The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has selected Elaine L. Westbrooks, associate university librarian for research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as its new University librarian and vice provost for University Libraries. Approved by the University’s Board of Trustees, the appointment is effective Aug. 15.
Elaine Westbrooks.
University librarian and vice provost for University libraries.
(Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
“Chancellor Carol Folt and I are excited to welcome Elaine to Carolina,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost James W. Dean Jr. “She brings more than 19 years of higher education library experience to her role, where she will oversee one of the top-ranked university library systems in the country, including its services and more than 9 million volumes across 10 libraries.”
At the University of Michigan, Westbrooks led the library’s support of the research enterprise, facilitated the management of the operations and budget. Prior to her time in Ann Arbor, Westbrooks worked at research libraries at three other universities. She served as associate dean of libraries at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, held several positions in technical services at Cornell University Libraries and worked as a digital research and Latin American Cataloger at the University of Pittsburgh.
The co-author of three books, along with several book chapters, Westbrooks lectures at numerous conferences. She also serves on the Association for Research Libraries Visioning Taskforce, was recently the chair of the HathiTrust Rights and Access Committee and also served on the HathiTrust Program Steering Committee.
“I am honored to be selected as Carolina’s vice provost for University Libraries. The University Libraries have rich collections and talented staff,” said Westbrooks. “I look forward to helping Carolina make its library spaces, collections and services an even more integral part of academic life on campus.”
Westbrooks earned a bachelor of arts degree in linguistics and a master’s degree in information and library science from the University of Pittsburgh.
She succeeds Sarah Michalak, who retired in December 2016. Carol Hunter, deputy University librarian and associate University librarian for collections and services, has served as interim University librarian since Michalak’s departure. She will retire from Carolina on Oct. 1.
Welcome, Elaine Westbrooks!
Courtesy UNC News Services. Photograph by Jon Gardiner.
