Cait Coker

Cait Coker is an Associate Professor and Curator at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library within the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her work bridges academic librarianship, digital humanities, and book history, with a focus on Tolkien studies, fan fiction, and medieval literature.

Her research emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, as seen in projects like DH+BH: An Interdisciplinary Collection on Digital Humanities and Book History (2024). She explores topics such as practical bibliography, fan culture, and the intersection of literature with cultural and historical contexts.

Notable contributions include analyzing Tolkien’s monsters in medieval contexts (The Dragon is Not an Allegory, 2023) and investigating fan responses to works like Supernatural and Good Omens. Her awards include the Lord Ruthven Award (2021) and an MLA Honorable Mention (2019) for digital bibliography projects.

Coker actively engages with public outreach, exemplified by collaborations like Practical Witchcraft (2023), which connects special collections with community libraries. Her work often addresses feminist labor preservation and the evolving roles of academic libraries in education and research.