Larry Alford, currently vice provost for libraries and university librarian at Temple, will become dean of university libraries, effective Sept. 1, Provost Lisa Staiano-Coico has announced.

“We wanted to recognize the close relationship that exists between the libraries and the academic programs overseen by the deans of the schools and colleges,” said the provost in making the announcement.


“The dean title is also more in keeping with similar titles at many other public, research universities.”

Alford has responsibility for all of Temple's 10 libraries in a federated system that includes the Paley Main Library, the Law Library and the Health Sciences Libraries.

While excited about the change in title, Alford say he is particularly pleased by the tremendous support for the libraries in recent years.

“The enhanced funding that has come from the Board of Trustees and the president has made a huge difference in the support that the libraries can offer to research and teaching at Temple,” said Alford. “It has allowed us to engage the librarians and our resources to become even more integrated into the academic enterprise.”

Before joining the Temple Libraries in February 2005, Alford worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 30 years, and he has extensive experience in library budgeting and management, collection development, licensing, scholarly communication, technology implementation, facilities planning and program planning.

He earned his bachelor's degree in English and master's degree in library science from UNC and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UNC School of Information and Library Science in May 2005.