Library Leaders Through the Years
KU Libraries advance research, teaching, and learning at the intersection of people and ideas.
That mission that has been central to the heart of every library leader, long before the latest articulation, and even before the last 100 years of Watson Library. As we celebrate the centennial of the central hub and administrative headquarters of the largest library collection in Kansas, we salute the persistence, grit, creativity and heart of our current and former library leaders, whose legacy is long lasting and whose guidance we benefit from to this day.
Kansas Regents
1865-1869
On March 21, 1865, the first Board of Regents elected one of its members, James S. Emery (photographed here), librarian. He would be reelected three times. The first election occurred before the opening of the opening of the university, as the first faculty and students didn’t meet for work until September 12, 1866.
Emery had long been an advocate for libraries, having hosting newly arrived settlers of Lawrence in his tent in 1854 for the formation of the Kansas Atheneum, an association that maintained a library and reading room in addition to its weekly lectures, discussions and essays. The group fizzled during the Civil War but was a precursor to Lawrence’s first circulating library in 1865.
Another regent, W.C. Tenney, received the appointment from 1868 to 1869. Tenney also served as the second paid superintendent of Lawrence Public Schools. After Tenney, the charge of the library then passed from the regents to the faculty.
University Faculty
1869-1887
Francis H. Snow (1869-1873), Byron C. Smith (1873-1874) and Ephriam Miller (1875-1887) each spent time in dual roles as members of the teaching faculty and part-time directors of the library.
Snow spent more than forty years at the University of Kansas, first as a professor of natural history and then as chancellor. He was interested in botany, ornithology and geology but his primary focus was entomology. In 1891, Snow hired his former student, Lewis Lindsay Dyche, to curate the zoological collections at KU. Remnants of the stone facing of Old Snow Hall, which was named in his honor, were used to construct the benches and bulletin boards that still exist on the Watson Library Lawn.
Smith’s time at KU as a professor of Greek and as library leader was brief, cut short by illness. A bequest by Kate Stephens, one KU’s first woman professors, a former pupil and fiancée of Smith, established a literary award in his name given annually by the Hall Center for Humanities.
Miller (pictured here), the longest serving and last to occupy the dual role, joined the faculty at the University of Kansas in the Department of Mathematics in 1874, eventually branching out to teach astronomy. From 1895 to 1903 he was Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Carrie Watson
1887-1921
Several months after graduating from KU, Watson was appointed Assistant to the Librarian of the University. At that time, the position of “Librarian” was held by a faculty member chosen annually by the chancellor. The holdings of the library consisted of about 2,500 books – mostly government documents – housed in a room in old Fraser Hall (located roughly where modern Fraser Hall currently stands).
Carrie earned the title of Librarian in 1887, under Chancellor Joshua Lippincott (1883-1889). She had taken courses in librarianship as she could, mostly over summer breaks, and traveled to the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard Library, and Boston Public Library to gain additional training. KU’s new library building was ready in 1894, and the holdings were moved from Fraser Hall to Spooner Library (now Spooner Hall).
Throughout her career at KU, Carrie oversaw the expansion of holdings such that when she retired in 1921 the library had about 140,000 volumes, 1,185 periodicals, and 121 newspapers. After her retirement, Carrie continued to serve in the KU Library, mostly as an unpaid volunteer. Thirty years after moving into Spooner, the library, again, had outgrown its space. A new building was approved by the Kansas Legislature. It was completed in 1924 and named Watson Library, forever honoring KU’s first true librarian.
Earl N. Manchester
1921-1928
Manchester was first to hold the title of library director and notably oversaw the construction of Watson Library and the staged move from Spooner Library – an awkward nine months in both buildings as the first stacks were finished and populated.
Charles M. Baker
1928-1952
C.M. Baker was director of libraries at the University of Kansas from 1928 to 1952. “During his tenure as Director the book collections grew from 210,000 volumes to 483,000 volumes, a particularly impressive record when the economic effects of the depression period and the manpower and material shortages of World War II are considered.” Baker ended his administrative duties in 1952 when he reached the age for mandatory retirement, but continued to work as bibliographer until 1957.
Robert G. Vosper
1952-1961
Robert Gordon Vosper served as director of KU Libraries from 1951 to 1960, shaping the collections with many of its most important acquisitions and establishing innovative ways to reach out to students. He was especially known for his defense of intellectual freedom, notably mounting an exhibition on banned books during the height of the McCarthy era, doing so with strong support from Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy.
Robert Vosper was named one of the top 100 most important people in 20th century librarianship by American Libraries, a publication of the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA lauded him “as a force for libraries and for the rights of librarians as partners in scholarly enterprise…. [H]is commitment to the library as an intellectual sanctuary was an inspiration to many.”
Thomas R. Buckman
1961-1966
Buckman served as Robert Vosper’s acquisitions librarian at the University of Kansas from 1956-60, as associate director of libraries for one year, and as director of libraries from 1961-66. At KU he took an active interest in developing the collections, directed the construction of a major addition to the library and participated in the planning and supervised the beginning of the new Spencer Research Library which was scheduled for completion the year after he left to assume the director role at Northwestern. Buckman also served as a lecturer in the department of Germanic languages.
David W. Heron
1968-1974
David Heron came to KU at just the time that the Kenneth Spencer Research Library opened, in the year when a record total of federal book funds were made available, and as the collections reached the impressive total of 1.5 million volumes. During his six-year term however, rising inflation and shrinking budgets forced the library to turn to its human resources for growth. Heron was noted “pre-eminently a man who is concerned about his colleagues in and outside the libraries and who has manifested that concern in the priorities he has pursued in library service – an attempt to offer a more personal and thinking interaction in an increasingly depersonalized macro-community – and in the creation of an excellent library staff.” Heron guided the reorganizing of Watson Library in the years following movement of materials to Spencer Research Library.
James Ranz
1975-1990
Dean Jim Ranz was a keen developer of people and of places, a transformational leader who laid the cornerstones of what our community enjoys and experiences at KU Libraries today. With a sharp focus on library facilities, Ranz led space renovations and location consolidations. Under his leadership, Anschutz Library was constructed and Watson Library was modernized.
In addition to the progress he ushered in among KU Libraries locations, Ranz understood the power and potential of the people who worked for KU Libraries. He encouraged his colleagues’ growth and mentored their professional development. He fostered their futures as librarians, leaders, and deans. Jim Ranz’s contributions stretch beyond his 15 years as dean, impacting generations of Jayhawks – those who work and study at the University of Kansas Libraries.
A facilities gift from Cliff and Sue Haka, revitalized the administrative offices on Watson Library’s fifth floor in 2023 and named the space the Jim Ranz Administrative Suite in honor of his mentorship.
William Crowe
1990-1999
Crowe was KU's Dean of Libraries from 1990 to 1999 and served as Vice Chancellor for Information Services for the last three of those years. He became Special Assistant to the Dean of Libraries at the University of Kansas (KU) in July 2007, as he moved into "phased retirement." He had been Spencer Librarian at KU from July 1999, responsible for the university's rare books, manuscripts, regional history and archival collections and services in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, providing leadership and vision while helping the library manage a time of extraordinary change.
A gift from Crowe and his wife Nancy P. Sanders, in memory of her parents, established the Sanders Scholars Program which provides funding for a graduate or undergraduate scholarship for students on the Lawrence campus of the University of Kansas who are working with a librarian mentor in the Libraries.
Keith Russell
1999-2001
Russell came to Kansas from the National Agricultural Library where he was deputy director. After resigning his position as dean due to health reasons, Russell served as life sciences librarian while working closely with the KU Department of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity on campus-wide training, facilitation, and organizational effectiveness programs. His appointments include dean of libraries at KU and deputy director of the National Agricultural Library.
Stella Bentley
2002-2006
In her four years as Dean of the Libraries, Bentley worked to upgrade library facilities by adding user space, an effort aided by the construction of the KU Libraries Annex - a high-density storage facility for low-use library materials - on Lawrence’s West Campus.
Lorraine Haricombe
2006-2015
During her tenure at KU, Haricombe was instrumental in implementing a faculty-led open access policy at KU, the first public institution in the United States with such a policy, and ensuring increased visibility for KU research and scholarship. Haricombe was also a co-founder of the Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions, an international advocacy group for institutions with open access policies. She also oversaw the enhancement of several library facilities across campus.
Kevin L. Smith
2016-2022
Smith was both a librarian and lawyer, with a specialty in scholarly communications. At the University of Kansas and over his career, Smith helped reform how academic research is disseminated and shared and how that research is paid for. Prior to joining the University of Kansas in 2016, he was the first director of copyright and scholarly communications at Duke University Libraries, where he advised faculty, staff, and students about the impact of copyright, licensing, and the changing nature of scholarly publishing in higher education. Before that, Smith was director of the Pilgrim Library at Defiance College in Ohio, where he also taught constitutional law.
At the University of Kansas, Smith emphasized professional development and empowerment for the library staff, supported efforts to offer students access to “open textbooks,” which are free in their digital formats, and helped advance initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Carol E. Smith
2023-Present
Carol E. Smith started as leader of KU Libraries on July 3, 2023 and has rapidly been working to form meaningful relationships and strategic partnerships as she guides the Libraries into a broader, deeper role within the larger academic and research ecosystem. In addition to supporting the roll out of Ever Onward - KU’s historic capital campaign - in the fall, Smith and the leadership team have fast-tracked a collaborative, strategic planning process to align with campus priorities, while advocating for renovations to Watson and Anschutz Libraries, and an extension to the Libraries Annex.
As the dean, Smith advocates on behalf of the libraries, positioning the organization as an integral partner with the university's academic and administrative units and ensuring the libraries' continued leadership in advancing research, teaching, inclusivity and global initiatives. The dean is instrumental in developing the vision that guides the libraries in service to the university. She also facilitates external relations through outreach and development, engaging in donor relations to solidify fundraising efforts.
Interim Directors
Also of great importance and note are the administrators who were asked to step into the director role on an interim basis. Whether it was weeks, months or beyond a year, these individuals bridged a gap, keeping the momentum going or smoothing the transition between leaders, often during pivotal moments in the history of the libraries.
1966-1968 - John Glinka
2001-2002 - Richard Fyffe and Julia Rholes
2015-2016 - Kent Miller and Mary Roach
2022-2023 - Scott Hanrath and Beth Whittaker
A Century at the Heart of KU
This year, beloved Watson Library celebrates its centennial as a cornerstone of the campus community. So much has changed in the world of information in the past century, and the libraries have been at the heart of KU’s learning and discovery through it all. Learn more and join us in celebrating this campus icon.