NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/440846
62 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 t my first NEBRASKAland Magazine staff meeting in 2006, I was sitting in the room with more than 150 years of writing and photography experience with Kenny Bouc, Jon Farrar, Eric Fowler, Mike Forsberg, Bob Grier, Rocky Hoffmann and others. And everyone there, myself included, was taking direction from Sarah Johnson, the magazine's photo librarian. The job of a photo librarian is to manage photos. And in a publication such as NEBRASKAland, where pictures reign supreme, it's a lofty job. Sarah was responsible of managing the organization of millions of images for us, including where and when they were taken and, if it was a plant or animal, who to talk to in order to correctly identify the species. You would figure that a person in this position would be constantly cranky, but Sarah was surprisingly upbeat nearly all the time. But if you're weren't appropriately ID'ing photos, you got a talking to. If you weren't culling hard enough, you got a talking to. And if you weren't sending her enough pictures of animal butts, you got a talking to. See, Sarah had very few requirements as a colleague, but she did find humor in both outhouse photos and animal backsides. So, as a staff, we did our best to oblige on both. And nothing was better than to see the smile on her face when we had captured the perfect image, hind end or otherwise. But now Sarah has moved on. She is the head librarian at the Geneva Public Library, and Jaclyn Vogt has filled her old position. But if I know Sarah like I think I do, she'll thumb through this publication and laugh when she gets to this page, until she starts reading. Then she'll be embarrassed and I might get a scolding phone call. On that day I hope to be in the field, capturing the many miracles occurring daily in the Nebraska outdoors … and whatever else will make Jaclyn laugh. Because the photo librarian is definitely a person you want on your side. Jeff Kurrus, November 11, 2014 Behind the Scenes A