2003 Entrepreneurial Award

Getting to know Kaye Crampton

Kaye Crampton earned the first C. Berger Group Entrepreneurial Promise Award to be presented at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, School of Library and Information Studies on May 18, 2003 at convocation. A recognized leader from her first days on campus, Kaye was chosen by the faculty because of her participation in Special Libraries Association (SLA) Student Chapter activities (and especially for helping to plan their events), her organizational skills and excellent communications. She was also singled out from her classmates for her pleasant manner, flexibility and ability to produce results with a team or as a solo.

After earning her undergraduate degree in Spanish with a minor in library science, Kaye enjoyed a varied career in education, business and publishing. Prior position included working as a customer service representative in several industries, an adult program coordinator in public school settings, a journal editor, and administrative manager in an executive search firm. It was her growing interest in information management that convinced her to forsake permanent work to pursue an MLS degree full-time. She chose the University of Wisconsin-Madison not only for its proximity, but also because of its reputation. Plus, as a Minnesota resident, she also could take advantage of tuition reciprocity.

In addition to her studies and academic assignments, Kaye was hired to develop a promotional brochure for the SLIS masters program, recruited to select materials as project assistant for the UW-Madison Land Tenure Center Library and employed as cataloger and indexer of state government documents for the Institute for Research on Poverty, also a University of Wisconsin-Madison unit. As a class project, she also drafted a collection development policy for the library of a local non-profit organization. It didn’t take her two and a half years to decide what she liked best about library school; according to Kaye, “my classmates were great teachers – I learned a lot from them and will miss them.” She enjoyed her classes too and raved about the approachability of faculty, who were always ready to answer her questions. She is understandably proud of her decision to go for the degree and of receiving it after all, and especially of her husband’s support of these efforts. They are the greatest achievements for this sincere and dedicated information professional.

Kaye thinks that library school students should take as many technology courses as they can (the harder they are the better) and supplement them with more offerings outside the regular program.

She also advises them not to “forget the human side. I worked on many group projects, balancing school and personal commitments. Learning to work effectively with others is what it’s all about, because you’ll have interaction with others in the real world. It’s the way to reach professional performance.”

Kaye is searching regionally for a permanent position in her new specialty. Her ideal job would be as a zoo or aquarium librarian, as it would combine her liberal arts background, past volunteer experience as a docent at the St. Paul Como Zoo, her concern about endangered habitats and love of animals. But she is open to other professional challenges that may come up in Rochester, Winona or La Crosse or other sites in the Midwest.

In addition to the 2003 C. Berger Group Entrepreneurial Promise Award and $100 honorarium, Kaye had received both the Lawrence C. Zweizig Student Leadership Award and the Gifford Fund Scholarship from the SLIS in 2001.

Kaye resides in Dakota, Minnesota with her husband.