Although she had worked in various library settings during and since college, Jackie Knuckle's original career plans did not involve librarianship. She says, "I always had an interest in libraries and I was kind of curious about it. But I didn't know I was going to end up being a librarian until much later." She majored in speech pathology at Northeastern University and after graduation, began working at the Community College of Philadelphia. From there, Knuckle moved to the Scott Memorial Library of Thomas Jefferson University and worked as a cataloging technician for ten years. Then she decided it was time for library school.

Jackie Knuckle attended the College of Information Science and Technology at Drexel University and graduated with an M.S. in Library and Information Science in 1994. Since then, her career path has continued to move in surprising directions. After beginning in an entry-level position in Thomas Jefferson's reference department, she ended up serving as the Access Services Department Manager. As she says, "There weren't too many people who went to library school and ended up managing a department!"

Then, in 2000, Knuckle left Jefferson for the Medical Library of Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. She says of medical librarianship, the field "kind of chose me....When I was in library school I thought I wanted to be a corporate librarian but I didn't really know what that meant. Because I spent so much time in health sciences, I kind of just stayed there."

Knuckle joined the Special Library Association (SLA) during her last year at Drexel, in part because she was still unsure what professional path she would choose. She says, "I wanted to be able to meet people from other environments and even now I find that to be an asset. I've met librarians who work at UPS, Dell, Microsoft-people I wouldn't normally meet if I was just hanging out with the MLA [Medical Library Association] crowd." She was also being mentored during this time by Judith Hesp, then president of the Philadelphia chapter of the SLA. As a member of the Philadelphia chapter of the SLA, and its Advisory Council's Career Guidance and Student Relations representative, Jackie Knuckle remains highly involved in the SLA. She recommends that library students join the 13,000 member organization as early as possible, citing benefits of professional networking and mentoring. The Philadelphia chapter, one of the oldest of the SLA's 56 regional chapters, brings together over 400 special librarians from the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Most events focus on professional development, but also included are the Wine and Cheese yearly kickoff event, a holiday party, a silent auction, and a book drive.