Interview with Mr. Kendall Crilly: Associate University Librarian, Program Development and Research, Yale University.

This was a 35 minute interview; I have edited portions for clarity.

What led you to pursue a profession in an academic library and how did you enter the Yale University library system?

 Well, as an undergraduate, I never used the library system.  In 1985, when I started a Master’s degree in the Yale School of Music, I worked on a project inventorying 150 musical scores.  That summer I continued working in the Sterling Library on a project inventorying the old card catalogues.  In the spring of 1986, I was taking a class with Harold Samuel called, “Research in Additions” taught at the School of Music.  This professor was exciting, leading me to rethink my future career as an organist.  So, I took a year off from my studies and worked in the Sterling Library, mostly in clerical functions.  I began a MS.LIS. Degree at Southern Connecticut State University, taking courses at night.  In 1988, I began working full-time in the Sterling Library at the Circulations Desk.

What are your core responsibilities and how many support staff report to you?

I have direct line reports of 8, with a total of 69 staff.  The lines which report directly to me are 1) Access Services, 2) Document Delivery with is an inter-Ivy League direct borrowing program, 3) Half of the technology unit, 4) Director of Research Education, 5) Usability and Assessment, 6) Historical Sound Archives, 7) Oral History of American Music, and 8) Broader circulation and access for other libraries, such as Bass Library (undergraduate library).

Here is the University Library Org Chart:

www.library.yale.edu/lhr/aboutus/orgchart1.doc

President Levin stated "When we did our first-phase renovations of the Payne Whitney Gym and Sterling Library more than a decade ago, it was very important to me [laughs] that the budget for the library be just a little more than the budget for the gym! And today, the library budget remains more than double that of the athletics department." (Lassila, K. D. (2010).  q&a: rick levin. Yale Alumni Magazine 74(1),  29.).  How do President's Levin's recent comments support the strategic goal of Yale's libraries?

President Levin’s statement confirms that our Libraries are held in high esteem.  Our University Librarian, Frank Turner, defines our mission as to be “the #1 service institution to support the teaching and research mission of Yale University”.  This places the Library in an enviable position.  A breakdown of the library budget shows 47% comes directly from the University, 45% comes from endowments and historical funding, the remainder, 8% comes from grants and contracts.

What are some of the challenges you face at the Sterling Library?

The Sterling Library is a Gothic structure, built in 1931.  Our biggest challenge is to get the students back into the library.  We have remodeled the main reading room, moved out all of the card catalogues and opened up some really beautiful spaces within the alcoves and reading rooms in the library.  We have fashioned a committee to re-purpose the space so that it will be found attractive to our students.

What do you think is the future of digital libraries?

All of our libraries have electronic databases.  We are in the process of digitizing the works housed in the Beinecke Library, which houses our rare collections.  We have a committee working on integrating the libraries into the broader community.  I’ll give you an example.  If was teaching a course on 17^th Century Western music and I wanted a real cool audio-visual presentation, I could go to the Beinecke, take some images of old sheet music, then I could go to the Music Library and get some images of old instruments, and then go to the Sterling databases to find collections of different texts used. However, as you know, the campus is so spread out that this would discourage most Professors from engaging in this exhausting activity.  So, we are working on integrating our collections to be accessible from disparate locations within the University Library System. 

When assessing candidates to join the library system, what skills, capabilities and core competencies do you look for in an individual?

This is a question that if you asked five of our librarians, you would get six different answers (laughs).  For me, I look for someone with an MLS degree, understands the technology and would preferably have a second advanced degree.  This person must possess excellent interpersonal communication skills, have upside potential, is intellectually curious, is passionate about a subject and has managerial ambition.  For a level 3, 4 or 5 librarian, I would need to see managerial experience and excellent writing skills.

Other than having the second largest academic collection of volumes (~12.5M), what do you like most about being a Yale University librarian?

This is easy, my colleagues.  When I started in the library, my colleagues were helpful.  When I would call them for help, they would say, “I haven’t met you yet, but how can I help you?”  This atmosphere is pervasive throughout our library system.  If I may add, I love the buildings, the rarity of the collections (sometimes Beinecke houses the only copy of a particular book in existence!), but the colleagues are what I like the most.

After reflecting upon my experience with Mr. Crilly, I saw three opportunities in the interview, one of them being the problem with "re-purposing" the space in the Gothic cathedral and the second being the "interoperability" issue with the digital libraries. The third opportunity, I left out of the transcript because I hope to use it as a carrot for getting an internship.