The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries have announced the appointment of Nandita S. Mani, PhD, as director of the Health Sciences Library and Associate University Librarian for the Health Sciences, effective July 1.

As director, Mani will oversee one of the nation's leading health affairs libraries. The UNC Health Sciences Library (HSL) is the primary library for the University's schools of dentistry, medicine (including allied health sciences), nursing, pharmacy, and public health. It also serves the UNC Medical Center and the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (NC AHEC), a statewide program for clinical education and health services.

Mani will be part of the UNC Library's Administrative Council and a member of the leadership team reporting to Sarah Michalak, University Librarian and Associate Provost for University Libraries.

At the HSL, Mani will oversee a budget with annual expenditures of approximately $8 million, a workforce of close to 60 full-time employees, and a recently renovated, technology-adapted building at the heart of the health sciences sector of the Chapel Hill campus. The HSL has a collection of close to 460,000 volumes and, with the UNC University Libraries, provides access to nearly 148,000 journals.

"Dr. Mani brings a deep knowledge of health sciences librarianship and a strong background in education and technology," said Michalak. "Throughout her career, she has been deeply committed to improving the experiences of both library users and staff. We know she will do great things at Carolina."

"Building partnerships and discovering innovative ways that the Health Sciences Library can contribute to UNC's mission is of great importance to me. I look forward to working with the University Library and the health affairs schools to deepen our collaborations and contributions to the Carolina community and the state," said Mani.

Mani comes to UNC from the University of Michigan, where she was assistant director for Academic and Clinical Engagement at the Taubman Health Sciences Library. She was previously medical librarian and coordinator of Education and Consumer Health at the Henry Ford Hospital's Sladen Library in Detroit, Michigan. She has held medical librarian and IT positions at the Vera P. Shiffman Medical Library of Wayne State University in Detroit, and the Cross Cancer Institute of the Alberta Cancer Board in Alberta, Canada.

Mani is managing editor for the journal Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease. She has published extensively on topics related to librarianship and technology. Dr. Mani's research interests focus on learning analytics in evidence-based pedagogy and curricular design in health science education.

She holds a PhD in instructional technology and an Master of Library and Information Science from Wayne State University. Her BA in psychology is from Concordia University of Edmonton, Alberta.