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University Library Departments and Organizational Chart

Office of the University Librarian

The Office of the University Librarian includes their administrative support along with three distinct units: Advancement, Archives and Special Collections, and Communications and Programming. These units support the University Librarian’s outreach and community engagement initiatives through donor engagement, collection acquisition and preservation, and marketing and events.

Advancement

The Library’s Chief Development Officer partners closely with the University Librarian to keep the library’s donors engaged and involved in library events, bring new donor support, leverage donations to promote innovation, create new knowledge, and improve the student experience at American University.

Archives and Special Collections

Acquires, preserves, digitizes, and provides access to unique materials of enduring value, rare books, and university archives. Provides instruction on the use of primary sources in research, teaching, and knowledge creation. Archives and Special Collections seeks to build community at AU and beyond and share history through collection development, digital collections, and exhibitions.

Communications and Programming

Leverages written and visual communication to promote library services and resources to the community including newsletters, marketing materials, building signage, logo design, annual reports, and social media. The team also develops and hosts original, engaging, inclusive events and exhibits with campus and community partners that tell a range of stories for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Academic Technology

The University Library’s Academic Technology Department’s primary areas of focus are e-learning technology and support, audiovisual/classroom technology, public computing/computer lab technology, digital scholarship, and technology support for teaching.

Michael Piller Senior Director, Academic Technology

Michael Piller leads multiple campus teams responsible for academic technology services and operations. Together these teams are responsible for campus learning management system and associated tools,…

Ìý piller@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-3228

The e-Learning Team

Consists of learning management specialists, multimedia developers, and an instructional designer. The team supports Canvas and all associated tools: Kaltura, Turnitin, and various other plug-ins and integrations.

The Audiovisual Team

Supports over 200 classroom and event spaces throughout the university’s campuses, designs innovative learning spaces, technical training, live event support, and maintains and repairs audiovisual equipment to ensure its functionality and reliability.

The Academic Computing Systems Team

Supports both library and campus software and hardware solutions used for teaching and learning. Examples include Zoom support, virtual computing, campus student printing, and many software applications used by faculty (such as ArcGIS, ENVI, TerrSet, Omeka, Wordpress, BibDelete).

The Academic Computing Systems team also manages and maintains lab computing for Anderson Computing Complex, Kerwin Hall computer lab, the Library’s Mac Lab, the GIS Lab, and public computing terminals throughout the Library.

The Digital Research and Inquiry Lab (DRI Lab)

The DRI Lab is a facility designed to empower scholars, researchers, and students in their exploration of digital methodologies and inquiry-driven projects. Situated at the intersection of technology and academia, DRI Lab provides a space where individuals can engage with digital tools, techniques, and resources to enhance their research endeavors.

The DRI Lab also includes the Academic Multimedia Service group that creates on-demand videos of lectures, events, and guest speakers for the campus community. This team also manages the Library’s Simple Studio where faculty, staff, and students can create videos in an easy to use yet technically strong environment.

Administrative Services

Administrative Services at the University Library is comprised of three functional areas: Library Building Operations, Financial Operations, and Personnel Operations. This department provides service to the AU community by supporting the physical library facilities along with internal support of the library’s faculty and staff through oversight of the library’s overall budget and human resources operations.

Library Building Operations and Services

Provides building access for nearly 100 hours of weekly. Information Desk staff serve as first contact for many of AU’s visitors needing information about library services, technical support, and building directions. Oversees the library’s Print Center. Works with all library departments to ensure the safety and security of AU Library’s patrons by continuously monitoring the conditions of the library building and its spaces, enforcing library policies, and responding to building issues. The Library Building Operations team also coordinates meeting rooms and other spaces for the AU community.

Financial Operations

Supports the seamless continuation of Library operations by overseeing the library’s overall budget and processing timely payments to faculty, staff, and vendors, ensuring all teams have the supplies and resources they need, and assisting each unit in maintaining its budget. Works to develop and fine-tune financial procedures within Administrative Services to best serve the Library's wide variety of stakeholders while assuring compliance with established university policies. Financial Operations contribute to the library's sustainability and efficiency through detailed reporting, careful budgeting, and data analysis in partnership with colleagues throughout the AU community.

Personnel Operations

Focuses on providing support to all library faculty and staff on topics relating to university human resource policies and procedures as well as training for the library. Includes working with departments on strategic recruitment, professional development, and liaising between the library and AU’s Human Resources department. The Personnel Operations team ensures support for all HR needs and contributes to the development and growth of the library’s community.

Discovery, Access, and Assessment

The Discovery, Access, and Assessment Team at American University is dedicated to fostering scholarship, learning, and community through seamless access to resources and services. Our mission is to empower the AU community by leveraging technology to enhance discoverability and facilitate exploration. We uphold a commitment to service and community, ensuring equitable access to information while fostering a culture of innovation and creativity.

Robert Kelshian Director of Discovery, Access, and Assessment

Rob has been with the University Library since 1999. As the Director of the Discovery, Access, and Assessment Division, he leads the Circulation Services, Course Reserves, Interlibrary Services, Media…

Ìý calvin@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-3282

Circulation Services

Provides front-line customer service support through providing access to materials and troubleshooting user account issues. Specializes as well in areas of user outreach, physical collections maintenance, and accessibility support.

Course Reserves

Supports faculty and students through making required and recommended course readings available onsite and online. Manages operations of the library’s makerspace and poster printing operations.

Interlibrary and Discovery Services

Borrows materials for the AU community that are not owned by the AU Library. Lends AU-owned materials to other borrowing libraries. Manages the library’s catalog and discovery portal available through the library homepage.

Library Systems and Assessment

Manages the library website along with other online services used to acquire, catalog, and make library resources available to users. Library assessment measures overall usage and quality of library services.

Media Services

Oversees the library’s film and video collections of both physical and streaming resources. Provides and maintains the library’s collection of loanable technology including laptops and other peripherals. Provides instruction on how to use multimedia equipment for creative projects.

Research, Teaching and Learning

The Research, Teaching and Learning unit contributes to the AU community by advancing research and the creation of new knowledge, supporting the learning process and student thriving. We strive to inspire and enable the AU Community to engage thoughtfully, meaningfully and ethically with information to contribute to the creation of knowledge and culture, while removing barriers to equitable participation in these processes.

Gwendolyn Reece Director of Research, Teaching, and Learning

Gwendolyn is the Associate University Librarian and Director of Research, Teaching and Learning in the University Library. Gwendolyn's scholarly research is primarily on Contemporary Paganism and she …

Ìý greece@american.edu

Collection Development

Builds the collection in all formats to meet the current and future research needs related to both the curriculum and faculty and student research. Works to align our collection to our values by ensuring the inclusion of under-represented voices and working to support the development of new financial models in scholarly production and publication that removes barriers to accessing scholarly knowledge.

Data Services

Provides consultations and formal instruction on . This includes preservation, sharing and archiving data to increase research exposure, purchasing datasets, and reviewing data management plans for grant applications.

Information Literacy Instruction

Information literacy is formally incorporated into university-wide learning outcomes. Our information literacy plan has three tiers. We offer curriculum integrated information literacy instruction, being paired with Writing Studies sections and appropriately integrated into the majors for subject-specific information literacy. We are available to assist faculty in creating rubrics or strategizing about assignments.

Institutional Repository

We support Open Access and Open Data initiatives by providing an institutional repository for our faculty, staff and other AU knowledge creators.

Music Library

The Music Library is a branch library serving the Department of Performing Arts and located in Katzen. ÌýThe collections represent a broad spectrum of subjects, periods, and styles, including classical music, musical theatre, jazz, blues, world music, and popular music.

Research Assistance

Offers expert research assistance through online chat, in individual research consultations, through email consultations, and through creating self-service options such as a in-depth knowledge base and Libguides. Our services include support for systematic reviews.

Scholarly Communication

Supports Open Research, including managing an Open Access Fund, consultation regarding publisher negotiations, and publishing in our Institutional Repository. Additionally, we support the adoption of Open Education Resources and promotion of both OA and OERs and their benefits. We offer consultation and tools for assessing impact of scholarship, including impact outside of academia, for both individual scholars and for the institution.

Subject Liaisons

Each academic unit has a subject-expert library faculty member serving as liaison. These experts provide research assistance, teach subject-specific information literacy, and are engaged in collection development. They are also generally responsible for outreach to their academic units.

Technical Services

The Technical Services department at the American University Library is committed to facilitating access to exceptional educational and research resources for the university community. With a focus on accuracy, cooperation, fiscal responsibility, integrity, responsiveness, and timeliness, we diligently acquire, procure, describe, organize, and maintain collections to meet the diverse needs of our users. Our mission is to ensure that all students, staff, and faculty have access to high-quality and diverse information, enhancing the university's teaching, research, and learning objectives.

Acquisitions

Oversees the purchase process for library collections materials, including print and electronic books and journals, media resources, and databases. Maintains relationships and spearheads communication with vendors, allocates and monitors collections budget, processes payments, and handles invoicing.

Metadata Management and Resource Description

Creates and maintains metadata records for materials in all formats, languages, and subject areas acquired by the library. Partners with Archives and Special Collections to catalog rare books and archival collections. Participates in metadata transformation initiatives and contributes descriptive metadata for unique digitized special collections and resources in the library’s digital archive and institutional repository, including electronic theses and dissertations. Staff members participate in reparative cataloging initiatives and contribute to national cooperative metadata programs through the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, including BIBCO and NACO.

Physical and Electronic Resource Management

Provides accurate organization, description, activation, maintenance, processing, and troubleshooting for library collection materials to facilitate discovery and access through the library catalog and database lists. Enables reliable and continuous access to the library’s extensive electronic resources collection. Manages bindery and processing of physical materials. Collects usage statistics on electronic resources, troubleshoots access and authentication issues and responds to user Helpdesk support tickets. Manages collection information in the library catalog.