Third KU Libraries dean candidate to present Feb. 21

LAWRENCE — The third candidate for the University of Kansas Libraries dean position will give a public presentation at 3 p.m. Feb. 21 in Watson Library in Watson 3 West Event Space.

The event will be livestreamed, and the passcode is 726261.

Carol Smith is the third of four candidates who will describe her vision and aspiration for the role of libraries in the next 10 years at a flagship university. She currently serves as university librarian at the Colorado School of Mines.

The last candidate will be announced approximately two days before their respective campus visit. All campus presentations will take place in Watson Library in the Watson 3 West Event Space, and they will be livestreamed. Public presentations for each of the candidates are scheduled for the following dates:

• Nadia Ghasedi: 2:30-3:30 p.m. Feb. 13
• Scott Hanrath: 3:30-4:30 p.m. Feb. 16
• Carol Smith 3: 3-4 p.m. Feb. 21
• Candidate 4: 3-4 p.m. Feb. 23

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to offer their impressions and observations of each candidate online. There will be a limited-time feedback survey where members of the KU community will have the chance to share their opinion on each candidate. Feedback on Smith’s presentation is due by 5 p.m. Feb. 24. A recording of her presentation will be available on the search website until the survey closes. Additional search information is also available on the Provost Office website.

Each candidate will meet with Chancellor Douglas A. Girod, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, senior administrators, KU Endowment, KU Alumni Association, University Governance and KU Libraries groups, including faculty, staff and the board of advocates. Each candidate will tour KU Libraries’ facilities.

Smith believes libraries should improve society by facilitating knowledge creation in their communities, a guiding principle in her library leadership seven years into her role as university librarian at the Colorado School of Mines. In this role, she is responsible for strategic and administrative leadership of Arthur Lakes Library and the comprehensive oversight of the Mines Museum of Earth Sciences.

Smith has comprehensively reorganized the Colorado School of Mines library and museum in direct support of strategic goals. She recruited new leadership that turned a static campus museum into a top regional family attraction with a K-12 outreach program. She established the Scholars Hub, a center for scholarly communications and open initiatives, and created a new engagement librarian role responsible for student outreach and robust curricular and co-curricular programming, including book discussions, workshops, concerns and more.  

Smith developed a state program plan to fund a full physical library renovation. That was made possible by increasing the library operations budget by 66% and collections budget by 62% over six fiscal years through advocacy.

Librarianship was a midcareer change for Smith, who spent time in leadership positions in both the oil industry and information services profession until 2004. Before her current role, she served as library director at Adams State University. She previously served as a tenured associate professor of library services at the University of Central Missouri, where she served stints as the business librarian and technology initiatives librarian.

Smith was awarded the Mines Diversity, Inclusion and Access Progress award for Best in Shared Responsibility in 2021 and 2022. Her current areas of research interest include international comparative librarianship and academic library applications of the New Librarianship Framework.

Smith holds a graduate certificate in geographic information systems from Central Missouri as well as a master’s degree in information systems and a master’s degree in library and information science, both from Drexel University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and Arabic from Binghamton University.

About KU Libraries

KU Libraries sets out to transform lives by inspiring the discovery and creation of knowledge for the university and global community. Furthermore, KU Libraries is a place of welcome, amplifying the diverse voices of the KU community. It also serves as a leader in the dissemination of knowledge, advancing innovative and substantial ways to collect, create and steward resources. KU Libraries partners in connecting and engaging communities, fostering student success and transformative research.