Jen Nelson

What was your career path that led you to becoming the Director / State Librarian?

Becoming state librarian was not a career aspiration, but has ended up being a perfect place for the range of experience I’ve gained over 30 years of work in libraries. As a college student I worked in the university archives, which gave me grounding in the principles of preservation and description. While in library school at UW Madison I worked at Wisconsin Library Service (WILS), which gave me firm footing in resource sharing and library technology.  With an MA in political science in addition to my MA in library science, I was pretty convinced that my career would be in the direction of academic libraries. However, shortly after graduating, I moved to Minneapolis and was fortunate to land at the Minneapolis Public Library.

It turns out that working in a large urban public library with a deep research collection and diverse patron base was the perfect fit. Over the next 20 years, I had a myriad of opportunities to grow and develop as a professional. I worked as a children’s librarian, reference librarian in business and technology, electronic resources coordinator and partnership coordinator. Along the way, I developed an interest in informal learning, emerging technologies, working with cultural communities, employment and small business and youth development. Great mentors including Lois Ringquist, Susan Tertell, Melinda Ludwiczak and Kit Hadley were instrumental in helping me to push my personal boundaries to improve library service and understand libraries as cornerstones of community learning. I worked on dozens of interesting projects, learned to develop compelling grant projects and even published a book. So when there was an opening at Minnesota’s State Library Services, it felt like a natural move.  And when the position of director/state librarian came open, I thought my full complement of experience would make me a strong candidate.  So while I didn’t set out to be a state librarian, I really prepared myself to be one!

How has your time at SLIS influenced your career?

My time at SLIS provided a solid and strong foundation for all that I’ve done. Early in my career I drew on what I learned about reference service from Jack Clarke and Wayne Wiegand; the library automation and online searching classes I took (in the days before the internet) helped me understand how computers function. More recently I find myself turning back to lessons in library marketing gained from Darlene Weingand and library management from Prudence Dalrymple. Even today I remember a guest lecturer, the director of a county library system in Wisconsin, who came and talked about the paths her career took – much different than planned but utterly satisfying.