Philadelphia: Joseph P. Lucia Appointed Dean of Temple University Libraries

Joseph Lucia comes to Temple University after serving as Dean of Libraries at Villanova University also located in Philadelphia.
From Temple:

As dean of university libraries, Lucia will oversee all of Temple’s nine libraries — including those at Temple University Japan and Temple University Rome — as well as Temple University Press. Lucia has been charged by President Theobald with leading a major program of library development, including the construction of a new signature building at Temple’s Main Campus that will connect the university with the greater Philadelphia community.
“With renewed momentum and the prospect of a bold new library, this is a critical moment for Temple and for University Libraries,” said President Theobald. “Joseph Lucia is a deep thinker who has spearheaded the refurbishment of an award-winning library at a world-class institution. He has the right experience to lead and grow our library system.”
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“Libraries stand for how culture is created, how culture is shared. That has symbolic power and practical force, especially as we engage what a library is in the digital age,” he continued. “We need to ‘future-proof’ libraries. We need to articulate that the library’s mission goes beyond collections of physical stuff. The prospect of building a new library resting on these principles — especially at an urban university with Temple’s mission of civic engagement — is hugely exciting.”
As university librarian and director of Falvey Memorial Library at Villanova, Lucia spearheaded a number of initiatives that earned national attention, including the establishment of a campus-wide community reading program, the development of open source discovery software; the creation of a substantial digital library (hosted on locally built open source digital library software); the establishment of open access publishing initiatives featuring university-sponsored journals supported by library development teams; the creation of a multi-disciplinary Learning Commons in Falvey as part of a series of renovations (“effectively reinventing the library facility over time from the inside out,” he said); and the development of an active cultural and intellectual events agenda.
While at Villanova, Lucia served as a member of the board of trustees of Lyrasis — the nation’s largest non-profit regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals — from 2009 to 2012. He was Lyrasis’ founding president from 2009 to 2010. He currently serves on both the board of Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. and the board of the Catholic Research Resources Alliance.

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