Hilary A. Craiglow, who has led the Walker Management Library for more than a decade, has been named interim university librarian.
Craiglow’s appointment, effective July 1, was announced today by Vanessa Beasley, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of residential faculty.
“Hilary Craiglow’s commitment to excellence and innovation is outstanding,” Beasley said. “She has developed programs for students and faculty to become smarter consumers of data, guided trans-institutional library-related learning initiatives, and helped drive the renovation of the Walker Management Library among other contributions. I appreciate her willingness to take on an expanded leadership role during this transitional time.”
As interim university librarian, Craiglow will be the executive administrator of the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, which includes nine divisional libraries, the Fine Arts Gallery and the Television News Archive.
“I look forward to partnering with Vice Provost Beasley and our best-in-class library staff as well as others across the university during this leadership transition,” Craiglow said. “My work as a librarian is rooted in a conviction that access to quality information builds curiosity and knowledge for better decision-making and real-world problem-solving.”
Craiglow has been serving as interim associate university librarian for scholarly resources and services. In that role, she oversees learning endeavors ranging from library classroom instruction to virtual research assistance across all Heard Libraries and works closely with the directors of other specialized branch libraries—biomedical, divinity, music, Peabody, and science and engineering—on their localized library services. In addition, Craiglow leads the library system’s director-level leadership team.
Many of Craiglow’s projects have a strong focus on technology. She created course-integrated instruction to teach students best practices on information discovery and use, including ethical sharing of information and intellectual property. In addition, she developed co-curricular programs designed to help students understand and have facility with software computing and data visualization tools. Through the management library, she has helped to build Vanderbilt’s collection of information, tools and data, with an eye to seamless access for faculty and students. She plans to extend that effort to the broader university community.
She previously chaired the university-wide faculty-staff committee that wrote Vanderbilt’s copyright policy for course management systems.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was a member of the Owen Graduate School of Management’s leadership team responding to and planning for health and safety protocols. In addition, she helped the libraries develop new services and modalities to maintain expert library services and resources during the pandemic.
Before joining Vanderbilt in 2006, Craiglow worked for Questia Media, a digital library service, where she developed search and online marketing strategies. Her previous positions have included working in a knowledge management center at an R&D facility and directing a regional library in Texas.
Craiglow earned a bachelor of arts from Antioch College, where she majored in human development, and a master of library and information science from the University of Texas at Austin.
Details about an international search for the university librarian position will be forthcoming.