Beginning on Aug. 1, Anne Langley will take over as the new Associate Dean for Research, Collections, and Scholarly Communications in Penn State’s University Libraries. Langley will replace Mike Furlough in the position, who left Penn State last year to take a position as the Executive Director for the Hathi Trust.

Langley hails from Princeton University, where she currently serves as the Director of Scholarly Communications and Head Librarian for the Science and Technology Libraries, but she’s excited to join the Penn State family, she told Penn State News.

“I am looking forward to collaborating with my new library and campus colleagues as we find innovative ways to support the research, teaching and learning of the Penn State community of scholars.”

Langley has previously worked for Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Tennessee. According to the University Libraries’ website, the position “leads the Libraries’ content stewardship activities to support the life cycle of scholarly production, including curation, publication, preservation, copyright policy, grants administration, and outreach to researchers.”

Langley’s academic background is in multiple disciplines: Her undergraduate studies include a BA in English and creative writing, as well as additional studies in chemistry and engineering. She also holds a master of science and library science.

Perhaps most interesting to students, however, is Langley’s work on Open Educational Resources. She currently chairs the Coalition for Open Access Policy Institutions, an organization that works to share policies among peer institutions in order to “create a more open system for scholarly communication,” according to its website. The organization seeks to provide open access to scholarly and scientific journals and data, as well as expand the availability of Open Educational Resources, like free and open textbooks. Hopefully this translates into more open resources for Penn State students.

We welcome Ms. Langley to Penn State, and wish her the best of luck!