Mary Ann Teske has served the Luther Seminary community for nearly 36 years. Since 1988, she has been a member of the library staff, serving our mission of providing theological education by ensuring the collection is well-maintained, organized, and accessible. As Mary Ann prepares to retire this summer, we took the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her work and experiences at Luther Seminary.

How did you find your way to library work in theological education?

I was originally trained as an elementary school librarian and, while I loved many aspects of that vocation, did not enjoy leading a classroom setting. I then worked for Abbott Hospital as a pharmacy clerk, keeping track of and delivering prescriptions across the hospital system. But I knew that wasn’t what I would do for the rest of my life and I knew I loved books and loved to read. I talked with the librarian at Abbott Hospital’s medical library and later enrolled in the graduate studies program at St. Cloud State.

After completing my graduate studies in library science, I lived at Holden Village for a time, then entered the mission field as a librarian at Lutheran Theological College in Umpumulo, South Africa. When I returned from South Africa, I returned briefly to the public school system, where I happened to meet Myrna Wente, who taught in the same school and was the spouse of then-library director Norm Wente. Myrna connected me with Norm, and we stayed in touch while I finished up my accredited library degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Norm knew of my interest in serving the church, so we worked to tailor my education to theological education. I’ve always appreciated the way leadership at Luther has seen potential in people and given us the opportunity to learn and develop.

I often describe my career path like this: When I found librarianship, I found my career. When I found cataloging, I found my niche. When God helped me find Luther Seminary, I found my home. Things haven’t been perfect over the course of these three-plus decades, but they’ve been good. The library has been a steady presence for the community, and I’ve been able to use the gifts I’ve been given to serve in this place, which was a gift to me.

How has your work at the Luther Seminary library changed?

The biggest change in my role as a catalog and collection management librarian has been in technology. The catalog used to be on microfiche. When computers came into the picture, at first we had only one computer in the entire library, and I could type faster than it could process my typing. We’ve done several major projects to digitize the catalog and search functions, and of course, so many resources are now available fully in a digital format.

What gives you the most joy when you walk into the library?

I love my work. So it’s been hard to think about retiring. Within my work, the thing I like the most is my “shelf list.” I still maintain a full record—on physical cards—of every item in the library, everything we have. This might not be kept around forever, but it has served us well to date. There have been times, perhaps not in the immediate past, where various digital systems were down and the shelf list helped save the day for a research project or other important initiative. And the stacks are also just impressive—our collection is truly remarkable and stands out among theological schools. Almost every day I’m amazed. I’ll be looking for an obscure title thinking we won’t have it.” And then I look and realize, “we do have that!”

I also love the people I’ve met and interacted with. Everyone I’ve worked with—including student workers in the library and all the students who have studied at the seminary—is a gift to me and to this community.

What are you going to do when you retire?

I don’t have any big plans like travel or a so-called bucket list. I want to lean into my volunteer work. I know I will be reading more, quilting and sewing, hiking more of the state parks, walking my neighborhood and reconnecting with people—and cleaning closets and drawers, trying to winnow my possessions. I might even try days where I just “go with the flow” for whatever comes to mind on that day, a concept with which this structured person struggles mightily.