Doug Way named next Dean of Libraries for University of Kentucky

Associate University Librarian for Collections and Research Service Doug Way has been selected as the next Dean of Libraries and W.T. Young Endowed Chair at the University of Kentucky. Doug will begin his new position on August 1, 2019.  

The University of Kentucky Libraries, a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), has 10 libraries and approximately 180 faculty and staff. Among many of their strengths, the UK Libraries have active teaching and learning programs, excellent special collections and archives, and one of the nation’s largest book endowments for public university libraries.

Doug came to the UW-Madison Libraries in April 2014 from Grand Valley State, where he served as Head of Collections and Scholarly Communications. During his time at Grand Valley, he implemented progressive collection development and management practices that supported automated acquisitions models, data-driven decision making, and cooperative approaches for the management of print collections.

“I truly appreciated the opportunity to work at UW-Madison over the past five years. I have been fortunate to have a tremendous team around me, and I am proud of our accomplishments,” says Doug. “I am looking forward to my new role as Dean of Libraries at the University of Kentucky, bringing with me what I have learned in my time at UW-Madison and working with yet another outstanding library staff dedicated to the supporting its university.”

Since joining the UW-Madison Libraries, Doug has been instrumental in addressing the challenges inherent in modern library collections. He guided efforts to refocus the Libraries’ collections program, realigned the collections budget, and dramatically expanded access to electronic resources. He helped bolster the Libraries’ engagement in shared print initiatives with institutions across the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) and HathiTrust. Additionally, Doug led efforts to re-establish the Libraries’ scholarly communications program. We appreciate Doug’s achievement in these areas and look forward to building on these initiatives.

The UW-Madison Libraries thank Doug for his wonderful contributions and congratulates him on this new endeavor.