Research

Westbrooks invited to speak at annual Libraries Diversity Forum on May 2

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Elaine L. Westbrooks, vice provost of University Libraries & university librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, returns to Pennsylvania as the invited speaker for Penn State University Libraries’ annual Dean’s Diversity Forum at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 2, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, on Penn State’s University Park campus. She will speak on the topic “Moving Beyond Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” and provide practical examples to highlight the difference between diversity-, equity- and inclusion-centered policy, strategy and values versus those centered on dismantling the structures that reinforce inequity.

“On behalf of the University Libraries and Penn State, I am very pleased to welcome Vice Provost Westbrooks back to Pennsylvania as our guest and featured speaker, and look forward to her presentation,” Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications, said. “She also has expressed interest in meeting with several of our faculty and staff regarding several topics of interest during her visit to Penn State, which I hope will be mutually beneficial to our community of practice.”

Westbrooks, an alumna of the University of Pittsburgh with a master of library and information sciences degree as well as an undergraduate degree in linguistics, began her career at her alma mater as a Latin American cataloger and digital research librarian. In 2000 she began eight years of service at Cornell University Libraries, first as a metadata librarian and rising to head of metadata services. Then, in 2008, she became the University of Nebraska Libraries’ associate dean of operations, responsible for access services, public services, technical services, assessment and data management services. Subsequently, she served for five years as the University of Michigan’s associate university librarian for research, where she administrated the short- and long-term objectives for the library’s support of the research enterprise.

She was named to her current position in July 2017 at the helm of UNC Chapel Hill’s University Libraries, where she is responsible for its leadership and general administration. The UNC Chapel Hill University Libraries system includes nine libraries with approximately 300 librarians, archivists and staff. She also serves on the executive committee and governing board of the Triangle Research Libraries Network and the University Librarians’ Advisory Council for the 17-campus University of North Carolina System. 

A member of the Association of Research Libraries’ Advocacy and Public Policy Committee, Westbrooks also has presented her research at conferences, including the Digital Library Federation, Coalition for Networked Information, Dublin Core and the Association of College and Research Libraries. She co-edited the books “Metadata in Practice” with Diane Hillmann in 2004 and “Academic Library Management: Case Studies” with Tammy Nickelson Dearie and Michael Meth in 2017.

Westbrooks’ May 2 presentation also will be live-streamed for remote viewing on Mediasite Live, with required login using Penn State credentials.

Last Updated April 26, 2018

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