From left to right: Tom Shaughnessy (University of Minnesota Libraries Director, 1989-2002), Kathi DeJohn, Wendy Lougee (University of Minnesota Libraries Director 2002-2020), and Bill DeJohn (Minitex Director, 1984-2012).
Tim McCluske (MLAC) and Bill Dejohn (Minitex Director, 1984-2012) in the Minitex break room in Andersen Library celebrating Groundhog Day, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jeanne DeMars was a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State University when they began the great conversion of their card catalog to the MARC format via the OCLC union catalog (early 1970s). Shortly thereafter, after getting her master's degree from St. Cloud, Jeanne became the library director at Willmar Community College, began the process of converting from cards to MARC in preparation for their move to the PALS (Project for Automated Library Systems) system, and trained library staff to help with the project. From there Jeanne worked at PALS (program of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities initiated at Mankato State University in 1978) for a number of years before arriving at Traverse des Sioux Library System in Mankato, MN, where she currently works as Assistant Director for Technology Services.
Jeanne DeMars's interview questions focused on the topic of library automation. In the early 1970s, the MARC standard was relatively new, the OCLC union catalog was new (now known as OCLC WorldCat), and projects to convert library card catalogs to machine readable MARC records were just beginning. In her interview, Jeanne also describes searching the OCLC union catalog when it first became available, when PALS (shared union catalog of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities) was first rolled out to students and faculty, and other stories about automating library card catalogs. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Peter Jarnstrom began his career at the library of Minnesota State University, Mankato in 1980. He started out in cataloging and moved into interlibrary loan where he works at present as ILL Technician.
In his interview Peter discussed: using the new OCLC Interlibrary Loan system in the early 1980s; major innovations (custom holdings and interlibrary loan fee management) to the OCLC interlibrary loan service that resulted in less manual and more automated workflows for staff; development of PALS (Project for Automated Library Systems) to include a fully integrated interlibrary loan module, making it easier for libraries within the consortium to borrow and lend materials; and an early 90s periodical disaster at Memorial Library.
Peter also shared his experience working on two major projects that Memorial Library underwent in the 1980s when he was in the cataloging department. The first project involved reclassification of their entire library collection from the Dewey Decimal Classification system to Library of Congress classification system. The second major project involved retrospective conversion of catalog cards to tape, eventually forming the basis of the first union catalog of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, PALS. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Rosie Mock started and ended her library career at Memorial Library, Minnesota State University, Mankato (1969-2012). In her interview, she discusses what it was like to work in Cataloging in the 1970s, before automation, and in Systems. Other topics touched on include: early OCLC searching (1976), development of the PALS online catalog (1980), using early electronic databases such as Dialog, and the migration from the PALS system to the Aleph ILS (2004). This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Nancy Walton worked in Minnesota, Maryland, California, and Morocco before returning to Minnesota. In Minnesota, she started out at the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library (1994-1998), State Library Programs Specialist (1998-2010), and ended her career by serving as State Librarian and Director of State Library Services (2010-2013).
In her interview, she touches on her first experience working in her school library as a member of the Library Club at Minneapolis's Washburn High School to working as a Peace Corp volunteer in Rabat, Morocco (1971-1974), to working within State Library Services. Other topics touched on in her interview include: working in the Ames Collection in Wilson Library (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis) next to Minitex staff in 1969; working with Bill DeJohn (Minitex Director, 1984-2012); her role as State Librarian in providing equity of access to information and resources; the 1994 expansion of the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault; the 2002 closing of the library for the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning and layoffs of State Library staff; the disbursement of State Library Services professional library collection to St. Catherine University's School of Library and Information Science; the long history of the State Library Services and the Regional Public Library systems in Minnesota, and words of wisdom to library staff today. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Minitex staff gather in the atrium of Elmer Andersen Library for a group photo, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Back row, left to right: Tim McCluske, Matt Lee, Sara Ring, Bob Francis, Scott Hreha, Paul Swanson, Terry Beseman, Kyle Triska, Anne Hatinen. 3rd row, left to right: Michelle Penna, Jared LaBounty, Bob Fredrickson, Carla Urban, Beth Chekola, Adam Johnson, Obinnaya Oji, Agnes Lee, Sally Dinsmore, Jennifer Hootman, Tim Peters, Mary Garcia. 2nd row, left to right: Beth Staats; Valerie Horton; Carla Pfahl; Molly Huber, Nicole Masika, Joy Knoll, LaReina Adams, Kate Brownrigg, Sarah Anderson, Dana Kocienda, Jolie Graybill, Becky Ringwelski. Front row, left to right: Joan Wollenberg, Tammi Halverson, Greta Bahnemann, Mary Parker, Rita Baladad, Nick Banitt, Chau Nguyen. Seated left to right: Matt Niehoff, Link Swanson.
Staff from Minitex and the Minnesota Digital Library at a Scan for Keeps event. From left to right: Jolie Graybill, Carla Urban, Greta Bahnemann, and Elizabeth Baus in front of the Northtown Library. Scan for Keeps is a program developed by the Minnesota Digital Library for the purpose of loaning digitization kits for community scanning events. Kits are available for libraries, historical societies, and other organizations to encourage community engagement and foster preservation education.
Valerie Horton, (Minitex Director, 2013-2019), with Scott Hreha, Nick Banitt, and Anne Hatinen in Elmer Andersen Library celebrating the launch of Ebooks Minnesota in February of 2016.
Jolie Graybill (Minitex Assistant Director) & Sarah Hawkins (MELSA) frame themselves at the 2017 Minnesota State Fair Read and Ride Day (sponsored by MELSA).
Joan Roca retired from his role as Dean of Library Services at Minnesota State University Mankato in 2018. In this interview, he discusses his professional history, including his role and recollections of the development of the PALS software, his work on MNLINK systems integration committee, and as a member of other library professional committees. Joan credits several of his mentors -- Dale Carrison, Sylverna Ford, Bill DeJohn, Mary Parker, Keith Ewing, Tom Shaughnessy, and Wendy Lougee -- as having positive and lasting impacts on his career trajectory. This interview also includes an audio recording, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Ken Behringer retired from the Metropolitan Library Services Agency (MELSA), a regional public library system that serves the libraries in the seven-county Twin City metro area, in 2019. His career included becoming the first Executive Director of MNLINK, serving as the Director of the Dakota County Library and the Great River Regional Libraries, and library positions in Wyoming and the North Dakota State Library. In this interview, he describes the development of library services in Minnesota that he observed from various points in his career and as a lifelong library user. Behringer often found his role to be in working with local county decisionmakers as well as the state legislature to secure funding for libraries. That led to impacts on budgeting for improved library services, technological advances, and the development of regional and state-wide library systems that have strengthened the library community in the state. He also discusses the colleagues who have been influential throughout his career including Bill Asp, Bill DeJohn, Charlene Mason, Roseanne Byrne, and Mike Turbes. This interview also includes an audio recording, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
John T. Butler has served as the Associate University Librarian for Data and Technology at the University of Minnesota since 2008. Prior to that role, he was the inaugural Director of the University of Minnesota's Digital Library Development Lab, and also led the Science and Engineering Library at the University of Minnesota. In the interview, Butler discusses one of his earliest experiences working in libraries as a student for Minitex and other experiences leading up to his current role at the University of Minnesota libraries. Other topics discussed include: the development of the Minnesota Digital Library and the Minnesota Legacy Amendment funding; early mentors and influential colleagues Hank Rowan (Professor of Art, University of Minnesota), Susan Ardi (Engineering Librarian, University of Texas at Austin), Bill DeJohn, and Wendy Lougee; and his engagement with the Digital Public Library of America and HathiTrust. This interview also includes an audio recording, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Valerie Horton retired from her position as the director of Minitex in 2019. In this interview, she discusses her professional career beginning as a systems librarian at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She also worked as a systems librarian at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and in the islands of Trinidad and Tobago assisting with early library automation. Her career highlights included serving as library director at Colorado Mesa University, Colorado Library Consortium, and Minitex (2014-2019). Horton discusses some initiatives from her time at Minitex, including the Minnesota Digital Library, Ebooks Minnesota, SimplyE, and the Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project.
Wendy Pradt Lougee was the University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at the University of Minnesota from 2002-2020. Prior to that role, over a period of 20 years, she held several positions at the University of Michigan, including Director of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and Associate Director of the University Library for Digital Library Services. In this interview, Lougee traces her career path in Academic Libraries up to her latest role as University Librarian at the University of Minnesota. While at the University of Michigan Lougee put together the team that birthed JSTOR in the mid-1990s, a digital platform for accessing academic journals, which led to launching several other new digital projects and publishing projects. Lougee discusses the national organizations and boards she served on over the course of her career such as the Research Libraries Group, the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Digital Library Federation, Council on Library and Information Resources, the Association of Research Libraries, HathiTrust, and the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Other topics discussed include: working with Minitex; colleagues that made an impact on Lougee's work such as Dick Dougherty, Dan Atkins, Paul Courant, and Governor Elmer Andersen; the awarding of the National Medal for Libraries and Museums to the University of Minnesota Libraries; and a few future library environment forecasts. This interview also includes an audio recording, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Barbara Misselt led the East Central Regional Library as Library System Director for 9 years, retiring April 1, 2017. Misselt's first library job was at the Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, before moving to SELCO (Southeastern Libraries Cooperating) in Rochester, Minnesota, and ending her career at East Central Regional Library in Cambridge, Minnesota. In the interview, she discusses her connection to Minitex, working with former Minitex Director Bill DeJohn, Becky Ringwelski (former Associate Director of Minitex for Resource Sharing), Kathy Drozd (former Assistant Director for Delivery), and other influential colleagues from Minnesota libraries and the State Library. This interview includes an audio recording and full transcript.
Ruth Dukelow retired as Director of CLIC (Cooperating Libraries in Consortium) in June 2019. Ruth Dukelow discusses her career as a librarian and director at libraries and consortia in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, North Carolina, Michigan, and Minnesota, culminating in her role as executive director of the CLIC Library System in the Twin Cities. Dukelow also mentions working with fellow OCLC network librarians from Minitex when she was at the Michigan Library Consortium such as Kathy Drozd, Becky Ringwelski, Mary Parker, and Carla Dewey Urban and traveling to OCLC headquarters for network meeting in the 1990s, and a memorable migration of the CLIC shared catalog to a next-generation library management system. This interview includes an audio recording, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
