Nancy Miller
Nancy Miller, Director of the Hinckley Library at Northwest College, is retiring. Her last day at the library is June 30. She began her 34-year career in libraries working evenings at the Sublette County Library. In 1997, Nancy moved to Powell and joined NWC as a Library Assistant. She earned her Master of Library and Information Science degree in 2005 from the University of Missouri-Columbia through an online/in-person hybrid program. She was named Director of the Hinckley Library in November 2017.
We invited Nancy to share a little bit about herself for the blog.
It has been a great blessing and privilege to discover the world of libraries and work with wonderful people. I wish to thank you all! After following a Zoology career and then a family pathway, I started my library career working evenings at the Sublette County Library under Daphne Platts who taught me that libraries are more than just caretakers of wonderful books. I advanced to the day shift, technical services, ILLs, and bookkeeping. After nine years, my career took me to Hinckley Library at Northwest College under Kay Carlson, then Dr. Susan Richards. Again, I learned much about the academic side of libraries and library instruction. I jumped at the chance to earn my MLIS when the University of Missouri-Columbia brought their online MLIS program to about five western states. What an opportunity to continue my education and stay in Wyoming! Online courses were a new adventure for everyone back in 2001. Again, I worked with many wonderful librarians and library staff at the college and statewide. It is really the people you work with that help you weather storms dealing with library issues and finances. Over the past 34 years, library changes have been mostly positive. I’m excited to see that tiny steps toward increased funding and adding back cut staffing positions are being discussed, even though it may take a while longer, especially for academic libraries.
Hinckley Library continues forward with a great team. Becky Voss is our new Library Director (July) and Faith Johnson is our new Library Coordinator (MLS Librarian/Dept. Head). By summer’s end, a search for a second Coordinator may have started. Wyoming really can grow our own librarians and recruit great people nationally. My advice: Take advantage of the learning opportunities provided by the State Library and other libraries. Mentor those new to the library world. I remember a piece of advice learned years ago: You should be training your replacement. This ensures that library staff, librarians, and libraries continue to grow seamlessly.
What will I do in retirement? Volunteer, pursue hobbies, see grandkids more, hike, camp, ski ,and read. Faith already has acquired a stack of ILLs for me and soon I’ll descend on my Powell public library! My heartfelt thanks to you all!