Where did you go to college?
    I did my undergraduate degree in Geography at Western Washington State College in Bellingham, now known as Western Washington University.  I did my MLS at University of Arizona in Tucson. (My decision was based on proximity to the Grand Canyon and NAU and ASU didn't have library schools. U of A had a great library school.)

Where was your first job working with maps?
    Really scary...third grade when my father had me write to all of the states in the U.S. requesting maps and information. I then had to alphabetize them and check them off the list when they arrived. (my parents used to pull us kids out of school to travel because his vacation didn't correspond to ours and he felt we would learn more by traveling than sitting in a classroom).
    Ok, so my only real job has been at WWU...I started running the Map Library September 15, 1977.

Do you have a favorite map?
    At least a couple of them...
first one...the 1953 Italian climbing route up K2 "K2 Spedizione Scientifico Alpinistica Italiana Al Karakorum 1953-1955" and the second one...a Canadian government map showing showing routes of Arctic Explorers "Explorations in Northern Canada and Adjacent Portions of Greenland and Alaska" published in 1904.

What's the most fun you ever had at a WAML conference?
    Ah geez...too many to remember...i've always enjoyed WAML conferences because everyone has always been so kind and supportive, and after so many years, more like family. Lots of wonderful memories and regrets about missing a few of them.

Here's a photo of Janet and Sylvia Bender in the hotel at Denali during the 2005 WAML meeting.

What do you like to do when you aren't being a map librarian?
    My passions are traveling, and being outdoors, whether backpacking, river running, snowshoeing or just walking. The more remote and wide open space, the better.
( Here's Janet on the Koyukuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park.)

What book(s) are you reading these days?
     Just finished "Secrets and Mysteries of the World" by Sylvia Browne and have started "Holy Land, Whose Land? Modern Dilemma, Ancient Roots" by Dorothy Drummond. Recent favorites include "the Language of Baklava" by Diana Abu Jaber; "Our Endangered Values" by Jimmy Carter; and "Mystery of the Nile: Epic Story of the First Descent of the World's Deadliest River" by Richard Bangs and Pasquale Scaturo.

What is your least favorite thing to do at work?
     Work with students who procrastinate until the last of the quarter to start a project and want me to participate in their crisis.

And what's your favorite thing to do at work?
    Learn from patrons about their projects and research and share enthusiasm about maps.