AddressH. Carton Rogers III ViceProvost and Director of Libraries
The Penn Libraries partners with communities at Penn and beyond to produce, preserve, and provide access to knowledge. Together we build dynamic resources, tools, and expertise that inspire critical inquiry and creative expression.
— Penn Libraries Mission Statement
THE SEARCH
The University of Pennsylvania ("Penn") seeks an accomplished and collaborative library professional to serve as the H. Carton Rogers III ViceProvost and Director of Libraries ("Director"). This is an opportunity to lead a research library system at the highest level and at one of the world's leading teaching and research universities. The Director will be part of a leadership team at an institution home to innovative and revolutionary educational opportunities, functioning as a hub for human connection and operating at a crossroads where ancient inspiration and future innovation meet today’s brightest minds. Among its peers, Penn Libraries leads the way in collections development, transformative service impact, and effective campus communication. The next director will extend this record of leadership to the campus, the local, national, and global communities, and across the library profession.
The University of Pennsylvania is among the nation’s oldest and most storied universities. With 12 schools located on a single, compact, urban campus alongside the University’s flagship hospital and medical center, Penn is recognized for its integrated and collaborative approach to teaching, research, service, and patient care. Penn champions and advances impact, innovation, and the public good through the efforts of more than 5,500 faculty, 15,200 staff, and 28,700 students.
The Penn Libraries are central to this mission. Nineteen physical libraries, approximately 9.8 million volumes (print and electronic), and 350,000 e-journals—as well as millions of digitized images, physical audio and video, microforms, maps, graphic materials, and streaming audio and video—inspire discovery and insight. Libraries personnel (313 FTE) provide counsel, support, and infrastructure that fuel research and knowledge at the leading edge of evolving technology and academic exploration. Penn Libraries’ endowment is $159 million, and its annual budget is $87 million.
The Director will be a visionary, collegial, entrepreneurial, and courageous leader who will nurture, sustain, and extend the record of strength established by Penn Libraries and its personnel. This is a liminal moment for the University and the Libraries: a new university strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, was released in Fall 2023 and sets forth a vision of an institution anchored in the campus, local, and global communities; interwoven and interconnected; inventive in confronting society’s great challenges and opportunities; and engaged in service and collaboration. The Libraries themselves are in the midst of a strategic plan for building technical, structural, and human capacity, which includes a digital strategic plan that presents a broad vision to plan, implement, scale, and sustain digital technologies and practices.
The Director reports to the Provost, who has formed a consultative committee for this recruitment effort. Isaacson, Miller, the national executive search firm, has been retained to support the work of the committee. Confidential inquiries, nominations/referrals, and applications (CVs and letters of interest) should be submitted electronically to:
Anita Tien, Partner and Andy Marshall, Managing Associate
Isaacson, Miller
University of Pennsylvania, H. Carton Rogers III ViceProvost and Director of Libraries search
Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.
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