Campus News

Four finalists named in search for next head of UGA Libraries

Four finalists have been named for the position of university librarian and associate provost at UGA.

A committee chaired by David S. Williams, associate provost and director of the Honors Program, conducted a national search to identify the finalists. The committee was assisted by the UGA Search Group in Human Resources.

The finalists are Grace Agnew, associate university librarian for digital library systems at Rutgers University; Toby Graham, deputy university librarian and director of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at UGA; Beth McNeil, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of library science at Purdue University; and Jerry W. Stephens, director of the Mervyn H. Sterne Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Each finalist has made or will make a public presentation. In addition, teaching and research faculty had or will have the opportunity to meet with the finalists at a reception.

Graham and Stephens made their official visits on May 13 and May 15, respectively.

McNeil will visit campus May 21, and Agnew will visit May 28. Their public presentations will be held from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the auditorium (Room 271) of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. The reception for the last two finalists will be held from 3-4 p.m. on the day of their campus visit in the third floor reading room of the main library.

The university librarian and associate provost is the chief executive officer for the UGA Libraries and reports to the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. The UGA Libraries includes four principal facilities: the main library, the science library, the Miller Learning Center and the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

The UGA Press and The Georgia Review also report to the university librarian and are housed in the main library. The UGA Libraries comprises 16 departments, with approximately 70 librarians, 160 staff members and 190 student assistants.

William Gray Potter, head of the UGA Libraries since 1989, will retire Aug. 31 following a 25-year career at UGA.

The finalists’ curricula vitae are at http://provost.uga.edu/index.php/home/university-librarian-finalists/.