(August 11, 2022) Jennifer Meehan, formerly head of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State University, has been named director of the Library of Congress’ Special Collections Directorate effective Aug. 1.

Meehan’s career spans over 18 years in academic and research institutions in positions of progressive responsibility including 14 years of management and leadership experience. In her prior role, she provided leadership and strategic direction for special collections and university archives across the University Libraries.  She also led operations for collection development, maintenance, access, reference and instruction, outreach and public programming, and community and stakeholder engagement.

Meehan previously served as associate director of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library at Emory University and has held positions at Yale University, the Smithsonian Institution and Virginia Tech. Jennifer received a master’s in Archival Studies from the University of British Columbia and a B.A. in English and Film Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.