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The View from the 
Dean’s Office
Presenters 
Andrew Keck, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives,  
Perkins School of Theology – Southern Methodist University 
Beth Bidlack, Director of Library Services, Castleton University  
(formerly Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Union Theological Seminary) 
Debbie Creamer, Senior Director of Accreditation, The Association of Theological Schools

ABSTR ACT With leadership skills gained from careers in theological 
libraries and experience from working closely with academic admin-
istration, theological librarians can be invited to work more directly 
within a seminary administration—either in administrative roles added 
to library roles or wholly administrative roles. This panel presented 
insights from three library colleagues who moved from library to semi-
nary administration. The panel addressed the focus of these administra-
tive roles, points of intersection between academic administration and 
libraries, how the library is viewed from these offices, and strategies for 
working together.

PANELIST 1: DEBBIE CREAMER

My entry into academic administration happened quickly. I was 
serving as an (interim) library director and was asked to direct my 
school’s ATS self-study process, largely because the director ten years 
earlier had been the library director (and, I think, nobody else wanted 
to do it!). This role shifted my perspective not only on my institution 
(as I got to see a bigger picture, from coordinating the comprehen-
sive accreditation review) but also on the central role of librarians in 
my institution—as it helped me to recognize skills and expertise that 
comes with the work of librarianship that I hadn’t even noticed before 
I started shifting my role into other areas. And, with each successive 
step into academic administration (from accreditation liaison to 
distance learning director, associate dean, academic dean, and now 
in my role with ATS), I’ve continued to be even more convinced that 
librarians have a significant role to play in academic administration.



Panel Presentation 103

1. Points of intersection:

• I didn’t know this as a librarian (but maybe you do), and folks 
at my school didn’t know this about librarians (and probably 
yours don’t), but I believe that the work of administration (includ-
ing accreditation, assessment, and deaning) resonates more closely 
with library work than it does with traditional faculty responsibilities.

 — Most administrators at our schools were not trained to be 
administrators (especially if they came to their administra-
tive role from faculty or from outside of higher education)—
but many of us were, either in library degree programs or 
on the job.

 — ATS did a study a number of years ago asking new faculty 
what their doctoral programs had prepared them to do, 
and what they were actually doing in their jobs (as faculty, 
not even as administrators). Not surprisingly, doctoral 
programs are (typically) great at preparing folks for schol-
arship, okay at preparing folks to teach, but awful at prepar-
ing folks to do administration. 

 — No one at my institution knew that not only had my MLIS 
program included specific courses on administration, but 
also that my daily work as a library director was adminis-
trative in ways that translated to other contexts as well. As 
a result, I had to learn how to be a translator or interpreter.

• When I translate some typical library skills into broader or 
more accessible language, here are some of the ways we are 
prepared to lead or manage academic administrative work:

 — Organizing information (obviously)—but not in a filing cabi-
net

 — Curating information (deciding what is more or less relevant/
needed, seeking the information that is lacking, choosing 
between reputable and less-reputable sources, dealing 
with contradictory sources, building a narrative, creating 
pathfinders…)

 — Resourcing people—at all the levels (guessing what they need 
and making it available before they know they need it; 
providing them with the tools they need to do their work; 



104  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

helping them get and stay interested in what they’re doing)
 — Evaluation (e.g., we do it as a normal part of collection 

management—is this book worth the expense, is this 
database important to us, is this subscription redundant, 
should this item be weeded—and as part of the research 
process—is this the best source, does this make a 
compelling argument, is this a credible resource)

 — Planning (ditto: we are used to thinking of short-term and 
long-term needs of our stakeholders and how to get from 
A to B, whether it’s a collection shift or new strategies for 
engaging our community)

 — Specific technical skills: (e.g., supervising people, dealing 
with technology, managing a budget, project-management, 
long-range planning (the library is perhaps the longest-
range part of your institution!)

2. How the library is viewed:

• At my previous institution, as I moved into broader 
administrative roles, my non-librarian colleagues started to 
see that I (Debbie) was good at these things. I’m not sure they 
ever saw that “librarians” are good at these things. Even now, 
in my current context, I’ve discovered that many folks think 
about librarians on accreditation visits as “single-use tools” 
while I think of them/us as “Swiss army knives” (i.e., we’re 
often good at all the things I listed above—planning, budgeting, 
staffing, governance, evaluation—in addition to libraries and 
technology).

• My sense is that one way to help shift these perceptions is to 
start showing your non-librarian colleagues a different picture 
of the library world. For example, if you have the chance to 
report to a faculty meeting or update the community on the 
library, don’t just talk about materials—also talk about strategic 
thinking, or planning and evaluation, or adapting to change.

• It also helped me to recognize that sometimes people are just 
not thinking about the library at all (not dismissing it, just not 
noticing it). This is a bit like the reminder that people think 
about us less than we think they do, because we’re all busy 



Panel Presentation 105

thinking (and worrying) about ourselves. Most times, folks 
weren’t intentionally dismissing the gifts that library folks 
might offer to their work; they just weren’t thinking about 
them. And, guess what? Librarians also know how to do PR 
and raise awareness, and offer access, and invite conversation! 

• One other piece that helped me was to remember that folks 
often just repeat what they know (e.g., teachers teach the way 
they were taught, or the way they wish they were taught). It’s 
quite possible that you and your library are significantly differ-
ent from the librarians and library spaces that your faculty and 
other colleagues encountered earlier in their careers. Instead 
of assuming that they already know what we can do, we can 
help folks see (and, more importantly, experience) a different 
sense of what “library” or “librarian” is.

3. Tips for how to work together:

• Need to not just say, “I can do this” (or wait and wish people 
would ask you), but also to offer or demonstrate you can do this. 
So, for example, if you know the school is starting a strategic 
planning process or developing new HR policies, or any other 
area where your library skills translate into the larger institu-
tion, you can say “Would you like me to do this?” or even “I did 
this, is it helpful?” Most deans (and similar administrators) are 
exhausted and overworked, and thrilled to have a colleague 
who understands or is willing to lend a hand.

• Don’t throw fuel on the fire of us vs. them. Faculty (and former-
faculty) can be great at winning arguments (some of them 
have PhDs in that!), or might get more invested in their side 
of the argument than in any sort of institutional change. And, 
bluntly, stop whining that they don’t include you—I’m happy to 
whine with friends, but, when I do it at my institution, it doesn’t 
make things better. Rather than thinking of sides, I’d rather 
imagine a spectrum (perhaps of folks who see the library’s 
relevance to those who don’t, or whatever the challenge is in 
your context), which then makes it easier to think about allies 
or advocates, or of shifting minds contextually (one situation at 
a time) rather than all at once. I imagine that I could learn a lot 
from public libraries—how did they become/stay relevant? In 



106  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

my neighborhood, the public library is a central resource—not 
just for “materials” (audiobooks, videogames, museum passes, 
etc.) but also for “services” (résumés, knitting, even wine 
tasting events). What could we learn from them, particularly 
in how they helped stakeholders know that they are valuable?

• Just as you shouldn’t assume that members of your school’s 
administration understand you (or, what you know/do/think) 
… you also shouldn’t assume you understand them (or, what 
they know/do/think). As I’ve worked on the redevelopment of 
the standards this past year, and had the privilege of listening 
to focus groups, I’ve continued to be surprised at how many 
misperceptions we all have of each other. I’d love to host 
conversations at schools along the lines of “what I wish you 
knew about my job.” Yes, librarians are misunderstood and 
often undervalued. But so are most of the people you work 
with, in my experience. 

• Related to this, you might ask yourself: Why do I want to do 
this? Sometimes I see folks who are interested in moving 
into administration as a way to get acknowledgement, to feel 
more important, to have greater voice. Others are looking for 
a better alignment of their gifts, or for a new way to serve. I 
think it’s always a messy mix of both of these, but it’s good to 
pay attention.

• As you lean into academic administration, try to shift your 
view—put the mission of the school at the center of your work, 
not the needs of the library alone. And maybe you’ve already 
done this, but you might want to practice being more explicit 
about it—for example, pay attention to when you use a word 
like “we” to see how often you mean “the school” (rather than 
just the library, the staff, etc.). 

• At the same time, be cautious that they don’t steal you away 
from the library, or at least continue to advocate for the needs 
of the library. Maybe the best thing you can do for yourself, and 
for your organization, is to make the library as good a library 
as it can be, help it thrive.



Panel Presentation 107

PANELIST 2: ANDREW KECK

1. Seminary administration has similarities to library admin-
istration

• Comprehensive view of the institution. Library and seminary 
administrations are both concerned about faculty, students, 
and curriculum. The specific interests of faculty make a differ-
ence in collection development, reserves, and design of assign-
ments that make use of the library. Student preparation and 
the rigor of admission contributes to the work required for 
library, writing, and academic support. The curriculum deter-
mines the depth and breadth of theological and cognate disci-
plines that are emphasized.

• Strategic view of the institution. Libraries are acutely aware 
of issues on the financial side of the house, the penalties for 
deferred maintenance, and the importance of marketing and 
recruitment. We not only feel the brunt of an institution’s 
successes and failures—we operate our own microcosm in 
the library. We too try to emphasize strategic thinking and 
innovation while avoiding the colorful animals: white elephant 
(miscalculating costs), golden calf (miscalculating value), red 
herring (miscalculating importance), and black swan (miscal-
culating likelihood).

• Long-view of the institution. Both have concerns about legacy 
and future generations of faculty, staff, and students. The 
library as institutional legacy that persists and adds increas-
ing value to successive generations. 

• A major difference in thinking about revenue versus budget 
allocation. Justifying a seminary budget is a different exercise 
than justifying a library budget. 

2. Libraries tend to not be “top of mind” in the dean’s office

• Administration is not as concerned about the library or library 
problems as the library director. There is a reason they hired 
you to be in the library. Most of us might prefer benign neglect 
to micromanaging but it’s always good to have a partner in the 
dean’s office both as an advocate (such as when you are start-



108  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

ing a new program or trying to get recalcitrant faculty to turn 
in their reserve lists) and as a protector (when the CFO decides 
to cut student worker budgets across campus by twenty-five 
percent or the university thinks it can simply absorb your 
library). 

• Not surprisingly, much of administration can be reactive. The 
dean’s office tends to deal with turf and communication issues 
between departments, personnel issues, problems that cross 
multiple department lines, external relationships with donors, 
related organizations, and other university leaders. 

• The proactive work of seminary administration tends the regu-
lar machinery of governance, communication, and finances. 

3. Library issues that gather the most attention in the dean’s 
office

• Budget and finances—especially around the expenses of 
staffing and the seemingly discretionary budget allocated  
to collections

• Faculty issues (course support, writing support, research 
support)

• Student issues—space and hours 
• Alumni and other guests

4. Opportunities for collaboration or how libraries can help 
dean’s office

• Bring solutions and ideas, not problems and complaints.
• Library budget and financial concerns require transparency and 

flexibility. You can generate a lot of good will by being flexible. 
For example, I sometimes would delay purchases at the end of 
the fiscal year to help with cash. Or project out for three years—
so the dean can see the impact of increasing journal prices. 

• Provide good data and insights on students, curriculum 
(syllabus analysis), and faculty research. Who else on campus 
analyzes every syllabus? Who else sees and hears from a 
variety of students struggling to understand an assignment? 
Who else deeply knows about a faculty member’s new project? 

• Co-sponsor or support other activities. Offer library spaces for 
public events, displays, and speakers. 



Panel Presentation 109

• Network and intersect with campus IT, the university 
library, other libraries/institutions, alumni and the broader 
community. Through the course of our work, libraries interface 
with a variety of departments/individuals on campus, local/
national competitors, and serve a broader community beyond 
the campus. Deans are regularly shocked to find out who 
librarians already know or what we have heard about.

• The librarian can often find themselves as a confidant and 
partner of a dean because of our deep understanding of the 
institution and its overall context, ability to think strategically, 
and collection of resources that can be brought to bear. 

PANELIST 3: BETH BIDLACK

Since the summer of 2016, I have been the Associate Academic Dean 
at Union Theological Seminary. I was recruited for this position 
because Union needed to undertake self-studies with the Associa-
tion of Theological Schools (ATS) and the Middle States Commission 
on Higher Education (MSCHE), and I had experience with accredi-
tation visits and assessment. I also brought administrative and 
interpersonal skills to the position. Prior to August 2016, I served as 
Director of the Burke Library, physically located at Union, but owned 
and managed by the Columbia University Libraries. As Associate 
Academic Dean, in addition to re-accreditation, my focus has been 
on assessing student learning and improving the overall student 
experience. 

I. The Burke Library and #LoveInAction

While at the Burke Library (2013–2016), I observed Union 
students during the start of the Black Lives Matter Movement. 
They were organizing and participating in marches on a 
regular basis. Like most generations of Union students, they 
were committed to social justice, but they seemed to know little 
about Union’s long history of activism. In 2014, I hired a Public 
Services Librarian who had a background in public history 
and archives. She and I shared a commitment to connecting 
the current generation of students with Union’s long history 
of activism. 



110  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

Hence, the library began its efforts to support the 
#LoveInAction initiative at Union. The name of the initiative 
harkens back to the words of Cornel West, a renowned public 
intellectual and author of many books, including Race Matters, who 
said, “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” 
#LoveInAction became the focus of Union’s Student Senate 
meetings. The students mobilized in one of Union’s classrooms 
and named the space the “Love Hub.” Here they strategized, 
provided support to each other, and rested after marches. It was 
the place where people could donate food and other items needed 
to support students in their work.

As the library staff and I learned more about the students’ 
efforts, we connected some of them to relevant archival collec-
tions, including the Student Interracial Ministry collection, and 
to Union’s alums. The Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) began 
in 1960. It was a ministry in which students, congregations, and 
community members from racially diverse backgrounds would 
gain a greater appreciation and understanding of each other (see 
https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4492714). In addition, library 
staff worked with Union’s alumni/ae relations office to identify 
alums who were part of SIM and similar projects and initiatives 
and to connect the current students with these alums. As a library, 
we developed a co-curricular program to support #LoveInAc-
tion. A few students curated small exhibits of archival materials 
and moderated panel discussions between current students and 
alums that focused on racial justice (see https://blogs.cul.colum-
bia.edu/burke/).

At the end of the academic year, we gathered a few of the 
students and reviewed the degree program goals and learning 
outcomes for the Master of Divinity degree at Union. We talked 
about how their #LoveInAction work and the library’s co-curric-
ular support helped them achieve some of the MDiv learning 
outcomes. For example, our efforts helped students achieve the 
following:

https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4492714
https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/burke/
https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/burke/


Panel Presentation 111

Religious Heritage
1.1. Demonstrates an ability to identify, describe, analyze, 
and to interpret biblical texts in their literary, historical, 
and multi-religious contexts.
1.2. Demonstrates an ability to identify, describe, and to 
discuss significant periods, persons, and developments 
in the history of the Christian tradition(s).
1.3. Demonstrates an ability to recognize, explain, and to 
critically evaluate major theological themes, issues, and 
perspectives in Christian thought.

Cultural Context
3.1. Demonstrates an ability to work with persons of 
diverse backgrounds, to learn from differences, and to 
articulate one’s own cultural and social perspectives with 
acknowledgment of their limitations. 
3.2. Demonstrates an ability to articulate contextually 
informed and world-engaged theological perspectives.
3.3. Demonstrates an ability to analyze and address 
contemporary ethical issues from Christian and interre-
ligious perspectives.

Capacity For Ministerial And Public Leadership
7.1. Demonstrates development of a professional identity 
that is connected to the student’s abilities, aspirations, 
and faith tradition.
7.2. Demonstrates a theologically and professionally 
informed model and style of ministry within particular 
ministerial contexts.
8.1. Demonstrates interpersonal insight and an ability 
to listen actively, communicate effectively, and to inter-
act with others with honesty, empathy, compassion, and 
respect.
9.1. Demonstrates the ability to represent and lead a 
community or organization in and through public and 
communal contexts such as worship, preaching, congre-
gational pastoral care, public prayer, advocacy, teaching, 
written communication, and/or public speaking.



112  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

During our discussion, we realized that the #LoveInAction 
initiative and the library’s support of it helped students make 
progress toward most of the MDiv learning goals and outcomes. 
The students left with a deeper appreciation of our efforts and 
we left with a deeper commitment to our roles as facilitators, 
teachers, and mentors. The library’s services and collections 
took on greater value and impact. 

Eventually, the “Love Hub” closed, and the materials from it 
were added to the Union archives housed at the Burke Library. 
In addition, we set up a portal whereby students could deposit 
digital materials documenting their activities in the Black Lives 
Matter Movement and #LoveInAction initiative into Union’s 
archives. We talked about whose voices were missing from the 
archives and the importance of making sure those voices are 
represented in the future. 

The #LoveInAction experience prompted me to reflect more 
deeply on student experiences and co-curricular offerings that 
are so very important to the formation and education of students. 
As the Associate Academic Dean, I continue to reflect on these 
matters. For three years, I have led Union’s efforts to assess 
student learning and have collected data on progress toward 
the degree program goals and learning outcomes for our degree 
programs. I participate in midprogram review conferences for 
our MDiv students and talk to students on a regular basis. I have 
learned much from them—their hopes, dreams, and concerns; 
what skills and experience they need as they leave Union. I have 
seen the challenges this generation of students faces—increas-
ing student debt, the need for greater awareness about reason-
able accommodations, and the growing need for support of their 
mental and spiritual health. These are issues that are often not 
addressed in the classroom. I have become more convinced of 
the need for libraries to offer co-curricular activities and other 
means of support for students. 

II. “New Librarianship”

Now more than ever, I am convinced that the library has expe-
rience and expertise to bring to students. This conviction has 
been strengthened by my participation in a MOOC on “New 



Panel Presentation 113

Librarianship” designed by R. David Lankes. “New Librarian-
ship” recasts librarianship and library practice using the funda-
mental concept that knowledge is created though conversation. 
New librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversa-
tion; they “seek to enrich, capture, store, and disseminate the 
conversations of their communities.”1 According to Lankes, “The 
mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating 
knowledge creation in their communities.”2 He revisions librar-
ies from the model of bringing information to the community to 
“pushing knowledge from the community outward.”3 

As I reflect back, I would say that the Burke Library’s support 
of the #LoveInAction initiative is one example of facilitating 
conversations within a community, of connecting people not just 
with materials (in this case, archives), but also with other people 
(in this case, alums). The initiative was about addressing the 
needs of the community. The library’s work helped to “enrich, 
capture, store, and disseminate the conversations” of the Union 
community. Librarians are network builders who strengthen 
communities. In short, we must be the ones who facilitate the 
creation of something new based on the needs of the commu-
nity in which we are located. Often, this means we must leave 
our four walls and embed ourselves within the communities 
that we serve.

Lankes notes that, as librarians, we need to be facilitators of 
conversation. This means bringing people in our communities 
up to speed so that they can participate in conversation, training, 
and knowledge. It means creating environments where people 
feel safe (including physical safety and online privacy). And it 
means motivating people, sparking their curiosity, and creating 
inspiring spaces—physical and virtual. Librarians are tool build-
ers (software, websites, pathfinders, groups/events, repositories, 
etc.), a skill that often brings value to our communities. Librar-
ians are problem-solvers, a trait they often share with admin-
istrators. Librarians are constantly learning and are resources 
and role models for lifelong learning. Think for a moment about 
how much you have learned and changed over the past year or 
two, over the past decade, over your career.

I’d like to conclude with some questions. What is the 



114  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

framework for conversations in our communities? How can we 
revision the library to be at the center of those conversations? 
How can we revision our work as library staff to be facilitators 
of important conversations on our campuses? How do our skill 
sets (project management, interpersonal skills, assessment 
skills, problem solving) equip us to be facilitators and leaders 
in addressing concerns, issues, and problems? What tools do 
our communities need? What are the most pressing needs of our 
communities? I invite you to reconsider the synergies between the 
library and dean’s office, between library staff and administrators, 
and to live into David Lankes’s concept of “new librarianship.” 

ENDNOTES
1 R. David Lankes, “The Atlas of New Librarianship Online,” 

accessed October 28, 2019, https://davidlankes.org/new-librari-
anship/the-atlas-of-new-librarianship-online/.

2 R. David Lankes, “New Librarianship,” accessed May 1, 
2019, https://davidlankes.org/new-librarianship/.

3 R. David Lankes, “Library as Movement,” July 23, 2019, https://
davidlankes.org/library-as-movement/. 

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