Five on Friday

Featuring Craighton Hippenhammer, information technology librarian

1. You've lived in a lot of places. How did you end up in Bourbonnais?
After a stint in the Air Force as a first lieutenant during the early 1970s, I earned a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Oregon and spent the next 13 years working as a children's librarian for public libraries in Illinois and Ohio.

My wife, Linda, an RN then, gave birth to two daughters during those years and then decided to go back to school. She finished her pre-med studies at Millikin University and then her MD at Southern Illinois University. We then moved to Cleveland, where she got her residency in radiology. We moved to Bourbonnais in 1987, when she joined a local radiology group as a partner.

2. How has your job change since you arrived at Olivet?
Olivet hired me as reference librarian in the summer of 1991, the same month as Dr. Bowling. I moved eventually to access services librarian and now to informatics librarian.

Olivet got the Internet in January of 1992, and as technology became more and more important to libraries, I stepped up and showed interest, solved techie problems and eventually created a new department that deals with applying information to library needs. This department, library informatics, now has a full-time librarian (me), a full-time assistant and 25 students, mostly lab assistants.

3. What's an exciting aspect of your job?
As a librarian, I get to see the research interests of students and have been impressed by how many Olivet graduates double major.

Research in between traditional disciplines is a growing need and is where the really exciting discoveries are now taking place. Over the last three or four decades, research in computer science has had a profound affect on the way our society operates, and it is likely that the next several decades will bring massive changes due to bioengineering, another interdisciplinary studies subject.

Because of my interest in this, I am currently leading a University committee that is researching and creating documents about what an interdisciplinary studies major might look like at Olivet.

We love this community and we love Olivet - what a great place to serve our Lord!

4. What's one thing you've been able to enjoy doing with your wife?
Linda has made a job change to free herself up to do part-time missions work. Over the last four years or so she has visited and served in more than a dozen different third-world countries, taking radiology services to the poor (she backpacks an ultrasound machine in with her) as a part of Christian NGO teams. I've been able to accompany her on five trips to help with medical logistics and occasionally have been able to help libraries with their technical issues as well.

5. Tell us a little about your family.
Our oldest daughter, Darci, graduated from Olivet in 1995 and then worked on an MA and PhD while teaching high school biology. She now teaches and does research in education at Illinois State University.

Our youngest daughter, Sonda, graduated from college soon after and now is a homemaker in Georgia. Linda and I have great fun spending time with them all - especially our three grandchildren! We're looking forward to a trip south during spring break to hang out with them in a number of places, not the least of which is the Magic Kingdom.