Bill Musser
Chief Administrative Librarian, Seed Savers Exchange - Decorah, Iowa
Profile
Bill Musser isn't the typical member of the Ag History Society. Bill serves Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa as its chief administrative librarian. The organization is dedicated to saving "North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity." Since arriving at Seed Savers in 2010, Bill has worked to turn a hodge-podge collection of botanical and horticultural books and items into a modern, digitalized library resource.
Bill also oversees a growing volunteer library staff, writes grants and raises funds for the library and its future expansion. Recently, the library purchased private collections of rare and historically significant books and serial volumes published in Great Britain and the United States. As a part of the library's expanding special collections department, these works, once downloaded into the digital database, will offer agricultural and cultural historians valuable resources related to sustainable and organic methods of growing and preparing food. While the library is currently working to establish an institutional archive, its primary objective remains the cataloging of backlogged materials for on site and online users. You can visit the virtual collection online here; enter "seed savers" at the library prompt.
Bill brings a wealth of library expertise to Seed Savers having served as a cataloger at Luther College in Decorah and at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. He received his M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa in 2011 and is a member of Beta Phi Mu.