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 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 MacKenzie Smith, University Librarian and Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship, UC Davis (retired) as this month’s Librarian Luminaries column!

Against The Grain: Hi, MacKenzie! Can you share a little bit with us about your background and education? 

MacKenzie Smith: First, thank you for the invitation to do this. It made me contemplate my career from a new perspective, as a recent retiree. Something you can’t really do when you’re in the middle of it. 

I grew up and went to college in the Pacific Northwest, ending up with a degree in comparative literature. I was also the keyboard player in a local band, so I had an interest in computers and worked for a medical software company where I learned to program and fell in love with technology. That was in the 80s when computers were just becoming available to ordinary people, and it was such an exciting time to work in that area, especially in the city where Microsoft had just launched. 

ATG: What made you decide to go to library school or drew you towards librarianship? 

MS: I had spent a lot of time using libraries but didn’t know it was a profession until I met a librarian who opened my eyes (and mentioned that librarians travel a lot) so I checked it out. I discovered that librarianship included information science, which perfectly combined my love of technology and libraries. I went to the University of Chicago’s School of Library and Information Science, where I focused on science and technology. My thesis advisor was Don Swanson, a renowned information scientist who developed the idea of “undiscovered public knowledge”, i.e., using data science to find previous unknown research connections. It was an amazing place to learn, and I worked in the library’s technology department with some very smart people, so I left with expertise that I could take in many directions. That’s something special about library science – it’s such a flexible career since the skills can apply to many industries. 

ATG: We've heard that from many people we've interviewed: a conversation with a librarian sparked their library origin story. You’ve enjoyed a long, distinguished career of over 40 years in the research libraries of MIT, Harvard, University of Chicago and, most recently, UC Davis, before recently retiring.  Can you tell us about the evolution of your role, and how you came to be University Librarian and Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship at UC Davis? 

MS: My first professional job was at the Harvard University Library in the Office of Systems Planning and Research. At first, I helped develop and manage their mainframe computer systems like the Integrated Library System (when they were still relatively new). But that was the time when technology was blowing up – the Internet, the Web, XML, the list of innovations is endless. Since I had an insatiable appetite for learning new things, I was assigned to build a Gopher-based course catalog system, and it spiraled from there. In 1998, my department got some money from the university for a Library Digital Initiative “to build a first generation production infrastructure to support digital library collections.” My colleagues and I had the privilege of spending the next decade helping invent digital libraries, from data standards to digitization methods to building infrastructure, it was all new and exciting. 

Around 2000 I joined an advisory group for MIT’s new DSpace project, a collaboration with HP Labs to create an Open Source Software platform for digital archives. Shortly after that, I became the MIT Library’s Associate Director for Technology, mostly focused on DSpace and its offspring. At MIT, I could collaborate with faculty on research projects, which was heaven. We had projects in digital preservation, online search, the brand new Semantic Web, and of course Open Access to scientific research articles, which MIT was a leader in promoting. Learning from that faculty how to develop a research program, get it funded and deliver good results was amazing. 

But it’s one thing to develop technology for libraries and another to get it adopted in real life. I moved to UC Davis as the library director to get a chance to implement what I’d been working on for decades – improving technical services and search tools, hiring technology-savvy staff, adding data science programs, and centering Open Access. All things that require ongoing commitment and investment from library and university leadership. As a library director, I didn’t get to do much of the hands-on research and development that I loved, but I could build that ethos into the library and it led to some great projects, especially in the areas of Linked Data in libraries, building library-based Data Science programs, and making the case for library-supported Open Access publishing. All things that have a real impact on library practice, and how they’re viewed by their institution.

ATG: The title “Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship-” can you tell us what this entails and what your job duties were? How do you define digital scholarship?

MS: From the beginning of my tenure at UC Davis, I advised campus leadership and faculty on how technology could support teaching, learning, and administration. I got involved in projects outside the library in things like online education, data governance, high-performance computing and research support systems. I was trying to show that library expertise is far more valuable than just operating the library (as critical as that is). So, when I came up for review, the Provost decided to embody that institution-wide role with the VP of Digital Scholarship title. 

ATG: Looking back over those 40 years, how have you seen the role of the University Library change and what changes have been the most transformative?

MS: Have research libraries really changed? I’m not sure. They use technology for operations and programs, and adapted to students’ and faculty’s technology expectations, but rarely set anything aside to make space for large-scale change. The technical services workflows that I experienced in the 80s haven’t changed much, except to outsource work to companies or consortia. If you ask a typical Provost what the library does, they might mention Open Access policies or a few novel services, but typically it’s the building and traditional research collections. Very few libraries have really broken through to be thought of as something different.

ATG: You have developed and led numerous entrepreneurial programs, like DSpace at MIT which archives digital research, and the UC Davis DataLab that will leave a lasting impact not just in your library but worldwide beyond your retirement. Can you tell us about these initiatives and how they came to be?

MS: My goal was always to build technology with practical value to research libraries, their institutions, and ideally research and teaching in general. The list of those things is quite long. For example, at Harvard, we had a project to work with journal publishers to help them move to online publishing, so to preserve digital articles, I suggested creating an XML schema. We hired Inera to investigate, and that led to JATS (Journal Article Tag Suite), the standard used by PubMed Central and publishers worldwide. Other examples of things I helped create that made a difference: ORCID, Freebase and OpenRefine, and the University of California’s Open Access program to transform scholarly publishing. 

With that goal, it’s not enough to have good ideas and technical skills. You need to work in a place that’s open to new ideas and experimentation, with smart people who have different expertise and viewpoints, and you must have the tenacity to find the time, funding, and organizational support to see it through. I think that describes most successful researchers, so I just applied to the library.

ATG: Which of your achievements are you the most proud of?

MS: I spent most of my career on different aspects of Open Access – books and articles, software, all kinds of data and other content (3D models, images, technical standards, digital identifies, and more). 

DSpace was a huge effort. It was adopted by many different types of organizations and created a strong community (still thriving, nearly 25 years later). That project helped demonstrate the value and viability of Open Source software for libraries and proved that libraries were capable of creating and sustaining their own infrastructure.

The University of California’s Open Access program was another huge effort, showing the community that it’s possible to change the faculty’s publishing behavior and institutional expectations. 

The digital world is threatening everything we take for granted about access to knowledge. In the end, just having helped slow the privatization and commercialization of digital infrastructure and content is what I’m most proud of.  

ATG: Over the course of your career, you’ve witnessed great technological change in the library. What emerging technologies should libraries be paying the most attention to right now?

MS: AI, of course, since it’s changing everything. Beyond that, I don’t believe in predicting the future. Who saw the Web coming in 1995? And who thought that 30 years later there would be more print books published than ever? Change is inevitable but unpredictable, so my approach is to embrace that, keep experimenting with new things, and always think Big Picture.

ATG: What advice would you give now to an early career librarian or an LIS or MLIS student?   

MS: That is such a difficult question. Just as research libraries employ people who are not “librarians” but have relevant expertise, “librarians” can work in many places outside of libraries. They know how to find relevant information, manage and preserve large amounts of information (from books to bytes), legally and effectively share information and, hopefully, how to apply that expertise to any environment. Librarianship reminds me of statistics. It is an academic field (sort of) but its real impact is in how it’s applied to other fields, so it helps to know something about those fields. My library school was famous for interdisciplinary programs that combined library studies with business school, information technology, health science, etc. Having expertise in subjects in addition to library science distinguishes you and makes you more valuable. 

ATG: That's interesting. We actually did an issue of Against the Grain last year on Non-MLS careers and what other backgrounds bring to libraries. What’s a major challenge you have faced in your role in librarianship and how did you overcome it?

MS: My library career began in “technical services”, i.e., where technology intersects with library data, particularly for acquisitions and cataloging. AACR2 and other metadata standards were well-established, as was the MARC standard for encoding that metadata in “integrated library systems” to manage collections and support “discovery”. Those systems were clunky, confusing and ineffective for users, and they required ridiculous effort by librarians, but it’s what we could do at the time. Fast forward forty years and almost nothing has changed. Everyone uses search engines, AI agents, and has the World Wide Web of information at their fingertips, but libraries offer them slightly snazzier versions of the same ILS they had in the 80s.

An important throughline of my career has been trying to disrupt, or at least jog, that ecosystem, to bring down library costs and give users a richer, modern way to search and interact with the library and its collections. We moved the data into Web-based standards (e.g., XML), applied Web-based standards (Linked Data and the Semantic Web), automated cataloging, provided full-text search, and so on. Everything worked, but nothing stuck. The library technology ecosystem is complexly interwoven, companies fight change (e.g., OCLC), and librarians are nervous about their expertise becoming obsolete. It’s no longer a technology problem; it’s a social problem. 

I never overcame that challenge, and if the library profession doesn’t figure out how, the AI agents are coming.

ATG: What does “Librarianship Elevated” Mean to you?

MS: It means librarians as powerful advocates for a more “open” information ecosystem. That includes policies that ensure free public access to information and knowledge – everyone equally. Connecting people with that knowledge, and how to find it themselves. It’s the mission we’ve always had, but in a very different context than before. Everyone in the world should think of librarians as warriors for keeping knowledge and information flowing to anyone who needs it. 

ATG: "Librarians as Warriors." I like that. Is there anything that we didn’t ask you about that you’d like to talk about here? 

MS: You didn’t ask what I worry about for the profession, and I do worry about the future of research library leadership, at least in the United States. Large organizations like the Library of Congress and National Archives are fighting for survival; consortia like the Association of Research Libraries and Council on Library Resources work on tactical issues and niche digital projects. Library-oriented companies like OCLC are laser-focused on their bottom line. Library and Information Science educational programs don’t consider it their purview. There are really interesting books and reports on what libraries should do, but they tend to sit on the shelf. We need to build bigger coalitions, take bigger risks, and think differently. At a time when collective action looks like the only way for research libraries to stay relevant, I don’t see much action. 

ATG: Looking forward, what plans can you share with us about what you’ll be up to during your retirement? Do you plan to keep creating or stay involved within the scholarly communication and library world?

MS: I keep up with the field and mentor here and there but, like many librarians, I have lots of interests outside libraries that I finally have time for – playing music, competitive rowing, learning languages, traveling, and volunteering in my community. That’s good, because I believe it’s important to make space for the next generation of library leaders. They need opportunities to figure out how libraries will thrive in the future without my generation looking over their shoulders.

ATG: Thank you so much, MacKenzie, for taking the time to talk with us, and for sharing insight into your career and experiences. 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.