Destined to work in a library
During a recent conversation, a strong theme emerged: Johnson is determined to do everything she can within the library’s finite resources to bridge the digital divide in Milwaukee.
“We’re so concerned right now about people not taking advantage of using the library to get connected,” she said.
Johnson spent many happy hours in libraries before being a librarian became her vocation. Growing up in Milwaukee, she used the library at Story Elementary School and was a library monitor at West Division High School. While finishing her bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she had a work-study job in the engineering library.
But that degree was in interior design and scenic design. She spent the next decade as a scenic designer for theaters and films, which required oodles of time in libraries researching historical periods. She finally realized “that I was a better researcher and I felt more comfortable in the library doing the research part of it than I did executing the art piece.” Johnson earned her master’s degree in library and information science at the University of Washington and worked in the Seattle Public Library system, where she became a branch manager.
In 2006, she returned to Milwaukee as manager of the Central Library, moving up to deputy director of public services in 2009. In September, Johnson succeeded the retiring Paula Kiely as city
See LIBRARY, Page 4E
Joan Johnson, the new director of the Milwaukee Public Library, plans to extend the library’s efforts to bridge the digital divide.