Law Library News (archived): Award Winning Law Library Staff

The law library, law school and NIU are better because of Kate Hartman who sees the good and does the good. She approaches every task, big and small, with a positive attitude because she cares about the institution and its students.

During her time with the law library, Kate Hartman has managed many changes including a transition to a new circulation system. During the process she continued operating the law collections while clearly communicating with affected constituents, organized logistics for collections to be moved in an efficient manner, and handled any setback that occurred.

In addition to managing large projects, Kate also now oversees student workers for the NIU Law Library. She is in charge of hiring and training new students and maintaining a schedule that allows them to excel in the classroom and on the job—no small feat.

“Kate does an exceptional job identifying students who are excellent workers and assets to the law library,” said Deputy Director of the Law Library and Professor Therese Arado. “This is not something she had to do prior to the pandemic, but circumstances placed her in this role.”

Kate also cares about the wellbeing of students and recently introduced activities to the library to help support students’ mental health. Known as “crafternoons,” every few weeks students gather in the law library to take a break from studying and to work on crafts. Kate has offered crochet lessons, origami, coloring pages, and even an opportunity for students to make their own gnome.