Campus Closeup: Molly Anderson

When Molly Anderson joined the Olson Library staff—first as a student assistant and more recently as a full-time senior library assistant—her career had come full circle from her teenage years, when she worked in her hometown’s public library. She has spent plenty of her free time in that environment as well because of her avid, longtime appreciation for the written word.

“I love the library because it’s simultaneously quiet and exciting,” said Anderson. “You’re surrounded by books of all different kinds, you’re surrounded by academia and you’re surrounded by people who are here to get a college education and to learn.  I’ve always wanted to work in an academic atmosphere. There’s just so much room for growth and you never stop learning.”

Anderson deals with billing, inventory and supervising a staff of 15-20 students, many of whom perform the same duties she once did. She said she likes interacting with people, but also appreciates the behind-the-scenes elements of her position.

“They let me work at my own pace and I never feel stressed out. Everyone is so nice and it’s just a general atmosphere of productive calm. There’s always something to do.”

Anderson previously spent 11 years as an assistant store manager at the former Blockbuster in Marquette. She also completed a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from NMU in 2009.

“When the store closed, I was unemployed for the first time in a while,” she said. “I had just graduated college so I thought, ‘What am I going to do? I’m gonna go back to school.’ So I came here for the Master of Arts program in English and applied for a student assistant job at the library because of my similar experience as a teenager. Luckily, I got the job and here I am.”

When Anderson writes outside of work, her favorite style is short fiction. She credits J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, which she read at age 16, for sparking her interest in writing.

“Up until then, I’d been reading the classics and didn’t think literature was an achievable thing for me. But then I read his work and was fascinated because he wrote the way people talked and the way people thought. I decided, ‘ I can do that, too’ and discovered I had a knack for writing as well.”

Outside of the literary world, Anderson enjoys hiking around Wetmore Landing, exploring Marquette, swimming in Lake Superior and playing video games with her husband. She is originally from St. Cloud, Minn., but has lived in Marquette since 1998.