Presenter bios

Greta Bahnemann (she/her) is the Metadata Librarian for the Minnesota Digital Library, a position she has held since 2010. Outside of work she enjoys creating fiber and paper crafts including quilts, art journals, and collages.

David Bedford (he/him) has been an apple breeder and research scientist at the University of Minnesota for 45 years. During that time he has been involved in the development and introduction of eight apple varieties from the University of Minnesota including Honeycrisp, Zestar!, SnowSweet, SweeTango, Frostbite, First Kiss/Rave, Triumph and Kudos. His job sometimes requires him to taste up to 500 apples per day as part of his duties to evaluate the 20,000 apple trees generated by the University of Minnesota apple breeding program.

Rachael Clark (she/her) works in Access & Information Services at the University of Minnesota Libraries, coordinating operations at the Architecture & Landscape Architecture Library. She has worked in libraries for about eleven years. Previously Rachael worked in specialty gaming retail for over six years, as a sales associate at Games by James and an events manager at Board Game Barrister.

Dr. Kirsten Delegard (she/her) is the Project Director and one of the co-founders of Mapping Prejudice, which mobilizes community members to document and map racial covenants. Delegard is an historian and a Minneapolis native who has always aspired to work in a library, which is why she feels extraordinarily lucky to have found a professional home in the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Joshua Dieringer (he/him) currently works at the University of Minnesota Libraries as a music cataloger. His main research interests include video games and video game music in libraries. He also arranges and performs video game music with the Bards Quartet, a Minneapolis/St. Paul-based string quartet.

Kate Dietrick (she/her) has been with the University of Minnesota Libraries since 2013 as the Archivist for the Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. Prior to her time at the University of Minnesota she lived in New York and worked in the archives at the Whitney Museum of American Art and with the Kress Foundation. She holds a Masters of Information and Library Science from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, with certificates in both Archives and Museum Libraries, and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Women’s Studies from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Karen Diver (she/her) is the Senior Advisor tot he President for Native American Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She previously served as Chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Band, and as th4e Special Assistant to the President in the Obama White House. She has a Bachelors in Economics from UMD, and Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Amy Drayer (she/her) is the User Interface Developer for the University of Minnesota Libraries. She also co-chairs the U’s Libraries Accessibility Steering Committee and its Training subgroup, is a representative for the BTAA Library Accessibility Group and leads its Education Team, and co-chairs the Library Accessibility Alliance.

Verena Getahun (she/her) is the library data coordinator at State Library Services in the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). In her role at MDE, Verena coordinates data collection and analysis for the annual report and consults with libraries on using data to communicate their value.

Alyssa Gregory (she/her) is a Library Assistant at the Andersen Horticultural Library. She is the Coordinator of Flora and Fauna Illustrata, a long-term project in which artists illustrate the plants, animals, insect and fungi growing and living at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring State Parks, discovering tiny worlds through her microscope, and taking art classes at the Minnesota School of Botanical art.

Mary Healy (she/her) has been a librarian in Anoka County for 18 years. She has been the library manager at the Centennial library for the last 10 years. She never thought she would be doing kitchen programs when she got her library degree but has taken on the challenge. She enjoys sharing and cooking up new programs for patrons in the library’s I.Q. kitchen. She believes the Air Fryer is the BEST cooking appliance. Ask her for her favorite recipes.

Emerson Ironstone (they/them) is the Outreach and Interdisciplinary Program Specialist for the University of Minnesota Libraries Makerspaces and Virtual Reality Studio. Previously, Emerson earned their MLIS at Indiana University and worked as a children’s librarian at Queens Public Library in New York. Emerson has been a crafter and maker since youth, and enjoys making in all its many forms.

Caspian Jensen (they/them) is the Adult Literacy Hotline Specialist for Literacy Minnesota. Caspian helps adult learners all over the state of Minnesota find free classes near them such as GED prep, English (ESL, ELL) and more. In their free time they enjoy painting with watercolors, playing Zelda games and creative writing and reading.

Russell Johnson (he/him) is an Art, Music, and Literature Librarian at the Minneapolis Central Library. An Illinois transplant, he’s a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan, loves bánh mì, and saw Fontaines DC for his first show at First Ave.

PJ Maracle (he/him) is a History & Social Science Librarian at Minneapolis Central Library with a focus on Indigenous materials. He enjoys riding his bike and collecting vinyl records.

Nicole Masika (she/her) is Interim President of AFSCME 3937 and a 23 year employee at Minitex. Maddy Flisk is an organizer for AFSCME at the University of Minnesota Ai Miller is a rank and file union member of AFSCME at UMN. Rachel Katkar works at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry with the international dental student program and currently serves in several leadership capacities in AFSCME at UMN.

Lacie McMillin (she/her) is the Undergraduate Services Specialist. She works at the desk at Wilson Library, staff LibAnswers, and helps to coordinate Libraries programming for Orientation, Welcome Week, First Year Experience courses, and the First Year Writing program. She also helps with communications on Instagram (@umnlib) and TikTok (@umnlibrarians).

Kat Nelsen is the librarian for Anthropology, Sociology, American Studies, American Indian Studies, and Asian American Studies. Kat can also help with research related to disability studies. Additionally, Kat is the collections coordinator for the Libraries Social Sciences Department.

Alison Nelson Chabot (she/her) is the Business Reference Support Associate, working to support business students, faculty, and staff through the complicated web of resources covering everything from Marketing to Finance research. She is also an avid potter, gardener, and dog mom.

Nicole Olila (she/they) is a queer librarian, curator, and collaborator with local commitments and global attentiveness. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Saint Catherine University, and is a member of the Beta Phi Mu International Honor Society. Currently, they are serving as the Quatrefoil Library’s very first library manager. They are dedicated to the work of promoting intellectual freedom, practicing critical librarianship, and thinking about the library as a Third Space. They have been engaging, platforming and archiving queer creatives since 2017.

Anna Opryszko (she/her) is the Assistant Curator at the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine, where she contributes to research assistance, instruction, outreach, and collection management.

Ally Ososki (she/her) has been a Law librarian with the Minnesota State Law Library’s Law Library Service to Prisoners Program since 2021. She received her MLIS from St. Kate’s in 2022.

Bill Pederson (he/him) has been a volunteer in the Master Gardener Volunteer Program since 2020. He has been the garden manager of an urban community garden since 2017, and enjoys listening to people talk about what they are growing.

Kate Peterson (she/her) is the undergraduate services librarian and liaison for Writing Studies. She works to coordinate outreach to Orientation, Welcome Week and First Year Experience courses. She teaches the Think Like a Researcher mini-Canvas course, CSE 1001: First Year Experience and CLA 1002: First Year Experience: Research Spotlight.

Sophie Phan (she/her) is the Volunteer Outreach Coordinator, and she also oversees the Hotline at Literacy MN. She’s been with the organization for 2 years. Outside of work, she enjoys learning new recipes, reading, watching true crime mysteries, and spending time outdoors.

Maggie Snow (she/her) is the Minitex Director and has been working in libraries for 30+ years. Snow is a former president of the Minnesota Library Association and was awarded MLA’s William G. Asp Distinguished Career Award in 2018. She is a board member of the Minnesota Library Foundation.

Beth Staats (she/her) is an Outreach & Instruction Librarian and the Ebooks MN Coordinator with Minitex, a program of the University of Minnesota Libraries. The work of that unit includes providing instruction and support for eLibrary Minnesota (ELM) to library and school staff in Minnesota.

Margaret Stone (she/her) is director of Dakota County Library having spent 40 years working in various libraries in different capacities in several states. She is a past MLA president and member of the conference planning committee. Margaret is currently an active member of the MLA Nominating Committee and also serves on the Minitex Policy Advisory Council.

Mary Voss is a Retirement Specialist with the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS).

Susan Vossberg (she/her) is the Technical Services Librarian at Northwestern Health Sciences University. She earned her MLIS from Dominican University.

Emily Waitz (she/her) is the Director of Library Services at Northwestern Health Sciences University. She earned her MLIS from Dominican University and has held library positions in a variety of organization types.

Michael Wall (he/him) is the Youth Voter Outreach Specialist for the Office of Minnesota Secretary of State, which means is he gets to spend his days connecting young people to the power of our representative democracy and their place in it, sharing how to discover their civic voice, helping people learn and utilize the (pre)registration and voting processes and educate themselves on candidates and issues, and generally feeling that he is so, so lucky to be supporting the idea that, “Your Vote is Your Voice.”

David Westcott is a Libra. Likes Records. Hates Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Matt Youngbauer (he/him) has been an Associate Librarian with Anoka County for 11 years, focusing primarily on Youth Services. You can find him doing everything from leading Storytime with his ukulele to designing Escape Rooms to demoing 3D printers. He loves food almost as much as he loves books.