Search efforts are underway to find BU librarian Robert Hudson’s successor before he retires next summer after almost four decades working in BU libraries.
In a statement last month, University Provost Jean Morrison applauded Hudson for his work and outlined his extensive history working for BU. Hudson has been working in the BU libraries since 1979 and has been the university librarian since 2007, according to the statement.
Hudson wrote in an email that the reasons for his retirement were “private and personal,” but that he wishes his successor “all the best.”
Hudson also wrote that the most important aspect of his career was “the change from primarily print resources to primarily digital resources.”
BU spokesperson Colin Riley described Hudson’s legacy as making information more available to the public.
“Bob Hudson has wonderfully devoted himself to improving access to knowledge,” Riley wrote in an email. “It is the lynchpin of his career at BU, and he has done it during the most transformational period since the printing press was invented.”
Morrison wrote in an email that Hudson’s “service to the University and to the Libraries has been exemplary and he will be missed.”
She also said the university has launched an international search for BU’s next librarian.
“The Search Committee is composed primarily of faculty who are experienced and deeply engaged in thinking about the how libraries can best serve the research and scholarship needs of our faculty and students,” Morrison wrote.
Morrison explained that BU is looking for a “creative and knowledgeable leader who can help guide the evolution of our libraries, in collaboration with our faculty, over the next 10 to 15 years.”
Among Hudson’s accomplishments while working for BU, one of the most often cited was his involvement in the implementation of OpenBU, an open access repository for documents, publications and resources available to anyone in the world for free online, according to Tracy Schroeder, the chair of the search committee to find Hudson’s successor.
Schroeder said she thinks Hudson’s successor should be a strong leader with plans to further adapt BU into the expanding digital world.
She added that the committee has just completed the position description and an abbreviated version for the job posting.
“Next, we will post the job and begin sending out letters to peer institutions and relevant organizations requesting nominations of candidates,” the vice president of information services and technology said. “We will meet with the library staff, as well as faculty and students about what they hope to see in a new university librarian and incorporate their feedback into the candidate review process.”
The deadline for the committee to select and submit two to three candidates to Morrison for final selection is the end of March 2018, Schroeder said.
Several BU students said they hope Hudson’s successor continues to maintain and improve BU’s libraries.
Alex Terzibachian, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he spends at least two or three hours in BU’s libraries per day. He said that he believes BU currently does a good job in maintaining its library facilities.
“They always seem to be clean,” Terzibachian said. “There’s always faculty involved to help. There’s always students there that can help each other as well. I find it’s a pretty great place.”
Corina Morton, a first-year graduate student in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, said she strongly supports the push for more open access initiatives at universities like the one Hudson embraced.
“I think [open access] is really essential because a lot of times, we tend to forget the history of things,” Morton said. “To have it open to the students, to have it open to the public, I think students can look back with a reflective eye.
Syed Hussain, a second-year graduate student in the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, said he hopes the new university librarian will help inspire changes to modernize BU’s library facilities.
“I’ve been to other campuses around the United States, and [Mugar Memorial Library] looks a little old,” Hussain said. “It looks more like something from the ‘70s or ‘80s. If they can revamp this a little more, make it more modern, that would be nice.”
