Senior Manager - Program/Community
G. Dale Cousins919-856-6726
Dale Cousins is the Senior Manager whose efforts are concentrated in system communications, public relations, system awards and recognition, and community partnerships. Her office is located in the Cameron Village Regional Library.
Dale has worked with Wake County Public Libraries since the summer of 1971, beginning in the Children’s Department of the former downtown Raleigh Main Library. Over the past 35 years, she has worked in various libraries as a Page, Library Assistant, Information & Referral Specialist, Reference Librarian, and Assistant Library Manager. She managed the Cary Public Library in the mid 1980’s and was the system Adult Services Coordinator in the early 1990’s.
In 1993, Dale returned to work at the Cameron Village Regional Library as Regional Manager. Dale was named 1999 Wake County Employee of the Year. She coordinated the Library’s Centennial Celebration in 2000, publishing a souvenir history of the system and establishing the Public Library Trust Fund with the Triangle Community Foundation. She took a leadership role in the 2005 library renovation of Cameron Village Library, based on similar work with building projects throughout the system. She serves on the committee to produce the annual Wake County Public Library Booksale and Festival.
Dale remains active in the North Carolina Library Association, most recently having been elected as Vice-President/President-Elect of the Association by her statewide peers, serving 2012-2016. She was the 2011 recipient of the Marilyn L. Miller Award for Professional Commitment. In addition, she will serve on the Governor’s State Library Commission from January 2012-December 2015. In the community, she is Secretary to the Board for both the Literacy Council of Wake County and for the Raleigh Hall of Fame. She has been elected as Vice Chair/Chair Elect to the Board for Wake County Smart Start for 2011/2013.
A native of Wake County, Dale received her Bachelor’s Degree at NC State University and her Master’s Degree in Library Science from NC Central University. She has certificates from the UNC-CH School of Government in Developmental Supervision, Facilitative Leadership, and County/Municipal Government. She is a member of both the Raleigh Garden Club and the JC Raulston Arboretum.
Dale enjoys “literary fiction where the words matter.” Top favorites are William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice, Eudora Welty’s Complete Short Stories, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and almost anything by Anne Tyler, Larry Brown, and North Carolina authors.
Senior Manager - Collections/Technology
Theresa Cummings919-250-1220
Theresa Cummings is the Senior Library Manager who works with the customer “products” of the library---collections and technology. She began work with Wake County Public Libraries in 2000 and at that time, supervised a staff who managed approximately 200 computers for the system. She was the chief administrator for the library’s automation system (both circulation system and the catalog), the databases and software responsible for daily operations, online reference services, and patron accounts.
From that beginning, she redesigned technology services into two departments which oversee the use of more than 1000 computers in 21 facilities all over Wake County. Her Library Technology Unit is composed of two divisions: The Help Desk Team who oversees public computing as well as the daily operations utilized by staff. Thurmond Sanders leads this effort which includes public computer access including WiFi, self- service circulation, patron accounts, and hardware/software installation, maintenance, and upgrades. Meanwhile, the Digital Library Team is led by Kevin Smith and is responsible for the library’s web presence, from the online catalog and website, to social networking and digital media.
Recently, Collection Services and Management have been added to Theresa’s line of responsibility. This includes ordering materials, promoting the public use of them, and removing and disposing of them when they are no longer of interest to Wake County residents. Assisting in this effort are Division Managers Betty Utley and Robin Hemrick and the teams they supervise. The Wake County Public Library Collection is currently about 1.4M strong and the annual circulation of this collection is approaching 12 M.
Theresa continues to participate regionally and on the state level regarding issues related to public libraries and information technology. She makes presentations to library systems, library schools, and for professional conferences. She is a member of the American Library Association, LITA, the Public Library Association, and the North Carolina Library Association.
Before beginning work in Wake County, Theresa was the Information Technology Librarian for Iredell County Public Library in Statesville, NC. She received her Master’s Degree in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated cum laude from Adelphi University (Garden City, NY) as an honors student. She completed coursework at Sheffield University (in the United Kingdom) as an exchange student in the School of Information Management.
Theresa hails from La Palma, California but now calls North Carolina home. She and her family reside in the Triangle and she enjoys sharing books with her sons about pipes, trains, tunnels, subways, fire trucks, and most anything that makes noise. For her own reading, a good mystery or British in flavor makes it to the top of her list.
Senior Manager - Facilities/Security
Terri Luke919-463-8505
Terri Luke is the Senior Manager for Facilities and Security. In this role, she oversees the Capital Improvement Plan as well as minor renovations for all 21 facilities in the library system. She works with Wake County’s General Services Administration regarding cleaning contracts and general facility maintenance as well as security issues. She also works closely with Wake County Facilities Design and Construction to plan and build new facilities. Her role is to insure libraries are clean and attractive and remain safe places to visit for Wake County residents. Her office is located in the West Regional Library in Cary.
Of her 33 years working for libraries, 24 have been with Wake County Public Libraries. Terri has worked for WCPL as children’s services librarian, adult services manager at North Regional, branch manager of the Cary Library, system-wide coordinator of adult services, and regional library supervisor for both the Eva Perry Regional and the West Regional libraries. She opened these Regionals, taking both from new facilities to the top-circulating public libraries in the state. She coordinated the National Libraries of the Future Conference in Wake County; this effort was critical to the strategic plan for libraries locally. Recently, she coordinated the renovation of the Richard B. Harrison Community library, a long-established library, significant both historically and architecturally to Wake County and is currently working on library renovation plans for the Wendell and Green Road Community Libraries.
Terri has introduced and enhanced popular innovations to the library system. She pioneered self-checkout stations and self-service holds. She designed and presented the first customer service workshop for staff. In 2007, Terri was nominated for the Garland S. Jones Manager of the Year Award. She has facilitated public art in libraries, spearheading the efforts to obtain private funding for this enhancement. As a result, art by prominent artists such as Deborah Haeffele and Thomas Sayre grace the West Regional Library. Terri is a member of the American Library Association, Public Library Association and North Carolina Library Association. She is active in the Public Library Section of NCLA and currently chairs the marketing committee. Terri presents locally and nationally on facilitative leadership, customer service, marketing, and opening-day collections as well as on designing customer-friendly library spaces.
Terri is a native of Youngstown, Ohio. She earned her bachelor’s degree cum laude from Youngstown State University. She was awarded her master’s from the University of North Texas in Denton. She and her family reside in Cary.
Terri’s favorite book is Zingerman's Guide to Giving Great Service, which she says “inspires and trains you to give outstanding customer service.”
Senior Manager - Personnel/Training
Christina Piscitello919-870-4022
Christina Piscitello is the Senior Manager whose efforts are concentrated in system staff development and training, as well as recruitment, hiring, and staff recognition. She works closely with the Deputy Library Director in issues related to staffing and personnel. She is currently developing a training curriculum and calendar for system staff and is often asked to coach employees toward achieving their best. Her office is located in the North Regional Library in Raleigh.
Christina began her career in 1998 as an adult reference librarian at Wake County Public Libraries’ North Regional Library. In 2000, she was promoted to the position of Library Manager at the Wake Forest Community Library. This 5000 sq ft community library was then and remains one of the busiest in the library system, per employee hour.
In 2005, Christina was hired as the Regional Library Supervisor at the Eva H. Perry Regional Library in Apex. In this role, she oversaw a renovation of the building and became a leader in system customer service training and facilitative leadership. She assumed a leadership role in the annual Storytelling Festival and it was during this time that she also as took an active role in the library system by helping to prepare the annual budget. She remained in Apex at the Eva Perry Regional Library until being named Senior Manager in 2010. She currently coordinates the annual Staff Development Day for library employees and coordinates internal as well as external training opportunities for all library employees.
Christina currently serves as a Wake County staff representative on the Northern Regional Center’s Community Advisory Committee.
Christina grew up in Louisiana. She received her master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin and her bachelor’s degree at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Christina shares her birthday with Jane Austen, the author of one of her favorite books, Pride and Prejudice.