WISNER, William H(arold) 1956-

PERSONAL: Born July 15, 1956, in Lacrosse, WI; son of Harold A. (a Presbyterian minister) and Evelyn Alma (Davis) Wisner; married Rosalba de Leon, July 17, 1992; children: Leah Cristina, Talitha Sophia. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of Kansas, B.A. (cum laude), 1980, M.A., 1984; University of Washington, Seattle, M.Lib., 1987. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: Classical music, making prints, carving stone.

ADDRESSES: Home—8826 Shalom Cr., Laredo, TX 78045. Offıce—Library, Laredo Community College, West End Washington St., Laredo, TX 78040; fax: 956-721-5447. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Librarian and writer. Laredo Community College, Laredo, TX, reference librarian, 1988—. Literacy Volunteers, president of Laredo chapter, 1997-98.

MEMBER: American Library Association, Texas Library Association, Texas Community College Teachers Association.

WRITINGS:

Whither the Postmodern Library? Libraries, Technology, and Education in the Information Age, McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2000.

Contributor of articles, poetry, short stories, essays, and reviews to periodicals, including Audubon, Sewanee Review, Birder's World, Elle, Kansas City Star, Seattle Times, Library Journal, Journal of Academic Librarianship, Texas Library Journal, Cresset, and New Observations.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A screenplay set on the Texas-Mexico border; The Book of the Baron, children's stories; An Unsentimental Education, an autobiography; biographical essays on scientists Jacob Bronowski and Leo Szilard.

SIDELIGHTS: William H. Wisner told CA: "In the book Whither the Postmodern Library? Libraries, Technology, and Education in the Information Age I explore much more than the current state of libraries. I also seek to understand, as I do in almost all my published work, the connections between people as the basis of human meaning. I also explore the increasing threat to our humanity unbridled technology can represent. The book, which is critical of much in current librarianship, has provoked condemnation in the library community. It is odd that this should be so for a work that advocates reading, champions education and the careful nurturing of the young, cautions that technology can erode traditional values, and challenges the profession to redirect its goals, not into machines, but into people.

"I was decisively turned into writing nonfiction by my youthful correspondence with Dr. Loren Eiseley, essayist, naturalist, and author of The Immense Journey, Darwin's Century, and The Unexpected Universe. We exchanged many letters before Dr. Eiseley's death in 1977. I credit Eiseley with being my inspiration to write in the first place, an activity I began in earnest in my twenties. Until that time my principal creative activities were in art—particularly sculpture and printmaking, avocational pastimes I still pursue between writing projects and for which I have won regional awards."