Academic librarians and library staff are a bridge between the vast world of knowledge and the needs of students, faculty, and researchers. “Librarian Luminaries” is a new column which will feature a different librarian each month who has had a recent notable achievement, implemented a new idea or approach in their library, who is a trail blazer, or who is an overall exemplary model of service, scholarship and innovation . If you would like to nominate a librarian or library staff to be featured in this column, please reach out to us at info@charleston-hub.com.
By Caroline Goldsmith (Associate Director, Charleston Hub)
We’re happy to feature this interview with David Banush, Dean of Libraries, University Libraries, University of South Carolina, as this month’s Librarian Luminaries column!
Against the Grain: Hi David! Can you share a little bit with us about your background and education?
David Banush: Hi, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you!
About me: I grew up in suburban Detroit and received my undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where I majored in English. My original plan had been to study economics, but my experience with calculus quickly revealed that it wasn’t really my forte. I had always done well with languages and literature and eventually chose English because of that. Working for a few years after graduation made me miss campus life and formal study, so I decided I would pursue a PhD in English. I got a fellowship to attend New York University, so I left Ann Arbor for Manhattan. I enjoyed the program and experience very much, but even with funding, New York was extremely expensive, and I realized that my job prospects were going to be limited. After two years, I decided to take my MA as a consolation prize and turned down a job in publishing to work at the NYU libraries full time. Although I was paid modestly, I enjoyed the people and the work. I had great supervisors and mentors who encouraged me, and I understood that the only way to progress in the field was to earn an MLIS. I returned to Michigan and earned my degree from Wayne State University by working half-time and going to school full-time for 18 months.
ATG: What made you decide to go to library school or drew you towards librarianship?
DB: I sometimes say that I was fated to be a librarian, even though I certainly did not feel that way when I was younger. But my first real paid job was in the public library of my hometown. I was a page, as they were called at the time, which sounds very medieval and courtly, but really meant I shelved books. To get the job, there was a gauntlet of tests to narrow the applicant pool: a spelling test; a timed shelving test; and finally, an interview with the librarian. The interview was yet another test: I was asked to recite the alphabet—backwards. Although taken aback, I did it and got the job. (I can still recite the alphabet backwards, though I’ve never found it an especially useful skill.)
I think what drew me to academic librarianship particularly was the ability to be part of university life without being either a student or teaching faculty member. Academic libraries offered a wide variety of specializations, and I began my support staff work in cataloging. I really enjoyed the process of describing a work and making it discoverable. I am also rather introverted, like many in the field, and the behind-the-scenes aspect of technical services suited me well.
ATG: We see that you were named Dean of University Libraries at University of South Carolina in 2022. You’ve been a leader in the library community and have served in various leadership roles in different professional organizations over the years, such as ACRL. Can you tell us about the evolution of your career and how you came to be in your current position?
DB: After graduating with my MLIS, I was extremely fortunate to begin my professional career as a cataloger at Cornell University, which was a fantastic learning environment with a substantial number of opportunities. Performance expectations at Cornell were high, and Cornell librarians were required to be active outside of the institution, to write and present, and to be engaged in initiatives. That was demanding, but I really thrived and was able to participate in a lot of things that helped me grow professionally and personally. I am as much an alumnus of the Cornell University Library as any place from which I earned a degree.
I left Cornell as head of cataloging, with about 30 staff, and moved to Brown University as an Associate University Librarian, with about twice as many people. At Brown, I had all of technical services in my portfolio as well as access services, but after one year, I also took on responsibilities for collection management and collection strategy. I had been a materials selector at Cornell, but this was a quite different level. I was now overseeing the whole collection budget at Brown, so the process of resource selection, description, circulation, and storage of materials, as well as e-resource licensing and purchases, of course, became my responsibility. It was challenging and I was well supported by terrific colleagues and the University Librarian. She encouraged me to take the next step toward being a director. It was not anything I had envisioned for myself, but I became a fellow in the ARL Leadership Fellows Program in 2013, which was a fantastic experience. After two years of that program, and the accumulated experiences I had, I felt ready to take on new challenges.
I went to Tulane as Dean of Libraries in 2015, ten years after that institution and its host city suffered the major catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina. The Tulane libraries had been heavily damaged by the flooding and recovery was slow, painful, and difficult. Much of that recovery work was concluded when I arrived. The library was at an important inflection point, making it a very appealing opportunity. I was a bit nervous about living in New Orleans; the heat, the threat of another storm, and the distance from my comfort zones in the Midwest and northeast, made it intimidating. But it was a wonderful place to be, and I feel that, with my colleagues, I was able to advance the library, position it for the future, and have an influence on the institution.
The University of South Carolina was another such opportunity. The longtime dean was retiring and there was new university leadership. That was appealing. Since my arrival, I have found a place that reveres its library and recognizes how important our work of instruction and stewardship is, particularly in a world increasingly marked by distrust and chaos. My colleagues are doing outstanding work with our world-class distinctive collections, with instruction and outreach, and with research support services ranging from data management to digital humanities, AI, and more. I am extremely happy to be in an R1 institution that is growing and offers me a real voice in shaping the research and teaching mission.
ATG: Feeling that you have a voice is so important, and it sounds like you have some amazing support in your University. We see that the University of South Carolina is using a new platform, Manifold, for Open Carolina, “an open-access repository of diverse and authoritative content made available to the public by the University of South Carolina Press” to expand publication options for faculty and students. Can you share with us about how this move has helped with accessibility, expanded publication options and how it better supports students, faculty, and researchers?
DB: You are referring to our recent implementation of Manifold, an open-source digital publishing platform used at many other libraries and university presses. Open Carolina, our Open Access partnership with the University of South Carolina Press, has been the primary catalyst behind its selection and implementation. We needed a better way to host OA monographs published under the partnership that met accessibility requirements. But we also wanted something that could support future developments, whether as part of the Open Carolina initiative or outside of that framework. We are hopeful that Manifold will help us support more multi-modal, open-ended kinds of long-form scholarship that still have trusted peer review but also take advantage of the full capabilities of a digital publishing platform, not simply to present texts digitally and without paywalls, important as that is. The potential that Manifold offers is exciting, and we are already seeing increased use of those works now hosted on the platform from readers and scholars around the world.
ATG: We understand that some of your work has involved educating incoming students about what the library has to offer. This can be a daunting task! Can you tell us about some successful initiatives or programs in your library to help connect with students and help them to discover what the library offers and what librarians can do?
DB: When I first came to USC, as part of a planning process, I invited stakeholders to meet with the entire library staff and answer some questions about their work, their challenges, and what they really wished the university could support. I did not want them to talk about the library per se but rather focus on any areas where they felt they needed more support. One consistent finding from the sessions was a pronounced level of ignorance about the many services we offer, for everyone, whether first year students or advanced researchers or even campus administrators. One of the strategic priorities had to be reaching our audiences more effectively. As it turned out, we had had a large turnover in our communications group, so I was able to hire a new director and restructure the operations. We now have much more engaging social media, which has helped us gain a greater student following, and we have been able to partner effectively with other offices, like our teaching center, the graduate school, and the research office, to embed our events, workshops, and resources in their communications. We have spoken at faculty senate meetings about our offerings, and I routinely share items with my fellow deans for distribution. We have launched a series of newsletters for different audiences and have had success getting new students to sign up during orientation (it helps to have their parents there too—they are important to include in outreach to undergrads). Although we have more work to do, our metrics clearly show that we’re reaping the benefits through increased visits, more requests for instruction sessions, higher attendance at workshops, and more interest in our programs, such as our SHARPgrads program that teaches graduate students about data management, AI, data visualization, and other research skills critical to their studies and future success.
ATG: We saw that, over the summer, your university hosted the 2025 Best Practices Exchange Conference for information professionals which focused on digital information management and preservation. What are some things that you do to foster honest, respectful conversation at this event? Also, what are some things that you feel helped to achieve the goal of focusing on the non-digital, human side of digital stewardship?
DB: Katie Hoskins, digital collections librarian here at USC, was the organizing force behind bringing the Best Practices Exchange (BPE) to our campus this past summer. The BPE is approaching its 20th anniversary and has long been noted for its low-key, intimate, and informal atmosphere. Its Un-Steering Committee provides continuity and has developed key tenets and standards that guide planning and convening. The group’s tenets include respect, open discussion, and the acknowledgement that we all have something to learn; this is emphasized throughout BPE events. Perhaps most unique and sacred to BPE is confidentiality, which is facilitated through several means: no vendors, no recordings, capped attendance, and frequent reminders to share out what we have learned but to do so without naming people or institutions. This created a safe environment for attendees to engage in honest conversations about both successes and challenges. Katie and her colleagues across the BPE made that happen.
Harvard University's Head of Digital Preservation, Stephen Abrams, kicked off the event with the keynote address called "Preservation, People, Practice." Abrams raised thought-provoking questions about preserving the context of cultural heritage materials and the ways we communicate their meaning to future generations. He proposed a new continuum-based model, as opposed to the lifecycle we are accustomed to in digital preservation discourse, which allows us to incorporate the many processes influenced by intentional decisions made by human practitioners. The keynote themes set the tone for the conference, inviting attendees to think critically about the "how" and "why" of preservation.
In the planning stage, the Un-Steering Committee called for proposals that would highlight human-centered themes such as invisible labor, collaboration, and advocacy. The community delivered with standout presentations on topics such as human intervention in AI workflows, peer learning and assessment, managing student labor, and effective communication with colleagues and administration. BPE's tradition of emphasizing practice over theory—wanting to know what really happens, what really works—lent itself well to this theme. The feedback regarding the theme was overwhelmingly positive and is shaping the 2026 meeting at Indiana University Indianapolis.
ATG: This year, your library had a really cool exhibit, the Great Gatsby 100-year anniversary exhibit. Can you tell us about what this exhibit featured, what some of the interactive elements were, and how this exhibit helped provide a unique opportunity to experience the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby up close.
DB: Our Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections has some of the largest collections of 20th century American literature in the country. The Fitzgerald collection has its genesis in the work of longtime USC English professor Matthew Bruccoli, a Fitzgerald scholar who also collected Fitzgerald materials; the library acquired these materials primarily through him. Scholars from around the world regularly consult them, and certain items, like Fitzgerald’s ledger, where he recorded all of the short stories he sold (and for how much), are among our “greatest hits.” The Gatsby centennial gave us the opportunity to showcase some of these materials (and only some—there are thousands of items in the collection) while also bringing in more classes (from both across campus and from local K-12 schools) and of course the public. Michael Weisenburg, director of the Irvin Department, did a fantastic job not only as a curator of the exhibit, but as the prime mover behind several events around the exhibit. We had an opening event featuring USC student dancers and their instructors, doing period dances (with audience participation); a USC jazz band playing 1920s music; a multi-disciplinary faculty panel with scholarly talks; and a community read-aloud of the whole novel in front of the library last April. Our programs received coverage from local and national news outlets (including the New York Times). These kinds of interactive, open events are great ways to reinforce the library’s role as convener and connector, bringing students, faculty, alumni, and community members together.
ATG: What’s a major challenge you have faced in your role in librarianship and how did you overcome it?
DB: It’s difficult to pinpoint one challenge, but there is one that is increasingly common: the effect of climate change and extreme weather on our operations. I can’t say that I have overcome it, or that anyone could, but it is something I faced in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in 2021. The storm, which hit on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, did not result in devastating flooding, though there was substantial wind damage that knocked the power grid out for days and destroyed cell towers. And of course it came during the ongoing pandemic. The Tulane email listservs were down. Communicating with staff to ensure that everyone was safe and accounted for was very difficult. I had evacuated at the last minute and was able to see news reports, learn about places people could go for water, groceries, cooling, and charging, and tried to share that information with my staff. I sent regular updates throughout the week as I could. You realize in these moments that many things we take for granted daily, like access to email and phone service, let alone food and potable water, can disappear overnight. And you are responsible for some buildings, but more importantly, for people. You need to focus on them and doing what you can to help them through. These events are coming more frequently and with greater intensity. Our responsibility as leaders is to worry about our colleagues first.
ATG: I understand this with what we went through here with Hurricane Helene last year and those devastating effects. I can only imagine dealing with that coupled with the Pandemic and how difficult that must have been for you, and also that responsibility you felt for assisting your local colleagues with finding resources.
What does “Librarianship Elevated” Mean to you?
DB: Librarianship Elevated, to me, means being an active player in solving the dilemmas we face in our institutions and in society, generally. It means having highly skilled people from a variety of backgrounds helping our communities navigate the complicated environment we face today. It absolutely means being present at the point of users’ needs, wherever that may be in whatever context.
These are interesting times for libraries and librarians. Many of our values are under threat, and so of course is our funding. AI has incredible potential, but it is also an enormous challenge to the integrity of information, which has already been under siege for some time. For me, leveraging the trust that many people continue to place in libraries is essential not just to our survival, but to our growth and prosperity. I do think we have great opportunities to work with people to help them understand, to the best of our ability, how to find information that is relevant and dependable. To do so, we will have to increase our mastery of tools and techniques that may fall outside the traditional boundaries of the profession.
ATG: Interesting times, for sure. Is there something that you enjoy doing in your “spare time” or a hobby that you enjoy that you want to share with us?
DB: I enjoy reading quite a bit and try to do that as widely as I can. Travel, especially to cities, is another thing I enjoy, as are cultural activities—museums particularly. I enjoy old films, especially film noir, and watch them regularly, and while I am not a big sports person, I do follow the Detroit Tigers and Michigan Wolverines.
ATG: Thank you so much, David, for taking the time to talk with us, and for sharing insight into your experiences at your library. We know you are very busy. We really appreciate it!
If you would like to nominate a librarian or library staff to be featured in this column, please reach out to us at info@charleston-hub.com.
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