SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

August 21, 2014 by Gary Price

University of Virginia: University Librarian Karin Wittenborg to Retire at End of 2014

August 21, 2014 by Gary Price

From UVa News:

Karin Wittenborg, university librarian and dean of libraries at the University of Virginia, will retire in December after 21 years of service as leader of the University Library system.
“Karin is an extraordinary leader, collaborator and colleague,” Executive Vice President and Provost John D. Simon said. “Under her leadership, the U.Va. Library has become nationally known for its support of the scholarly enterprise, always done in a bold and creative way.”
Wittenborg has overseen the library system’s 12 facilities and staff of more than 230 since being recruited from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. Today the U.Va. Library has more than 4 million books and nearly 500,000 electronic books, 16.5 million manuscripts and archives, as well as databases, images, maps, musical scores, streaming video and more. Its endowment has grown from $9 million in 1993 to $63 million, and is expected to top $70 million when a recent multi-million dollar bequest is realized.
Martha Sites, currently the deputy university librarian, will serve as interim University Librarian after December. Simon will appoint a search committee to fill the post.
[Clip]
Some of her changes have been unconventional (aquariums in Clemons Library) and some have been temporarily unpopular (Google Books, which created digitized versions of 450,000 books in the library’s collection). Others have been wildly successful, such as the Scholars’ Lab, an internationally known incubator for digital humanities and methodological training of graduate students in the humanities, and the development of a staff known for its creativity and customer service.
Professional development of the library staff has always been paramount for Wittenborg. She started an endowment for staff development and instituted annual supplemental awards of $1,000 for development opportunities for every member of the staff (in addition to the University’s $2,000 education benefit). Wittenborg recognized early on that technology would dominate library operations and made staff development a priority so the library could be nimble amid rapid change.
She drove the fundraising to create a separate building for special collections (the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture), and renovated the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library with help from Brown’s widow, Ann Lee Brown, who provided a $5 million endowment.
During her time at U.Va., the Ivy Stacks, the library’s off-site, high-density shelving facility, opened on Old Ivy Road. In 2010, the University provided funds to retrofit the building with an automated shelving system. By 2012, the project was complete and the building’s capacity was doubled.
She has also collaborated with institutions worldwide to tackle the rapidly growing and expensive challenge of preservation. She was instrumental in securing major grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and, with former Vice President and University Chief Information Officer James Hilton, helped launch the Digital Preservation Network, a national collaboration of universities to create a robust, sustainable and scalable solution for preserving scholarly work. She also led the creation of the network’s regional hub, the Academic Preservation Trust.

Read the Complete Announcement For More on Karin Wittenborg’s Accomplishments

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, Awards, Digital Preservation, Funding, Libraries, Management and Leadership, Maps, News, Preservation

SHARE:

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Intends to Adopt Task Force Recommendation on a Digital Federal Depository Library Program...

From the FDLP/GPO: The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern has responded to the Feasibility of a Digital Federal Depository Library Program: Report of the GPO Director’s ...

AP: "Boston Symphony Orchestra Plan to Digitize John Williams Concerts Almost Complete"

From the Associated Press: An effort to digitize more than 200 Boston Pops radio broadcasts conducted by John Williams from 1979 until 1991 is almost complete, the Boston Symphony Orchestra ...

Louisiana: "AG Releases Report on 'Sexually-Explicit' Content in Public Libraries"

UPDATE (Feb. 8): We’ve added a link to a statement by the Louisiana Library Association at the bottom of this post. From the Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana Attorney General Jeff ...

Minnesota: Over St. Paul Mayor’s Objections, Hamline-Midway Library Added to National Register of Historic Places; Wisconsin: Interim Vice...

Association of American Publishers (AAP) Announces Finalists And Category Winners For 2023 PROSE Awards Microsoft Will Let Companies Create Their Own Custom Versions of ChatGPT, Source Says (via CNBC) National ...

Collections: JSTOR is Introducing a New Archive Fee Model Option

From a Letter by Ithaka President Kevin Guthrie: I recently shared the 2023 priorities ITHAKA has set to help provide the infrastructure the academic community needs to support research, teaching, and learning ...

Funding: HathiTrust Receives 5-Year, $1 Million Grant From Mellon Foundation

Here’s the Full Text of HathiTrust Announcement: HathiTrust, a member-based organization hosted by the University of Michigan, has received a 5-year, $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to fund ...

Library as Publisher: "UMass Amherst Libraries Announce Publication of Open-Access Peregrine Falcon Curriculum

From UMass Amherst Libraries (Full Text): The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries are pleased to announce the publication of The UMass Amherst Libraries Falcon Curriculum: An Open Source, Common Core PreK-12 ...

Report From Annenberg/UPenn: "Americans Don’t Understand What Companies Can Do With Their Personal Data — and That’s a...

From the Annenberg School of Communications/U. of Pennsylvania: In a new report, “Americans Can’t Consent to Companies’ Use of Their Data,” researchers asked a nationally representative group of more than ...

Fast Company: "Study: Over 50% of Academics Admit to Pirating Research Papers"

From Fast Company: More than 50% of academics have used piracy websites like Sci-Hub in order to bypass paywalls for research they want to access, according to a recent study published in ...

AI Models Spit Out Photos of Real People and Copyrighted Images; New Web Archives from Columbia University Libraries...

AI Models Spit Out Photos of Real People and Copyrighted Images (via MIT Technology Review) California: Orange Unified School District Reinstates Digital Library After Parent Concerns (via Voice of OC) ...

Journal Article: "Libraries Advancing Health Equity: A Literature Review"

The article linked below (full-text) was recently published Reference Services Review. Title Libraries Advancing Health Equity: A Literature Review Authors Amanda J. Wilson National Library of Medicine Catherine Staley National ...

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board: "As Libraries Turn the Page on Bookmobiles, Something is Lost"

From the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board: Anyone who has spent time on a bookmobile has learned enough to know nothing withstands the change of time. Still, we lament the slow ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.