Victoria Heisler has just moved to Malmö from Vermont in the US. Originally, she is from both Germany and the US and has grown up in both counties.
Before joining us at the RWI she has been a school librarian, a youth service librarian and most recently an executive director of a youth arts non-profit. She has also worked as an archivist within academic libraries where she has been working with indigenous materials.
In elementary school, Victoria had an incredibly good librarian who encouraged her to explore all her interests in books. Victoria explains how having this adult mentor helping her find topics and subjects that excited her was incredibly beneficial. She explains how she wanted to learn just as much as possible and how her librarian always encouraged her to learn more and did her best to find Victoria resources that met her where she was at.
Victoria describes herself as someone who likes to know a little about a lot and how librarianship lets you explore so many different topics. Every time students come with a research question Victoria explains how she gets to dive into the topic and get excited about it to be able to get the student the information they need.
“I am a person who likes to know a little about a lot, I find myself getting really excited about topics and going into them and librarianship is really awesome for that”
For Victoria, one of the best aspects of libraries is that they are very indicative of a healthy democracy. She describes how “If you have a good library system chances are you have a very good democratic system”, she says. She expresses how this is something you see all over the world and for her, this is the most interesting and inspiring part of being a librarian.
“If you have a good library system chances are you have a very good democratic system”
Now, as the librarian of our amazing library, she looks forward to everything! She has a special interest in the collection focused on human rights as that is very tangential to the work she has done before, both in the arts and as an archivist. As Victoria worked with indigenous materials as an archivist for many years, she is excited to get involved within that focus area. She does also look forward to working closely with the students and researchers. But also, to work with other librarians’ professions and help them build their Human Rights library in the best way possible.
Victoria Heisler
Victoria Heisler is the Senior Librarian at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. She leads the development and operations of the Institute’s human rights library, advancing access to knowledge that supports research, education, and the promotion of human rights.
Her work focuses on managing the collections and digital resources, as well as providing research support and delivering training in information literacy and human rights for students, researchers, librarians and information professionals. She contributes to capacity-strengthening initiatives and international partnerships that support knowledge infrastructures in the human rights field.
Victoria holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Simmons University, with a concentration in archive management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education and English Literature. She has a professional background as a librarian, archivist, educator, and non-profit leader in the United States.