Candidate for dean of KU Libraries to present Tuesday
LAWRENCE — The first of four candidates for the dean of KU Libraries position at the University of Kansas will make a public presentation during an upcoming campus visit.
Paul Bracke, associate dean for research and assessment and associate professor of library science at Purdue University Libraries, will deliver a talk at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Watson Library 3 West. The topic is Vision and Aspirations for the Role of Libraries in the Next Ten Years at a Flagship State University Such as KU.
The dean of libraries search committee — led by Saralyn Reece Hardy, director of the Spencer Museum of Art — invites students, faculty and staff to attend the presentation and provide feedback of their impressions.
Bracke, in his role at Purdue, has several areas of responsibility that include promoting research by Purdue Libraries’ faculty and integration with research activities on campus, oversight of data repository services, strategy development for assessment of libraries programs and overall library effect, and information technology within the libraries. Bracke has been responsible for leading Purdue’s participation in a number of strategic collaborations, including a development partnership on Ex Libris Alma, leadership roles within DataCite and participation in a number of Committee on Institutional Cooperation initiatives. He has also been responsible for technical services, document delivery and interlibrary loan.
Prior to joining Purdue, Bracke held positions at the University of Arizona, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These positions provided him with a broad range of experience, ranging from reference and instruction duties to public outreach and technology services. He was a member of the 2013-15 Association of Research Libraries Leadership Fellows cohort. Bracke earned bachelor’s degrees in history and journalism from University of Missouri-Columbia, a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Arizona.
The university will release information about each candidate and his or her public presentation roughly 48 hours before his or her talk. Other candidates will be on campus:
- Candidate 2, Oct. 26-27
- Candidate 3, Oct. 28-29
- Candidate 4, Nov. 2-3
Candidate presentations will be recorded and available for viewing online after the final candidate has appeared on campus.
KU Libraries is the largest library system in Kansas. It offers more than 4.2 million print volumes in seven campus facilities, including a state-of-the-art offsite storage facility. The Libraries has extensive international holdings, including notable collections in Slavic, Latin America and East Asian studies. The Kenneth Spencer Research Library is recognized worldwide for its rare book, manuscript and archival holdings in history, literature and natural history. The Libraries employs 50 faculty, 100 staff and 175 student employees.
KU Libraries is a leader in the open access movement on campus, nationally and internationally. Open Access works to make scholarly research more accessible to researchers and the public by using the advantages provided by digital and electronic communication. KU was the first public institution in the United States to adopt a faculty-led open access policy.