ImagineIF library director turning the page despite controversy

Ashley Cummins, ImagineIF’s new library director, originally planned to get started by immersing herself in the job, meeting her staff and learning about the community.

It has been more of a “hit the ground running” scenario. Cummins’ hiring comes after months of tumultuous relations between the ImagineIF Library staff and their board. Interim Director Martha Furman announced in December that she would be resigning from the position due to conflicts with the board.

“Because I came in at kind of a weird time and they've been without leadership for a while, I did a lot more in terms of restructuring than I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. But it was good — it kind of gave us all a fresh start,” Cummins said.

Cummins most recently worked as the library director of the Russellville Public Library in Russellville, Alabama, a position she held for the past eight years. She said while the size of the library system is much different than her previous job, she’s finding a lot of similarities.

“A lot of the issues that we deal with every day are exactly the same,” Cummins said. “It's just like, so incredibly similar, but on a different scale. But it's nice to have that familiarity.”

CUMMINS FOUND out about the director position with ImagineIF after a job recruiter she met at a conference reached out to her. She never expected to get the position but was excited to take on the opportunity. Cummins moved her husband and two children to Montana with her, who are adjusting faster than she expected.

Controversy surrounded Cummins’ selection for the position. Because she hasn’t finished her degree, the library will likely lose its state accreditation and $30,000 in annual funding. She said she hasn’t stopped pursuing her bachelor’s degree, but as a working mother it’s been a slow moving process. She enrolled in college to become a band director, but realized that she was more passionate about her work at the library. A decision had to be made.

“It's a total derailment of the plan, it's like starting from scratch. So because I was in that job and I do have two kids, it has kind of been slow going,” Cummins said. “I can typically take two classes a semester without getting totally overwhelmed and having a freakout. So, that’s kind of been my approach.”

At their June monthly meeting, ImagineIF Library Board trustees outlined goals for Cummins to focus on during her first year on the job, which included completing her bachelor’s degree and pursuing her master’s. At the meeting, Cummins told trustees she was committed to finishing her schooling. She said she understands the hesitancy from the community around her hiring, but hopes that with time they’ll know she’s doing her best to provide excellent service to all library users.

She believes libraries act as a bridge to all sorts of resources for community members.

“Getting people to the resources that they need, regardless of their background, their station, their financial status, any of that — they can come to the library. And if we don't have it here, we can find it for them and point them in the right direction. So to me that is the most important thing that we do,” Cummins said.

THE RESTRUCTURING in the library refers to what she described as a staff shuffle: speaking with employees across ImagineIF’s branches and figuring out who fits best in what position. It was a team effort, Cummins said. They had a goal to create a more balanced workload for employees.

“We have some people that are really, really overworked and then we had others who were saying, ‘I want to do more, but I don't want to step on any toes.’ So, we had a chance to just get together and think it through and figure out how we can divide this up in a way that makes more sense,” Cummins said.

She said they’ve also worked to address security concerns on the second floor of the Kalispell branch, where previously there hadn't been many opportunities to have staff stationed. They’ve rearranged the layout to provide more visibility and hired new people to be able to keep a staff member up there when needed. Cummins said so far, this has resolved complaints about the second floor.

Working with the dedicated ImagineIF staff has been one of the best parts of the job thus far, she said.

“It was nice to kind of break away from that tradition of what was and say, ‘Let's look at this in a new way and see what we can do going forward,’” Cummins said. “... I know the staff is very passionate about the ImagineIF brand and what it stands for. I absolutely love them.”

Shifting focus, she plans to concentrate on creating the library’s next strategic plan. But for now, one of the library’s busiest seasons is upon them. Cummins said she’s excited about what the staff has in store for participants in the library’s summer programming this year.

“They do that radically different from what I'm used to and I'm excited to see that play out. It seems like it's gonna be really fun, and we have tons of people signed up, I want to say, like, almost 400 kids already. Our teen librarian is also doing a native plant garden and she's had a lot of community help with that,” Cummins said.

To find out more about summer programming at ImagineIF, check out their events page at imagineiflibraries.org/events/events-calendar/.