Bobby Bothmann

Biography

My dog Senta & me.

My new dog Pavo.

Me & the old folks.

Early Years

I was born in Minneapolis on Easter Sunday during a blizzard, on 29 March 1970. When I was still quite young my family moved to Mobile, Alabama. There I attended Corpus Christi Catholic school through the 8th grade. I graduated from McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in 1988.

College Years

I started college in 1988. I attended Oglethorpe University, a very small liberal arts college of 800 students in Atlanta, Georgia. I hated it. So I moved back to Minnesota and transferred to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus in 1989. There I majored in geology and earned my B.A. in 1997. Since I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life at the time, I started a German literature major before I "graduated" to string out the college experience and not have to make any rash decisions. While I was working on my second major, I spent a semester abroad in Graz, Austria where I attended Karl-Franzens-Universität in 1995.

The Working Years

Most of my working life has been spent in libraries. I worked in the library in high school, and as a student in college since my first day. I did do a stint in retail which didn't last long, and for two years in the geology lab where I made microscope slides of rocks. After I graduated in 1997, I got a job as a library assistant in Walter Library at the University of Minnesota. After a few years, I realized that this type of work is what I really like and I saw just how many people were on the edge of retirement in the profession. Then I knew that job opportunities would be ripe. So I started my masters in Library and Information Science through the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. I completed the entire program in 2 years, all of it online. That let me continue to work at the U of MN and live in St. Paul.

The Start Of The Academic Years

After graduating with my MLIS in December 2001, I applied for a new library faculty position at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I was offered the job in February 2002, moved to the small town of Good Thunder just south of Mankato, and now work in Memorial Library as the Electronic Access/Catalog Librarian. Now in 2003 I am starting my second master's degree, which is required for tenure. I have decided upon a Crossdisciplinary Studies program in Geography and Technical Communication.