WiLS September 2015 Member Interview: Kristin Vogel, St. Norbert College, Mulva Library

One of our greatest joys at WiLS is hearing our members tell the stories of the big and important work they are doing – interesting new projects or initiatives, or even interesting and new approaches to old projects.  And, in addition to hearing about it, it makes us even happier when we can share those stories with other members.   Each month, WiLS is proud to feature an interview with one of our library members.  This month, we interview Kristin Vogel, Library Director at St. Norbert College’s Miriam B. and James J. Mulva Library and WiLS board member!

This interview is part of a series of interviews with both WiLS member and vendor partners.  Your feedback is appreciated.  If you have any to offer on this article, or suggestions for upcoming interviews, contact Andrea Coffin at .

Why did you, personally, choose to work in libraries?

Libraries are a key part of our society through fostering democracy by assisting citizens in becoming informed and by enabling self-education and access to information ideally widely and freely. These are values I want to be part of and I am glad to help champion. I chose academic libraries, in particular, because of the clear tie to the role of education in also contributing to those values. Teaching – whether in the classroom or in one-on-one reference – was important to me as a way to make a difference.

The meandering version of my life story is that I happened to get a job in the branch science library during my undergraduate years and had a great time and thought the work of my supervisor and mentor, our science librarian, looked socially and intellectually interesting. Nearing graduation with my peace and global studies major and thinking about what to do with that, I got excited to remember 8^th grade civics lessons about what the library contributes to a culture and governance. It seemed very intriguing and promising. I knew the library as a workplace could be very enjoyable and here was the connection with my deeper convictions and values from my education!

What is unique about the culture of your library? How do you influence it?

We’re here to celebrate, support, and foster intellectual curiosity in the St. Norbert College community. Our college mission and identity shapes us too – we hold dear the value of communio, which is mutual esteem and respect, compassion and caring, trust, sincerity, faith and responsibility. Like others in the Catholic tradition, we value radical hospitality as well as rigorous intellectual inquiry.  We have a responsibility to deliver excellence in our services and collection, while cheerleading students, faculty, and staff in personal and organizational growth through learning, exploration, and working with ideas.  Life is too short to spend it doing work you don’t enjoy!

We create the work climate together, and as director I can be a catalyst by setting vision and modeling. In my first year here we created a Wordle capturing our values for the culture; I still love it and I start each work day looking at it, anchoring my energy in all of those. I strive to live the college motto “Docere Verbo et Exemplo” (to teach by word and example).

What do you think is important to know about the patrons or community you work with? What helps you understand those needs?

It is important to know everything we possibly can! Getting to know students, faculty and staff (both individually and collectively) along with continually enhancing our understanding of St. Norbert College’s mission and strategic priorities help us create our roadmap that guides our work and our own priorities. Being in positive relationships and eagerly stepping up / leaning in to the relationship-building and continual tweaking based on what we learn is exciting and imperative.

We employ all sorts of strategies to accomplish this: surveys, small group conversations, one-on-one, exercises to try to see from another perspective. Everyone on staff is encouraged to be facing outward (as opposed to looking internally) so we can be deeply tuned into our community. It is a fun and vigorous time to be in our bustling and busy library!

What big ideas are being worked on at your library? What problems are being solved?

We’re working proactively designing solutions and embracing opportunities for our community which we hope will also be impactful for other libraries as well.  Four big ideas we have embraced wrangling include: (1) right-sizing the collection and making good judgments in the face of chaotic, shifting environments regarding what formats are critical for our community in a tight fiscal reality, (2) educating our students about the information landscape (economics, ethics, and evaluation) in order for them to excel, (3) how libraries help champion the intellectual output of its community, and how to be contemporary and relevant while grounded in a timeless library mission and value system, and (4) we’re leading the way on the role of “making” in academic libraries in Wisconsin, and in showcasing trending technologies. We see students engaging in either or both as an important way to better “learn to learn” and as positioning them competitively post-graduation.