November/December 2005 issue

Bio: Joy Osmundson, Library Assistant, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I am very pleased to be a part of the Eighth Circuit Courts Library, as a Library Assistant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My favorite area of library work is research and finding the correct answer to anyone’s questions!

I was born and raised in a small town (pop. 600) in southern Minnesota, with three brothers and three sisters by my side. My mother was a Home Economics teacher and my father a small business owner. I have a BA degree in Sociology from Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Ia, and worked five years at Family Service Agency, managing two programs - Mediation Service and Supervised Visitation. After burning out in that field, I worked at the Cedar Rapids Public Library as a Library Materials and Reference Assistant for eight and a half years.

I have two sons and a daughter, and four grandchildren, whom I enjoy immensely. They all live in Iowa, except my daughter, who recently moved to California. Now I have a warm place to visit, but am missing her dearly. I love to travel (have visited Greece and India), read, garden (collecting hydrangeas, ferns, and other shade-loving plants), walk, bake breads, and meditate with yoga. I also enjoy updating my house, and have built an “entire wall library” out of mahogany, replaced sinks, cabinetry, etc.

One interesting tidbit is that my grandfather was a judge in Oklahoma, so I’m feeling very interesting vibes of closeness to him as I work within the court system.