The NEBASE Annual Meeting–East 2002 was held at the Cornhusker Hotel in October, with eighty-three library staff members attending.
Dr. William Crowe, President of the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Board of Trustees, provided the keynote address on the OCLC cooperative’s new responsibilities and strategic directions in response to changing membership definitions.

Updates were provided on the NEBASE Advisory Council, Members Council, and OCLC News. A Virtual Reference Roundtable with Paul Cappuzzello of OCLC, featured the Question Point reference product. Robin Bernstein, Bellevue University; Roxanne Cox, University of Nebraska Medical Center; and Charlene Maxey-Harris, University of Nebraska—Lincoln described their work with virtual reference programs.

Several smaller training sessions were presented, including
• Marcia Stout, OCLC: OCLC’s New Digitization and Preservation Services
• Allana Novotny, Nebraska Library Commission: Using netLibrary
• Christa Burns, Nebraska Library Commission: Migrating from Cataloging with OCLC’s Passport to the new Connexion Service
• Susan Knisely, Nebraska Library Commission: Using the FirstSearch Administrative Module
• Devra Dragos and Pam Scott, Nebraska Library Commission: Planning an Automation Project

NEBASE 2003 Annual Meeting-West is planned for April and Annual Meeting-East is scheduled for September.

Dr. Robert Kemper served as Executive Secretary of the Nebraska Public Library Commission from 1971 to 1973. He formerly served as Assistant Professor and Director of the Library Research and Information Center at the University of Oregon. Kemper spearheaded an information campaign entitled “Your Library is Know Place” and published five pieces in the Library Know Series, focusing on special collection development, planning, library cooperation, obtaining grants, and building a long range user program.

He promoted the creation of the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, setting up the Commission as a repository for selected state and federal documents. He expanded the number of regional network coordinators from 1.6 full-time equivalents (FTE) to 7 FTE. Reference and administration workshops were designed to upgrade librarian skills. The “S.U.N.” State University of Nebraska cooperative project was developed to allow extension students to take monitored tests at selected libraries across the state.

Dr. Kemper left the Commission for a position as Director of Library Services at Northern Arizona University in August 1973.