Bio
Dr. Karen Estlund has been serving as the Dean of Libraries at Colorado State University since 2019. Karen started working in academic libraries as an undergraduate work-study student and eventually became an expert in digital library and technology advancements. Previously, Karen worked at large public university research libraries at Penn State, the University of Oregon, and the University of Utah.
During the review of Karen’s second year as a dean at CSU, Libraries employees evaluated Karen’s leadership (~50% response rate) with described Karen as “data-driven,” “inclusive,” and “visionary.” CSU Libraries employees see Karen as:
- 100% strongly agree (SA)/agree (A): committed to DEI both across campus and internally
- 96% (SA/A) effectively representing and advocating for the libraries at the administrative level
- 90% (SA/A) transparent in communications
- 93% (SA/A) effectively managing library finances
- 86% (SA/A) committed to creating a clear and shared vision for the library
Karen is passionate about access to information, student success, and emergent technologies for communication and long-term access to knowledge. She has played a vital role in various governance positions for library open-source community projects and co-established a networking group for women IT leaders in libraries. Recently, Karen has been serving on national library efforts around AI through the Association of Research Libraries and Coalition for Networked Information, and she co-led the Colorado State University System AI Task Force.
While the Associate Dean for Technology and Digital Strategies for Penn State Libraries, Karen coordinated cross-university collaboration on research data management and data governance, oversaw the creation of a user-oriented library search interface, led technology units and services to target library-specific IT needs, and collaborated with faculty and leaders across the university to found the Center for Immersive Experiences and Center for Black Digital Research.
During her time at Penn State she also acted in interim roles as the Associate Dean for Research, Collections, and Scholarly Communications, in which she co-led university-wide efforts in the successful passage of an Open Access policy through the University Faculty Senate, and Associate Dean for Learning and Undergraduate Services, in which she directed an aspirational comparator project for assessment of library services and resources.
Prior to Penn State, Karen served as the head of the Digital Scholarship Center and directed the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program at the University of Oregon, where she supported the publication of digital editions the Oregon Petrarch Open Book project, Archaeology and Landscape in the Mongolian Altai, and We Are the Face of Oaxaca and oversaw the library’s journal publishing and repository programs. Karen was a founding journal editorial board member of an open access, open peer review multi-modal journal, Ada: a Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology.
Karen Estlund 