''I was the elementary school library helper...I even played librarian when I was a kid. I'd card and pocket my books and check them out. I just never lost that.''
"Marvin was my mentor, and I worked with him for so long I could see where his strengths were, and I thought I didn't necessarily have all of his strengths," Golden admits. "[But] it has not proven to be particularly tough because people are so nice and so accepting. And I've been here so long that I know exactly where they are coming from."
So long indeed. Golden has been with the state law library system for over 20 years. However, before she rose to the top, Golden aspired to become a librarian when she was in the second grade.
"I was the elementary school library helper...I even played librarian when I was a kid. I'd card and pocket my books and check them out. I just never lost that."
But it was in high school when she decided to focus in on law, a topic that fascinated her.
In 1970 Golden graduated from Hamline University, receiving her bachelor's degree in math and religion. A year later she graduated from the University of Minnesota with her M.S. in Library Science.
Golden then took a librarian position at the University of Nebraska, and it was there that she thought about going to law school.
"The law librarians that I knew in Nebraska told me that if you really want to get ahead, you should get your law degree," she says. "I don't know if that was necessarily true, although certainly I would not have the position that I have now if I didn't have a law degree. But you don't have to have a law degree to work in law libraries; it helps for advancement."
So Golden ventured out, got accepted to William Mitchell College of Law, and graduated in 1980 with her J.D.
Golden's legal career began in 1983, when she became the county law library coordinator. In this position she helped advise and assist 85 county law libraries throughout the state of Minnesota with respect to everything from floor plans to purchasing. Two years later Golden became the head of the library's newly developed outreach service department. And in 1987 she became the state's electronic service librarian, a position she held until 2002.
"We really wanted to have an electronic services librarian because the field was changing so much, but we could not hire a new person. So I moved into the position," she explains.
When she was approached about becoming the state law librarian, Golden hesitated, thinking someone with strengths similar to Anderson's would be better. But as she took inventory of her own strengths, she realized she had what it took.
Now, in her position as state law librarian, Golden thrives in everything she does. New projects, from getting the legal Minnesota periodicals index online to creating a searchable database of appellate briefs, excite her. And she's not afraid to lead:
"I want to take a hard look at what it is that we are doing and whether we are doing it right and what direction we should be going. I am going to start with actually talking to people — our users and people that aren't our users — and [find out] why they are not and what it is that we should be doing to help them."
Something she hopes to add in the future is more library services on the Internet. And "we've always thought that we wanted to go into community education classes and do a little more teaching about [the library]," says Golden.
Another of Golden's responsibilities is managing the budget. Perhaps because of her math background, this is something she enjoys.
"I like being in charge of the budget — even though this is a challenging time to be in charge of the budget. I like the fact that I can make the decisions about where our resources are going. I like it much better than I thought I would."
Golden's upbeat attitude is proof she loves her job.
"We're there for them," says Golden of library patrons. "Any time they want to tell us what we can do for them or what exciting new program they'd love to see us do, [they can] drop me a line or give me a call."
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