Jennifer Garrett chosen for ARL leadership program

Jennifer Garrett, the Libraries’ Head of Digital Research Education & Training, has been selected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to participate in its 2018-19 Leadership and Career Development Program (LCDP).

The LCDP is a yearlong program to prepare mid-career librarians from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to take on leadership roles in their careers and in the profession at large. The program addresses the need for research libraries and archives to develop a more diverse professional workforce that can contribute to library success in serving the research, teaching, and learning of increasingly diverse scholarly and learning communities.

“Participating in ARL's Leadership & Career Development Program has been a dream of mine since my first semester of library school, and I am so honored to have been selected,” Garrett says. “I look forward to actively participating in this yearlong program and building a community of leaders who will shape the future and reflect the diversity of research libraries across the continent.”

The ARL launched the program in 1997. Over the course of seven LCDP offerings, 119 individuals have completed the program. A large percentage of LCDP alumni have either been promoted within their organizations or have assumed significantly expanded responsibilities either within their institutions or within professional organizations.

Program participants will attend a three-day orientation at the ARL offices in Washington, D.C., two multi-day institutes focused on current issues affecting research institutions and their libraries and archives, a career-coaching relationship with an ARL library director or senior staff member and a personalized visit to the career coach's institution, and various other events, webinars, and conference calls. Participants will also attend the ARL annual conference in New Orleans in June.

“From the beginning of her tenure at the NCSU Libraries in 2012, Jennifer showed great promise and had an amazing impact on the Libraries’ outreach, instruction, and visitor relations programs,” writes Mira Waller, Interim Head of Research Engagement, in a letter of support. “Since then, Jennifer has taken on increasingly higher profile projects, moved into positions of higher responsibility, and made significant and lasting contributions throughout the Libraries and NC State University. From the ‘My #HuntLibrary’ Instagram crowdsourcing project, to interdisciplinary curriculum integrated instruction, to the Peer Scholars program, Jennifer has greatly contributed to library initiatives aimed at student, faculty, and researcher engagement and success.”