University Librarian & Executive Director of Library Services

The University Librarian & Executive Director of Library Services serves as the chief administrator and strategic leader of the Felix G. Woodward Library at Austin Peay State University. Reporting to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the University Librarian & Executive Director serves as a member of the Provost’s Leadership Team and provides visionary, collaborative, and innovative leadership for the University’s library services, resources, personnel, facilities, technologies, and learning environments.

The University Librarian & Executive Director is responsible for leading an experienced team of over 25 library faculty and staff; managing the overall library budget of ~3.3M; and planning, implementing, assessing, and continuously improving library programs, collections, services, technologies, and spaces. The position provides visionary leadership for key service areas, including access and discovery, collections and resource management, library technology and digital services, research and instruction, and University archives and special collections.

The University Librarian & Executive Director represents Woodward Library across the University, within the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and throughout the local and regional community. This position is expected to position the library as a dynamic academic hub that advances APSU’s mission, supports student success, strengthens faculty research and scholarship, promotes equitable access to information, and contributes meaningfully to the intellectual and cultural life of the University.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, forward-thinking leadership for the Felix G. Woodward Library, ensuring that library services, collections, technologies, staffing, and spaces align with the University’s mission, academic priorities, enrollment goals, student success initiatives, and strategic plan.
• Lead and support library faculty and staff through a culture grounded in transparent communication, collaboration, collegiality and mutual respect.
• Provide administrative leadership and management for all library service units and related library operations that support innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Develop and implement visionary goals for the library that support teaching, learning, and research goals of the university.
• Manage the library’s budget, personnel resources, physical facilities, digital infrastructure, collections, and operational priorities in a strategic, sustainable, and data-informed manner.

• Collaborate with academic leadership and divisional campus partners to advance the library’s role in student success and ensure that library resources and services are integrated into the academic life of the University, creating modern, accessible, student-centered physical and virtual library environments.

• Lead the continued development of a modern, accessible, student-centered physical and virtual library environments at a public university
• Provide leadership in the development, evaluation, preservation, and accessibility of print, digital, archival, and special collections that support APSU’s academic programs, research priorities, and institutional history.
• Promote the library as a vibrant intellectual, cultural, and academic commons for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader Clarksville-Montgomery County community.
• Lead the library in responding effectively to emerging trends in academic librarianship, including artificial intelligence, digital learning, open science, evolving integrated library systems, metadata and discovery tools, accessibility standards, and new models of information access.
• Oversee accreditation and external compliance of the library in consultation with the Associate Director of Library Services.
• Advance a culture of inclusion and belonging, maintaining a welcoming library environment for all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members.
• Recruit, mentor, evaluate, and support the professional growth of library faculty and staff, ensuring that personnel have opportunities to develop expertise in contemporary library practices, technologies, student support, and academic engagement.
• Represent the Woodward Library on the Provost’s Leadership Team, University Library Advisory Committee, and the Woodward Library Society Board, as well as in professional organizations, community partnerships, and other internal and external forums, as appropriate, cultivating relationships that support library initiatives.
• Cultivate partnerships with alumni, donors, foundations, corporate partners, community organizations, and grant-making entities to support library priorities, special initiatives, collections, facilities, technology, and student-centered programming.

• Ensure that library policies and procedures are current, user-centered, equitable, and aligned with professional academic library standards and best practices.

• Represent the University and Woodward Library in professional organizations, consortia, community partnerships, state and regional library networks, and other external forums.
• Perform other related duties as assigned or requested.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• A proven record of success as a collaborative leader and transparent communicator with the ability to develop and convey a compelling vision for the role of the academic library in a changing higher education environment.

• Demonstrated knowledge of contemporary issues facing higher education and academic libraries, including intellectual freedom, academic privacy, information /media literacy, scholarly communication, open access, artificial intelligence, digital preservation, and equitable access to library resources and spaces.

• A transparent, collaborative, and participatory leadership style that fosters trust, shared purpose, accountability, innovation, and collegiality among library faculty and staff.

• Demonstrated ability to manage complex budgets and align financial decisions with institutional priorities, and long-term sustainability.

• Demonstrated experience in library assessment, data-informed decision-making, strategic planning, and accreditation support.
• A demonstrated commitment to inclusion, belonging, and for all library users of resources, services, and spaces.
• Commitment to understanding and addressing the library needs of all undergraduate and graduate students (including traditional, post-traditional, first-generation, and military-affiliated), recognizing a variety of experiences, identities, and perspectives.
• The ability to build effective working relationships with faculty, staff, and administrators, alumni, and community partners to advance the mission of the library. 
• Experience supporting faculty teaching, research, and curriculum development, and the integration of library resources into academic programs.
• Ability to foster a positive and productive work environment that supports professional development, faculty and staff engagement, shared governance, and high-quality service.
• Demonstrated ability to promote the library’s value and impact through advocacy, communication, outreach, assessment, and relationship-building.

• Experience supporting fundraising, grant opportunities, and development efforts that advance library priorities.

• Strong communication, interpersonal, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Maintain awareness of national and regional trends in higher education and academic libraries, using that knowledge to guide strategic planning, innovation, resource allocation, and service development.
• A deep commitment to academic excellence, student success, faculty support, public service, and the mission of Austin Peay State University.

Minimum Required Qualifications

• An ALA-Accredited Master of Library Science or Master's or equivalent degree.
• A strong record of achievement in the areas of research, teaching, and service with evidence meriting appointment as the rank of tenured associate or full professor within the Felix G. Woodward Library.
• Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in an academic library, preferably within a public university or comprehensive four-year higher education setting.
• Demonstrated experience supervising, mentoring, and evaluating library faculty, professional staff and/or support staff.
• Demonstrated experience managing library operations, services, budgets, personnel, collections, technologies, and/or facilities.

Austin Peay State University is a four-year public, doctoral-level university, with six colleges and four Chairs of Excellence. The University has an enrollment of over 11,000 students and is located in Clarksville, Tennessee, a community of an estimated 150,287 people located approximately 40 miles northwest of Nashville, TN.

Austin Peay State University is a proud supporter of hiring veterans. We hire veterans with equivalent experiences and pay grades from their military service, rather than requiring or preferring only college degrees. Please visit our website for more information on how veterans can qualify for additional employment opportunities at APSU: https://www.apsu.edu/human-resources/hiring-veterans/.

Austin Peay State University (APSU) prohibits discrimination in all employment, programs, and activities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), disability, age, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. For Title IX inquiries or complaints, contact: Chief of Institutional Culture & Title IX Coordinator, LaNeeça R. Williams at williamslr@apsu.edu | 931-221-7690, Browning Building, Room 140, Clarksville, TN 37044. For other non-discrimination concerns, contact: Director of Institutional Culture & Title VI & Title VII Coordinator, Dr. Jo Baldwin at baldwinjapsu.edu | 931-221-7178 or Associate Director of Accessibility Compliance & ADA/504 Coordinator, Jayme Glover at gloverj@apsu.edu | 931-221-7160. View APSU’s full nondiscrimination policy at Policy 6:001.