Meet our Library Faculty: Kate Cummings

Kate Cummings joined the faculty of the Weinberg Memorial Library in Summer 2022. She is the Research & Instruction Librarian for Business. She previously served as the director of the Luzerne County Community College Library. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maine, an MLIS from the University of South Carolina, and an MBA from Wilkes University. Sheli Pratt-McHugh (SP), Co-editor of Information Update, recently interviewed Kate (KC).

SP: Tell us about your previous library experience and your educational background. What brought you to the WML?

KC: I spent many hours in my public libraries throughout middle/high school. They were places of safety and solace. Then I began working in libraries in 2004 when I started as a work-study student at the community college I was attending. When I transferred to the University of Maine to complete my bachelor’s degree, I also worked in their library. After I graduated, I mulled around for a bit, but nothing felt right; something was missing both professionally and personally, and I realized that being in a library had been a constant in my life that I was missing. That is when I decided to go to graduate school for library and information science. Since then, I have held various positions as a librarian, and there are few areas of library work that I have not done and eventually I became library director. I came to the WML because it was a different type of library than I had previously worked in and because the position was focused on research and instruction. I also knew I would have great colleagues who I very much looked forward to working with.

SP: Tell us about your work as an R&I Librarian for Business. What are your favorite parts of the position? What are some interesting things that you do?

KC: As an R&I Librarian, I support students and faculty with their scholarly pursuits, and I teach information literacy topics in classes that seek out our support. My subject knowledge is in business, but I teach and support various disciplines. I love when I get a business-related question! Some librarians are less comfortable with them because not many of them studied business like I did, but I think business questions are great because they can require a different approach to searching and resource evaluation.

SP: You’re active in professional library organizations. What are some roles you’ve held/ currently hold? How does that work influence your work as a librarian? What are some projects/programs you’ve worked on that you’re particularly fond of?

KC: Are you sure you want to ask me that? I could talk about the profession for days! I love association work. You get to work with colleagues from all over the state or country, depending on the association. I especially like working with the public librarians, who are amazing. When we come together, there is such a passion for what we do and how we support our different communities. Currently, I serve as Treasurer/Secretary of the Board for the Pennsylvania Library Association, and I have previously served as Directorat-Large. I am also actively involved in both their membership committee and the conference committee. I am very fond of my work on the membership committee because our work of building membership is really an act of building a community. We are increasingly focused on making that community more diverse and inclusive, which is especially important to us. I have not really branched out too much nationally, but I was just awarded an Association of College and Research Libraries Conference Scholarship to be able to attend their conference in March. I am hoping this may be an opportunity to open up new avenues of professional work for me.

SP: Congratulations on your award!! What else are you involved in on campus or in your community?

KC: I am currently serving on the Library’s Affordable Learning Committee, the Research Prize Committee, and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee. All these committees have a commitment to equity and inclusion, which is extremely important to me, particularly as a gay librarian. Outside of the University, I volunteer for Nescopeck and Hickory Run state parks. Our environment is in dire need of some nurturing, and helping take care of these areas is a small way I can be a part of that.

SP: Do you have any plans for the RS Department or the Library that you are excited about?

KC: Hmm...plans for RS...honestly, for right now I am enjoying being a part of the current changes, such as the elimination of the reference desk and looking at how we assess our support. I am nerdy for assessment and was very excited when Prof. Witek invited me into the process of looking at how we assess our support of students and faculty. As for the Library, I am working with Dean Aulisio and Prof. Orner on building a graphic novels collection, which I am super excited about. I love graphic novels and comics and how they have the potential for re-envisioning curriculum or pedagogical approaches. They are also just fun to read, and I appreciate the artistry that goes into them.

SP: As a faculty member, you have to work on research and publishing. What are your research interests?

KC: I have three things in various stages right now. The first is research looking into individuals’ thoughts and feelings about their profession as a librarian or employee of libraries, particularly about how having a career in a field that is threatened or is believed to be threatened may affect an individual’s professional commitment, self-esteem, and professional security. The second project is a collaboration with Prof. Orner. We are going to examine the diversity (or lack of) within the Library’s children’s collection in order to inform future collection development decisions. I am currently in the literature review and development stage for my last project and am not quite ready to share the details. A researcher must keep some secrets!

SP: What is your favorite book?

KC: My favorite book is Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates. There is a movie adaptation that is quite a bit different but has its own merit. A really brief description is that it is about a group of teenage girls who feel outcast and go on a bit of a rebellion. I would categorize it as an LGBT read and I stumbled upon it at a time in my youth when I was coming out myself, so it has special meaning to me. There is a passage where the girls all bond by giving each other the same tattoo, which I then got on my 18th birthday. You’ll have to read the book to find out what it is!