Kelly McCusker
Organized, communicative, supportive.
91´«Ã½
I'm usually listening to an audiobook, reading an ebook, and reading a print book at the same time! I like a mix of nonfiction and fiction with usually something light mixed in with something heavier. I'm reading by Ally Condie, I'm in the middle of the by Brandon Sanderson, and I just started by William Bridges and Susan Bridges. I also listen to podcasts while running or walking and my top choices are "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" and "The Economist."
Collaborative, engaging, educational.
91´«Ã½
I appreciate the multiple learning opportunities available through ACRL. This includes committee service, conferences, mentoring, and webinars. With so many changes to our profession, it's been a great benefit to me and others to be able to learn about what others are doing in their libraries and learn about new (and old!) ways we can support our users best.
91´«Ã½
In my position, I oversee collection development at my library. I manage faculty and projects to ensure we create a diverse, robust, and well-used print and online collection reflecting the needs and interests of the campus community and ensuring users have access to diverse perspectives, histories, and ideas. This directly impacts student learning, instructor teaching, and faculty research and I'm proud that my library understands the importance of our work and supports our expertise in this area. We're a very unique library in that we serve three institutions - the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and Community College of Denver. Balancing their needs and interests can be difficult, but it's always interesting seeing the types of resources they need for classes and research.
91´«Ã½
In the academic world, I've learned to always be adaptable, to look for partners in unexpected places, and to learn when to say no. As an academic librarian, I've held responsibilities in instruction, reference, access services, government documents, website design, scholarly communication, research, collection development - some of these were by choice, others were not! But I've learned something from each of those areas that have carried over into my next job or responsibility. I've found partners in centers for faculty development, the university's institutional research unit, human resources, and wellness centers. For a year, my library promoted resources related to wellness through the wellness center's blog. The wellness center reached out about this and I learned about their offerings which helped me promote their services. With a smallish library serving a large institution, I could easily be working on a dozen new projects. But I've learned that it's okay to say no sometimes, even on things that I'm excited about. I've also learned that to be a good leader you need to listen, mentor, and learn. I'm constantly learning from others, including from other managers and from people I manage. Leadership is not a one-way street, and everyone can learn from everyone else.
Pronouns:she / her / hers
Credentials:MSLIS, MPA
Title:Collection Development Program Lead Librarian
Workplace:Auraria Library (University of Colorado Denver)
Location:Denver, CO