Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter recently added “Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship” to University Librarian MacKenzie Smith’s title in recognition of the evolution of scholarly communications in the 21st century and concomitantly of her role at UC Davis.

The new title, which took effect this month, acknowledges Smith’s national expertise in digital scholarship and will solidify UC Davis and the UC Davis Library’s leadership in digital scholarship with UC Davis’ academic and industry partners throughout the country, Hexter said.

“This title reflects Ms. Smith’s intellectual and academic expertise in the area of digital scholarship and recognizes her national leadership in this area,” Hexter said. “It also acknowledges her stature among her fellow vice provosts and other academic leaders in advancing the mission of the UC Davis Library, and her leadership of the university’s efforts in digital scholarship on a national scale.”

In this new role, Smith will define, convene, organize, document and manage major initiatives that employ digital resources and technologies in support of UC Davis’ faculty, students and staff, and the university’s tripartite mission of research, teaching and public service. This may include organizational and technical aspects of such things as data curation and governance, research intelligence, data science and informatics, research computing, and digital publishing. She also will continue to administer the UC Davis Data Science Initiative, which includes research support, academic planning and coordination with data technology and analytics units across the university.

Smith, who joined UC Davis in June 2012 after a national search, will continue to provide overall leadership of the UC Davis Library, which includes oversight of operations at the Peter J. Shields Library, the Carlson Health Sciences Library, the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library, and the Blaisdell Medical Library; leading more than 120 staff; and managing an annual operating budget of $24.7 million. She also is responsible for transforming the library into an academic hub that promotes the effective and innovative use of digital information resources and technologies in research and learning.

“I’m honored to be given this new title because I think it helps better reflect the UC Davis Library’s mission that is evolving to now include academic and research technology, scholarly communication, data science, digital initiatives and digital scholarship,” Smith said.

Originally from Seattle, Smith holds degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Chicago. Prior to coming to UC Davis, she spent nearly three decades on the East Coast working at the libraries of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a widely published national expert in information technology and digital knowledge management, and consults broadly in the library field, helping develop strategies for supporting digital research and data curation.

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