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Tim McCluske, retired Minitex employee and inaugural manager of the Minnesota Library Access Center (MLAC), has died. Our condolences go out to his family.
We are saddened to share the news that Tim McCluske, retired Minitex employee and inaugural manager of the Minnesota Library Access Center (MLAC), has died. See his obituary in the Star Tribune.
In January of 2000, the Minnesota Library Access Center (MLAC) first opened its doors in a specially constructed cavern space eighty feet below the University of Minnesota’s West Bank campus. MLAC was a revolutionary project in Minnesota, designed to house important print materials from libraries across the state. When the project leads needed someone to design the operations of the program and to manage the collection, they turned to Tim McCluske, who was working in the University Libraries at the time.
Tim worked with colleagues to design operations, plan for ongoing management, and oversee accessioning of what turned out to be 1.5 million items into the shared collection from more than 20 Minnesota libraries.
In the years since and leading up to his retirement, Tim built best-in-class operations for a high-density central library storage facility. The MLAC space and practices have served as models for other institutions, both nationally and internationally.
His colleagues remember him as funny, kind, thoughtful, collaborative, calm, and collected. He was a man who took the time to really think through the issues, and loved to try new things. And he encouraged others to do the same. He was very good at his job, and was a trusted partner with libraries across Minnesota, including on the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, where he worked for a number of years before joining Minitex. He was also a wonderful person and we’ll miss him, including on Groundhog Day, a day of celebration for MLAC staff and cake for all. Our condolences go out to Tim’s family.
This article was written with the help of retired Minitex employee Kathy Drozd.
