A Vision for the Future :
New Director of Special Collections Shares Ideas
In December 2016 , the University of Wisconsin – Madison Libraries welcomed David Pavelich as the new Director of Special Collections and Archives . He sat down to discuss his vision for the future of Special Collections .
By Erin Doherty
Erin Doherty : What is your background ?
David Pavelich : I went to school at UW – Madison . As an undergraduate , I earned an English degree , with a focus on modernist and postmodern poetry . This brought me to the world of special collections libraries . I later went to Buffalo and received my master ’ s in English , but I came back to Madison for my library degree . As I was in library school , I worked in Special Collections , the Preservation Department , and Digital Collections . I landed my first professional job at the University of Chicago in their special collections library . Eventually , I went to Duke , and now I ’ m back in Madison !
ED : What does your position at the Libraries entail ?
DP : I ’ m in a new position , which oversees four libraries : Special Collections , University Archives , the Kohler Art Library , and the Mills Music Library . I get to work with art , music , rare books , and manuscript collections , which is a perfect combination of my passions .
ED : What are the challenges facing special collections libraries ?
DP : Academic libraries are focused in two main directions . One is increasing digital access to information , which can take many forms , for instance access to data and digitizing locally-held collections . The other focus is unique collections that distinguish one library from another . Often you enter an academic library and a lot of the books you find in the stacks , you ’ re going to find in the libraries of our peers , like the University of Minnesota or Indiana University . But it ’ s the unique collections that help us distinguish ourselves . They don ’ t have to be just “ special collections ” in the sense of rare books — there are many kinds of distinctive collections . I think it ’ s a good time for special collections libraries .
ED : What do you hope to accomplish ?
DP : I have a long list ! In the short term , I want to know if we ’ re using the most up-todate tools to do our work . We need to make sure our collections are discoverable , not just by the local community , but globally .
8 | LIBRARIES Summer 2017