Meet Your Librarian
Throughout the Spring 2019 semester, the Eugene McDermott Library will be highlighting some of our amazing library staff in an ongoing series designed to help students, faculty and staff get to know the many faces of the library who are here to help you discover relevant, authoritative and scholarly resources.
Nancy Kress, Head of Access Services; Senior Librarian
As a child, Eugene McDermott Library Head of Access Services Nancy Kress used to play “school” with her sisters and made up call numbers for her books to put into their pretend school library — a sure sign that librarianship was in her future.
Although she didn’t know it at the time, librarianship indeed became her true calling. As a student at Carnegie Mellon University, Kress actually studied painting and was the student of well-known color field painter and lyrical abstract artist Sam Gilliam whose work is featured in the Dallas Museum of Art. Taking a summer job in the university library, however, would change the course of the young art student’s career path forever.
“When I moved to Chicago after graduation, I was looking for a job, and a friend said that the library he worked at was hiring a stacks manager. I had experience as a retail manager and I had shelved books as a student, so I applied and began my career working in libraries,” Kress said.
Out of college, she started her library career at the University of Chicago as head of Bookstacks and later worked at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and North Carolina State University. Kress, who received her bachelor’s degree in Art from Carnegie Mellon and her master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois, joined the McDermott Library in February 2018.
As Head of Access Services, Kress is responsible for the Information Desk, the Circulation Desk, the Copy Center and Multimedia Services.
“My staff are here all the hours the building is open, so we have the most contact with students,” Kress said. “I don’t have a typical day, but every day is a mix of improving department services, working with staff and students at the services desks and doing research to improve operations.”
The Pittsburgh native says her favorite part of her job is helping to improve library services, working with students and her staff. She enjoys asking the customer— UT Dallas students — what the library can do to help them graduate and improving operations to make that happen. The most challenging part of her job is limiting all of the ideas for improvement to the most critical.
“I want to do everything now,” she said.
As a McDermott senior librarian, Kress enjoys helping improve the library experience and working with patrons —students, faculty and staff— as well as her own staff. What makes the McDermott Library a special place to be, she says, is “the collegiality of my peers across the organization and everyone’s student-focus.”
“Nancy has only been at the library for about a year, but she has made a significant impact on our Access Services processes and procedures. She always has students’ success and interests in mind when working through change and challenges,” said her manager, Dr. Tiffany Norris, Associate Library Director.
Learn more about Nancy Kress:
Title
Head of Access Services; Senior Librarian
Educational Background
BA in Art, Carnegie Mellon University; MS in Library and Information Science, University of Illinois
My career at McDermott began in
2018
What motivates you to get up out of bed every day?
“My parents. I spent three years with them recently helping them with health issues, and I have seen the effects of not regularly exercising and not eating well. So I get out of bed to exercise!”
What is something most people don’t know about you?
“Something most people definitely don’t know about me is that I competed in Latin dancing for three years. I also made my own costumes. Each one of those Swarovski crystals on ballroom costumes is glued on one at a time!”
Contact Kress by email or phone: 972-883-2593.