Olivia Hickner is the new Library Services Assistant III in the American Geographical Society Library. She earned her BA in English from DePaul University and, after a decade-plus stint in the restaurant industry, moved to Milwaukee to earn her MLIS at UWM. During her studies she served as a graduate intern in Special Collections.
In her new position, Olivia is excited to expand her knowledge of the unique challenges of working in a distinctive collection, and to continue to help serve the informational and research needs of the campus community.
Outside of the library, she enjoys exploring Milwaukee’s “awesome” trail system with her pitbull-mix Goofert. “I jumped on the sourdough bandwagon during the pandemic,” she says, “and I like experimenting with heritage flour varieties in my weekly bakes. And, of course, I love to read, especially speculative fiction.”
Kierra Holst joined the User Services Department in September as Business Librarian. She received her BA in sociology from the University of Oklahoma and her MLIS with a focus on archives and academic libraries from the University of North Texas. Kierra has spent most of her life in Dallas, Texas, but lived abroad for several years — in Hungary, Greece, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico — where she played professional volleyball.
About her new job, she says she feels lucky to be at UWM and to be able to work with students to complete their academic goals: “As research librarian I get to assist students and faculty with interesting problems and help them with complex information gathering.”
In her spare time, she says, “I love to read, start too many new craft projects, play games with friends, and hang out with my cat. I am looking forward to exploring winter activities not available in Texas and I’m especially looking forward to a cooler Wisconsin summer!”