LSU has named Stanley Wilder as the new dean of LSU Libraries. Wilder is university librarian at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. He previously served at the University of Rochester as associate dean of information management services, following 10 years at LSU. He will begin as dean on July 1, pending approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors.

"We are pleased to have Stanley Wilder join LSU’s leadership team as dean of LSU Libraries," said LSU President & Chancellor F. King Alexander. "Wilder understands the role that research libraries play in our fast-paced world, and we look forward to the vision he brings to our libraries."

LSU conducted a national search for dean, and Gaines Foster, dean of the LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, served as chair of the search committee.

"It is a pleasure to welcome Stanley Wilder back to LSU as the LSU Libraries dean,” said LSU Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Stuart Bell. “His vision for a modern research library is important for our faculty and students, and we look forward to seeing the libraries flourish under his leadership. I would like to thank Elaine Smyth for her hard work in serving as interim dean since March 2013, along with Dean Foster, the search committee and everyone who attended meetings and provided feedback in helping us select Stanley Wilder."

Prior to arriving in Charlotte in 2009, Wilder served as an assistant and then associate dean at the University of Rochester for 10 years, where among other things he helped win and then lead a series of large-scale software development grant projects. He served another 10-year period at the LSU Libraries, first as assistant to the dean for administrative services, and later as assistant dean for technical and financial services.
“Going into my interview, I knew how impressive the libraries’ staff and collections were going to be. What impressed me most, though, was LSU’s university-wide consensus on the strategic importance of great research library services. The LSU Libraries is poised for a renaissance, and I am honored to have this opportunity to contribute,” Wilder said.

Wilder began his professional career as the manager of the Architecture and Art Library, a branch study collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, an MLS degree from Columbia University, and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Wilder is an active researcher and speaker. In 1994, he served as a Visiting Program Officer for the Association of Research Libraries, and has been publishing his research on ARL demographic issues ever since. He has also published many papers relating to collections and library technologies, this in addition to his controversial critique of the literature of information literacy, published in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2005.