Maria McCauley ’17PhD says some of her fondest childhood memories are of visiting her local public library. In addition to books, she enjoyed borrowing items — everything from fishing rods and camcorders to her favorite children’s activity books.
This lifelong passion for knowledge is part of the reason she decided to pursue library and information science as a second career.
“The library field is both a helping profession and an intellectually stimulating profession,” McCauley says. “It uses both our hearts and our minds. It’s also a community-building field and a knowledge-creation field.”
A former arts administrator, McCauley received a prestigious American Library Association (ALA) Spectrum Scholarship and later earned her doctorate from the Simmons School of Library and Information Science (SLIS).
McCauley describes the PhD program at Simmons as a transformational and memorable experience, bringing practitioners together to study library science and leadership. At the beginning of each semester, McCauley and her classmates — a cohort of individuals who now lead libraries across the country and internationally — would come together before returning to their respective homes to study and work.
“It is a groundbreaking and special program,” she says. “We had amazing professors of practice who are big leaders in the field. It was this fertile environment to explore concepts and learn how to write different types of papers and read and conduct research.”
Some of McCauley’s most memorable experiences at Simmons involve the faculty and staff, including a snowy winter evening in Boston when she met then-Assistant Dean Em Claire Knowles ’88DA, ’07E.
“She stayed with me during a snowstorm to talk about the PhD program,” McCauley says. “It was wonderful of her to do that.”
For the past eight years, McCauley has served as Director of Libraries for the City of Cambridge, MA. In this role, she oversees seven library branches, leads a team of more than 150 staff members, and works closely with partners and funders to advance the library system’s mission.
“It’s an extraordinary experience,” McCauley says. “I love walking through the library and seeing community members using our spaces and resources, and our expert staff who are so welcoming.”
Still, McCauley describes the current moment as a time of great uncertainty for libraries, particularly given attacks on intellectual freedom and the right to read, staffing and funding pressures, and the proliferation of artificial intelligence and misinformation. Though the challenges can be daunting, she knows libraries are more than worth the effort.
“One of the most beautiful things about public libraries is that they truly welcome all,” she says. “They help people live their very best lives through community building, information provision, and knowledge creation.”
McCauley’s work championing libraries doesn’t stop in Cambridge. An active member in a variety of library associations and the Freedom to Read Foundation, she has also participated in the Joint Council of Librarians of Color and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions conference. In addition, she has served in several national leadership positions and is a strong advocate on behalf of libraries at the local, state, and national levels. Currently, she is running to be the next president of the ALA.
For those who want to support their communities, McCauley has a simple request: “Get your library card. Check out your local library and find out what it has to offer.”
In addition, individuals can sign the Unite Against Book Bans pledge, or contact their local elected officials and let them know why libraries should continue to receive funding. For McCauley, the answer is clear.
“Libraries are limitless in their ability to transform lives,” McCauley says. “They offer so much, books and beyond. We see all of humanity and we embrace all of humanity in our libraries.”