Beyond the Job Title: Automation Librarian

A library tech job interview with Whitney Christopher

Posted on April 29, 2026 in Job Profiles

Core to LibTech Insights’s mission is demystifying the broad and dynamic field of tech librarianship in higher ed. In this series, we interview a librarian every month to learn a little more about their position. As library tech jobs proliferate, they sometimes come with unfamiliar, jargony, or intimidating titles. We want to go beyond the title and look at the responsibilities, skills, and joys that make up the job. We hope this series will increase your knowledge of library tech jobs and skills and offer you greater insight into the working lives of your colleagues.

For this installment, we spoke to Whitney Christopher to learn more about her job as an Automation Librarian. Check out our archive of job profiles. 💫

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What is your job title and responsibilities?

I am the Automation Librarian at Cornell University Library. My main responsibilities involve transforming library vendor metadata to comply with the Cornell University Library cataloging standards either via our integrated library system, FOLIO, or coding using Python.

Can you describe your career trajectory leading up to this position?

I have had a pretty winding path as a technologist that has led to this position. I have worked across GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) in various technology roles, including positions as a Technology Fellow, Museum Technologist and Digital Archives Assistant.

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Can you give an example of a project that you’ve worked on as an Automation Librarian?

An ongoing project within the Cornell University Library is researching data privacy policies and the information collected by library vendor websites.

As the Automation Librarian, I became involved with this project to research those same data privacy concerns using a tool called Blacklight Query. Blacklight Query can query a list of URLs and return what surveillance technology is being collected by websites. With Blacklight, I have been investigating what information is collected about patrons once they are redirected from the library catalog.

I am currently working on a script that will read the information collected by vendors and display it in the library catalog, so that patrons can make more informed data privacy decisions when accessing the library’s electronic resources.

You mentioned earlier that you code with Python. Are there other specialized technical skills you use regularly?

I also use some SQL for my work and the command line for some special projects.

How is AI affecting your work in automation?

The desire to introduce AI into automation workflows hasn’t quite affected my day-to-day yet, but it is something I see discussed regularly. I try to keep abreast of the potential ways it could be utilized. It is an important tool to understand, even if, or especially if, I don’t plan to implement it in any meaningful way into my workflows.

What is the most gratifying part of this position?

Seeing the “tangible” output of my code and its effects on vendor records is fulfilling. But being able to contribute to the discoverability of materials to aid students, faculty, staff and researchers in finding the information they need to be successful in their work is the most gratifying part for me.

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