April 03, 2025
SIU chooses dean for Library Affairs
CARBONDALE, Ill. — William H. Walters, executive director of the Mary Alice & Tom O’Malley Library at Manhattan University, will become the next dean of Library Affairs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Sheryl Tucker, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, today (April 3) announced Walters’ appointment, effective July 1, subject to approval by the SIU Board of Trustees.
Tucker said Walters is a welcome addition to the SIU family.
“With overwhelming support of the faculty, staff and the search committee, we are delighted he will be joining SIU,” she said.
“His scholarly and leadership experience come at a critical time in supporting SIU’s designation as a Research 1 institution. His presentation clearly indicates his ability to position the library for the next phase of our strategic plan, Imagine 2030. We fully anticipate that he will be a great partner for our research enterprise.”
Walters has more than 17 years’ experience as a library dean and director. He has been with Manhattan University in Riverdale, New York, since July 2014. Prior to that, he was dean of library services, associate professor of social sciences, and professor of library and information science at Menlo College in Atherton, California.
He has also served as librarian, data manager, research consultant, accreditation liaison officer and interim director of information technology at Cornell University, St. Lawrence University, Menlo College, the City University of New York and the Providence VA Medical Center.
Walters holds a doctorate in sociology (demography) from Brown University and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. His recent research focuses on scholarly communication, bibliometrics, academic librarianship, artificial intelligence in higher education, nonprofit management and educational assessment.
‘Right size, right blend’
Walters grew up in Buffalo, New York, and began his professional career at Brown and Cornell universities. After working at smaller universities for the last few years, however, he “wanted to return to a more research-focused environment,” but not a “huge university where students can get lost in the shuffle.”
“SIU Carbondale is the right size, and it offers the right blend of teaching and research,” Walters said. “The university also seems to be on a clear upward trajectory, and that really appeals to me.”
Walters said he is excited to move to Carbondale, noting that Buffalo is similar to many Midwestern cities and that the cultural and physical environments “seem familiar to me in many ways.”
R1 designation is exciting
Walters noted that SIU Carbondale’s recent designation as Research 1: Very High Spending and Doctorate Production in the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education makes it just one of three public R1 universities in Illinois.
“That places us in a great position for further development of the university's research capabilities, for undergraduate education with a hands-on, experiential research component, and for the kinds of specialized instruction that are not available at many other schools,” he said. “These are all exciting opportunities, and I'm glad to be joining SIU at this time.”
Library Affairs
Walters will be the chief academic and administrative officer for Library Affairs, whose main units are Morris Library, Records Management, the Special Collections Research Center, Sharp Museum and SIU Press.
Walters said he wants to meet with library personnel, deans and others “to get a good sense of how the library can best contribute to the university.”
At the same time, there are four goals that Walters sees as especially important:
- Making sure the library promotes student success in its physical environment, policies and services.
- Supporting the scholarly work of faculty, students and alumni as fully as possible. Walters said he is eager to help faculty “find data resources, gain external funding and maximize the impact of their research,” among other things.
- Make good use of collaborative opportunities with other units on campus such as the Writing Center, Saluki Math Lab, Center for Learning Support Services and student government.
- Make effective use of technology — to be aware of new technologies, to help shape their development, if possible, and to reassess existing technologies to see if they can be improved.
“We should always take a broad view when evaluating new technologies and new business models — a view that accounts for their short- and long-term impacts on teaching and research,” he said.