‘E.C.’ Shroeder named new head of Beinecke Library

At the turn of the new year, the staff members at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library welcomed their new leader — who also happens to be a very familiar face.

President Richard C. Levin announced the appointment of Edwin C. Schroeder as librarian of the Beinecke and associate university librarian on Dec. 20. Schroeder’s five-year term was effective Jan. 1.

Known to all as “E.C.,” Schroeder “brings an impressive breadth of rare book and managerial experience to his new position,” noted Levin.

Schroeder came to Yale in 1989 to work with the Rare Book Team as a catalogue librarian at Sterling Memorial Library, and since then has held positions of increasing responsibility at the Beinecke Library. Since June 2004, he has been head of technical services for the Beinecke, where, working closely with curators and the Beinecke librarian, he has set priorities and managed acquisition, cataloguing, conservation, archival processing and digital projects for the library.

Through his work with staff across the Beinecke, changes in cataloguing have expanded access to the collections, and publicity and improved digital access have increased where and how scholars learn about the renowned collections found at the library. His notable achievements include collaborating with the University Library to enhance the cataloguing of the Beinecke’s collections of Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese manuscripts, and increasing collaborations with national and international library consortia that have made the Beinecke’s collections more well known internationally. In addition, he has overseen efforts that have dramatically improved digital access to the library’s collections and enabled the opening of two new off-site processing facilities, which have improved productivity.

“Colleagues have praised E.C.’s intimate knowledge of both the collections and the workings of the Beinecke, his technological savvy, and his thoughtful administrative style,” said Levin. “The Beinecke will continue to concentrate on its core responsibilities of acquiring, describing, preserving and providing access to world-renowned collections, as well as expanding efforts to digitize the collections.

“As Beinecke Librarian, E.C. looks forward to building on Frank Turner’s accomplishments and to working closely with colleagues in the Beinecke and across the University to expand ways in which students and scholars at Yale and from around the world use the collections to improve scholarship,” Levin added.

Shroeder earned a .BA. in history at the College of the Holy Cross in 1988 and an M.S. in library science at the University of Illinois,-Urbana-Champaign in 1989. He is active in a number of professional library organizations, and he has held numerous leadership positions, including chair of the Rare Books & Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACR). He is also a member of the ACRL budget and finance committee, the American Library Association’s representative to the Rare Book & Manuscript Section of the International Federation of Library Associations, and Yale’s liaison to the Consortium of European Research Libraries. At Yale, his committee work ranges from chairing the University Library Travel Committee and the Map Cataloguing Planning Group to serving on the Adrian Van Sinderen Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize Committee.

“In a field that included outstanding internal candidates, several of whom are respected senior scholars, E.C. was the unanimous choice of the search committee,” said Levin.” Special thanks go to committee chair Pericles Lewis for his indefatigable work and steady counsel throughout the process. I am deeply grateful for the effort and advice of the others who served on the committee: Rolena Adorno, Meg Bellinger, John Mack Faragher, Paul Freedman, Brian Lizotte, Joseph Manning, R. Kenny Marone, Douglas Rae, Holly Rushmeier, Lloyd Suttle and Christine Weideman.”