Georgetown Hires New University Librarian and Dean of the Library; Georgetown University, June18, 2025

Georgetown University; Georgetown Hires New University Librarian and Dean of the Library

 "Georgetown has appointed Alexia Hudson-Ward, a leader in university library systems, as the new university librarian and dean of the library.

Hudson-Ward will begin her role on Aug. 30, 2025, following the departure of Library Dean Harriette Hemmasi, who is retiring after seven years at Georgetown.

Hudson-Ward is the associate director of research, learning and strategic partnerships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries. 

As dean, she will serve as the chief administrative officer for the Georgetown University Library, which holds 3.5 million volumes and extensive collections and offers research and information services for students and faculty. 

Hudson-Ward will oversee the university libraries, which include the Joseph Mark Lauinger Memorial Library, Blommer Science Library, the Capitol Campus Library and the historic Riggs Memorial Library...

Hudson-Ward earned her master of library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, where she pursued both academic and corporate librarianship tracks, and her doctorate in library and information science from Simmons University.

In the years since, she served as a tenured associate librarian at Pennsylvania State University and the director of libraries for Oberlin College — the first person of color to lead in the library’s 192-year history. In this role, she oversaw four libraries, a $7.2 million budget, and the renaming of the Main Library after Oberlin alumna Mary Church Terrell, who was one of the first Black women to earn a college degree and the co-founder of the NAACP.

She joined MIT in 2020, where she leads research and learning services for MIT’s library; partnerships with more than 40 MIT departments, labs, centers and institutes; and the library’s AI strategy — work she’s eager to continue at Georgetown. Her latest book project, Social Intelligence in the Age of AI, will be published by ALA Editions later this year."