In and About the Library

Carolyn Ottoson

Carolyn Ottoson is the Government Documents librarian for Cornette Library. 

Carolyn has worked for the library since 2003 and has been the Government Documents librarian since 2007. If you’ve ever needed help tracking down a resource from our Government Documents department, you’ve probably encountered Carolyn and her infectious passion for research and preservation. 

This passion comes through in almost everything Carolyn is involved in here at the library and many of the projects she tackles in her personal life. 

In fact, she lists her hobbies as “puttering at genealogy and working at any kind of research. She’s even found one of her direct ancestors was hanged in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Which in my book affords her a certain amount of street cred in both the library and history communities. 

When she isn’t finding out awesome facts about her family history, she’s reading, working on puzzles, or hanging out with her fun husband and “doodles” Archie (a Goldendoodle) and Lola (a Labradoodle). Unfortunately, her two dogs love to eat puzzle pieces so getting to complete a puzzle is a bit of a challenge and a rare treat. 

Carolyn also really enjoys taking trips to the Family History Library in Utah and the Botanical Gardens in D.C.  

In fact, she loves visiting Botanical Gardens in general. 

Carolyn brings her passion for research and preservation to bear when she is working with the American Library Association’s Government Documents Round Table and the GOVDOC-L LISTSERV.  

The LISTSERV in particular is a forum about government information and the Federal Depository Library Program. It’s a group of librarians who help each other with real life research problems. 

Lastly, Carolyn has been working on a really cool protect related to local history in Amarillo. A round table discussion with African-American Senior Citizens was recorded on video cassette in 2000 at the North Branch Library. Carolyn has been working to get the video transferred to a digital format and to also get a transcript of the discussion. She is excited and honored to have the chance to save these voices and memories that might have otherwise been lost when the VHS copy inevitably disintegrated. She hopes this information will be useful to WT students and to the broader Amarillo community as well.