Northwestern Libraries are administered by the Dean of Libraries, the Deputy University Librarian, and the Libraries’ Executive Team. The Dean of Libraries also oversees the Northwestern University Press as a separate organization.
The Dean of Libraries reports to the Provost. The Dean and Executive Team receive input from three advisory committees:
The Libraries staff are organized into departments that report to the Dean and to Associate University Librarians. You can see a full list of departments on our organizational model page.
Executive Team
Xuemao Wang
- Dean of Libraries, University Librarian
Phone: 847-491-7640
Wang has served as dean of libraries and university librarian at Northwestern since September 1, 2022. Previously, he served as dean and university librarian at the University of Cincinnati (UC) for ten years. In 2019, he took on the additional title and responsibilities of vice provost of digital scholarship at UC. Wang is active in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). He served on the Innovation Lab Committee (2016–2017, vice-chair 2017–2018, chair 2018–2019), the Leadership Fellows Task Force (chair 2015–2017), and the ARL Academy Design Team (2015–2016). He was also an ARL Leadership Fellow (2011–2012). In addition to ARL, Wang currently serves on the HathiTrust Governing Board and the OCLC Global/North America Advisory Council.
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D.J. Hoek
- Deputy University Librarian
Phone: 847-491-7640
D.J. Hoek, Deputy University Librarian, works closely with the Dean of Libraries to lead the Northwestern University Libraries system. He has particular responsibility for directing and overseeing daily operations of the Libraries and contributing to all aspects of library management and planning. He has advanced degrees in music theory, composition, and library science from Bowling Green State University and Indiana University. From 2004-2015, he served as head of Northwestern's Music Library, and he continues to have a faculty appointment in the Bienen School of Music, where he teaches graduate courses in research methods.
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Elsa Álvaro
- Associate University Librarian for Collections and Access
Phone: 847-467-4588
Elsa Álvaro, PhD is Associate University Librarian for Collections and Access at Northwestern Libraries. Her role involves articulating organization-wide strategies and implementing solutions for the development of and access to all library collections. In addition, Elsa serves as liaison to Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering. Her research interests include the application of network analysis and bibliometric methods to understanding the development of scientific communities and trends in scholarly publishing. Álvaro holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and a MS in Library Science from Indiana University, and spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois prior to joining Northwestern.
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James Lee
- Associate University Librarian for Academic Innovation
Phone: 847-491-7640
James Lee, PhD is Associate University Librarian for Academic Innovation. Lee also serves as Associate Professor in the Medill School for Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications. He is responsible for leading the Libraries’ mission of building new academic collaborations and partnerships with Northwestern’s colleges and schools, centers, departments, and other units, specifically by applying and developing new methods of digital scholarship and data science. Previously, Lee was a leader in digital scholarship at the University of Cincinnati, where he was the Associate Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship, Director of the Digital Scholarship Center, and Director of the interdisciplinary data science AI for All Lab. His research and teaching focus on the areas of machine learning and natural language processing techniques adapted to historical data, social network analysis, and data visualization of high-dimensional models.
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Parneshia Jones
- Northwestern Press Director
Parneshia Jones was appointed Directorof the Northwestern University Press in 2020, after 17 years working at the Press in various roles. She is a published poet and a leader in the wider Chicago publishing community. Jones is also faculty in the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing program.
Department Heads
Victoria Akinde
- Director of Organizational Development
Victoria Akinde was appointed Director of Organizational Development in 2020. She has over 17 years in higher education and librarianship, with previous experience in HR at large organizations such as Chase, 3Com and MSL.
Kristine Casman
- Senior Director of Business Operations
Kristine Casman was appointed Senior Director of Business Operations and Support in 2024. Prior to working at the Libraries, Casman worked for ten years at the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Danielle Cotrone
- Interim Head of Access Services
Danielle Cotrone began her career at Northwestern Libraries as the Operations Manager for Mudd Library. She has been the Head of Access Services in an interim capacity since early 2025.
Clara Drummond
- Director of the McCormick Library
Clara Drummond was appointed the Director of the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives in fall 2025. Drummond is a curator with more than 17 years of experience working with special collections in libraries and museums. Prior to Northwestern, she served as co-interim head, lead curator, and exhibitions coordinator at the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State University.
Tonia Grafakos
- Marie A. Quinlan Director of Preservation
Tonia Grafakos has been the Marie A. Quinlan Director of Preservation at Northwestern Libraries since 2017. She is a Professional Associate member of the American Institute for Conservation and earned a MSIS with an Advanced Certificate in Conservation from the University of Texas at Austin.
Catherine Grove
- Director of Acquisitions and Metadata Services
Catherine Grove has been at Northwestern Libraries for over ten years. Director of Acquisitions and Metadata Services, she leads a broad team of library professionals to acquire and describe the collections of Northwestern Libraries.
Michelle Guittar
- Head for Instruction & Curriculum Support; Interim Head of Academic Engagement
Michelle Guittar is the Director of Learning and Engagement for Northwestern Libraries. She is also the subject specialist for Latin American and Latina/o studies, and editor of the "Global Perspectives" feature in “portal: Libraries and the Academy”. She serves on the cross-university steering committee for Northwestern's multi-year Faculty Practicum series.
Geoffrey Morse
- Director Distinctive Collections and Research Services
Geoffrey Morse was appointed the Director Distinctive Collections and Research Services after a period as the interim department head. He is also the subject specialist for American Studies, History, Jewish Studies and Religion. Morse holds an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA in History from Hampshire College.
Michael Perry
- Head of Assessment and Planning
Michael Perry is the Head of Assessment & Planning at Northwestern University Libraries. In this role he manages efforts around assessment and user experience and consults on planning and organizational analysis. Perry holds a BA in Political Science from DePaul University focusing on comparative politics and early American political thought and MA in Library and Information Science from Dominican University focusing on knowledge management and law librarianship. Perry is the liaison to the Center for Legal Studies, an intensive undergraduate research focused program. His research focuses on learning analytics and student perceptions of their use in both higher education broadly and academic libraries more specifically.
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Clare Roccaforte
- Director of Marketing & Communication
Clare Roccaforte is the Director of Marketing & Communication at Northwestern University Libraries. In this position, she is responsible for library branding, publications, website, social media, and internal and external communication. She also contributes to the organization’s fundraising efforts by supporting the work of the Libraries Director of Development.
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Kelsey Rydland
- Operations Director for Academic Engagement
Kelsey Rydland, PhD is the Operations Director for Academic Innovation at Northwestern Libraries. As director, he is dedicated to leading teams which collaborate directly with faculty and students on research projects. In addition to being department and interim department head and liaison duties Kelsey is an Adjunct Professor in the McCormick School of Engineering where he teaches a class on geospatial information science (GIS)
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Bob Trautvetter
- Director of IT Infrastructure
Bob Trautvetter is the Director of IT Infrastructure at the University Libraries. His team supports both staff and public computing, overseeing critical digital technologies and core library services that serve the academic community, including systems like Alma, Primo, and other discovery layers. With 26 years of experience in library IT, Trautvetter has held various roles, including Head of Technology Support, Technical Support Consultant, and Coordinator of Desktop and Lab Support. Before transitioning to IT, he worked in Technical Services and Interlibrary Loan.
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