Dr. Beth McNeil, Dean of Purdue Libraries

In November 2022, Dr. Beth McNeil, Dean of Libraries and School of Information Studies and Esther Ellis Norton Professor of Library Science, and Rebecca Richardson, Associate Dean for Collections and Access, had the honor of representing Purdue University at “La transformación digital en bibliotecas 4.0” (Libraries and the 4th Revolution), an international symposium at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL), Medellín campus. This special event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Efe Gómez Library and included representatives from university libraries across Latin America. 

The symposium focused on transforming paradigms in academic research libraries, with an emphasis on digital evolutions. For two days, attendees enjoyed presentations on makerspaces, app development, research services and technologies, artificial intelligence, and information analytics. As keynote speaker, Dean McNeil opened the symposium with “Data Science and Other Digital Initiatives: Purdue Libraries,” a presentation and discussion on the growing demand and value of data science at Purdue. The day before the symposium, McNeil and Richardson met with a small group of librarians to discuss potential collaborations, trends in academic libraries, and transformative agreements between university libraries and academic publishers. 

“It was an honor to be invited to speak at the symposium,” Dean McNeil said. “UNAL and the Efe Gómez Library are industry leaders in Latin America, and they share our vision for transformation and innovation in the academic research library space. It has been invaluable to gain a cross-cultural perspective in Colombia. We share a dedication to accessibility, digital resources, open access publishing, and a commitment to data science and information literacy education. I hope that all attendees left energized for future discussions and collaborations. I certainly did.”