Jocelyn Kennedy, former director for library services at the University of Connecticut School of Law, is the new executive director of the Harvard Law School Library.
“Jocelyn not only has extraordinary skill with the intricacies of legal scholarship and the law, but also is a thoughtful and sensitive leader, ready to steward our remarkable library’s best facets while thinking boldly about the future,” said HLS Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95, vice dean for library and information resources.
During Kennedy’s 5-year tenure at UConn, the library instituted a strategic plan to fulfill its vision that “the library is everywhere.” As a result, she and her staff increased traditional and non-traditional services to faculty, students and staff; improved outreach in person and via the web; and developed innovative service structures.
“The Harvard Law Library is a pillar in the world of legal information, known for its collections, its innovation and its stellar staff,” said Kennedy. “I am excited to be a part of the library team and the law school community. I am positive that working together we can preserve our best traditions while blazing new trails.”
In addition to her work in the library, Kennedy served as an adjunct faculty member, teaching an annual course in Advanced Legal Research, a summer course in Practice Ready Research and numerous workshops and presentations.
She served on a number of law school and university committees, including the Education Policy Committee, the Curricular Reform Committee and the Scholarly Communications Committee. She was an active participant in a task force charged with integrating library services across the university. Outside of the university, Kennedy served on the Connecticut Judiciary’s Workgroup on Access to Justice in Libraries and was an active member of the Connecticut Law Tribune’s Editorial Board.
Kennedy began her career working in New Hampshire as a congressional staffer for several years. She went on to receive a J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center (now University of New Hampshire School of Law) and clerked with the New Hampshire Superior Court for two years. After receiving an M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington, she joined the University of Michigan Law Library, serving as the faculty services librarian. She was instrumental in automating document delivery to law faculty and increasing faculty research assistance and went on to work as circulation librarian, shifting her focus to student services, interlibrary loan and access services.
She is now the chair of the Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries, former two-time chair of the Conference of Newer Law Librarians and is a member of the Law Librarians of New England.