Concordia welcomes Amy Buckland as university librarian

Concordia will soon welcome a new university librarian. Amy Buckland, BA 06, will begin her five-year term on September 15, 2023.

Buckland’s extensive career in libraries spans both academic and governmental settings, as well as work experience in publishing.

Since August 2021, Buckland has held the position of assistant deputy minister for collections at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). In this role, she leads a team of 500 staff and manages an annual budget of $50 million.

Buckland also directed LAC’s participation in the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) to ensure support for their work, especially the Respectful Terminology Platform Project which will be a multilingual resource offering cultural memory centres appropriate vocabularies for Indigenous peoples, places and cultures.

Prior to joining LAC, Buckland was head of research and scholarship at the University of Guelph Library, where she oversaw the collaborative development of a digital infrastructure to support the needs of research teams and new forms of scholarly communication progressively and sustainably.

In this role, she positioned the library as part of the adjudication process for Canada Foundation for Innovation infrastructure grant funding, to ensure it was prepared for the data being created in these multi-million-dollar research activities.

Buckland also served as institutional repository manager at the University of Chicago Library. Jointly appointed to the library, university IT services and the Research Computing Center, she established the institutional repository service for publications and data to support the sharing of research materials, and implemented workshops and events related to open access.

Buckland’s career in libraries started at McGill University in e-publishing and digitization, where she managed the university library’s digitization efforts, including creating a scan- and print-on-demand program, developing digital collection workflows and supervising institutional repository policies and content.

She also led open access and scholarly communication initiatives.

Buckland holds a Master of Library and Information Studies from McGill and a BA in political science and women’s studies from Concordia.

‘An exemplary candidate’

“I’m thrilled that Amy will be leading the Concordia Library as the university librarian. Given the increasingly important roles of university libraries in stewarding digital and material information, her vision for the Library, humane management style and knowledge and efforts surrounding decolonization and Indigenization made her an exemplary candidate,” says Anne Whitelaw, provost and vice-president, academic.

“Beyond that, her strategic thinking and creativity, as well as her established ability to network and fundraise are strong assets for Concordia now and in the years ahead,” she says.

“I want to thank Pat Riva for her great work as interim university librarian since September 1, 2022,” Whitelaw adds. “She is an invaluable member of the Concordia Library, and I truly appreciate her continuing as interim until Amy’s arrival.”

‘The Library plays a vital role’

Buckland says she’s excited to be joining Concordia’s vibrant community and to embrace the university’s innovative approach to higher education.

“Concordia Library plays such a vital role within the university community. Whether it’s providing opportunities to experiment with emerging technologies and cutting-edge equipment, offering research support in areas such as open access and digital scholarship, or investing in initiatives like the Indigenous Student Librarian and the Researcher-in-Residence programs, the Library is an important partner in students’ academic success,” she says.

“I am very excited to be returning to Montreal and look forward to collaborating with the Library team this fall.”

As chair of Concordia’s Advisory Search Committee for the university librarian, Whitelaw extends her appreciation to its members: Aiswarya Balan, David Clark, Gabriel Desjardins, Adriana Embiricos, Katharine Hall, Rajiv Johal, Michelle Lake, Sabrina Morena, Christine Smith and Robert Soroka.
 

Learn more about Concordia Library.