By Jennifer Hoyt
Across campus, Karen Vaughan’s name has become synonymous with Old Dominion University Libraries. To many, they are one and the same. From research and scholarly publishing to open access and campus-wide committee service, Vaughan’s dedication to librarianship intertwined with ODU’s Monarch community for 36 years. So, understandably, her announcement to retire at the end of July was received as bittersweet.
“Karen Vaughan has given three and a half decades of her life to Old Dominion University,” said Brian Payne, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. While speaking at her retirement party, filled with co-workers, friends and family, he recalled meeting Vaughan in 1996 when working as an assistant professor at ODU. “I remember then, whenever I was around her, that she seemed enthusiastic, optimistic, ready for whatever came her way.”
Most recently serving ODU as Head of Scholarly Communication and Publishing, Vaughan first joined the Libraries in 1988, accepting a position managing what was the new Automated Reference Center. With a Library Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley, Vaughan and her family decided to settle down in Norfolk within walking distance to ODU.
“We lived a half block away for 30 years, and my three daughters grew up here,” Vaughan shared. “They learned how to skate and drive cars using ODU’s parking lots, played on the tennis courts and fields, sat in my office (and their dad’s office), coloring and spying on other employees, and heard all about my projects and stresses.”
Considering her contributions to the Libraries, Vaughan places the proliferation of electronic databases near the top. She credits the introduction of Gopher and the World Wide Web for enabling librarians to better guide users to Libraries’ collections and services. Creating a more efficient approach to library research, students and faculty could navigate the growing number of online resources through online instruction tools and tutorials. Additionally, reflecting on just the last few years, Vaughan points to her time overseeing the ODU Digital Commons and maximizing the possibilities stemming from the valuable resource.
“Since 2015, it has made a global impact by providing open and equitable access to thousands of ODU faculty and student works that have been downloaded millions of times, increasing the visibility of ODU research,” she said. “Our students benefit from their works in Digital Commons, whether electronic theses and dissertations or works from the Undergraduate Research Symposium, faculty-sponsored research projects or articles in the OUR (ODU Undergraduate Research) Journal.”
And just as she inspired Libraries' staff over the decades, Vaughan grew professionally from the insight and expertise of others. She credits her first ODU mentor, Brian Forney, for his smarts and forward-thinking, especially as he gained support from campus administration. Moreover, Vaughan remembers Jeff Barry for introducing the idea of a Digital Services Center, which allowed faculty to place their syllabi online and students to explore digital projects for the first time.
"I jumped at the chance to lead that area and start our digital collections program," she recalled. "Academic librarians all over have become the champions for scholarly communication and changes to the scholarly publishing ecosystem. We pay attention to what’s happening and advocate for our universities."
As Vaughan’s professional path frequently crossed with her peers, she ensured that the Libraries’ voice was heard. She emphasized representation as the Libraries play a significant role in campus growth. For colleagues like Karen Eck, ODU's assistant vice president for research, working with her on committees and projects strengthened connectivity with faculty and generated ideas for planning.
"You always had time, as others have said, to listen and care, not only about what we were working on, but who we were as people," Eck said at the retirement celebration. "That means so much and I’ll never forget."
In recognition of Vaughan’s distinguished service within the field of higher education and at ODU, the University’s Board of Visitors awarded her Library Faculty Emerita status. She encourages the Libraries to remain committed to areas of great importance, stressing continued attention paid to Open Access (OA) and the ability for all to receive access to research. She notes that, despite the growing acceptance of OA, commercial publishers who include excessive article processing charges hinder the practice. Vaughan hopes ODU will adopt an OA policy, which would make a version of nearly all faculty work available in the University repository.
“Faculty don’t give up their copyright, but they have the option to assign creative commons licensing that allows them to make their research more open, more used and more cited – not just for their own promotion, but for their research to be used and generate more solutions to the world’s problems,” she explained. “So much more needs to be done.”