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Meet the MCLS trainers: Dawn Olmsted Swanson

Dawn Olmsted Swanson is the Head of Technical Services and Metadata, Lead Librarian, at Kettering University Library in Flint, MI. She has a bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan, Flint and an MLIS from Wayne State University. In her spare time, she is actively involved in her church as well as Boy Scouts of America & Girl Scouts of the USA.

Some fun facts about Dawn:

  • She has worked in libraries since kindergarten, when she was chosen during library hour to stamp the due date in the books for her class each week. In 7th grade she started working in the library as a class and did that until graduation.
  • She loves horses and has had 3 Quarter Horses. She has done a lot of trail riding and horse shows with 4H. She has ridden horses in the Smoky Mountains and on the beach in California and Hawaii.
  • Her dream is to ride a horse across Michigan. She trained to do this a few years ago, but was not able to complete the ride. She plans to someday get another horse and train again, and accomplish it this time.
  • She has been a Cub Scout leader from Tigers – Webelos, and a Girl Scout leader for Daisies – Ambassadors.  At one time she had 52 girls in her Troop!
  • Her time as a Scout leader has given her many great opportunities and experiences, including: sleeping on a submarine; climbing a lighthouse; flying in a two-seater plane; and sleeping under the stars in many different spots.
  • One morning, while on a Scout camping trip, Dawn was sleeping outside under a lean-to that the troop had built. She woke up to something crawling up her legs and stomach, all the way up to her chin. When she finally forced herself to open her eyes, she found herself staring at a cat!
  • She loves dogs, and has had five Great Danes over the years. She is planning to start raising Saint Danes (a new breed mix of Great Dane and St. Bernard.)

Dawn has worked consistently as a paid library employee for over 30 years, since starting as a page at 16 years old. She has taught workshops for MCLS for 19 years! She focuses mainly on cataloging topics, and is teaching NINE workshops this semester. We’re so pleased to have Dawn on our roster of MCLS instructors!