UMR library director called into military duty
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Andy Stewart, director of the Curtis Laws Wilson Library at UMR and a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, was recently called into active duty.
Stewart, an Army Reserves member for 15 years, will report to Fort Riley, Kan., on Monday, Aug. 23, for mobilization.
Maggie Trish, head of catologing at the Curtis Laws Wilson Library at UMR, will serve as interim director in Stewart’s absence.
"I’ve known all along that my reserve training could lead to active Army service," says Stewart. "I will faithfully serve. There are 150,000 other reserve soldiers currently serving on active duty. I’m certainly not the first Army reservist or National Guardsman to leave the UMR campus, and I may not be the last. I fully expect to return to campus after I have fulfilled my Army obligation. In the meantime, I have full confidence in Maggie Trish’s ability to make decisions and take action in my absence."
Dr. Y.T. Shah, provost and executive vice chancellor at UMR, says Trish will continue to be a leader for the library. "These are times of rapid change and the UMR library should be a leader in providing traditional library services while adapting to the wide variety of new electronic and other technological information sources," he says.
Between 50 and 100 people from the local reserve unit, located on Fairgrounds Road, have been sent into active duty and are serving with reserve units in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Also, many soldiers from the local unit are serving in Iraq and elsewhere; several having served a tour of duty and returned home.
Stewart joined the library staff in 1987 as a reference librarian and became head of collections in 1993. From 1999 to 2000, Stewart also served as head of the reference department before serving as head of the collections department from 2000-2002. He has been director for the past two years.
UMR Staff Council is currently collecting items to be sent to troops stationed overseas. For more information about donating items, please contact Barbara Robertson at (573) 341-4753, or Tammy Shortt at (573) 341-6303.
