At the University Libraries, faculty and staff bring diverse backgrounds and interests to their roles, elevating the Libraries’ culture of interdisciplinary collaboration and lifelong learning and curiosity. We asked Business and Entrepreneurship Librarian Jimmy McKee a few questions about their work, to find out more about the inspiration behind their contributions to the campus community.
Q: In your own words, what is a quick overview of your role at the Libraries?
A: Within my day-to-day, I wear several hats. My main role is that of a Business and Entrepreneurship Librarian. But I also liaise with Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), CMU-Africa, and the Entertainment Technology Center! Within all these areas, I focus on supporting learning, instruction, and research. I offer individualized and personalized consultations, host workshops, join classrooms as a guest lecturer, provide copyright guidance, help manage some logistics within the Library (such as the Ask Us service), and more! Ultimately, my role is that of a facilitator. I welcome anybody to ask me anything!
Q: Talk a little about the work you’re most passionate about. Why have you chosen to pursue this work within a library setting?
A: I’m most passionate about working with my community members! It’s one of the main things that drew me into librarianship. As I mentioned above, I view myself as a facilitator. I strive to assist others in moving closer towards accomplishing their goals, whatever those may be. And to help empower others with strategies, resources, and tools that they can potentially use in pursuit of success.
I think it’s beautiful how “goals” and “success” take different forms for each person and every question. Every community member is unique – and I feel so fortunate being able to be a part of their learning and growth process.
All this said, I’ve chosen to pursue this work in a library setting because of the library’s special setting within a community – it’s a third space that has hardly any financial costs associated with it. I love seeing people’s faces light up when they learn how much the library can offer in resources and support, at no cost and with no catch to them!
Q: Share an experience or skillset that people might not expect a librarian/library worker to have. How is it a game changer for the work you do at CMU?
A: The level of in-depth experience and training that many of us have! In my case, the ability to conduct secondary market research, competitive analysis, patent research, company financials, provide feedback on pitch decks, and other related business and entrepreneurship topics! And lately, I’ve been expanding and deepening my familiarity with business research through my participation in the Tepper MBA program. Over my career, I’ve also developed skills that align with program management, which I leverage when navigating my repertoire of connections and resources.
Having these sorts of skills are game-changers because many people may not expect that they can go to the library to get free access to expensive databases and curated conversations directly applicable in strengthening the outcomes of their coursework, capstones, and extracurricular ventures / side-hustles!
Q: The Libraries serves as a neutral convening space to bring different areas of campus together. How do you value collaboration in your work? Can you give us an example of a recent collaboration that has helped a project reach new heights?
A: There are several interdisciplinary collaborations that come to mind! But one I’ll mention is the Libraries’ partnership with the CEE department and their Summer Research Program. Two summers ago, we revamped our existing collaboration with CEE by restructuring the eight-week seminar series to more closely align with a student’s evolving research needs as they progress through their work. This is an iterative process – because last summer we again refreshed the distribution of seminar topics based on participant feedback. This led to an even tighter-knit collaboration with instructors from both the Libraries and CEE working alongside one another.
Due to our relationships, we’re able to bring together staff, faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students into shared spaces – enhancing programmatic outcomes (and getting full stomachs of lunch!).
Q: What’s an area that you want to innovate and push boundaries in? Why is it exciting to you?
A: There are many areas I want to pursue innovation! But the main one that comes to mind is my partnership with Arts and Humanities Librarian Ashley Werlinich in our Arts & Entrepreneurship series. At CMU, we’re fortunate that we have excellent academic programs across the board and interdisciplinary students. Ashley and I wanted to contribute to this ecosystem by offering workshops (and hopefully a class!) that will offer additional opportunities for students to develop interdisciplinary skills that they may not have much exposure to through their majors. This is exciting because we’re already seeing impacts through our workshop series, such as a participant forming their own business after graduation! As we continue to grow our efforts and scale up, we have hopes to reach and empower even more attendees.
Q: What’s something in the Libraries that speaks to you personally? This can be a book, something in the Archives or Special Collections, a space in one of the buildings — anything you want to highlight!
A: One spot that I love is heading to the stacks on the second floor, towards the north side of the building. Occasionally, I’ll take a detour by stopping into a random set of stacks, to peer out the front windows of the library which overlook the campus all the way down to Forbes Ave. It’s always nice seeing bustles of people crisscrossing the sidewalks and quads. Seeing the campus alive with activity is something that brings a smile to my face, and the library has some excellent views of our community – whether that be looking outside our windows, or walking through the different spaces inside the library!