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.
William Asp served as Minnesota State Librarian from 1975-1996. In the interview he reflects on early 20th century resource sharing among libraries belonging to the Twin Cities Library Club, Regional Public Library System development, early library automation in Minnesota, and the Extension of Access Law (1987 law passed that required the counties to levy a tax for public library service and join a regional public library system). This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Cecelia Boone began her career at University of Minnesota Libraries in the Social Welfare History Archives (June 1976-1978). There, she was a writer and editor on a project called the Women's History Sources Survey before joining Minitex and the MULS program in 1978. In her interview, she describes the MULS service and how it operated in the 1970s and 1980s; hand-writing library holdings data; typing up and storing the holdings data in the homegrown database at the University of Minnesota; supervising and working with student staff; the migration of the MULS records from the database to OCLC WorldCat in 1987 and 1988, and her experience working with Alice Wilcox (Minitex Director, 1969-1982). This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Charlene Mason was Minitex Interim Director (1983/1984), and was on the search committee that hired Bill DeJohn, current Minitex director (1984-present), before finishing her library career at the University of Minnesota Libraries (1976-2001). She discusses her first library job held in 7th grade at Ames Public Library, early fax machines used for resource sharing, the hiring climate at the University of Minnesota after the 1979-80 Rajender v. University of Minnesota lawsuit, and working with Anita Branin (Minitex Associate Director for Document Delivery and MULS, 1980-1996) and MJ Rossman (Minitex Assistant Director for Reference and OCLC, 1980-1996) during the transition to a new Minitex director. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Popovich as part of the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society's oral history project. Popovich was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1987 and was Chief Justice from 1989 to 1990. Subjects discussed: his early decision to become a lawyer; growing up on the Iron Range in the 1920's and 1930's; being the son of an immigrant; his experiences as a lawyer, a legislator, and a judge.
Interview with Cy Thao in which he describes his work as a former Minnesota State Representative, his efforts as a Hmong business entrepreneur and artist and a co-founder of the Center for Hmong Arts and Talents.
Dave Paulson joined Minitex staff as a student in 1973. Throughout his career at Minitex, he has worked in nearly every campus library at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Today he is the Resource Sharing Manager who oversees retrieval at our campus libraries.
In this interview, Dave talks about what the work in Resource Sharing was like in the early days, the staff softball team, and how Minitex electronic delivery got started. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Doris Ott served for eight years as North Dakota State Librarian (2002-2010). A native of Carson, ND, Ott graduated from Dickinson State University, and earned her MLS from George Peabody College (now, Vanderbilt University) in Nashville. She started her professional librarian career as an Assistant Professor of Library Science at Dickinson State, was the first librarian at Magic City Campus in Minot, and held positions at a school library and a public library in Indiana before returning to North Dakota in 1986. From 1986-2002 she worked at the North Dakota State Library and held various positions before being named State Librarian in 2002. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Douglas K. Amdahl on his legal and judicial career. Douglas K. Amdahl was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1980 and was Chief Justice from 1981 to 1989. Subjects discussed: his early life and education, and his experiences as a judge. Interviewed by James Morrow in Landmark Towers.
Interview with Dr. Chia Youyee Vang in which she describes her work as a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and as the author of ""Reconstructing Community in Diaspora"" and ""Hmong in Minnesota.""
Interview with Dr. Yang Dao in which he discusses his work as an educator and his efforts to earn a PhD. He also discusses his work as a member of the National Political Consultive Council of Laos.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Edward Stringer on his legal and judicial career. Edward C. Stringer was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1994. He retired from the Court in 2002 and continued to work as a private attorney until he retired fully in 2011. Subjects discussed: his lawyer ancestors, his legal career, and his experiences as a judge. Interviewed by Tom Boyd and Justice Paul Anderson at the studio of Minnesota Continuing Legal Education.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Glenn E. Kelley on his life and legal and judicial career. Kelley was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1981 and served until 1990. Part one of the interview recorded on January 29, 1990 and part two was recorded on August 16, 1990. Interviewed by Steve Young at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Helen Stub was the secretary-treasurer of the Twin City Library Club (TCLC) when the organization dissolved around 1959. Founded in 1906, the Twin City Library Club was an organization intended to help librarians in St. Paul and Minneapolis become acquainted with each other and the library collections of the Twin Cities. Helen reflects in the interview:
"This group of people were active participants in the intellectual, aesthetic, educational, political life of that period between 1906-1959. And, that period included two World Wars, a depression, the recovery, the New Deal, droughts, and, of course, the invention of the automobile."
Helen Stub discusses the founding of the organization by Clara Baldwin (Director, Public Library Commission, 1889-1936), John King (Director, Minnesota State Library), Gratia Countryman (Director, Minneapolis Public Library), W.W. Folwell (President, University of Minnesota, 1869-1884) and relays tales from the Secretary-Treasurer's books that chronicle the events of the library profession in the Twin Cities. These include summaries of lectures, reports on library successes, and descriptions of a 1908 list of periodicals of the libraries in Minneapolis and St. Paul, early interlibrary loan, site visits to libraries, announcement of the first bookmobile, parties at the H.W. Wilson company, boat trips on the Mississippi, road tours by car, and elegant dinners.
Helen began her library career in Fairfax, MN, in 1948, moving to St. Paul Park in 1952, and, then, as a librarian in the Minneapolis School District from 1955-1980. She served as President of Minnesota Educational Media Organization from 1977-1978. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
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.
Jerry Baldwin's first library job was as a student at the St. Paul Campus Library (now Magrath Library). From there, he went to library school at the University of Minnesota, and, then, on to the Minnesota Department of Highways (now the Minnesota Department of Transportation) Library as Director from 1972-2007. In his interview, he talks about staff from the Minitex Union List of Serials (MULS) visiting the MnDOT library to record their serial holdings, the development of the Transportation Libraries Catalog (TransCat) as one of the first OCLC Group catalogs, creation of the National Transportation Library (1998) and the Transportation Knowledge Networks, and reauthorization of the National Transportation Library. This interview also includes an audio recording, recording table of contents, transcript, and photograph of the interviewee.
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.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice John J. Todd on his legal and judicial career. John J. Todd was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1972 and served until 1985. Subjects discussed: his childhood and family, his legal career, his experiences as a judge, and his life after the Supreme Court. Interviewed by Tom Boyd and Justice Paul Anderson at the studio of Minnesota Continuing Legal Education.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice John J. Todd on his legal and judicial career. John J. Todd was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1972 and served until 1985. Subjects discussed: his childhood and family, his legal career, and his experiences as a judge. Interviewed by John Brian at the Minnesota Judicial Center.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice John Simonett on his legal and judicial career. Simonett was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1981 and served until 1994. Subjects discussed: his education and family life, and his experiences as a judge. Interviewed by Tom Boyd and Paul Anderson at the studio of Minnesota Continuing Legal Education.
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.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Sandy Keith as part of the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society's oral history project. Keith was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1989 and was Chief Justice from 1990 to 1998. Subjects discussed: His childhood in Rochester, Minnesota near the Mayo Clinic, and his mother's influence; his experiences at Amherst; race and the law; the selection of U.S. Supreme Court Justices; his experiences with family law; being in the Legislature; the creation of the Minnesota Court of Appeals; his experiences being on the Minnesota Supreme Court and the role of the courts.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Sandra Gardebring as part of the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society's oral history project. Gardebring was a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1991 to 1998. Subjects discussed: her childhood in North Dakota; her decision to attend law school; her entry into Minnesota state politics; her views on feminism; her experiences on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
