Jane A. Avner trained as a librarian and an archivist. She managed the Jewish archival collections in Seattle, WA and Cleveland, OH. She was responsible for the content development of two Jewish museums, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, OH, and the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. She has written about Jewish history in the three communities where she has worked, including as a co-author of Merging Traditions: Jewish Life in Cleveland (2004), several articles about Cleveland and Ohio in Encyclopedia Judaica (2006) and as an editor and chapter author of Stitching History From the Holocaust, the catalog accompanying a 2014 exhibit at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. She completed three articles for the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee: Judaism, the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, and the Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts. She is a Board member of the Milwaukee Jewish Community Relations Council, on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, and served as a member of the Israel and Overseas Committee of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. She is both a past president and current president of Lake Park Synagogue.