The University of California (UC), Santa Barbara has appointed Todd Grappone as their next university librarian, effective July 1, 2025. Todd succeeds Kristin Antelman, who retired in July 2024 after serving as university librarian for six years. Alan Grosenheider has served as interim university librarian since August 1, 2024.
Todd Grappone is currently an associate university librarian (AUL) at UCLA Library, where he has served since 2010. In this position, he is responsible for leadership, management, and policy and planning for multiple enterprise- and system-wide departments and leadership groups. He has led planning efforts such as developing the Research Data Roadmap, and serving on a select committee to develop the new UCLA Strategic Plan.
Todd has served in a number of leadership roles at UCLA, including AUL for Digital Initiatives and Information Technology, Research, and Development. In 2023, he became interim AUL for Collections, the Data Science Center, and Resource Acquisitions & Metadata Services, which includes oversight of Scholarly Communications.
At UCLA, Todd has developed global cultural heritage preservation programs such as the Modern Endangered Archives Program, the International Digital Ephemera Project, and the Sinai Palimpsest Project, which used cutting-edge imaging technologies to reveal texts not seen for centuries. Most recently, he built a project to preserve damaged medieval manuscripts in hidden collections in Europe.
Previously, Todd served in library and IT leadership roles at Stanford University School of Medicine, the University of Southern California, and Occidental College in Los Angeles. Todd holds a master of science degree in library and information technology from the University of Pittsburgh.
