Last Updated on February 2, 2026, 10:33 am ET
Elizabeth Cowell retired from the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz at the end of 2025 after 18 years at the institution. ARL caught up with Elizabeth about all that brought her to this point in the interview that follows.
Sam: Could you tell me how you got started in librarianship?
Elizabeth: I graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a bachelor’s of philosophy in 1990. My first job out of college was as the development coordinator for the League of Women Voters of Illinois in Chicago, where I grew up. One of the first things I noticed was that their databases were really flawed. People don’t give money when you get their names wrong! So I asked if I could work with a consultant to fix them. There was an organization at the time called the Illinois Association of Nonprofit Organizations; the director had a library degree and it was the first time I heard about the degree. I’d never worked in libraries, I was an avid user of libraries my whole life, but never really knew what it took to be a librarian, and I have to say, a light bulb turned on. I thought, I’m moving, I’m doing that. The database was a success, by the way, and within one year, we increased donations by 30 percent. It wasn’t just the database, but that was a real win.
I went to library school at the University of Illinois and at the time, they had great research and graduate assistantships. I got a call from the university librarian’s office who wanted to interview me. I thought, “Well, what is that? Aren’t they all university librarians?” I didn’t even know what that meant. I ended up working for Robert Wedgeworth, who I’m sure is well known in the ARL and international library world, and he used to say, “You should be an administrator.”
I wasn’t interested because I fell in love with government documents and the Federal Depository Library Program that fit in with my belief that knowledge is power. If people are going to be able to cast informed ballots and be informed citizens, they need to have free access to information. We shouldn’t have to pay again and again. This philosophy guided my whole career. I worked for 15 years as a government documents librarian. My first job was at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico, not far from Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.
I moved from there to Madison, Wisconsin, where I was the regional depository librarian at the Historical Society of Wisconsin. And then I got recruited out to the University of California system in 1998, and never looked back. I’ve been in California ever since. I spent six years at UC San Diego, moved to Stanford, and then UC Santa Cruz.
Sam: What are some highlights of your career?
Elizabeth: I worked at very different institutions where I could really get behind advocating for the collections and the public’s right to know. I was at Illinois when Mosaic was released, the first web-based interface to the internet, and, we all thought, “Hmm, this could change things.” In the gov docs world, it really was about how to preserve digital government documents. At Stanford, I had an amazing experience working with Vicky Reich and the LOCKSS program (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) and Chuck Eckman who was my boss. We started the LOCKSS-Docs pilot together, where we enlisted librarians nationally to preserve in this distributed way, to protect them and provide perpetual access.
I was living in Santa Cruz when Ginny Steel was hired as university librarian at UCSC. She did not hire me once at UC San Diego but I kept in touch, so when she came to Santa Cruz I reached out to her, and she said, “I’m going to post an associate university librarian for public services job, you should think about it.” At the time, I had a two-year-old son, and by the time the job was posted I also had a one-year-old daughter, and really was concerned about work-life balance. When I interviewed I told her that I was concerned about that balance. She said something that changed my life: that everybody has a life outside of work and that life outside of work is more important. That has guided my administrative philosophy since then. And I feel because of that, I’ve been able to hire amazing people with all kinds of lives outside of work, who appreciate that acknowledgement. I have to say that I’m so thankful to Ginny for saying that and meaning it.
Sam: Right, and not everyone shares that philosophy.
Elizabeth: Not everybody shares it and I’ve had that experience of people not sharing it that did not have a great impact on my life. When Ginny left UCSC in 2013 I took over as interim university librarian. I had a year to try it out and I decided in the end that I did want the permanent position. I was successful in the national search for university librarian.
Another highlight of my career has been fundraising success. From my early days at the League of Women Voters I felt that if you really believe in the mission of the organization, donors will be able to feel that, they see it, and they will want to be involved. And that has been the case. I raised quite a bit of money to renovate the Science & Engineering library, which was actually a controversial project because we deaccessioned a large part of the print collection that had not been used in years. Something that I have noticed over my years is that the nostalgia factor is strong on campuses, and changing library spaces and services can be controversial. I was successful in raising money to renovate that library with a vision of supporting student success, and to date, it is the largest donor-funded capital project on campus and the students love it. I’m really proud of that.
And then, finally, I would say that, through all of the changes from 1994 to now, I learned that we have to meet users where they are. We can’t assume that we have all the answers. This user-centered focus has really guided us as an organization through what has basically been constant budget reductions. Now we have a process and a staff that knows that we can learn from failure. It’s okay to take a risk, experiment, innovate because things are going to change. I’m really proud of the unique culture that we’ve been able to build at UC Santa Cruz and the impactful programs we have been able to create like the Centers for Digital Scholarship, Archival Research and Training, and innovative approaches to research, teaching, and access to content.
Well, I should also say as a highlight, we got into ARL!
Sam: That’s a good one!
Elizabeth: That was a great accomplishment, and something campus constituents assumed we would never be able to do. This came up when we were deaccessioning the print collection at the Science & Engineering Library: “Oh, you’re removing volumes, now we’ll never get in,” but that wasn’t the case, because ARL has changed with the times and has different metrics to look at when they’re considering new members.
Sam: What are some goals that you may not have quite reached?
Elizabeth: I joined UCSC in 2008, in July, at the moment the economy crashed. In the 18 years since, the library budget has been cut too deeply. The faculty and the campus community have been, at times, reactive to things that we have stopped, rather than seeing the big picture of our budget situation. This is a dynamic to date that I have not been able to change. When this kind of service-by-service reaction happens, there’s not holistic engagement with the change in what libraries are actually doing and how we can be impactful given the budget we have. I really hope that the advocacy I’ve done over the years at least has made some difference.
Sam: Yeah. I’m sure it has made a difference.
Elizabeth: Well, I hope so.
Sam: Do you have advice for those aspiring to leadership in research libraries?
Elizabeth: I always think of myself as an accidental administrator. I didn’t set out to do this but I actually loved it. I feel honored to be able to advocate for the people that work at University Library at UC Santa Cruz and our campus community. It requires a deep understanding that it’s not about you. Administrators are really of service to the organization that they work for. I think also deeply understanding your mission unifies the organization in a way that allows you to be strategic, rather than just doing all the things, the latest thing, the shiny new things. You have to ask what does that mean for us here? Is it in service of our mission? Again, I would say promoting a culture where there is an authentic work-life balance is so important, respecting that everybody has a life outside of work. This has truly attracted people to our organization that I feel contribute so much.
I think it is important as a leader to be vulnerable, and to be honest about what you can share in any given moment, and do what you can to build trust. Trust isn’t a given. You have to earn it and I think it happens by being clear about what you can share, what you can’t share, and how you’ve come to decisions.
Sam: Right, very true. What are your thoughts on the key issues that research libraries will face in the next five years or so?
Elizabeth: Everything that’s happening now with higher ed and the current administration, the structural deficits that many campuses are facing, and I put AI into that bucket as a disrupter will shape the next five years and beyond.
When I realized I wasn’t really able to see the next five years was when I started thinking maybe it’s time for me to retire and have somebody come in who has more energy and capacity for this forward thinking.
I believe libraries will experience continuous change, which brings so much opportunity that has to be managed carefully. I think there will be different kinds of positions in libraries. I am a big believer that you don’t have to have a library degree to be a librarian. I know that’s not everybody’s position but, I think it is important to think beyond the traditional—this is the type of job we have to fill—to what is the problem we’re trying to solve? And attracting people with the ability to solve that problem.
I think the future of libraries and scholarly communication is open access. What that will look like in five years, I’m not sure. The threats to federal funding, conversations around APCs, I don’t know what that will look like, but I think, tying back to my original interest in librarianship, we shouldn’t be paying over and over and over again for this content. It slows down innovation, research, and the creation of new knowledge.
Sam: What inspires you about librarianship?
Elizabeth: I would say what has inspired me over my entire career is just thinking about providing access and lowering barriers for people to access information that they need. And that has informed everything that I’ve done. I think libraries are deeply inclusive and equitable organizations, and really need to lean into this. I’m sure it will continue to inspire me and many others who want to work in libraries.
Sam: Absolutely. Which areas in librarianship would you encourage young professionals to focus on? I mean, like you said, administration is something that you didn’t necessarily see yourself in.
Elizabeth: Yes, it wasn’t something that I thought of initially, but it has been so rewarding.
If you are interested in working in libraries or have skills that align with the field, focus on that and keep your eyes open for postings that resonate with you. What do you love to do? What are you passionate about? And how does that fit into what today’s libraries are doing? And just take it from there. Hiring may be slow at the moment, at least at UCSC it is, but I believe things will open up. Build your network. That has meant everything to me and my career. Stay in touch with people.
Sam: What are you looking forward to in your next phase?
Elizabeth: I suppose I’m relatively young to retire. But I’ve been at this for a long time. I’m really looking forward to a gap year, honestly taking a break and allowing myself to unwind and think about what’s next. So I don’t have any specific plans. My kids are in college now. They are graduating into a pretty tumultuous environment, so I want to be present for them.
Sam: Yeah, that’s great, and do they go to UC Santa Cruz?
Elizabeth: No, one is at the University of Cincinnati and the other is at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, but they feel like they grew up in the library at UCSC. My daughter wasn’t even two when I started in 2008 so it’s kind of a retirement for all of us.
Sam: It’s a true family affair.
Elizabeth: Yes, they’ve been a big part of my experience there. Everybody has seen them grow up—my son is very tall now!
Sam: Oh, so, really grow up.
Elizabeth: Yes! My husband and kids are going to come with me on my last day. It’s just a different time for all of us.
Sam: That’s really nice. And I feel like it speaks to the work-life balance that started it all. It’s truly living that out to bring your family on your last day.
Elizabeth: That’s nice. It does. I’m thinking about my parents as they both passed away recently. My mother was a professor of the University of Illinois at Chicago and then Rush University. She had high expectations of us, but what I think she really meant was: find something you love to do and do it, because you’re going to have to work for a long time, so you might as well like it, even love it.
And I did.
