by Andrea Pritt, Penn State Mont Alto

From part-time student worker to full-time staff, Barb Kopshina has a plethora of library experience. As a student at Penn State DuBois Barb worked in the campus library and upon transferring to University Park she joined the Interlibrary Loan team for a year and a half. Following her time in the ILL department Barb worked for the library affiliated company, Brodart before rejoining the University Libraries in 2006. Barb worked at the Dickinson School of Law Library at University Park until 2010 and ultimately transferred back to the library where it all began: DuBois.

Barb currently lives in her hometown of Sykesville, Pa, just 15 minutes south of DuBois, on the Walker Century Farm. This 60 acre farm has been in Barb’s family since her relative, Christian Walker, originally purchased it back in 1855. Along with a whole host of vegetables, the family farm is home to chickens, cats, and dogs. And as a lover of animals, Barb has four Siamese cats of her own, three males and one female, ranging from six to 12 years old.

Barb’s four Siamese cats

Outside of being my fellow co-author of the “Getting to Know You” series and sitting on various University Libraries committees Barb really enjoys genealogy research. She has traced her family history back to the 1700’s and actually has the original German Army discharge papers of her fourth great grandfather, Christian Walker, from 1845. Acting as Secretary for the Rumbarger Cemetery Preservation Society she volunteers to help restore the cemetery. The Rumbarger Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in DuBois and requires long-term preservation and maintenance.