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Beth McNeil, Ph.D. | Dean of Libraries, Esther Ellis Norton Professor of Library Science

Beth McNeil joined Purdue University as Dean of Libraries and School of Information Studies and Esther Ellis Norton Professor of Library Science in 2019 and currently serves as president of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). Prior to joining Purdue, she was Dean of Library Services at Iowa State University (2015–2019), held associate dean positions in the libraries at Purdue University (2007–2015) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1996–2007).

She is the author of Fundamentals of Library Supervision (2017, 2010, and 2005) and Core Competencies (2002), and co-authored Advocacy, Outreach and the Nations Libraries: A Call for Action (2010) and Patron Behavior in Libraries: A Handbook of Positive Approaches to Negative Situations (1996), as well as several journal articles on library management, supervision, and human resources-related topics.

McNeil serves on the SPARC Steering Committee and the Academic Libraries of Indiana board. She is a past board member of the HathiTrust, the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST), the Rosemont Shared Print Alliance, and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and served as chair of the 2021 ACRL National Conference, “Ascending into an Open Future.”