Ludington served as the head librarian for Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, from 1938 until 1964.

[2] Born in Huron County, Michigan, Ludington moved to Wenatchee, Washington, as a young girl.

She worked as an assistant in the University of Washington library, where she received a bachelor's degree in librarianship in 1920.

She left Washington to be a reference librarian at Mills College, where she went on to study and receive a master's degree in history fin 1925.

Ludington worked at Mills College as an assistant professor of bibliography and then associate librarian.