About the Program

The NC State University Libraries Fellows Program offers new librarians a three-year appointment during which you develop expertise in a functional area and contribute to an initiative of strategic importance. Fellows perform as entry-level librarians with their time during the first 18 months being divided between a home department and an initiative of strategic importance in another area. The second 18 months will typically focus on areas that have emerged over the course of the Fellowship, taking into consideration both the Libraries’ needs and the professional interests and goals of the Fellow.

Over the course of three years, the Fellows assignments provide the opportunity for Fellows to contribute and lead in areas of strategic importance while also providing concrete, foundational, innovative opportunities for Fellows to interact with librarians from other departments and achieve at a professional level.

Each year, the Libraries’ departments submit proposals for potential Fellows assignments related to the Libraries’ major initiatives. Fellows have played central roles in many of the Libraries’ signature efforts such as the Makerspace and Virtual Reality initiatives, Wolf Tales (campus oral histories), the Alt-Textbook Project (open educational resources), data security and analytics, and large-scale visualizations.

The Libraries recognizes that self-determination is an important consideration. During the interview process, candidates learn about the Libraries’ departments and initiatives. Candidates are given the opportunity to indicate their preferences for department and initiative assignments. The Libraries makes offers of employment that consider those preferences. 

A Culture of Collaboration

The Libraries' Fellows Advisory Committee works with current and past Fellows to coordinate and guide regular professional development and social engagement opportunities. They also provide a framework for the Fellows to interact informally and to develop a supportive peer network in the other nearby Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) libraries and within the profession.

Fellows' assignments put them in regular contact with the Libraries' department heads, and scheduled activities bring the Fellows together with the Senior Vice Provost & Director of Libraries and other leaders within the organization. The Senior Vice Provost & Director of Libraries hosts a luncheon series for Fellows allowing an informal exchange plus opportunities to meet with campus leaders. 

Several Fellows are hired each year, resulting in a cohort experience for each class. The Fellows Program has been in existence for over twenty years, with more than ninety total participants. This ever-growing list of former Fellows is yet another professional network to be accessed by those entering the program.

Your Success is Our Success

The NC State University Libraries Fellows Program has been a resounding success. In each year since the program's inception, the Fellows have been selected from a diverse pool of highly qualified candidates. Ninety-five percent of Fellows have been offered academic positions or have entered doctoral programs upon completion of the program. Former Fellows have gone on to hold positions at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Washington, Duke University, University of British Columbia, UC San Francisco, and North Carolina State University. Many former Fellows have been recognized more widely in the field, including six named as Library Journal Movers and Shakers, adding to the reputation of the Program as a training ground for library leaders.

The NC State University Libraries

The NC State University Libraries is well known for its digital research and learning initiatives, technological advances such as immersive visualization, support for open scholarship, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, public engagement with research, and commitment to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion—all of which help to redefine the future of librarianship.

The award-winning James B. Hunt Jr. Library on NC State’s Centennial Campus offers access to advanced technologies that are enabling revolutionary ways to see and use information. Capturing NC State’s spirit of innovation in education and research, the Hunt Library is recognized as one of the world’s most creative and inspirational learning and collaborative spaces and a model for “the library of the future.” The D. H. Hill Jr. Library, serving the main campus, combines the best of tradition and innovation, housing special collections and a beautiful gallery alongside vibrant, experiential spaces for making, digital media creation, data analysis and visualization, and collaboration. In addition to these two "main libraries," three branch libraries—the Harrye B. Lyons Design Library, the Natural Resources Library, and the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Library of Veterinary Medicine—provide additional support for their respective academic programs.

The NC State University Libraries has been recognized with numerous national and international awards, including the first Association of College and Research Libraries Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, the ACRL Librarian of the Year Award; the Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries and the American Institute of Architects/American Library Association Building Award for the Hunt Library; the National Medal for Museum and Library Service; two John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Awards; and Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year, Paraprofessional of the Year, and 14 Movers and Shakers awards. The library system consists of the D. H. Hill Jr. Library, the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, and branch libraries for design, natural resources, and veterinary medicine. With a staff of more than 250 FTE, the Libraries has over 3.4 million titles in its collection and has a total annual budget of $30 million. The Libraries is the host site for NC LIVE, a multi-type library initiative making digital resources accessible to North Carolina residents.

The NC State University Libraries has a longstanding commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and to the creation of a welcoming and inclusive service ethic and environment. The Libraries collections also reflect this commitment, from focused collecting efforts across disciplines to locating, capturing, and preserving the voices of underrepresented communities through archival research and practice. The Libraries has acted to increase diversity in the profession through the NC State University Libraries Fellows program; participation in ARL’s diversity initiatives; and membership in the ACRL Diversity Alliance. The Libraries’ Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Committee sponsors many programs and fosters dialogue to promote understanding across racial and cultural lines in an atmosphere where all students, faculty, and staff are welcomed, valued, and respected.

The Libraries is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Digital Library Federation, the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Council for Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), and the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN).