Library Dean Isaac Gilman to Step Down

Isaac Gilman, dean of Pacific University Libraries, has accepted a new position as executive director of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a non-profit consortium of 38 academic libraries in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 

In support of the teaching, learning, and research missions of its members and affiliated libraries across the Northwest, the Alliance manages a shared library system, leads collective resource purchasing, facilitates access to unique and local collections, and coordinates resource sharing services. Pacific University has been a member of the Alliance since the consortium’s founding in 2003.

Gilman will leave Pacific University in December 2023. Transition plans for the Libraries are underway, and more information will be shared in the coming weeks.

“While we will miss Dean Gilman terribly as an engaged and creative colleague, this position represents a tremendous opportunity for him to have even greater impact at Pacific and beyond amongst our regional peers,” said Provost Ann Barr-Gillespie. “The Alliance is fortunate to have Isaac as its next leader.”

Gilman has served as dean of the Libraries for the past six years and has worked in the Pacific Libraries since 2006, following completion of his MLIS at the University of British Columbia. He also received his PhD in Education and Leadership from the Pacific in 2023.

During his tenure at Pacific, Isaac has worked in access services, instruction and research services, and scholarly communication and publishing services, culminating in his appointment as library director in 2016 and promotion to dean in 2018. 

As an access services member, Isaac launched and managed the Libraries’ Hillsboro Campus facility in 2006. As a member of the library faculty, he taught courses in the College of Arts & Sciences and College of Health Professions (CHP), collaborated on information literacy instruction with faculty across CHP, and was instrumental in creating the Libraries’ journal and book publishing services, including the Pacific University Press.

In his role as director and dean, Isaac led collaborations with staff and faculty within the Libraries and across the university to develop policies, practices, and services designed to provide equitable access to information resources and learning for all of Pacific’s students, faculty, and staff. Examples include creating the Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS), designed to expand existing peer tutoring services to all students; his contributions to Pacific’s successful efforts to secure significant federal funding to support student success; and his leadership in promoting adoption of open educational resources at Pacific in support of student affordability and inclusive course materials. 

Gilman has represented Pacific at the regional and national level, serving as president of the Oregon chapter of the Association of College & Research Libraries, as a council member and board chair of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, and as an inaugural board member of the Library Publishing Coalition.

“It has been a great gift to learn and serve alongside my colleagues in the library and across the university over the past 17 years,” Gilman said. “Our community of staff and faculty at Pacific, held together by a shared love for learning and for our students, has given me the freedom to grow and evolve as a person, a scholar, and a leader — as well as the joy of supporting others on their own journeys. And as proud as I am of what we have done together, I am equally confident that what comes next for Pacific will be even better. I’m grateful that I will remain some small part of it, both as an alumnus and through the Alliance.”