Why Libraries Need to Demonstrate Value to University Administration
Sponsored by Taylor & Francis
Recorded on 08/06/2025
Posted in The Authority File
Episode 436
Librarians know the library plays an essential role on campus. Intersecting with research, technology, student success, and more, the library bolsters key areas of student and faculty life—but is the library as adept at explaining its services as it is at providing them?
In this four-part series, we dig into why libraries must demonstrate their value to university administrators to secure funding needs and establish their place as an instrumental sector of campus life and university success. We’ll investigate how the library can align its mission with the university’s, why libraries need to “lift the curtain” on the behind-the-scenes work they do to provide resources, and the importance of adding context to library metrics to better tell your library’s story. Discussion also includes connecting to library donors and the challenges of demonstrating value in today’s political environment.
In this first episode, we meet our guests: Jeffrey Gold, President of the University of Nebraska System, Hilary Craiglow, Library Consulting Practice Lead at Attain Partners, and Emily McElroy, Vice President of Academic Relations at Taylor & Francis. First, they jump into the urgency of this work, highlighting the importance of libraries connecting their own metrics to the university’s data-driven decision-making. In addition, Jeff, Hilary, and Emily elucidate why libraries may struggle to illustrate their fundamental services, underlining issues like campus culture and a lack of training in strategic planning. Further, our guests share how communication tactics between the library and campus leadership have shifted—while libraries need a seat at the table with leadership, they also need to be able to communicate within the terms of a business model and justifying sustainable investments.
About the guests:
Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D
President
University of Nebraska System
Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., became the ninth president of the University of Nebraska System on July 1, 2024, following a national search by the Board of Regents. As president, Gold leads a four-campus university system that enrolls nearly 50,000 students and employs 16,000 faculty and staff on campuses in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney, plus academic divisions and research and extension centers across the state. He serves as chief spokesman and chief executive officer for the system, which operates on a $3 billion annual budget and includes a flagship Big Ten institution, a world-renowned academic health sciences center, Division I athletics programs, and preeminent institutes focused on water and agriculture, national security and defense, infectious disease and early childhood education.
He is a nationally recognized higher education and health care leader and advocate. He was the chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and board chair for the Nebraska Medicine Health System from 2014 to 2024. In July 2021, Dr. Gold was named the Provost and Executive Vice President of the University of Nebraska System in addition to his ongoing UNMC/Nebraska Medicine responsibilities. From May 2017 through June 2021, Dr. Gold served as the chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the state’s only public metropolitan university—a role he held concurrently with being UNMC’s chancellor.
He holds tenured faculty appointments in UNMC’s College of Medicine and in the College of Public Health, where his research interests in health care policy, population health and epidemiology are concentrated. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 350 national presentations, 40 books and chapters and engaged in over 300 invited professorships and keynote presentations.
Dr. Gold is a first-generation student; he graduated from the Cornell University College of Engineering with a bachelor’s degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He earned his M.D. from the Weill Cornell College of Medicine and completed his general surgery residency at The New York–Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He completed his cardiothoracic surgical fellowship training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, with additional training in pediatric cardiac surgery at the Boston Children’s Hospital, both of the Harvard Medical School.
Hilary Craiglow
Library Consulting Practice Lead
Attain Partners
Hilary Craiglow leads library consulting at Attain Partners, a higher education consulting firm. With a deep commitment to libraries, she partners with universities to strengthen financial positioning, integrate data-informed assessments, and align library operations with institutional goals. With extensive experience leading academic and research libraries, Hilary has a deep understanding of college and university systems. She is a strategic and visionary administrator, melding rich library traditions with innovative, forward-thinking services. As a data- and mission-driven leader, she employs proven evaluation and assessment methods and creates organizational transformation through empathy and partnership.
Emily McElroy
Vice President of Academic Relations
Taylor & Francis
Emily McElroy is the Vice President of Academic Relations at Taylor & Francis. In this newly created role, Emily is deepening T&F’s partnerships with academic libraries and institutions across the Americas. She brings a wealth of experience from roles at research libraries and associations over 25 years, including senior leadership positions. McElroy was Dean of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she helped create the Wigton Heritage Center. She has worked in library leadership roles at institutions such as the University of Florida, Oregon Health & Science University, and New York University.
Enjoy the conversation? Listen to the rest of the series:
- Aligning the Library’s Mission with the University through Campus Partnerships and Metrics
- Communicating the Library’s Value to Partners, Leadership, and Donors
- Proving the Library’s Value in Today’s Higher Education Landscape
Check out our previous series with Taylor & Francis:
– Data Sharing in the Humanities and Social Sciences
– Introducing Our Guests and the Goals of Open Research
– Publisher-Library Discussions on OA and the Challenges of Author Charges
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