Nandita Mani has been appointed as the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member representative to the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) Steering Committee for the 2024–2027 term. The ARL Executive Committee approved this appointment on February 15, 2024.
Nandita S. Mani, PhD, is dean of university libraries for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst, where she provides strategic thought leadership and visioning in the areas of information and data literacy; data management and preservation; research and curricular development; and justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in all aspects of contemporary librarianship. Dean Mani provides strategic, administrative, and financial leadership for a complex academic research library at a flagship land-grant institution, including development of a burgeoning special collections research center with a focus on documenting social change and social justice.
In ARL, Mani is a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the committee’s Leadership and Career Development Program (LCDP) Task Force. She served on the 2023 Advocacy and Public Policy Committee, the 2022 Fall Forum Planning Group, and the 2020–2022 Learning Network Committee. She was a 2021–2022 ARL Leadership Fellow.
Two other ARL member representatives serve on the CNI Steering Committee: Lisa R. Carter, university librarian and dean of libraries for the University of Michigan, serving 2022–2025, and Sarah Shreeves, the Alice Sheets Marriott Dean of Libraries for The University of Utah, serving 2023–2026. Representatives serve three-year terms; the CNI Steering Committee meets throughout the year to guide CNI programming and development.
CNI is a joint initiative of ARL and EDUCAUSE that promotes the use of information technology to advance scholarship and education. Over 200 institutions representing higher education, publishing, information technology, scholarly and professional organizations, foundations, and libraries and library organizations make up CNI’s members. Learn more at cni.org.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence, and implement institutional, national, and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
