A Tremendous Period for the Heard Libraries
As Chancellor Diermeier leads Vanderbilt in its Dare to Grow campaign, striving to become the great university of the 21st century, the Heard Libraries are equally committed to becoming the great research library of the 21st century. This quarter has been transformative for the Heard Libraries, marked by
The initiatives and accomplishments of the Heard Libraries have been featured prominently on the world stage this fall, including at the Information Futures Summit in Australia (pictured here), where University Librarian Jon Shaw was one of the presenters.
increased engagement in teaching, research, and co-curricular activities. Thousands of students and faculty have actively participated in our programs, fellowships, and classes. Our physical spaces are bustling with activity, with library usage continuing to rise compared to previous years, as we expand our contemplative spaces while offering more programming and collaborative opportunities. Signature events like the wildly popular Nashville Comic Arts Festival, the International Wodehouse Society’s biennial convention, VALIANT AI Summer School, and Dialogue Vanderbilt talks—most recently featuring statistician and writer Nate Silver—have further strengthened our position as a vital locus of learning on campus and a key partner in bringing the world to Nashville.
We have also strengthened our presence globally through the open access ESAC Initiative out of the Max Planck Digital Library, which recognizes Vanderbilt as one of the most forward-thinking libraries in North America for advancing open scholarship and significantly reducing costs for faculty in scholarly publishing that reaches a vastly wider audience globally and across disciplines. Coupled with our world-class collection acquisition based on scholarly needs, this initiative sets our collections program apart on the global stage. I had the privilege of presenting on our accomplishments to great acclaim at the Information Futures Summit in Brisbane, Australia, hosted by the International Federation of Library Associations.
I was also honored to keynote alongside Dan Porterfield, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Annual Meeting. Our presentation focused on fostering a “growth mindset” in the evolving landscape of higher education and research libraries. We explored leadership strategies that enable institutions like ours to navigate rapid change, galvanizing the power of higher education to activate lifelong growth and positioning us to thrive in the future.
The Heard Libraries’ work in digital preservation continues to gain recognition, as highlighted at the International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPres) in Belgium. As we advance into the digital age, the sheer volume of data presents enormous challenges for libraries in their role as custodians of cultural memory. We are proud to be at the forefront of this work, exploring innovative solutions and discoveries that hold the potential to revolutionize digital storage and preservation.
And speaking of discoveries—during a recent reorganization of storage spaces, we unearthed what some thought had been lost to history: Vanderbilt’s long-missing plaster cast of a plesiosaur fossil, tucked away in the basement of Branscomb. A fitting reminder of our ongoing commitment to preservation and discovery.
None of these achievements would be possible without the adaptive strategies and foresight planning of our dynamic library community. We continue to foster a collective “growth mindset,” aligning our goals with the evolving needs of the university. As we look ahead, we are committed to ensuring that the Heard Libraries remain at the heart of Vanderbilt’s academic and research mission while forging partnerships and exposure on a worldwide stage.
University Librarian
Measuring Our Outcomes
DATABASE USAGE
The Heard Libraries continue to stand out among our peers by maximizing our database usage while keeping our collections expenditures among the lowest, as this dataset from the Association of Research Libraries demonstrates. We intend to strengthen these advantages by creating an index for open content, making our resources even more accessible to researchers on a global scale.
ACCESS TO OUR COLLECTIONS
As the Heard Libraries continue to digitize our collections and make them available online, our reach now extends to all corners of the globe. Researchers from nearly 230 countries have downloaded items using our discovery tools in recent months, exploring not only our distinctive collections but also our institutional repository of scholarly research conducted at Vanderbilt.
RESEARCH CONSULTATIONS
The Heard Libraries provided nearly 3,300 consultations in the first quarter of this fiscal year, demonstrating our increased support for the university’s academic enterprise—from teaching students to map potential toxins in groundwater and capture 3D images of rare artifacts to instructing students on responsible uses of AI technology. The consultations ranged from appointments, such as with Special Collections and the Digital Lab, to assistance with database searches, systematic reviews, curriculum design, and GIS software applications, among many other examples.
SPACE USAGE
We welcomed nearly 250,000 visitors to our libraries in the first quarter of FY 2025, as demand for our spaces continues to grow. This increased usage reflects our ongoing efforts to engage the Vanderbilt and Nashville communities, from creating more inviting study areas and classrooms for students and faculty, to hosting a variety of events and exhibitions that have broad appeal on campus and beyond.
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Telling Our Stories
Our work at the Heard Libraries is framed by four strategic objectives:
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Bolster faculty research and deepen engagement with student experiential learning.
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Integrate knowledge discovery through our physical and virtual services and staff activities.
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Partner with faculty to make the libraries a locus for interdisciplinary and trans-institutional initiatives.
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Engage locally, regionally, and globally in creating access, disseminating knowledge, and preserving cultural memory.
These objectives are integral to the stories we tell.
The Vanderbilt time capsule recently interred in the cornerstone of Kirkland Hall contains more than 150 physical and digital items collected and curated by the Heard Libraries.
Studio 608, a creative space located in Central Library, provides Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff with opportunities to explore narrative storytelling through audio.
The Heard Libraries and Wild Bunch Lecture Fund hosted Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons in concert Sept. 14 as part of his two-day visit to campus.
The Heard Libraries hosted members of The Wodehouse Society on Sept. 27 as part of the organization’s biennial convention held in Nashville. The gathering at Vanderbilt’s Central Library drew members from 23 U.S. states and seven countries.
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