Emily McElroy will be the next director of the McGoogan Library of Medicine.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dele Davies, M.D., announced the appointment Tuesday. McElroy will begin her new position on Dec. 16.
“Emily brings a very special set of management, leadership and interpersonal skills to UNMC which should help us build upon the excellence for which the McGoogan Library is known,” Dr. Davies said.
“Having worked in a leadership role at another large and well established academic health center, Emily understands the importance of joint planning and effective communications with faculty, students and staff from different disciplines.”
McElroy is the associate university librarian for content management and systems at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), where she has worked since 2007.
“I am delighted to be joining the UNMC community and welcome the opportunity to work with its outstanding students, faculty, staff and alumni,” McElroy said. “The McGoogan Library has an amazing team of librarians and staff and a rich tradition of providing excellent service. This is the foundation upon which we will develop new programs and services.”
As a member of the senior management team, McElroy has helped to oversee collection development, digital collections, scholarly communication and electronic resources including systems.
Prior to OHSU, McElroy was head of library acquisitions at New York University. She also has held positions at the University of Oregon and Loyola University’s Health Sciences Library. She is a nationally recognized speaker on the management of library resources. An active member of many professional organizations, McElroy has served on advisory boards for major publishers.
“Her strong experiences in inter-institutional alliances for the purposes of procurement of digital collections will be very valuable for successful resource management in the era of the library’s increasing role as an information management, analysis and support unit to our campus and community,” Dr. Davies said.
McElroy graduated from DePaul University with a B.S. in history and from Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Illinois with a master’s degree in library and information science in 1999.
McElroy also said that as a native Midwesterner, she was pleased to be closer to friends and family.
“UNMC has offered me an ideal situation, and I am eager to begin working with you all!”
Dr. Davies also thanked Marie Reidelbach, who has served as interim director of the library since the retirement of Nancy Woelfl, Ph.D., on June 30.