Posted 2:03 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, 2025
Meet Jess Hangartner
With the first day of classes come and gone, we welcomed Jess Hangartner for the spring semester 2025.
Jess is helping to cover shifts at the Reference Help Desk, teaching Information Literacy sessions, and working on a few projects.
We asked Jess a few questions:
Where are you from? Melrose, Wisconsin
Tell us about your path to librarianship? I completed my undergraduate degree at UW Eau Claire in 2004 with a major in history and a minor in library science. Just before I graduated, one of my LIS professors suggested that I pursue my master's degree because I had done so well in the program, but I had just found out that I was expecting my first child, so that dream got put on the back burner. I was working part time at Walmart when I graduated from UWEC, and I turned this into a 20 plus year career, working my way up from an hourly associate to the salaried position of Academy Facilitator (a home office position that was based in a select few stores throughout the United States), in which I helped train people new to the role of supervisor. When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, my role changed a lot, and I started to reevaluate where I was career wise. It was during this time I was inspired to revisit that old dream of earning my master's, so I applied for and was accepted to UW Madison's library and information studies program. I started classes in the Fall of 2021, working on my degree part time as I now had three children to care for in addition to a demanding job that kept me away from home 60 plus hours a week. In the summer of 2023, I had the opportunity to interview for and accept a librarian role with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC), at Jackson Correctional Institution in Black River Falls, WI. It was a very rewarding experience, and I learned a lot about running a small library as well as the DOC as a whole. I was also able to complete the practicum requirement of my master's degree by drafting new procedure and editing existing policy while there. I enjoyed my work, but I wanted to do something in the library field that was more intellectually challenging. I have always felt that a university library would be an excellent way to tie my love of people development with librarianship, so with the completion of my master's degree in December of 2024, I applied for the temporary librarian position here at UWL. I am excited to learn everything this experience has to offer!
What's surprised you about Murphy Library so far? The number of different librarian roles that are here! I feel that it might take me a bit to remember what everyone's expertise is!
What do you like to do on your downtime? I play clarinet in the Black River Community band; I love to read (Stephen King is my favorite author); I enjoy fishing and boating with my family when the weather is warm, and I am currently watching the Outlander television series. I also spend a lot of my non-working time at sporting and music events for my kids.
Favorite local pizza? My husband actually makes amazing homemade pizza, so I would have to say his! For restaurant pizza though, I haven't found anything in La Crosse (or anywhere else) that beats Edwardo's Pizza Wagon (which closed a few years ago).
Something else we should know about you? I have been married almost 21 years, and I have three kids (a daughter, 19, a son, 15 (just shy of 16), and a daughter, 12). I have 2 cats and 2 dogs. I am a breast cancer survivor; I was diagnosed in November of 2021.
You can find Jess in room 120 on the ground floor of the library, or at the Research Help Desk, teaching or via email at jhangartner@uwlax.edu.
We appreciate her presence here at the library and are excited to share the academic library experience.
Interviewed by Teri Holford