Consuella Askew Appointed Interim University Librarian

Dr. Consuella Askew has agreed to serve as interim vice president for University Libraries/university librarian effective May 17, 2021.

Askew is a dynamic and creative leader with a demonstrated history of guiding libraries successfully through transformational change. An accomplished administrator, librarian, and scholar, Askew has published and presented widely on library leadership, developing a culture of assessment in academic libraries, and strategically adapting library services to meet evolving user needs.

Her vision for the Rutgers University Libraries is to chart a strategic direction for the Libraries system.  Aligned with the President’s vision for the university, this work will involve:

• centering the Libraries at the heart of Rutgers' beloved community;
• optimizing the Libraries’ collections, personnel, and services to enrich the teaching, learning, and research processes that occur across the university; and,
• establishing organizational coherence across the Libraries system.

Although newly appointed as interim vice president for University Libraries/university librarian, she has been the associate university librarian at Rutgers University–Newark since 2014. Askew led the John Cotton Dana Library through a multimillion-dollar renovation as well as a successful organizational restructuring to encourage innovation, community engagement, and increased operational excellence and efficiency. She played an instrumental role in bringing the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Center to Rutgers–Newark and serves on the advisory group for the P3 Collaboratory for Pedagogy, Professional Development, and Publicly-Engaged Scholarship. She is also dedicated to advancing Rutgers–Newark’s core values and helping plan for its success, serving on the campus’s Commission on Diversity and Transformation and having co-chaired its Strategic Planning Anchor Institution Action Group.

An active contributor to the academic library profession, Askew currently serves as an executive board member of the Historically Black College and University Libraries Alliance and is a member of the editorial board for the award-winning portal: Libraries and the Academy. She has also chaired the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) Assessment Community of Practice section.

Askew’s career in libraries spans nearly 30 years, beginning in school and public libraries. Prior to her time at Rutgers, she served as the associate dean for public services at Florida International University Libraries and held leadership positions at the City University of New York. She was also a member of the research and development team that created LibQUAL+ for the Association of Research Libraries. This industry-standard tool is used to assess user perceptions of library service quality has been adopted by over 1,300 libraries across the world, including Rutgers.

Askew holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Spelman College and a master’s degree in library and information studies from the University of North Carolina. She earned her doctoral degree in higher education from Florida International University. She is also an alumna of multiple prestigious library leadership programs including UCLA’s Library Senior Fellows Program, the longest-standing formal leadership development program for librarians in the country.