Sarah Cox, the new director of Brescia University’s Fr. Leonard P. Alvey Library, is seen on Aug. 5, 2025. Cox, the first lay director of the library, assumed the role on June 1. ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD | WKC
Formed in Ursuline tradition, new Brescia library director hopes to help students grow in community
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
An Adoration-focused youth retreat is what ultimately brought Sarah Cox, the new director of Brescia University’s library services, to Owensboro, Kentucky.
As a teen, Cox traveled with her rural Tennessee parish’s youth group to attend YOUTH 2000, a retreat for young Catholics held annually at Brescia.
“I grew up in the Bible Belt,” said Cox, who assumed the role on June 1, 2025, and explained that in her hometown, Catholics were few and far between.
In comparison, the Catholic faith in Owensboro was “very vibrant here; it’s like drinking out of the water hose,” she quipped. There are eight Catholic churches in the City of Owensboro alone, not counting the nine additional parishes outside city limits but still within Daviess County.
Cox fell in love with YOUTH 2000 and Brescia University and decided to apply. Her older brother attending Brescia was a strong encouragement for her, too.
Studying English with an emphasis in professional writing, Cox’s Brescia experience – formed by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph – “made my faith much more personal for me,” she said.
“I was raised Catholic, but (my faith) was not as ‘personal’ as it is now… and we definitely didn’t have the influence of religious life,” she said, praising the Ursuline Sisters for their commitment to the university.
Her path to serving the Fr. Leonard P. Alvey Library began when Cox was a freshman doing the work-study program. She continued working there over the next four years and then applied for the role of public services manager for the library.
Working there for the next few years – and meanwhile obtaining her master’s degree in library and information science with a focus on academic libraries – Cox enjoyed the opportunity to support literacy on campus and beyond.
“Libraries play a vital role in strengthening democracy by ensuring that every person, regardless of background, has the right to access quality information and resources,” she said, explaining that librarians work to “combat misinformation, promote literacy skills, and empower informed citizens to actively engage in their communities!”
Cox looks forward to continuing her love of library sciences, and the Ursuline tradition of quality education, having received the reins from previous director, Sr. Judith “Judy” Nell Riney, who retired after 45 years this spring.
“Sr. Judy guided the library through new technologies, like getting the first computers here,” she said of her predecessor’s legacy, which built up the library and helped form “a really great team” among the staff.
With big shoes to fill, including being the library’s first layperson director, Cox said she is excited to work with students and faculty, as well as other visitors who come through.
“I’ll be seeing what we can do to bring more people into the library,” she said, adding that during the academic year, the library screens movies, hosts a philosophy club, and provides a much-needed space for commuter students to study.
“If people come through the diocese on a visit, they can come by if they need to do research and use our databases,” she said. “Don’t be strangers!”
Cox said the Ursuline worldview “very much shaped” her own worldview, especially the education-based philosophy of the Ursuline Sisters.
“It is a commitment to the whole person,” she said, describing Brescia as “a space where (students) can also grow in community and friendship with each other.”
Originally printed in the September 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
