Speakers: 184th Association Meeting: Spring 2024

Jane Angel is executive director of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), the peak leadership organization for university librarians in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Based on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people in Adelaide, South Australia, Jane is responsible for operations, engagement, advocacy, and strategy implementation aligned with the objectives of CAUL and the CAUL Board. Prior to joining CAUL in November 2022, Jane scoped and fulfilled diverse leadership roles in academic, public, special, federal, and state libraries in Australia and the UK. Jane’s career has been characterized by a curiosity to explore and grow business acumen across sectors and disciplines; as such, Jane has performed a broad span of roles from children’s librarian at Earlsfield Public Library to manager, Client Services at the Supreme Court Library of South Australia. More recently, Jane was deputy director at the University of South Australia Library, and led a transformational shift in service delivery as deputy director, Research Information Research & Infrastructure at Defence Science and Technology, Department of Defence. Jane is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an associate member of the Australian Library and Information Association.

Dianne Babski is the director of the User Services and Collection Division at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), one of the 27 institutes at the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. She is responsible for overall management of one of NLM’s largest divisions and oversees budget, facilities, administration, and operations, including a national network of more than 8,000 academic, health science, and public libraries and community organizations to improve access to quality health information. Dianne serves as the scientific review administrator on the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee, a federal advisory committee responsible for recommending journals for inclusion to MEDLINE. She is currently leading a generative AI pilot at NLM to unlock new pathways of biomedical discovery, increase operational efficiencies, and achieve better user experience across NLM resources. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master of information management

Kevin Borden leads the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of all ARL Research and Analytics functions. He informs and works with members and research and learning community partners in order to achieve a shared understanding of the opportunities for and contributions made by research libraries. Specifically, he leads the collection, analysis, and reporting of member institutional data, as well as the collection, analysis, and reporting on the collective impact of ARL members and more broadly, research libraries, on higher education and society. Kevin brings significant expertise and experience in developing methodologies, conducting analysis, and presenting results. As a senior research scientist at CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization focused on safety and security, he developed analytic solutions to support programmatic decision-making at local, state, and federal levels. Prior to working for CNA, he was a research manager at the Congressional Research Service, where he supervised and reviewed research for Congress across a variety of policy areas. Before that, Kevin gained experience applying his technical and analytics expertise in government consulting where he led a data analysis and visualization practice at The Cadmus Group (formerly Obsidian Analysis). Kevin holds a PhD and MS in geography from the University of South Carolina, and a BA in geography from SUNY Geneseo.

Kia Lilly Caldwell, PhD, is the vice provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, professor of African and African American Studies, and Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. As vice provost, Kia fosters the development of equitable faculty policies and supports the professional development, thriving, and success of all Danforth Campus faculty. Trained as a socio-cultural anthropologist, her research has focused on race, gender, black feminism, health policy, and HIV/AIDS in Brazil and the US. Kia is the author of Negras in Brazil: Re-envisioning Black Women, Citizenship, and the Politics of Identity and Health Equity in Brazil: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Policy. Kia’s articles and essays have been published in numerous US and Brazilian publications. Her interviews and publications on the Covid-19 pandemic have been featured on the Real News Network, as well as in The Conversation, the Black Perspectives blog, and published in Brazil. She is currently co-editing an anthology titled, Black Feminisms beyond Borders: Cultivating Knowledge, Solidarity, and Liberation and completing a book titled, Occupy Politics: Black Women’s Democratic Engagement in the Americas. She has received grants and fellowships from the US National Science Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the American Psychological Association. She is the president of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD). Visit https://kiacaldwell.com

Mimi Calter is vice provost and university librarian for Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), where she oversees the Washington University Libraries expert staff of 140 librarians, curators, archivists, and technologists; supports the development of programming and collections in support of research, teaching, and learning; drives strategic priorities, and advocates for library programs both locally and globally. Prior to joining WashU, Mimi served as deputy university librarian at Stanford University where she helped expand digital technologies and repositories and manage multiple capital projects. She spent time as a knowledge manager at Goldman Sachs, where she provided research support to a bicoastal team in investment banking. Mimi earned her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania and graduate degrees in business administration and library and information science from Drexel University. She is also an avid birder, and when not in the library will often be seen looking skyward.

Lindsay Cronk is dean of libraries at Tulane University Libraries. Prior to that, she worked as assistant dean for scholarly resources at the University of Rochester, collections and online resources coordinator (CORC) at the University of Houston, and membership manager at Lyrasis. An internationally recognized expert in resource negotiations, Lindsay’s service has focused on advocating for library workers and library work. She was the first elected president of the newest division of the American Library Association (ALA), Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures. She co-founded PeMento: Peer Mentoring for Mid-Career Library Workers. She co-authored ALA’s resolution condemning white supremacy and fascism as antithetical to library work. She is an editor of the Serials Librarian, where she sporadically contributes a column, Resourcefully. She is still/always covered in tattoos and full of strong opinions.

Elliot Felix is an author, speaker, and consultant to more than 100 colleges and universities. He uses his background in design to enable student success by improving the spaces they learn and live in, the support services they rely on, and the technology they use. Over the last 20 years, Elliot has spoken at SXSW EDU, taught courses on innovation, and worked with more than 100 universities, including Carnegie Mellon, MIT, NYU, NC State, and the University of Virginia. brightspot strategy, the education consulting company he founded in 2011 was acquired by Buro Happold in 2020 and has improved the experience of more than one million students. You can find Elliot’s work in Fast Company, Forbes, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His book How to Get the Most Out of College was published in January 2022. He lives in Minneapolis with his son Theo, daughter Nora, and wife Liz.

Susan Haigh has been executive director of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) since 2014. She oversees CARL’s many collaborative initiatives to foster open scholarship and shared infrastructure, to build research data management and other areas of strategic capacity, and to advocate federally for research library interests. Internationally, she currently serves as chair of the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) Board and on the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) North America Regional Division. In Canada, she chairs the Canadian PID Advisory Committee. Susan has a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Victoria and a master of library and information science from Western University. Prior to CARL, she held a range of positions at Library and Archives Canada, where she developed a strong interest in the preservation and access of Canada’s digital documentary heritage.

Nicole Hodges Persley is the vice provost of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Kansas (KU). Nicole is an award-winning professor, artist, and community leader with over 20 years of experience in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) work creating intentional equity pathways between academic and creative communities. She is the former associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion in the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In addition to her work in DEIB, Nicole has served in several areas of KU administration from department chair to director of museum studies. She is an award-winning professor in the Departments of American Studies and African and African American Studies and a faculty Fellow in the KU Honors program where she teaches courses on acting, directing, hip-hop studies, African American studies, performance studies, and transnational performance. She is the author of Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip-Hop Theater and Performance (University of Michigan 2021), the anthology Black Matters: The Lewis Morrow Plays (Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama 2022), Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority co-authored with Monica White Ndounou (Rowman & Littlefield 2021), Hip-Hop in Musical Theater (Bloomsbury Drama 2023), and co-editor of Diva: Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop (Bloomsbury 2023). Nicole is a professional director who specializes in works that explore race and performance in American theater. She is the artistic director of KC Melting Pot Theater, Kansas City’s premier African American theater company. She has directed critically acclaimed theater and short films and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and the Stage Director and Choreographers Society. She is the co-founder of Create Ensemble (createensemble.com), the first creative collaboration platform for artists and allies of the global majority. She received her PhD from the University of Southern California (USC) Department of American Studies & Ethnicity and holds MA degrees in American studies from USC and in African American studies from UCLA. She is an alumna of Spelman College where she studied French, art history, and theater.

Martin R. Kalfatovic is the associate director, Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SLA). Martin also serves as program director of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). At SLA he is involved with scholarly communications, mass digitization, and research analytics and metadata. As the program director for the BHL, a global consortium of 42 natural history, research, and botanical garden libraries (including 5 ARL members), he participates in the national and global coordination around issues of collection aggregation, technical development, and research applications of the digital library. A regular contributor to popular and scholarly publications, Martin can be found on select social platforms as @udcmrk and has an inordinate fondness for dodos

David Leonard has led the Boston Public Library (BPL) since June 2016. In this role, David oversees a collection estimated to contain more than 23 million books, maps, manuscripts, prints, and an ever-expanding digital collection, and a system comprising the historic Central Library in Copley Square, 25 neighborhood branches, and an archival center. The BPL also serves as the Library for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to his formal appointment as BPL president, David served as the library’s interim president, during which time he focused on the completion of the $78 million renovation of the Central Library in Copley Square, which opened in July 2016. David’s prior background spans academia, the nonprofit sector, and more than a decade of private IT consulting, counseling clients about business development, management, and technology. David is currently enrolled in the PhD program in library and information science at Simmons College, and holds degrees in philosophy and mathematics from the University College Dublin

Christy Long is the associate chief information officer for technology infrastructure and chief of staff for information services at the University of Oregon (UO). She is responsible for engineering and support for research IT services and high-performance computing, networking, compute, storage, voice, data centers, audiovisual and classroom technologies, and UO staff supporting the Link Oregon statewide research and education network. As chief of staff, Christy serves as a strategic advisor to the CIO. Christy has more than 20 years of experience serving higher education as a technologist and leader. Her leadership experience spans three Research 1 (R1) institutions, all members of the Association of American Universities (AAU). Prior to joining the UO, Christy was the assistant vice chancellor for IT and CIO at the University of Washington Bothell, where she was responsible for the strategic oversight of campus information technology. Previously, she was an IT director at Penn State University and served in various roles of increasing responsibility in campus and enterprise IT. Christy is passionate about the role of technology as a strategic enabler to support the academic and research missions of higher education institutions. She is engaged nationally with organizations such as Internet2, EDUCAUSE, and the Coalition for Networked Information. Christy holds a bachelor's degree in biobehavioral health and an executive MBA with a concentration in leadership and strategy from Penn State University.

Mary Ann Mavrinac served as vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean, University of Rochester (UR) Libraries from June 2012 to January 2022. She positioned the libraries to provide transformational experiences for students and faculty to achieve their scholarly aspirations. She currently holds an emeritus appointment with the UR. From 2001 to 2012, Mavrinac was chief librarian, University of Toronto Mississauga, leading from vision to occupancy an award-winning academic library, Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre. From 1983 to 2001, she served in a variety of roles at Western University, including head, The D.B. Weldon Library. In 2010, she was president of the Ontario Library Association. From 2013 to 2019, she served on the board of the Association of Research Libraries, elected president for 2017–2018. Selected honors include: Canadian Association of College and University Libraries Innovation Award for the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre (2009), Ontario College and University Library Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), Robert F. Metzdorf Award for meritorious service to the UR Libraries (2021), and Studio X at the UR named in her honor.

Maria McCauley, PhD, is director of Libraries for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she oversees administration, finance, facilities, and operations across seven libraries. She leads a team of 170 talented staff members and works closely with three boards and across the city to achieve an inclusive, ambitious vision of library services for all. Under her leadership, the Cambridge Public Library has increased its budget from $9 million to $18.9 million, expanded its branch hours by 54+ hours per week, opened the award-winning Valente Branch library, launched a STEAM at the Library program including the first free public $1.8 million maker space in Cambridge, gone fine free, started a social work program, deepened digital equity work, and prioritized the library’s antiracism, equity, and inclusion efforts. Maria began her library career 24 years ago at the Cambridge Public Library in Circulation and Reference Services. Before returning to Cambridge, she served as the director of Libraries in Santa Monica, California; director of Libraries for the City of Somerville, Massachusetts; and held several library positions at Northeastern University. She is past president of the Public Library Association.

Garrett Dash Nelson (he/him) is a historical geographer who currently serves as president & head curator at the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library. His scholarly work focuses on the relationship between community structure, geographic units, and political ideology, and he specializes in the urban, regional, and environmental history of Boston and New England. In addition to his qualitative work, Garrett also has methodological interests in geospatial analysis and the digital humanities. He holds an AB from Harvard College in social studies and visual & environmental studies, an MA from the University of Nottingham in landscape & culture, and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in geography

Andrew K. Pace leads the development of and implements ARL’s strategic direction. He builds on ARL’s strengths as a leader and partner in the research and learning ecosystem, as a catalyzer of global opportunity and value through the Association’s suite of programs and initiatives, and as a culture that embraces innovation, diversity, and inclusion. Prior to coming to ARL, Andrew served as executive director of the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) Library Consortium since 2022. At USMAI, Andrew led the consortium of 17 academic libraries across the state of Maryland, centrally hosting management, discovery, and resource-sharing applications for millions of print, licensed, and open-access resources. His team also led new digital initiatives in digital asset management, open educational resources (OER), and new service development. Andrew held previous executive director positions from 2008 to 2022 at OCLC, where he managed cloud-based application development and later led teams focused on data science and applied research. Prior to OCLC, he was head of Information Technology at North Carolina State University Libraries. Andrew is active in the American Library Association (ALA) and was elected to the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Board of Directors in 2023. He has presented at numerous conferences and is the author of several works dealing with library technology, product and project management, and community building. He holds an MS in library science from the Catholic University of America and a BA in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia.

Ravi Pendse, PhD, serves as the vice president for information technology and chief information officer at the University of Michigan. He is an executive officer of the university and provides university-wide leadership and strategic direction for information technology. He is also a professor in electrical engineering and computer science. Ravi has secured numerous external research grants, developed and taught courses in the areas of computer architecture, networking, and cybersecurity, earned several teaching awards, and published scholarly articles co-authored with students. His research interests include areas of internet of things, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. Ravi holds a BS in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He received his MS and PhD in electrical engineering from Wichita State University. He serves as a trustee of the Kansas Health Science Center and as an independent director on the board of High Touch Technologies.

Martine Pronk is executive director at LIBER Europe, the Association of European Research Libraries, with more than 420 members in 40 countries. Martine is responsible for the coordination and implementation of LIBER’s strategic actions. She represents LIBER in the RDA Organisational Assembly and European Open Science Cloud Association. Besides her work at LIBER, Martine is also a member of the Steering Committee of Open Science NL (Dutch Research Council), where she represents the voice of research and higher education libraries. Previously, Martine held a position as head of Academic Services and member of the senior management team at Utrecht University Library in the Netherlands. She held strategic responsibility for research and education support services, including in the field of open science and was co-lead of the Open Access Track of the Utrecht Open Science Programme. Martine has a degree in social and cultural anthropology, an executive master’s degree in public and nonprofit management, and more than 18 years of leadership experience

David Prosser became, in 2010, the executive director of Research Libraries UK (RLUK), the representative body for the UK and Ireland’s leading research libraries. Before moving to RLUK, David was, from 2002, the founding director of SPARC Europe, an alliance of over 110 research-led university libraries from 14 European countries advocating new models of scholarly communication. Previously, he spent 10 years in science, technical, and medical journal publishing for both Oxford University Press and Elsevier Science. Before becoming a publisher, David received a PhD and BSc in physics from Leeds University

Devin Savage is Dean of Libraries at the Illinois Institute of Technology and a member of the ARL/CNI Task Force on Scenario Planning for AI and Machine-Learning Futures. Savage has held various other positions in administration at Illinois Tech since 2014, and served in various roles at the Northwestern University Library from 1999-2014, including as Assessment Librarian. He has also been active in ALA's ACRL and LLAMA divisions as well as currently serving as the chair of ALA's Library Research RoundTable.

Carol E. Smith is the dean of Libraries at the University of Kansas. She previously served as university librarian at the Colorado School of Mines (2016–2023), library director of Adams State University (2012–2016), and associate librarian at the University of Central Missouri (2006–2012). Carol has held multiple professional association leadership positions, including president of the Colorado Association of Libraries (2018), the Colorado Academic Library Association (2016), and the Missouri Library Association (2013). Prior to becoming a librarian, she worked in the energy industry and served as vice president of operations for a highly successful public information research firm. Her current professional and research interests include academic modeling of the New Librarianship framework, impact assessment, globally engaged librarianship, and applications of Stoicism in library well-being. Offline, she’s a hiker and a mixologist—never at the same time.

Catherine Steeves has been the vice-provost and chief librarian at Western University since August of 2014. Prior to her appointment at Western, Catherine served as the associate chief librarian and deputy chief information officer at the University of Guelph. She is currently the chair of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and is on the Board of Directors for Canadian Science Publishing. She is the chair of the OCUL Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and a member of the Joint ARL/CNI Task Force on Scenario Planning for AI and Machine Learning Futures. She is a member of the Council of Ontario Universities Task Force on Space Transformation and is a member director for the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). She is past-chair of the CARL Advancing Research Committee and of the ARL Membership Engagement and Outreach Committee, and was a six-year member of the CRKN Executive Committee. She earned her MLIS from the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) and a BA from McGill University. Her scholarly interests include organizational development, change management and leadership, and transformative technology in research libraries

Mega Subramaniam is a professor and the associate dean for faculty at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on enhancing the role of libraries in fostering the mastery of digital literacies among youth. Her work brings research and practice together to enhance the skills of information professionals. Mega has successfully led the design of multiple professional development resources and training including ConnectedLib, Safe Data | Safe Families, HackHealth, and IMPACT Libraries. Currently, she is co-leading Marylanders Online, a statewide project which focuses on reducing the digital divide in Maryland by incorporating voices of Marylanders and digital literacy stakeholders into the design of digital literacy resources. Her work has resulted in several national and international recognitions, most recently including Library Journal's 2019 Movers and Shakers award, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 2020 Outstanding Achievement Award, and the Fulbright Specialist Award. To learn more about her work, visit her website.

Megan Waters became the leader of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Research Library in 2018 and has worked to re-imagine the role of a national laboratory library as a scientific knowledge center, oversee applied information science research, guide collaborative data management, and further the development of premier scientific research collections ever since. Most recently, LANL Research Library has transformed into an agile organization and applies this framework to everything we do, whether technical in nature or non-technical. Prior to joining LANL, Megan was associate university librarian for information technology & discovery services at DePaul University Libraries, information services director for the Miami Herald Media Company, and held various library technology–related positions in the University Florida system

PROGRAM SPEAKERS

Jane Angel

Dianne Babski

Kevin Borden

Kia Lilly Caldwell

Mimi Calter

Jessica Chapel

Lindsay Cronk

Elliot Felix

Susan Haigh

Nicole Hodges Persley

Martin R. Kalfatovic

David Leonard

Christy Long

Mary Ann Mavrinac

Maria McCauley

Garrett Dash Nelson

Andrew K. Pace

Ravi Pendse

Martine Pronk

David Prosser

Devin Savage

Carol E. Smith

Catherine Steeves

Mega Subramaniam

Megan Waters