Western Libraries Welcomes New Director of Collections

Western Libraries at Western Washington University has hired Madeline Kelly as its director of Collections. Madeline comes to Western from the University Libraries at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia., where she served as Head of Collection Development.

In her new position at Western, Madeline leads units responsible for acquisitions, course reserves, interlibrary loan and resource sharing, cataloging, circulation, collections assessment, and maps.

As a member of the Libraries’ senior leadership team, Madeline works collaboratively to shape the Libraries’ strategic priorities. As the Director of Collections, she oversees the Libraries’ $2.2 million collections budget, and works collaboratively to develop, implement, and promote a vision for user-centered collections and services at Western Libraries.

Madeline has experience in public services, preservation, and collection development, and she is particularly interested in finding practical and sustainable ways to assess the quality and value of library collections and make sure they best support the needs of the students, faculty, and staff. Before assuming her management role, Madeline developed and implemented a comprehensive collection assessment program for George Mason University. Her article, “Applying the Tiers of Assessment: A Holistic and Systematic Approach to Assessing Library Collections,” describes the Mason approach.

Since 2014, Madeline has given numerous presentations on holistic collections assessment, including a half-day workshop at the 2017 NASIG conference in Indianapolis. She continues to explore ways to assess and manage library collections sustainably, and her other professional interests include preservation and emergency planning, workplace mentoring, and social justice and equity issues.

Prior to working at Mason, Madeline worked at Trinity Washington University (Washington, DC), Wheelock College Library (Boston, MA), and the Watertown Free Public Library (Watertown, MA). She has also worked in retail and agriculture. She holds a BA in English and Spanish from the University of Mary Washington (Fredericksburg, VA), and received her MLS from Simmons College (Boston, MA).

Outside of the library, Madeline enjoys all things food (growing, cooking, eating) and all things outdoors (running, hiking, paddling). She relocated from the DC area to Bellingham in October with her husband and two cats.