As I settle into my first day at NOBLE, I just want to say hello to everyone in the network and provide a brief introduction for those who have not yet had a chance to meet me.
My name is Kathy Lussier, and I come to NOBLE as its new Executive Director having worked with member-driven library organizations for more than 20 years. Many of you may know me from the years I led the Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative (MassLNC), a project where I worked with NOBLE and other Massachusetts networks to move to Evergreen. After the three participating networks were live on Evergreen in May 2012, I continued to work with these networks to coordinate shared development projects, help network staff with their Evergreen implementations, and advocate on behalf of Massachusetts libraries in the larger Evergreen community.
Since leaving MassLNC in December 2018, I have worked as Executive Director for the SAILS library network in the South Coast area of Massachusetts. As much as I enjoyed supporting SAILS libraries as they supported the needs of their library users, I am thrilled to return to working with NOBLE libraries again.
I consider it a privilege to be in a position where I can go into work everyday to support libraries and help them provide new and innovative services to their users. I strongly believe in the mission of libraries to build information literacy skills at a time when the information landscape has become so complex, to provide equal access to information regardless of a person’s means, and to stand up for the intellectual freedom and privacy of all users. I am also an advocate for open-source software as a means to respond to the growing expectation of users while maintaining the fundamental values of the library profession.
When I’m not working, I live in Seekonk with my husband, Paul; my two adult children, William and Emily; and my cat, Q-Tip (named for the small bit of white on the tip of the tail of this otherwise black cat). I enjoy hiking, biking and baking. Now that my youngest has graduated from high school, we plan to move further north, most likely to a NOBLE community.
Over the coming months, I plan to visit the NOBLE libraries to become acquainted with everyone working in my new library community. I look forward to meeting all of you and working to support your libraries!