Northwestern University Libraries

06/30/2026

Xuemao Wang will step down as Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian and dean of Libraries at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

During his time at Northwestern Libraries, Wang has pursued a vision to make the library a dynamic nexus fostering innovation in learning, research, scholarship, and creativity. His major accomplishments include the renovation of the iconic Deering Library, instituting AI-enabled digital scholarship programs, and launching the Northwestern Data Library.

A search for Wang’s successor will begin at a later date. Full story at the link.

As Libraries dean, Wang leads more than 170 faculty and staff, and administers the University Library, Deering Library, Seeley G. Mudd Library and the Oak Grove Library Center in Waukegan. He also oversees the Northwestern University Press and manages shared services with the law, medical and Northw...

04/29/2026

four poets shared their works today at a reading in the book nook.

happy to all the poets and artists!!

04/20/2026

Faculty! Win a free library tshirt!

This year's Research Impact Challenge kicks off this week. Complete four self-paced challenges or catch a research metrics workshop with the library to increase the impact and reach of your scholarship—plus, win a library t-shirt.

Keeping track of your scholarship and metrics helps you demonstrate the impact of your research on communities from within and outside your discipline, saves time in the long run, and raises the profile of Northwestern as a whole.

Visit the link in our bio or https://libguides.northwestern.edu/ResearchImpactChallenge to get started.

04/10/2026

Displaying Empire: Britain’s Visual Encounter in India is a student-curated exhibit now on display in the entrance hall of University Library.

Curating Displaying Empire involved a combination of independent research and collaborative work by the students of Professor Yuthika Sharma's museum seminar Art History 395, culminating in the physical exhibit and a digital companion site.

The East India Company began as a mercantile corporation, chartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, to expand trade in commodities such as spices, cotton, tea, and silk. By the eighteenth century, the Company became a militarized governing presence driven by resource extraction. The Company’s stronghold in India attracted professional and amateur British artists, some of whom were part of its military and administrative network. Others, seeking to further their careers, traveled in India extensively, often relying on the support of local experts to record their impressions.

The Indian artist of this painting of a seamstress or embroiderer on a laminated silicate mica sheet is now unknown.

(shout out to our brilliant for beautifully mounting the plastic facsimile for the exhibit)

04/07/2026

"Research takes one in unexpected directions: follow them!"

Faith Magiera '27 presented her prize-winning research using archival collections this afternoon. Thank you to Faith and to Professor of English and Gender & Sexuality Studies Jeffrey Masten for sharing the value of serendipity in research.

Magiera's research project, composed originally for Masten's course English 339: Studies in Shakespeare, drew in part upon a book of plays by the Roman playwright Seneca. The paper was one of the winners for the inaugural Undergraduate Archival Research Project Prize.

03/31/2026

Join 2025 winner Faith Magiera (’27) and Jeffrey Masten, Professor of English and Gender & Sexuality Studies, for a lunchtime conversation to learn more about the research process and the power of engaging students in rare book and archival research. All are welcome!

A pop-up exhibit of related materials from the McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives will be on view.