Theresa Byrd

Dean, University Library

EdD, University of Virginia
MEd, Virginia Commonwealth University
MLS, North Carolina Central University
BA, Shaw University

Theresa S. Byrd, EdD, is the dean of the University Library at the University of San Diego. She previously served as chief information officer and director of Libraries at Ohio Wesleyan University. Prior to working at Ohio Wesleyan University, Dr. Byrd served as director of Learning Resources at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.

Dr. Byrd is chair of the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium, which was established in 1986 to develop resource-sharing relationships among the libraries of private academic institutions throughout California. She has extensive library consortia experience in California, Ohio, and Virginia.

Dr. Byrd is known for developing the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program from 2002-2007. This mentoring program recruits academic and research librarians to serve as mentors to library school students that have expressed an interest in academic librarianship from the American Library Association’s Spectrum Scholars Initiative, a program designed to recruit and award scholarships to individuals from under-represented ethnic groups.

In December 2014, Dr. Byrd was elected to a three-year term on the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition Steering Committee. She also serves on the Catholic Research Resources Alliance Board. Dr. Byrd has a long history of being active with Association of College and Research Libraries serving twice on the Board of Directors and on the ACRL Executive Committee as chair of the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee. Dr. Byrd was elected to and completed a three-year term on the Online Computer Library Center’s Americas Regional Council. She chaired the Ohionet Board and served on the board for two terms. She is active with the Academic Library Advancement and Development Network and attends the Coalition of Network Information meetings.

Dr. Byrd is the recipient of the Virginia Library Association’s George Mason Award. She was appointed by Virginia’s Governor Wilder to serve on the State Networking Users Advisory Board. Dr. Byrd attended the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians. She speaks about mentoring and emotional intelligence and academic library leaders and other library topics. Dr. Byrd is active in local, national, and international library organizations.