For the love of the library

Book lovers and libraries go together like peanut butter and jelly. As an English major – a group also known for loving books – taking a job in Carl A. Rudisill Library at Lenoir-Rhyne University made perfect sense for Lillian Cummines ’26.

“The library staff is like a found family for me, very open and caring for each other,” she shared. “We all work really well together, too, which is important because this year we’ve had the big task of shifting the current collection to accommodate thousands of resources from the seminary moving here from South Carolina. We have a system in place, and it’s like we’re all synchronized now.”

A first-generation college student from Gastonia, North Carolina, Cummines dreamed of becoming a fiction writer or editor, or possibly pursuing a career in academia. She’s currently working on a novel set in a dystopian reality and has published several short works in the student literary magazine, “Cantos,” where she also serves as an editor this year. When she toured Lenoir-Rhyne, she liked the focus on individual students and found the perfect fit in the faculty in the English and religion departments.

“These academic departments are like hidden gems. In addition to my major, I’m working on a minor in religion – and those faculties are full of incredible people with incredible voices and minds. They bring a lot of energy to the table. I could honestly live and study here on campus forever and be perfectly content,” she said.

Cummines brings that same intellectual enthusiasm to her role as a library assistant, helping her fellow students access resources when they need them and assisting with displays of special materials.

“One of my favorite parts of the collection is the banned books collection, which contains materials that have been challenged in different libraries and educational systems around the country,” she commented.

“We have a lot of popular books like ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Hunger Games.’ We also have some cult classics, such as ‘Watership Down,’ which is a story about a warren of rabbits in England – I think it’s also a Netflix series now. It’s a criticism of urbanization, but I love it because it’s a great heroic quest story,” Cummines added. “It might surprise some people that the LR library intentionally displays books that have been banned in some places, but we believe in spreading knowledge and the best way to do that is through books and storytelling. We put them out there so people can see them and give them a chance – to learn from those stories.”

As much as she loves working with the books and other resources in the library, Cummines returns to the close relationships she has formed with her fellow staffers and the service they provide for the LR community.

“A library is made up of books and resources – which we love – but I feel like I’ve gotten a lot closer to my colleagues this year,” she said. “We’re lifting spirits, giving people something to look forward to in a space that welcomes and includes everyone. It seems like a small thing, but it has a big impact on people.”