Staff profile

Steve Shuman Map Room Supervisor Room 281, Parks Library (Map Room) (515) 294-3956 slshuman@iastate.edu

Bio

I was a golf course superintendent in my twenties, before coming back to ISU to complete an undergraduate English degree. I was hired as a student employee in our Microforms department in the summer between my undergrad and graduate school years. A Merit staff job opened up in Microforms right about the time I realized grad school was not for me, and I was fortunate enough to get it, though unfortunate enough to lose it just six months later in the state layoffs of 1991. I came back to the library in 1995 to work in Media. A year later, I jumped at the chance to take up residence in the Map Room, to this day the best job I've ever had.

What I like best about working in the Map Room is that in the course of assisting a patron learn about and find maps for some corner of the world, I get to learn right along with the patron. I get paid to vicariously see the world!

I live here in Ames with my wife, Gretchen Meyer, who works in the ISU Dean of Students office. She is also a board member of a group that finds homes for greyhounds when their days with the racing industry are done. We have two greyhounds at home ourselves.

I like hiking (you might see me taking fifteen minute walks around campus on my breaks) and reading good fiction. A couple of my favorite living authors are Alice Munro and William Trevor.

Library Responsibilities:

I process and catalog maps and supervise student employees. My most important responsibility, though, is service to patrons. I help them interpret indexes, navigate Internet web sites, and with any other map-related needs they might have. I'm happy to give tours or work with faculty on specific classroom assignments.