Pictured above are new library staff members, from left to right: Aimee Brown, Ian Moore, Rob Trousdale, and Kate Conerton.
Archivist and Curator of Special Collections Aimee Brown has been a Kathryn A. Martin Library employee since August 2017. Her favorite aspects of the job are helping people use the archives, learning more about the collections, and collaborating with the rest of the library staff.
She is responsible for managing all aspects of the archives and special collections, including engaging with classes, providing reference assistance to researchers, and developing the collections.
Her background includes work at the Iron Range Research Center in Chisholm, Minnesota, and being a special collections librarian at St. Olaf College in Northfield. She has also worked at three women’s history archives as a student or full-time employee.
With a BA in political science and Scandinavian studies and an MS in library and information science, Aimee has a wide range of interests. She enjoys hiking, reading mysteries and local history, playing cards, and participating in feminist and other social justice movements. She is also interested in all kinds of film (except horror) and all kinds of music, including folk and punk. She can’t wait to attend her first Homegrown Music Festival.
Also of note: she loves mountain and road biking. Ten years ago she biked 80 miles in one day, including over a ten-thousand-foot-high mountain pass in Colorado.
In addition, Ian has signed on to the library’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards team and its Communication & Events team.
Prior to coming to UMD, Ian was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, where he earned his library science degree. He also received a BA in English from Macalester College.
Away from work, he enjoys reading (including history), playing guitar, and singing. In the area of music interests, you might not expect a librarian to be a big fan of heavy metal, but Ian is!
In January of this year, Kate Conerton became Martin Library’s Science & Engineering Librarian. She is intrigued by the wide range of questions she receives while working with students, faculty, and staff, both in classes and during one-on-one consultations.
After completing an undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Kate went on to earn a Master of Library and Information Studies degree at the University of British Columbia.
She worked in libraries while in grad school before becoming a research librarian at the University of Wyoming. Her goal was to find a job at a state university in the upper Midwest, and she considers Duluth a nice bonus.
In her spare time, she likes to cook and spend time outdoors. Lately, she’s been reading a lot of mysteries and romance novels.
Rob Trousdale is the library’s new Circulation Desk Evening Supervisor (as of February 5, 2018). He is responsible for overseeing the daily operations and workflow of the service desk during the evenings, supervising lead student workers, and ensuring that excellent customer service is provided. One of his favorite aspects of the position so far has been interacting with library patrons at the circulation desk.
In his position, he will also develop training materials. Rob has worked for the last four years as a classroom teacher, including a year as a high school work-study coordinator with the Corporate Work Study Program at the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. This gave him supervisory experience similar to the responsibilities of the evening supervisor.
His educational background includes a BA in political science, with minors in criminal justice and theology. In addition, he holds a Juris Doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law.
Rob was interested in this position because it will allow him to gain formal library work experience as he pursues a Master of Library Science degree with the aim of becoming a reference librarian specializing in the social sciences.
When asked about his favorite hobbies or activities, he mentioned reading, hiking, and “staring at the stars.” He is currently reading Mary Oliver's collected works. He recently finished a number of works by Angela Davis, including Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.