Elon University has exclusively retained Jack Farrell & Associates (www.jackfarrell.com) to find the winning candidate for this important position. Interested parties should provide a CV and 2-page cover letter by email to Jack Farrell (jack@jackfarrell.com). Please see further below for details on the letter. Thank you.
Elon University
Elon University is a nationally recognized leader in engaged, experiential learning that
prepares graduates to be creative, resilient, ambitious and ethical citizens. Nestled in a
grove of oaks, Elon was founded as “a college for the world,” where students find their
calling and reach their full potential within an environment of rich and meaningful
relationships, and where they become big thinkers and creative problem solvers in every
facet of their lives.
Elon’s more than 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students learn through hands-on
experiences and close working relationships with faculty and staff whose priorities are
teaching and mentoring. The Elon curriculum is grounded in the traditional liberal arts and
sciences with an emphasis on global experiences and career development. More than 70
undergraduate academic majors are complemented by professional and graduate
programs in law, business, education and health care. Elon is ranked among the top
national universities, with a No. 1 ranking in US News & World Report for excellence in
undergraduate teaching for four consecutive years.
The university’s academic divisions include Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences;
the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business; the School of Communications; the Dr.
Jo Watts Williams School of Education; the School of Health Sciences; and the School of
Law, which is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a second campus in Charlotte.
Elon’s historic 690-acre campus in central North Carolina is designated as a botanical garden and includes the 56-acre Elon University Forest, a land preserve and natural area for scientific research, and Loy Farm, a center for environmental research and sustainability.
Elon is a member of the Coastal Athletic Association. The Phoenix athletics program
includes 17 intercollegiate men’s and women’s sports in NCAA Division I.
Always evolving, Elon is an academic community that challenges, encourages and
empowers our students to explore their passions, achieve their goals and change their
communities for the better.
The Carol Grotnes Belk Library
Opened in 2000, the Carol Grotnes Belk Library is located at the center of the Elon campus,
close to classrooms, faculty offices, and student housing. The library supports students,
faculty, staff and community members in intellectual, scholarly, and artistic endeavors in
an atmosphere of open and honest inquiry, which reflects the traditions and values of the
university. The library has intentionally centered high-impact educational practices—
activities including service learning, undergraduate research, and internships, to name a
few, that are proven to increase learning success and that serve as a cornerstone of Elon
University’s approach to engaged learning. Within the library, this focus prioritizes dynamic
partnerships across campus, close curation of collections for maximum impact,
outstanding levels of outreach and engagement, and a relationship-rich approach to
student success. Long-term building partners include the Center for Writing Excellence
and the Writing Center, the Koenigsberger Learning Center, and Teaching and Learning
Technologies, whose colocation within the building has facilitated deeper opportunities for
cooperation, joint planning, and student support. Located within the Division of Academic
Affairs, the library reports directly to the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.
Distinctive Library Programs
• The Library Instruction and Liaison Program pairs faculty librarians with schools,
departments, and programs on campus to act as a point of contact for research,
recommendations for library purchases, and other departmental needs. The liaison
librarians also assist in the research needs of the department’s students and faculty
by teaching subject-specific library research sessions and consulting one-on-one
with individuals.
• The Personal Librarian Program at Belk Library matches all new Elon students with
a faculty librarian who is available to help them build the skills to successfully
navigate their academic path during their years at Elon.
• The library embraces a Cross-functional Model of Librarianship where staff from
different departments, including archives, collections services, and instruction and
outreach, work together to address user needs, leveraging diverse skillsets across
the library.
Library Statistics (Yearly)
• $4.2 million USD budget
• 22 full-time employees
• 404 instruction sessions to 7,355 learners
• 1,755 research consultations
• 252,455 library visitors
• > 1.5 million items, including 260 databases (69,153 full-text journals, 316,015 print
books, 916,588 ebooks)
• 10,110 physical check-outs, 90,095 ebook and electronic media usages, and 615,788
database users
• 8,825 interlibrary loans
• 86,000 square feet of shared academic commons, plus ~4,000 square feet offsite storage
• Open every day of the week, except for some holidays, and stays open continuously
during the academic year, from 10 a.m-9 p.m. Sunday-Friday and from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on
Saturday (see https://elon.libcal.com/)
The Dean’s Role
Elon University is pleased to accept applications for the role of Dean of the Carol Grotnes
Belk Library. The Dean will advance the culture of engaged intellectual inquiry at Elon
University and support the goals of the university’s strategic plan for 2030—Boldly Elon—
through thoughtful and intentional leadership aligned with that vision’s four main themes:
Learn, Thrive, Connect, and Rise. Additionally, the Dean fosters collaboration and
experimentation with emerging tools and practices, positioning the library as a leader in
reimagining library services for the future. By embracing emerging technologies, fostering
collaborative partnerships, and anticipating future trends in library services and resources,
the Dean will guide the Carol Grotnes Belk Library in shaping a vibrant and innovative
intellectual environment for the Elon community.
LEARN
“Bold innovation in relationship-driven learning and mentoring.”
The Carol Grotnes Belk Library serves as the academic heart of Elon’s residential campus,
providing student- and curriculum-driven programs and services responsive to the needs
of Elon’s diverse community of learners. The Dean of the Library facilitates this work by:
• Ensuring an innovative and future-oriented library instruction program embedded
across the curriculum and spanning disciplines, supporting outreach initiatives that
embrace emerging trends and technologies to engage a broad spectrum of
stakeholders, with particular emphasis on the first-year experience and scaffolded
learning.
• Fostering a relationship-rich culture of engagement by encouraging personal
connections with the library’s users, centering engaged learning and mentoring, and
being present and available as a resource to the librarians and staff whose work
they direct.
• Building and maintaining collaborative relationships with academic departments,
programs across campus, and Elon’s various administrative units to align the
library’s work with the evolving needs of the university.
The Dean works particularly closely with the library’s array of building partners, including
the various offices of the Koenigsberger Learning Center and the Center for Writing
Excellence and the Writing Center, who together seek to serve the university as an
integrated academic commons. The Dean also collaborates closely with the Division of
Information Technology to provide innovative technology support in Belk Library and
maintains strong communication with instructional technologists in Teaching and Learning
Technologies to advance the use of cutting-edge campus technology in support of faculty
and students.
In addition, the Dean serves as a vocal advocate for the library, ensuring it remains a leader
in academic innovation and emerging practices. They bring a library perspective to
university-wide policy and decision-making bodies through membership on the Provost’s
Advisory Council, the Academic Affairs Advisory Council, the University Curriculum
Committee, the Graduate Council, the Academic Technology and Computing Committee,
the Faculty Library Committee, the Joint Deans’ Council, and other committees and task
forces as appropriate. By guiding the library to anticipate and respond to the rapidly
changing landscape of higher education, the Dean ensures the Carol Grotnes Belk Library
remains at the forefront of scholarly support and innovation.
THRIVE
“Build a healthier and more diverse, equitable and inclusive community, where all students, faculty, and staff experience belonging and well-being.”
Elon University has made inclusive excellence a cornerstone of its 2030 strategic plan. To
that end, the Dean of the Library plays a vital role in leading initiatives that support
inclusive excellence within Belk Library, with emphasis on establishing and nurturing a
culture of belonging that welcomes and celebrates the diverse backgrounds, cultures,
experiences, and perspectives of Elon’s students, faculty, and staff as well as the wider
community. Furthermore, the Dean ensures that library programs and events are
accessible and responsive to the needs of all of the library’s users.
The Dean is also responsible for recruiting, recommending for hire, supervising, mentoring,
and evaluating library staff; fostering their professional development; retaining excellent
employees; and positioning individuals for successful transition to their next professional role. Through these efforts, the Dean continues Elon’s tradition of hiring and retaining exceptional faculty and staff.
Among the library staff, the Dean encourages a spirit of innovation by espousing a dare-to-
fail approach to librarianship that values and rewards autonomy, creativity, and
entrepreneurship, ensuring that librarians and staff members feel empowered and
supported no matter the outcome. The Dean models a humane style of leadership that
values the whole person and a growth mindset aimed at benefiting the life and goals of the
university, including the health and well-being of all members of the community.
CONNECT
“Lifelong alumni personal and professional learning and networks, partner with local communities to enhance education, health, and economic development.”
The university’s commitment to inclusion and belonging extends to Elon University alumni
and the local community, with whom the Dean of the Library seeks to make long-term,
lasting connections, primarily by:
• Engaging in the broader life of the Elon University community to support deeper
integration of Belk Library into the life of the campus through appropriate committee
work; support of student, faculty, and administrative events; and service activities
that traverse campus boundaries.
• Working collegially with the Dean of the Law Library at the Elon University School of
Law to coordinate joint library systems, maximize benefits from shared resources,
and maintain strong bonds among Elon’s distributed library staff.
• Assuming responsibility for grants and donations in coordination with the
appropriate university offices.
The Dean oversees outreach initiatives to alumni and community members whose goal is
to invite them to see themselves as lifelong learners and to see the Belk Library as their
partner in that endeavor. Through participation in programs such as Life@Elon, for
community members over 50, and Elon Academy, for high school students in Alamance
County; the Kernodle Center for Civic Life, the campus’s “convener of community-based
engaged and experiential learning”; and campus-wide initiatives aimed at improving the
student-athlete experience, the library seeks to leverage its resources for intergenerational
good.
In the alumni space, the Dean of the Library spearheads engagement activities—including
digitization programs in archives and special collections, targeted media, and events—that
remind former students of the rich and varied history of their alma mater.
RISE
“Position university globally, expand admissions footprint, resources for increased access and financial aid, sharply define international reputation and values.”
As Elon University seeks to expand its impact globally, the Dean of the Library is called
upon to support a rapidly advancing curriculum in a rapidly changing technological
landscape, with the dual aims of maximizing student success and increasing access. The
Dean helps the library keep pace by:
• Anticipating and responding to emerging trends and transformative technologies,
such as AI, machine learning, and digital scholarship tools, to make the best
resources available and accessible in all formats, in all locations, to all users.
• Providing library leadership in policy setting, strategic planning, operations, and
setting spending priorities, and working closely with the library leadership team to
cultivate a culture of forward-looking, evidence-based decision making, while
fostering experimentation and creativity.
In particular, the Dean develops and administers the library’s long-range plan to ensure
appropriate stewardship of available resources to meet campus needs, while also
engaging in outreach work that continues and extends the library’s portfolio related to
international students and Global Studies, and scholarly communications work around
open access and open educational resources, an area supported by the library’s nascent
institutional repository (IR) project. They also provide support to and advocacy for the
University Archives and Special Collections and its work around Elon University history and
memory.
The Dean participates in professional development to develop skills, build networks, and
enhance the reputation of Belk Library and Elon University and contribute meaningfully to
the profession of librarianship. They are expected to attend and present original works at
webinars, conferences, meetings, and to publish those works in journals, books, and other
formats.
The Successful Candidate
The Dean of the Library position is a full-time, 12-month, nontenured administrator with
faculty rank position. Some evenings and weekend work may be required. Relocation assistance is available to the winning candidate.
Education
• An MLS degree from an ALA-accredited university is required.
• An additional graduate degree is preferred.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Ability to build relationships and work in partnership with multiple constituencies,
including university faculty, administration, staff, and students, as well as the
greater community, including other academic institutions and professional
associations.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including experience with decision-
making and negotiation.
• Demonstrated commitment to centering diversity, equity, and inclusion as central
values of the work and organization.
Experience
• A minimum of 8 years of related work experience in a higher-education library
setting.
• Demonstrated progressive leadership and ability to manage a complex organization,
including human, physical, and financial resources.
• A record of identifying, assessing, and successfully implementing innovative ideas,
services, and technologies.
• A successful history of staff recruitment, development, and team building, and a
record of providing leadership, vision, and professional development opportunities.
Living in Elon, North Carolina
Elon’s location in the beautiful Piedmont region of North Carolina provides the best of both
worlds—a small, friendly campus surrounded by large metropolitan areas that offer plenty
of opportunities for having fun, living healthy, and taking advantage of cultural attractions.
The university is located in the town of Elon, which has a downtown filled with locally
owned businesses and conveniently located parks, and is the 3rd safest city in North
Carolina.
Elon is adjacent to Burlington, a city of about 50,000 with shopping centers, restaurants,
parks, historic sites, and more. Greensboro is located 20 minutes west of the university.
This city’s eco-friendly innovations and outdoor amenities are often covered by state and
national media. Winston-Salem, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh, all centers for
entertainment, sports, the arts, museums, and many other attractions, are within an
hour’s drive. A 3-hour drive takes you to the beach and a 2 1/2 hour drive takes you to the
mountains—perfect for weekend adventures.
The nearest major airport is Piedmont Triad International, located in Greensboro, just 30
minutes from campus. Raleigh/Durham International Airport is also convenient, about a
50-minute drive from Elon.
Elon University has exclusively retained Jack Farrell & Associates (www.jackfarrell.com) to find the winning candidate for this important position. Interested parties should provide a CV and 2-page cover letter by email to Jack Farrell (jack@jackfarrell.com). The letter should address:1) why am I interested?; 2) how am I qualified?, and 3) what might the Belk Library look like in several years under my stewardship and please share your broader vision of the future of academic libraries? Thank you.