Carl B. Ylvisaker Library is welcoming a new director, Laure Probst, this month.
Probst has joined Concordia’s community after about 30 years of library work in larger universities around the country. As a native Minnesotan and graduate of Luther College in Iowa, Probst is looking forward to being back at a place more like home.
“I’m looking forward to being able to work closely with the librarians and the faculty and the students,” she said, “and helping the students learn and be successful in their careers.”
With a bachelor’s degree in music from Luther College¬–followed by a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in Musicology from the University of Minnesota–Probst started her career as a librarian at Penn State before moving to the University of Minnesota and Winona State. In 2007, she moved to Florida and became the dean of libraries and university librarian at Florida International University in Miami.
Although she enjoyed her time at each of these institutions, she is looking forward to the relationships she will be able to build here. Probst mentioned that, at Penn State, she managed almost 150 people and it was difficult to get to know everyone. Here, she will only be managing about seventeen or eighteen.
Probst hopes that this opportunity will allow her to meet all sorts of people. She recalls her experience working with a digital library called the Digital Library of the Caribbean in Haiti as one of her favorite career moments. While there, she was able to visit Haiti and work with the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. Probst explained that she was very fortunate to work with the people from the Caribbean.
“It was a great opportunity to meet new people and to support building a resource that’s become one of the most important resources for Caribbean history,” she said.
The excitement and knowledge Probst brings with her will be beneficial for the Concordia community. Although Probst said that her predecessor, Sharon Hoverson, left the library in good shape, with lots of strong programs and great colleagues to help keep the library running. She said that they are already starting to talk about the library space and how it’s serving the needs of students.
As technology is changes, Probst thinks the library needs to stay on its toes. In a world of metaliteracy, where technology and information come together and are interrelated, Probst explained that it is of the utmost importance to “help Concordia students develop those literacies so they can function in a world that’s crazy.”
“I’m really happy to be joining the Concordia community and becoming active in all the many things going on, on campus and in Fargo-Moorhead,” she said. “And I don’t even mind that it’s so cold.”
