Carol Smith (Courtesy: University of Kansas)

A Colorado librarian who wants to turn historic Watson Library into a true campus hub and gathering space has been named the next dean of libraries at the University of Kansas.

Carol E. Smith, university librarian for at the Colorado School of Mines, has been selected to oversee KU’s system of libraries and help reimagine their structure and purposes.

“Physical libraries matter more than ever in the digital age because people learn from each other through conversation, and libraries are spaces that bring people together in a spirit of shared learning,” Smith said in a KU press release. “The prospect of renovating the truly iconic Watson Library into a campus hub for dynamic knowledge exchange attracted me to this role and is a great opportunity for all Jayhawks.”

Smith replaces replaces Kevin Smith, who announced in June that he would resign as KU library dean to take a similar position at Colby College. Scott Hanrath and Beth Whittaker have been serving as co-interim deans for the library system for the past nine months.

Carol Smith said she wants to help KU libraries become not just a knowledge service provider, but rather more of a full-fledged partner in academic and research activities.

“The feedback from our community members highlighted Carol’s visionary approach to ‘librarycrafting’ and her ability to understand and fulfill user needs,” Barbara Bichelmeyer, provost and executive vice chancellor, said in a KU release.

Smith is coming to KU at a time when the university is in the planning stages of a potential $40 million renovation of Watson Library, which is the general library on the Lawrence campus. As the Journal-World reported in April 2022, KU received approval from the Kansas Board of Regents to add the library project to its five-year capital improvement plan. At the time, KU leaders said the building was due for a major interior renovation. The building will turn 100 years old in 2024.

Smith became a librarian in 2004, after moving away from a career in the oil industry and the information services industry. Prior to serving at the Colorado School of Mines, Smith served as library director at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, and as an associate professor of library serves at the University of Central Missouri.

Smith has master’s degrees in library and information science from Drexel University, and did her undergraduate work at Binghamton University.

She will begin at KU on July 3.