Meet our CTX Librarians

If you’ve been on campus for a while, it’s likely that you’ve met CTX Library Director Mikail McIntosh-Doty. She joined CTX in 2011 and has made many improvements to the library.

As the director, McIntosh-Doty:

• Oversees all library operations (policy, budgets, professional and student staff supervision, coordinating online resources, scheduling and more)
• Has added more study areas and made the library more inviting
• Provides snacks and implemented the hot cocoa program on cold days

Meet the head of technical services at the library, Marcus Fry, who has been with Concordia for 23 years.

As the technical services librarian, Fry:

• Manages all library electronic resources, databases and remote services tied to the subscription resources
• Manages the library’s Integrated Library System (which includes the catalog and circulation functions)
• Catalogs new print and media resources and trains other staff in cataloging principles and processes
• Oversees book repair and provides general troubleshooting for all library technology
• Provides reference services and trains student workers, particularly on copy cataloging and resource processing

What’s your most significant library experience?

“My most significant experience in regard to libraries,” Fry explained, “was converting the Concordia Library from a physical card catalog environment to a fully automated electronic/online environment and maintaining the system when I first arrived at CTX in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Part of this achievement also includes the fairly recent adoption, installation and ongoing maintenance of ‘Jump Start,’ our discovery product that enhances the search process for our library patrons, making them more efficient, effective and productive in retrieving quality results across multiple database platforms with each search.”

Meet the head of public services at the library, Agatha Torku, who joined CTX in June 2018.

As the head of public services, Torku:

• Manages all library public services for students, faculty and staff (including coordinating InterLibrary Loan and TexShare)
• Provides research and reference sessions for students, faculty and staff in person by appointment or via phone, email or text; also for AskAcademic Chat (for which she helps revise policies, procedures, etc. for AskAcademic consortium)
• Trains and supervises library desk staff (interviewing, hiring, scheduling, assigning tasks)
• Compiles statistical reports with graphics
• Provides direction over processing of serials and the new book collection

How did you come to love libraries?

“One day, when I was looking through past awards to list on my grad school application, I found an unusually prophetic piece of paper: it was a research/reference award from my elementary school librarian! Mrs. Beverly had a round face with a chin that came to a point — she might have been a pixie. The constant twinkle in her eye certainly made me think she knew what magic libraries held.

Because of Mrs. Beverly’s (and my other school teachers’) efforts, I learned to love a good story and, so by proxy, to love libraries. Libraries are guardians of history, memory and information, no matter who you are or your station in life. They foster communities, and there are scientific studies, according to the podcast episode Palaces for People, that libraries are also a critical part of our social infrastructure.”