Former CMU Librarians and Student Workers: Where are They Now?

CMU Libraries provides meaningful work opportunities for those who choose to work here long-term or use their time here as a stepping stone to other roles. This blog post explores the experiences of former CMU Libraries faculty librarians, Liz Berndt and Caitlin Benallack, and student workers, Cassie Olson and Sammie Hutter, what they did at CMU Libraries, and how that work led to their current roles. 

These individuals made meaningful contributions to CMU Libraries. While serving as the instruction librarian, Caitlin Benallack developed an asynchronous online version of LIB 197, which expanded the library’s instructional initiatives in the post-COVID19 era. Former Clarke Historical Library student worker Cassie Olson processed a collection of research notes pertaining to murders that occurred in White Cloud, Michigan, highlighting the ongoing relevance of library holdings. Cassie mentioned that this project was particularly meaningful because it eventually served as the basis for her Honors capstone project and a presentation she would later give at a Michigan Archival Association conference. Finally, former music librarian Liz Berndt coordinated the placement of barcodes throughout the University Library to assess users’ experiences, which built the foundation for new collection initiatives. Liz described this contribution as being particularly meaningful because it allowed her to interact with individuals across different departments in the library, something that she said is not as common at larger institutions. 

Working at CMU Libraries also introduced these individuals to the realities of their current roles. For Liz Berndt, the current music librarian at NYU, and Caitlin Benallack, an information literacy librarian at Michigan State University, working at CMU Libraries proved meaningful because it introduced them to the important realities of faculty librarianship. For Caitlin, completing service-related tasks like chairing the CMU Libraries Curriculum Committee and completing scholarship-related tasks like writing two journal articles helped her to acclimate to the rigorous scholarship requirements of an R1 institution like Michigan State University. For Liz, teaching LIB 197 in person and being able to experiment with different instructional styles enabled her to more effectively perform her teaching responsibilities at institutions she would later work at, including Harvard and NYU. Both Liz and Caitlin said that these experiences proved extremely important in allowing them to succeed in their current roles. 

Former student workers expressed similar sentiments. For Cassie Olson, processing materials at the Clarke Historical Library provided valuable experience that set her apart from other applicants when applying to archival internships at Sleeping Bear Dunes and Redwood National Park. These internships led to a full-time position as a U.S. National Archive Museum Technician and her current role as a Flint Institute of Art Curatorial Assistant. Even for Sammie Hutter, who currently creates commercials for companies such as A & W and television shows including Chicago PD, workplace flexibility in the CMU Libraries Adobe Lounge enabled them to work on filming-related work when periods were slower.  

CMU is a mid-sized, R2 institution. For the Libraries, that means librarians often teach fewer, smaller classes and liaise with a larger number of academic departments. For Liz and Caitlin, this differs from their current universities, where they have often been assigned to only one or two departments, teach upwards of 30 library instruction sessions a semester, and sometimes have very large classes of 110 students or more. According to Liz and Caitlin, their experiences at a smaller institution like CMU allowed them to become more aware of the academic library structure and be prepared to take on a wider variety of jobs over the rest of their careers. 

CMU Libraries serves as a meaningful place of employment both for individuals who stay here long-term and those who go on to different jobs or careers. As these personal accounts show, it is evident that even when individuals move on to different places, their positive impacts continue to be felt here.