy feel of watching the weather through classroom windows that look over the lake.
02 What is the one thing every UW student must do?
Attend a Wednesday book discussion at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (located on the fourth floor of Helen C. White). It doesn’t matter whether you come in with knowledge of youth literature; Kati Horning and her staff will introduce you to a new way of thinking and talking about books. These discussions have been offered since 1981 and are held monthly from 3:30–5:30 p.m. The books to be discussed are listed on the CCBC Web site several weeks in advance, and all titles are available for use in the CCBC reading room.
03 What is your proudest UW achievement?
Winning the 2005 Book Cart Drill Team World Championship with the UW-SLIS (School of Library and Information Studies) team, “Dewey et. al. for My Baby.” We trained for months with a professional choreographer and won the “gold cart” at the American Library Association’s 2005 annual conference in Chicago.
04 What advice would you offer to graduating seniors?
Focus on finding the right job. You will have options, so don’t jump on the first offer that comes your way. You’ll see your friends accepting positions, but keep looking at opportunities until you find one that feels exactly right.
05 What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
My maternal grandmother always stressed the importance of good manners. While it’s not exactly “advice,” I have found that thoughtful manners can go a long way in both personal and professional endeavors.
06 What’s your favorite quote?
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
07 What are you reading now?
I’m in the middle of Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman and Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato.
08 What do you read online?
Reading blogs is part of my work, so I stay current with several. I read numerous library-related resources, as well as some written by teens or adults who serve them. Technology blogs are also an interest, so I fit those in where I can.
09 What’s your guilty pleasure?
Reading comics. There are a couple of series that I’ve been following for over fifteen years.
10 If you could trade places with any person for a week, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?
Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan. He did so much to shape the profession of librarianship, and developed theories that we still actively use in the field.

If the Washington, D.C.’s next generation develops any love for the printed word, Elsworth Rockefeller deserves at least some of the credit. As a librarian, he’s devoting his career to fostering a love of reading among the capital’s young people.

A product of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, Rockefeller came to the UW to study library science because he’d always enjoyed young-adult literature and wanted to share that feeling with new generations of readers. “Working with teens is exciting, because their lives are changing so fast,” he says. “I wanted to be a fun resource — to play a non-school role — in their lives.”

While at UW-Madison, he made sure to keep an element of fun in his library work, helping the school win a national championship with its Book Cart Drill Team. “There were just a small group of us who were interested in this,” he admits. “We did formations and dance routines using book carts, choreographed to music. It’s silly, but a lot of fun.”

After graduation, he headed to the east coast, where he took on a position as a young-adult librarian, first in Ocean County, New Jersey, then in Washington, D.C. Along with Rollie Welch of the Cleveland Public Library, he writes a column called “ManUp!” for the Voice of Youth Advocates magazine, in which he discusses ways to get young men interested in public libraries and to make libraries more teen-friendly.

Rockefeller is no snob when it comes to literature. His own favorite reading material includes comics (especially X-Men) that he’s kept track of since he was a teenager.

In late 2009, Rockefeller’s job expanded to take on management of children’s services as well as young adult.