Search for the Vice President for University Libraries and University Librarian

December 16, 2021

Dear University Colleagues:

Nearly 10 months ago, President Holloway and I announced that the Rutgers University Libraries (RUL) would be led by Dr. Consuella Askew as Interim Vice President for University Libraries and University Librarian. Fully realizing our confidence in her leadership, Dr. Askew is continuing to guide the libraries through the challenges presented by the pandemic while leading a multi-campus organization toward a cohesive institutional mission. We also announced that this arrangement would be effective for one year, through the summer of 2022, during the course of which we would launch a search for this position. 

I am therefore pleased to announce that we are initiating the search for the next Vice President for University Libraries and University Librarian (VPUL). As a member of my core leadership team, the chosen individual will supervise the campus-based associate university librarians, and work closely with the chancellor units, the faculty, students, and library faculty/staff on our four Chancellor-led units to support and enrich the instructional, research, and public service mission of the university through the stewardship of scholarly information and the delivery of information services.

I am delighted to share that the search committee will be co-chaired by Margaret Marsh, University Professor (Faculty of Arts and Sciences–Camden) and a core faculty member in the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research (RBHS); and Henry Turner, Vice President for Academic Initiatives and Professor, Department of English (New Brunswick). The committee’s full membership, which draws upon the diversity of our disciplines and campuses, is available here. A dedicated email address has been created for your use (VPULsearch@rutgers.edu) so that you may send us your thoughts regarding this vitally important search, as well as your nominations of qualified candidates. The search committee will engage in additional outreach to ensure feedback from the community informs the process.

The next VPUL will chart a course for RUL to navigate and thrive in an evolving landscape for academic libraries. As scholarly information becomes increasingly digitized, transforming the nature of academic research, the next VPUL will work closely with faculty, students, and staff to advance scholarship and teaching. Furthermore, as pedagogies progressively favor collaborative learning, library facilities are likewise becoming places of community and social consequence, the purpose and significance of library space will continue to evolve. The individual will be innovative, proactive, and communicative to ensure that Rutgers is at the forefront of this change, and that RUL continues to meet the needs of our campuses and communities.

We are enormously indebted to Dr. Consuella Askew who has ably led RUL since May 2021. She has been an invaluable partner and advisor, and prior to serving as interim VPUL, led Rutgers University–Newark as Associate University Librarian since 2014. I look forward to continuing to work with her over the course of the academic year as we seek to advance RUL as a service-oriented organization that enriches the academic mission of Rutgers.

Thank you, as always, for all you do for Rutgers.

Prabhas V. Moghe, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Distinguished Professor