Ella became the librarian at Oshkosh Normal (University of Wisconsin) in 1899. A professional, trained by the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, she is thought to be the school's fourth librarian.

By the time she had started in Oshkosh, the library extended from one to three rooms located in the Normal School's third floor. In addition to the reference collection and main reading room, the library, at the time, included a textbook lending collection and a special reading room of periodicals separately
paid for faculty and students. Throughout the building there were also separate reading rooms for the departments of history, literature and science. In addition to these collections, the library also oversaw a collection of 1,800 government publications, donated by Sen. Philetus Sawyer and other officials. These were housed in a fourth floor room and were used widely for debates and reference.

And over all of this, it is reported, Ella Parmele ran a tight ship. Accounts of Ella's deportment vary slightly in the brief bios of staff printed in the Quiver:

…from her lookout in the center of the reading room, [she] watches with eager eye lest some indolent student idly fritter away his time in idle gossip. (1904)

…Puzzle: Is it the nature of the school or an economy of time that forbids her gracious replies? (1908)

Perhaps the students might have been more understanding of her austere manner if they'd known she had a monthly salary of $70.

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