Irene M. H. Herold Named Librarian of the College at Wooster
WOOSTER, Ohio – Irene M. H. Herold has been named librarian of the college at The College of Wooster, effective July 1.
Herold has served as university librarian at the University of Hawai’I at Manoa since 2013 and is currently president of the Association of College and Research Libraries. At Wooster, she will be responsible for managing all aspects of the college’s Andrews Library, Timken Science Library, and Gault Library for Independent Study. She will work with the libraries’ staff to create and articulate a clear strategic mission, cohesive vision, and plans that build upon a strong history of service and innovation.
“From her vantage point as president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Irene has an excellent view of the changing information landscape, with its developing trends, looming challenges, and creative opportunities,” said Carolyn Newton, Wooster’s provost. “She is ideally situated to bring creative strategic vision and leadership to Wooster’s libraries, which are an essential component of our signature program of mentored undergraduate research.”
“I am delighted to be joining the College of Wooster community and the libraries,” Herold said, “and I look forward to building upon the libraries’ reputation for excellence and contributions to student success. I value the opportunities this position presents to engage and contribute within the libraries, across campus, regionally as part of OhioLink and the Ohio 5, and nationally as a member of the Oberlin Group.”
Prior to taking on her current role at the University of Hawai’I in 2013, Herold spent 11 years at Keene State College in Keene, N.H., first as director and then dean of the college’s Mason Library. She also has served as director of the Anne Bridge Baddour Library at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, N.H., from 1998 to 2001, and as a public service librarian at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Ill., from 1992 to 1998.
Herold earned her doctorate from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston, Mass.; a master’s degree in history from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill.; and both a master’s degree in librarianship and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash. She is a member of the advocacy and public policy committee of the Association of Research Libraries; a member of the editorial board of College and Undergraduate Libraries; and the author and editor of a book, Creating Leaders: An Examination of Academic and Research Libraries Leadership Institutes, as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters on academic libraries and library leadership.
The College of Wooster is America’s premier college for mentored undergraduate research. Wooster offers an excellent, comprehensive liberal arts education, culminating in a rigorous senior project, in which each student works one-on-one with a faculty mentor to conceive, organize and complete a significant research project on a topic of the student’s own choosing. Through this distinctive program, every Wooster student develops abilities valued by employers and graduate schools alike: independent judgment, analytical ability, creativity, project-management and time-management skills, and strong written and oral communication skills. Founded in 1866, the college enrolls approximately 2,000 students.
Posted in Faculty, News on May 23, 2017.
