The Dauphin County Library System board of trustees has announced the appointment of Karen Cullings as the system's next executive director. Cullings has served as interim executive director since July 2018.
Cullings began her career in libraries at Bosler Memorial Library in Carlisle where, as a high school student, she worked as a page part time and also volunteered. A lifelong learner and an avid reader, Cullings returned to library employment in 1991 when she started at Dauphin County Library System as the adult services librarian. One year later, she assumed the position of public information officer and has been a part of the senior management team since that time. As her position transitioned to community relations director, she embraced new challenges as the development officer for the system. Starting in 2002, she was instrumental in a series of capital campaigns that provided funding for the replacement of three libraries and significant improvements to two others.
In July 2018, the board of trustees appointed Cullings to the role of interim executive director to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of the previous executive director. In the year since her appointment, she has worked with library staff to set an internal improvement plan in place that identifies and removes barriers to library services for the public. She has also overseen the library system's broader engagement with the community through community conversations modeled on the The Harwood Institute approach to community building called "turning outward." Turning outward equips people, organizations, communities and networks with the tools to bridge divides, build capacity and tackle shared challenges. The library system's goal is to join forces with community partners to become a collective force for positive change.
To learn more about the Dauphin County Library System, readers may visit http://www.dcls.org.
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