Kat Cuttriss

Kat Cuttriss is the University Librarian at the University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha. She started this new position in January after transitioning from her previous role at Massey University. With a diverse career in libraries that spans public, business and tertiary libraries, Kat brings a wealth of experience to her new role. She has also served as chair of Public Libraries New Zealand. In this interview with Te Rau Ora Library Life, Kat reflects on her career journey.

Who are you? What is your background?

I hail from Waitati just north of Ōtepoti and grew up in a former blacksmith’s house on the banks of the oft-flooding Waitati River, with the stunning Blueskin Bay before us.

I studied classics, ancient Greek and Latin at Otago University after an ultimately futile but still very interesting attempt at medicine in my first year. I remember at the end of my degree climbing up Te Whanaupaki behind the city of Dunedin and seeing within a 1km square block where I had been born, schooled and spent my university years. It was clearly time to spread my wings, London beckoned. A library assistant job in the circulation department at the Otago University Library was the means by which the airfare was saved, and my future career in libraries was defined!

What does a typical day look like in your role?

After decades of commuting vast distances, I can now easily walk to work and arrive in whatever state the exciting Ōtautahi weather dictates: drenched, freezing, melting and so on. The team at the University of Canterbury Library has some wonderful ways to shepherd and manaaki in the working day, including a ledge in the workroom furnished with a constant supply of chocolate – tasting notes encouraged! Once commenced, the day will be diverse and often filled with spontaneous developments from left-field rather than with structured predictability. This suits my style just fine. It’ll always comprise hui, catch-ups and conversation. I’ll write a few emails, draft a few reports, and sometimes check some budget figures or usage stats.

As a general rule, whatever the work in hand is, I’ll always consider what needs to sit with me, such as decisions with certain consequences, and what can be shared with colleagues, to empower, distribute capability and lighten everyone’s overall load. I also get a huge kick and much satisfaction, seeing those around me have fun, enjoy their work and achieve cool stuff.

Any career highlights you’d like to share with us?

A career in the library and information world has given me the privilege of working alongside an enormous bunch of incredible, inspiring and brilliant people—librarians really are the best—many of whom have become life-long, steadfast and fabulous friends. My biggest highlight, to be sure.
Notable moments along the way include my very first conference presentation at the IFLA World Congress in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002, where I also met my future husband, also, of course, a librarian.

The Massey Wellington Library major refurbishment with Athfield Architects in 2013-2014 was another massive highlight. So was the co-design work with StudioC in 2019, using empathy conversations to co-create a strategic vision for Hutt City Libraries. Both highlights I think because of the partnership approach we used to achieve some incredible and very special mahi. And because of the different world views, knowledge bases and work techniques I was exposed to along the way.

As PLNZ Chair from 2019 – 2021, my interview with Jesse Mulligan on day one of the March 2020 lockdown also stands out as a very special career experience. The gift of a national platform from which to share and showcase what we librarians and libraries offer all of society, at all times, and especially in the most extraordinary of times, was a total privilege.

Do you have any advice for those who are currently finishing their LIS qualification?

As you consider jobs and jobs to go for, at any stage of your career including immediately post-qualification, I’d suggest only that you be open-minded and all-embracing. To the role itself, the sector you’re working in, and the geographic location you’ll be based in. Our GLAM world has never, in my personal experience, been so joined-up and fluid. The ability to gain an extraordinarily transferrable set of skills, work with a startling array of wonderful people, and get involved in an astonishing breadth of mahi, is all right at our feet. The choices and opportunities this will give you as you progress through your career are inestimable.

Who or what would you say is one of the biggest influences on your career to date?

Every manager I’ve reported to, and every leader I’ve followed, has taught me something invaluable! I could wax lyrical about each and every one. But I have had a lot of jobs, and we’d be here all day. So, I’ll go for the first and most recent.

Islay Little (Manager of Circulation Services at Otago University Library) showed me the value of valuing people and empowering her team at every opportunity. She celebrated us and showcased us and advocated hard (and successfully) to get our skills and contributions widely recognised throughout the library and wider university.

Linda Palmer (University Librarian at Massey University) showed me the value of being consistently open, approachable, communicative and upfront. Linda’s work ethic is also startling. I can never claim to have reached her indefatigable level of productivity. But I have been totally inspired by it.

How would you like to see libraries and information services look in the future?

My future dreams for our world are characterised by more of the fundamental same – places and spaces (physical and digital) where all people from the library’s community are welcomed, see themselves and belong, and join in partnership with library staff to avail themselves of a range of rewarding, fulfilling and fun experiences, which help them progress and move forward through their lives.

However, I do believe every facet of the GLAM sector needs more (and crucially, more stable and assured) funding and support, to keep making these sorts of daily miracles happen. That’s where our greatest challenge arguably lies.