Georgetown University named Alexia Hudson-Ward the new university librarian and dean of the library, the university announced June 18.
Hudson-Ward will begin her position Aug. 30, replacing Harriette Hemmasi, who announced her retirement from Georgetown in January after serving seven years. Before arriving at Georgetown, Hudson-Ward served as the associate director of research, learning and strategic partnerships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries as well as an associate librarian at Pennsylvania State University and the director of librarians at Oberlin College.
Hudson-Ward said her upbringing in a Philadelphia, Penn., multi-generational home contributed to her love of libraries.
“The library opened up a world to me that was not conceivable or accessible growing up with limited means,” Hudson-Ward said in a press release. “All this incredible knowledge that the librarians and the staff and the curators were willing to allow me as a young African American girl to touch, to interact with, to read, to check out, to enjoy. That’s what really struck me — the unfettered access to information.”
Interim Provost Soyica Diggs Colbert (COL ’01) said Hudson-Ward’s dedication to library studies will allow her to contribute to the Georgetown community.
“Alexia Hudson-Ward is a visionary leader in library science and open access to information and an accomplished scholar dedicated to excellence and the common good,” Diggs Colbert wrote in a press release. “We look forward to welcoming her to Georgetown and remain grateful for the leadership of Dean Harriette Hemmasi.”