Librarian of Virginia

Dennis T. Clark
Librarian of Virginia

Dennis serves as the 10th Librarian of Virginia, directing the state library and archives of the Library of Virginia (LVA). LVA is one of the oldest agencies of Virginia government, founded in 1823 to preserve and provide access to the state's incomparable printed and manuscript holdings. The collection, which has grown steadily through the years, is the most comprehensive resource in the world for the study of Virginia history, culture, and government.

Dennis previously held positions at the Library of Congress and several university research libraries. During his time at the Library of Congress, Dennis created a new service model and organization for researcher-focused services, ultimately founding a new division of Researcher Engagement & General Collections, which included stewardship of the historic Main and Adams Reading Rooms.

Prior to his appointment at the Library of Congress, Dennis was Dean of Libraries (as a tenured professor) at the University of Arkansas. He has served as an Associate University Librarian over research, learning, and spaces at both Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the University of Virginia (UVA).

Dennis has extensive experience in library facilities, being deeply involved in programing, design, and/or construction for over $175 million in library capital projects at Vanderbilt, Texas A&M University, VCU, UVA, and Arkansas. In particular, the new library addition and renovation at VCU earned Library Journal’s “New Landmark Library” designation in 2016.

He was an Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Leadership Fellow for 2016-2017 and was a member of the library leadership team when VCU Libraries became the first US library in 15 years to be offered membership in ARL. Earlier, he managed public services at Texas A&M University Libraries, where he earned tenure in 2010. He has extensive experience as a music librarian and served as Director of the Wilson Music Library and Lecturer of Music Bibliography at Vanderbilt University. In that role, he co-founded its Global Music Archive - a streaming collection of traditional music - and conducted fieldwork in Uganda. He has published the evolving intersections of library services and technology in Library Review, Library Hi-Tech, Performance Measurement and Metrics, Collection Building, and the Journal of Library Administration. He speaks and consults regularly on the role of services and spaces in libraries.

Dennis holds an MLIS from The University of Alabama and a bachelor’s degree in music from Samford University.