Pauline Stacchini was born in Versailles, France. She obtained her Baccalauréat de Littérature from the Lycée International (Saint Germain-en-Laye, France), Bachelor of Arts from Saint John's College (Annapolis, Maryland), and her Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa. In 2016, she was named an American Library Association Emerging Leader.
Previously the Reference and Instruction Librarian at Bellevue University's Freeman-Lozier Library (Bellevue, Nebraska), she served as Branch Manager then Manager over Strategic Initiatives at the Dallas Public Library, and is a Managing Librarian for the Austin Public Library, since late 2018.