Karin Wittenborg, University Librarian, and Diane Parr Walker, Deputy University Librarian at the University of Virginia Library and Co-Principal Investigators of the Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI), announced today that Richard E. Lucier will step down as director of SCI, and that Abby Smith, currently senior advisor to SCI, will become Director, effective April 10, 2009. Bethany Nowviskie, currently SCI program associate, will become Associate Director.

Richard Lucier founded the Institute in 2003, together with Deanna Marcum, and under his leadership, SCI has worked to advance scholarly communication through annual summer Institutes and working with and advising Institute participants throughout the year.  Lucier has actively advised SCI participants in the development of EthicShare, the Architecture Visual Resources Network (recently launched as SAHARA), and the Online Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

“It has been a professional and personal joy to work with Richard Lucier over the past several years,” Wittenborg said.  “He has a keen understanding of how scholars work and what they want to accomplish.  His leadership has been a catalyst for individual scholars and for scholarly societies.  Abby Smith and Bethany Nowviskie share Richard’s focus on scholarship and will ensure the important work of SCI continues successfully.”

Walker agrees:  “Together, Richard, Abby, and Bethany have provided excellent and clear-sighted leadership to SCI.  While we will miss working with Richard, we know that Abby and Bethany are equally committed to the ongoing success of SCI.”

Abby Smith is a historian and consulting analyst with special interest in the creation, preservation, and use of the cultural record in a variety of media; the impact of digital information technologies on cultural heritage institutions; and the evolving role of information as a public good.  Formerly director of programs at the Council on Library and Information Resources, she has been with the Institute since its inception, and served as senior advisor since 2006:  “I look forward to leading the Scholarly Communication Institute at this promising juncture in the evolution of the humanities, when scholars are embracing new technologies in imaginative ways to advance research and share it more broadly. Richard has set a clear course for SCI, focused on collaborative actions that serve scholarship broadly and change not just the work we do, but, just as importantly, the way that we work.”

In addition to her role as associate director of SCI, Bethany Nowviskie is Director of Digital Research & Scholarship at the University of Virginia Library.  She holds a doctoral degree in English from the University of Virginia and has taught courses in literature, bibliography, and new media aesthetics and design.  Nowviskie has been active in the digital humanities since 1995.

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With initial three-year funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI) began in 2003 with the overall goal of providing an opportunity for leaders in scholarly disciplines, academic libraries, advanced technologies, and higher education administration to study, develop, and implement creative and innovative strategies to advance scholarly communication in the context of the ongoing digital revolution.  Extended by the Mellon Foundation for an additional six years, SCI has most recently focused on Architectural History (2006); on Visual Studies (2007); and in 2008 on models and strategies for national “centers of excellence” in humanities scholarship. The upcoming Institute at the University of Virginia Library in 2009 will explore the use of geospatial technologies in the humanities. Future sessions in 2010 and 2011 will further explore the integration of multimedia into emerging areas of inquiry.

SCI is directed by Abby Smith and advised by a Steering Committee, whose members are leaders in the academic, digital humanities, and research library communities.

A full PDF version of this press release is available here: SCI Transitions.