As we embark on a new year, I find that I am reflecting on my first semester at the University of Cincinnati as the dean and university librarian. It's been a very exhilarating time as I have gotten to know the people, services, facilities, and collections of UC Libraries through my 'listening tours,' and what I've seen is impressive. Our team of experienced faculty and staff provide excellent research, teaching, and learning assistance to UC students and faculty through an amazing array of electronic and print collections and a wide variety of excellent services.
Some of you may be interested in my background and what brought me to UC, as well as what my initial strategic priorities and projects will be. I have worked in libraries for 30 years. I come to UC from Emory University where I was the associate vice provost of University Libraries. Before that I was the head of library systems at Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries. Central to my background is information technology enabled digital library advancement.
Several things attracted me to the position at UC. First, UC is an excellent and ambitious research university and UC Libraries is a founding member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), a membership organization of 125 research libraries in North America. I was excited to join the university as it works toward achieving the bold goals set forth in the UC2019 Academic Master Plan. While interviewing at UC, I was impressed by the faculty, staff and students' excitement for the university's vision, as well as the dedication and talent of the faculty and staff of UC Libraries.
I have begun to work with UC leadership, faculty and students, as well as library faculty and staff, to align the Libraries' goals closely with UC's academic master plan to continue strengthening the Libraries' role as the intellectual commons of the university and to bring innovative initiatives forward.
I have a strong interest and background in global librarianship. Recently, I was asked to serve on the newly established UC-wide China Strategy Advisory Group. I see many exciting opportunities for the Libraries' greater involvement in the recruitment and support of international students and scholars at UC and to collaborate teaching and research on a global scale in support of UC's mission.
Interim Provost Lawrence Johnson has asked me to develop a five-year funding plan for UC Libraries under the guidance of UC2019's strategic goals. The plan will not only address UC Libraries' financial sustainability, but it will also identify new, innovative, and entrepreneurial opportunities in pursuit and support of the Libraries' new strategic directions.
In the time that I have been at UC, I have had the opportunity to meet numerous colleagues throughout the university and I see many opportunities for partnership and collaboration. One such collaboration that should bring many benefits to the Libraries and our users is with UC Information Technologies (UCIT). Other entrepreneurial initiatives on the horizon include exploring digital humanities initiatives, supporting biomedical and clinical informatics, creating an enterprise digital repository with long-term digital preservation capacity, exposing and increasing access to special collections and born-digital archives, and continually renovating library space by creating user-centric, technology-enabled, and artistically pleasing teaching, learning, and research spaces.
Exciting times lay ahead and I look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, and library supporters and donors to take UC Libraries to new heights, nationally and internationally.
As we embark on a new year, I find that I am reflecting on my first semester at the University of Cincinnati as the dean and university librarian. It's been a very exhilarating time as I have gotten to know the people, services, facilities, and collections of UC Libraries through my 'listening tours,' and what I've seen is impressive. Our team of experienced faculty and staff provide excellent research, teaching, and learning assistance to UC students and faculty through an amazing array of electronic and print collections and a wide variety of excellent services.