Amanda Clay Powers Named Associate University Librarian for Rutgers University–Newark

Amanda Clay Powers has been selected as the Associate University Librarian for Rutgers University–Newark. She will begin serving in the role at the John Cotton Dana Library on January 13, 2025.

Powers has been a professor and the dean of library services at the John C. Fant Memorial Library within the Mississippi University for Women since 2016. Among her many accomplishments at Fant Memorial Library are successful fundraising efforts, including the realization of the Martha Jo Mims Digitization & Conservation Lab; co-creation of an interdisciplinary digital studies minor; establishment of an Office of Undergraduate Research within the library; oversight of the construction of the library’s Automated Storage and Retrieval System and ingestion of 300,000 items; and supervision of a 43,000-square-foot renovation. She also co-founded and chaired the university's Student Emergency Fund.

Prior to her current role, Powers held a range of positions at Mississippi State University Libraries and MIT Libraries. Earlier in her diverse career, she worked in global finance and publishing.

Powers brings to Rutgers University Libraries deep experience in fundraising, change management, serving diverse campus populations, and providing strategic direction for collections, technology, and services. She has served on numerous national and statewide advisory boards. Among several awards and honors, Powers was named to the Leadership Mississippi Class of 2023 by the Mississippi Economic Council, a highly competitive statewide program. In 2022, under her leadership, Fant Memorial Library received the Mississippi University for Women's University Impact Initiative Award, which recognized the library's efforts to enhance diversity, promote cultural diversity, and cultivate an inclusive campus community. In 2015, Powers was selected for Mississippi State University's Fred Tom Mitchell Faculty Leadership Program, designed to develop the next generation of campus academic leaders.

Powers is a co-author of the book A Starter's Guide for Academic Library Leaders: Advice in Conversation (ALA Editions, 2019). She holds a bachelor of arts in English literature from Wellesley College and a master of library and information science from Simmons University in Boston.