Message from University leadership on Elaine Westbrooks

Dear Carolina Community,

We are writing to share that Elaine Westbrooks, vice provost for University Libraries and University librarian, has accepted the position of Carl A. Kroch University Librarian at Cornell University. Her last day at Carolina will be May 31.

When Elaine arrived at Carolina nearly five years ago, she vowed that we would set the standard for academic research libraries in the digital age, and she has significantly enhanced the strength of our libraries. The quality, breadth and depth of our library collections makes Carolina a destination for scholars from around the world. Recently, the University Libraries added its 9 millionth volume – a collection of approximately 900 woodcut printing blocks spanning two centuries.

Elaine has been deeply attentive to the changing nature of scholarly publishing and the threat from excessive inflation in the cost of library materials. In 2018, she launched the Sustainable Scholarship initiative to contain costs and help universities like Carolina reassert control over our scholarly output. Through arrangements with publishers such as SAGE and PLOS, the University Libraries has given Carolina researchers new options to make their work open access, allowing all North Carolinians and scholars everywhere to access the life-changing research that happens on our campus.

Elaine has been a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2020, the University Libraries launched its Reckoning Initiative and created an internal grant program to advance equity and inclusion work. She also appointed the University Libraries’ first librarian for inclusive excellence and transformed the Carolina Academic Library Associates program, a partnership with the School of Library and Information Science. Under her leadership, 67% of students in the program now come from underrepresented communities and 44% are first-generation students.

Funders have recognized the value of this work. The University Libraries has received more than $6 million in external grants since 2017 from organizations that include The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the William Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.

During the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Elaine and her staff pivoted rapidly to provide online library collections and services and to meet needs in new ways, such as through curbside book pickup. Elaine has deepened partnerships on campus, including with the Odum Institute, the UNC Press, the Center for Faculty Excellence and the Center for the Study of the American South. In all her work, Elaine ensures that libraries are a vital and central part of research, learning, teaching and discovery.

María Estorino, director of Wilson Library and associate University librarian for special collections, will serve as interim vice provost for University Libraries and University librarian while we launch a search for a new leader. I am grateful to Gary Marchionini, dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor at the School of Information and Library Science, for chairing the search committee.

Please join us in thanking Elaine for her service to Carolina and wishing her well in her new position.

Sincerely,

Kevin M. Guskiewicz
Chancellor

J. Christopher Clemens
Provost and Chief Academic Officer