University of Idaho library dean candidate Ben Hunter spoke about the role of the library in a land grant research institution Wednesday in the Idaho Commons, during the third of four library dean candidate open forums on the Moscow campus during the past two weeks.
Hunter, who has served as the interim dean of library services at UI since July 2018, defined a library as a gathering place for teaching, learning, research and scholarship where academic information can be shared.
“An academic library is the university’s hub of academic community and scholarly communication,” Hunter said.
Ben Hunter | Courtesy
He mentioned several roles the library plays, such as bringing campus communities together, enabling academic success, facilitating information access and providing study space.
Hunter also explained some of the external factors that the library has to deal with when trying to accomplish those goals.
Nationally, universities and libraries are facing flat and decreasing budgets, Hunter said. In addition, with changes in technology and a shift towards digital communication, users have different expectations.
Because of large companies like Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and Google, users expect a lot from everyone all the time, Hunter said.
“We exist in the same digital realm, offering overlapping services but with vastly different access to financial resources,” Hunter said.
Another difficulty libraries are facing, Hunter said, is the eroding public trust in institutions, specifically those of higher education. Hunter said there has been a substantial decrease in trust among people of all political ideologies.
To get where they need to be, Hunter said there are three big changes the UI library needs to make.
In order to keep up with the changes in technology and scholarly communication, Hunter said the UI library needs to build for agility by creating their platforms and programs in a way that allows them to be altered and keep up with growth.
To help change perceptions of the library, the UI library needs to change the conversation about what a library is by telling their story and advocating and marketing for their cause, Hunter said.
Lastly, Hunter said the UI library needs to change focus. The focus should not be on where they want the library to be in five years or where they want the university to be in five years, he said, but rather where they want their users to be in five years.
When asked how he would work to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff, Hunter acknowledged his privilege as a white, middle-class male and emphasized the importance of people bringing their different experiences to the table. He said the most important thing when increasing diversity is to make sure the library has a really strong positive climate and culture for everyone to come into.
When asked about his leadership style, Hunter said he believes the role of the leader is to serve all the people around him or her, engaging in conversation and promoting a healthy and positive atmosphere.
Before becoming interim dean of library services, Hunter served as associate dean of library services. Prior to that position, he served as head of technical services, interim head of user and research services and reference and instruction librarian.
Hunter graduated from UI with a bachelor’s degree in music composition before pursuing a master’s degree in music composition at the University of Oregon and a master’s degree in library science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Currently, Hunter is a doctoral candidate at Simmons University, in Boston, studying managerial leadership in the information professions.
According to the UI website, the Idaho Library Association named Hunter the Idaho Librarian of the Year in 2017.
“I know this state, I love this state,” Hunter said. “I know this university, I love this university. I know this library, I love this library.”
The other three finalists for library dean are Clement Guthro, Andrea Falcone and George Fowler. The dean is expected to be announced sometime in April.
Jordan Willson can be reached at [email protected]