Xuemao Wang named Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Kristi A. Nelson announced that Dean and University Librarian Xuemao Wang will take on the additional title and responsibilities of vice provost of digital scholarship.

The new title reflects both the university’s commitment to digital scholarship as well as Wang’s extensive expertise in the subject. As dean and university librarian, he has led UC Libraries in the formation of the Digital Scholarship Center (DSC), the creation of the university’s digital repository, Scholar@UC, along with the development of new digital publishing capacities with the University of Cincinnati Press, the establishment of new services offered through research and data management and he partnered with three colleges to form the Digital Media Collaborative (DMC). 

“Xuemao’s broad expertise in digital scholarship and strategic-thinking approach that has developed UC Libraries into an intellectual commons will be a tremendous asset in advancing UC’s dynamic data, information and resource offerings as we implement the Innovation Agenda outlined in Next Lives Here,” said Nelson. 

This additional role of vice provost of digital scholarship will cover a broad spectrum of areas including the DSC, Scholar@UC, the DMC and research and data management, but also digital archives and preservation, digital records and assets management, scholarly communication and digital publishing, as well as the rapidly evolving movements of open science, open education resources, open data and open access. 

Wang, who joined the University of Cincinnati in 2012, will continue to provide leadership of UC Libraries as the dean, which includes the Walter C. Langsam Library, the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library and Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, the Archives and Rare Books Library and seven college and departmental libraries. The Libraries’ strategic plan, created under the leadership of Wang, has as its vision to transform UC Libraries into “the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university — positioning ourselves as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation and scholarly endeavor on campus.”

“I am honored and thrilled to take on this new responsibility for the university. My additional role in leading university wide digital scholarship efforts will allow me to contribute at a new level in supporting the advancement of UC’s Next Lives Here strategic direction,” said Wang. “I plan to capitalize on the experience, resources and the catalyst role of the Libraries, as well as the extraordinary expertise of library faculty and staff, to facilitate university wide digital scholarship integration.”

With a career that spans international, public, library consortium and academic library worlds, Wang came to UC from Emory University where he was the associate vice provost of University Libraries. Prior to that, he worked at Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, the Metropolitan New York Library Council, Borough Public Library, as well as spent numerous years gaining academic librarian experience in China. He has a strong research interest and background in global librarianship and digital scholarship, publishing and consulting internationally. Wang currently chairs the OhioLINK special task force on the future of the digital library system, is chair of the Innovation Lab Working Group of the Association of Research Libraries, and chair of the Digital Humanities/Digital Scholarship Special Interest Group of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.