Maura Nelson helps enrich the experience of Library visitors.

I was thrilled to join the dynamic Visitor Engagement Office in early spring 2024. As a volunteer services specialist, I was challenged to reimagine training and continuing education for the Library’s volunteer corps. I hit the ground running, navigating around the campus, having conversations about past training and opportunities to expand offerings both on-site and beyond to enhance our storytelling with the visiting public.

Last summer, we launched a new learning framework that includes training requirements, electives, off-site enrichments and series. To date, we’ve held five learning catalogue cycles, each covering three months’ worth of training that volunteers self-select and participate in.

Growing up in New England, I spent my formative years enjoying the outdoors and visiting museums. As the daughter of a public school teacher, I always enjoyed helping Mom set up her classroom each August in anticipation of students’ arrival. I sometimes joined her for the day and got to see her in action.

I pursued an undergraduate degree in environmental studies at the College of the Holy Cross, followed several years later by graduate work at Tufts University. During that time, I worked as a consultant, conducting field work and writing ecological risk assessments. I learned during those years that I really enjoyed talking with the public at town hall meetings, interpreting and making technical information more accessible.

I began to think about pivoting toward education. At the time, I just happened to be auditing a graduate course in museum education.

I moved to the D.C. area in 2006. I continued consulting but couldn’t quite shake the lure of object-based teaching and learning — especially while living in an epicenter of museums and cultural arts organizations! I earned a Master of Arts in teaching in museum education at George Washington University in 2010 and haven’t looked back. I spent over a decade at the U.S. Botanic Garden, just down the hill from the Library. There, I served as an educator and as the organization’s first accessibility coordinator, focused on maximizing the visitor experience through services and programming.

Three weeks into my new role, I was tapped to be a seat filler for the Library’s Gershwin Prize concert. I suddenly found myself sharing space with the likes of Brandi Carlile, Metallica and the honorees themselves, Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin. I could have touched the sequins! I’ve also really enjoyed sharing the Library with out-of-town family and friends that have come to visit.

I’m most grateful for the collaborations with fellow colleagues that have resulted in our robust learning catalogues. The “Know Your Neighbor” tour series has been a fun addition — getting off-site to learn what is happening in our immediate neighborhood.

Visits to the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, U.S. Supreme Court, Folger Shakespeare Library and U.S. Botanic Garden enable us to share more with our visitors to Capitol Hill. This year also marked a return to docent training with an emphasis on audience, facilitation and content.