Dracine Hodges, Associate University Librarian for Technical Services, has been selected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) as a 2021-22 Leadership Fellow.
The ARL Leadership Fellows program develops and prepares the next generation of senior library and archival leaders “to meet present and future challenges.” Selection is highly competitive. Past Leadership Fellows have emerged as successful leaders in a wide array of roles and settings, including as deans and directors of research libraries and archives and as leaders at all levels in various organizations.
The program will run from January through December 2022, during which time fellows will guided through a rigorous curriculum designed to enhance leadership skills, including a 360-degree assessment, individualized mentoring, team projects, site visits to peer institutions, and monthly sessions on different aspects of leading complex organizations.
According to ARL, the 2021-22 cohort of 20 Leadership Fellows brings together a diverse and highly accomplished group of library leaders, “representing the broadest range of research institutions and communities in the history of the Leadership Fellows program.”
Hodges is a member of Duke University Libraries’ senior leadership team. She provides administrative leadership for technical services, which supports the collections lifecycle and includes oversight of Conservation Services, Continuing Resource Acquisitions, Metadata & Discovery Strategy, Monograph Acquisitions, and Resource Description. Prior to coming to Duke in 2016, Hodges was a tenured Associate Professor and Head of the Acquisitions Department at The Ohio State University. She received her Masters in Library and Information Science from Florida State University and BA in English from Wesleyan College. Hodges regularly represents and manages aspects of Duke’s engagement with the Triangle Research Library Network as a member of the Advisory Council and the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation as a member of the Technical Services Group. She is also an elected member of the international FOLIO Project’s Community Council and was recently appointed to HathiTrust’s Program Steering Committee.
“I am delighted and grateful for this wonderful opportunity,” said Hodges. “I look forward to engaging with the rich curriculum, collaborating with the community of fellows, and learning from knowledgeable experts across higher education. My hope is that this experience will help me be a better, braver leader with core values that keep me self-aware and deserving of organizational trust.”
Two other members of the Libraries’ leadership team—Timothy McGeary and Naomi L. Nelson—have been through the program previously. In addition, library colleagues at UNC-Chapel Hill (Nandita Mani) and North Carolina State (Jill Sexton) were also selected as fellows this year, representing the Research Triangle well in the prestigious program.