Originally from West Virginia, Mary Stein has lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, since her college days at Louisiana State University. Before moving to public libraries, she worked as a special collections librarian at New Mexico State University, and a reference librarian at LSU. Stein joined the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in 1984 and worked in the Adult and Teen Services departments before becoming the Library's Assistant Director of Administration in 2004, focusing on Programs, Outreach and Collections.