Two new leaders announced for University Libraries

Washington University Libraries recently filled two associate university librarian (AUL) positions, a leadership level reporting directly to University Librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak. The new AULs are Trevor Dawes and Christopher Freeland, and along with Trzeciak and Associate University Librarians Virginia Toliver, Gail Oltmanns and Jeffrey Huestis, they form the Libraries’ senior management team.

Trevor Dawes

Trevor Dawes supervises subject librarians, library outreach and school or departmental libraries serving art and architecture, chemistry, business, earth and planetary sciences, East Asian studies and music. He oversees library collections, except for special collections.

Recognized as a national leader in academic libraries, Dawes was elected vice-president and president-elect of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in June 2012 and will begin a one-year term as ACRL president this July.

From 2004 to early 2013, he worked at Princeton University Library as its circulation services director. From 1988 to 2004, he held various supervisory jobs at Columbia University Libraries.

Dawes attended the University of Minnesota’s Leadership Program for Early Career Librarians from Traditionally Underrepresented Groups and the Frye Leadership Institute. He earned a master’s degree in library science from Rutgers University and a master of education in educational leadership, a master of arts in educational administration and a bachelor of arts in sociology, all from Columbia.

Chris Freeland

Chris Freeland supervises digital library services, publishing production services, data/GIS (geospatial information systems), and special collections. He is leading an effort to create an instructional support services unit.

Before joining Washington University, Freeland spent nearly two decades at the Missouri Botanical Garden. From 2008 to 2012, he directed its Center for Biodiversity Informatics. He simultaneously served as technical director and global coordinator of the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries.

In 2011 and 2012, he was technical workstream co-chair of the Digital Public Library of America. He has extensive experience in grant writing and administration, and spent his first 10 years out of college as a software developer and project manager for large-scale systems in academic and research environments.

He earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental biology and a master of science in biological sciences at Eastern Illinois University.