Michael Vandenburg, Dean of Libraries

Michael Vandenburg (he/him) was appointed Dean of Libraries in August 2022. Reporting to the Provost and Vice-President Academic, Michael is the senior academic and administrative leader for the Dalhousie Libraries, collaborating with a team of more than 120 staff to provide leadership for the development and implementation of strategic priorities, plans and policies for the university’s five libraries, two learning commons, and their extensive collections and services.

As a member of Dalhousie’s senior academic and administrative leadership and serving on Deans’ Council, Senate, and several Senate sub-committees, Michael contributes to the fulfillment of Dalhousie’s mission and to the management of the University, working to promote excellence in scholarship, research, and service.

Most recently, Michael was seconded from Queen’s University as Interim Executive Director of the Ontario Council of University Libraries, leading the consortium in providing high quality services equitably across the province. Prior to joining OCUL, Michael served as Interim Vice-Provost & University Librarian at Queen’s University from 2019–2021, leading the library through the first year of the COVID pandemic and serving as a member of the university’s senior leadership team. In his earlier positions at Queen’s Michael had responsibility for the library’s information services, scholarly communications, and discovery platforms. 

Before coming to Queen’s in 2009, Michael worked in public and government libraries in Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, and Ontario in roles focusing on the digital transformation of library systems and services. Michael holds both a BA and a Masters in Library and Information Services from Dalhousie University.

 

Marc Comeau, Director Academic Technology Services (ATS)

Marc has been providing leadership in IT for the libraries since 2007. Marc oversees the backend IT infrastructure for the libraries, classroom technologies, Brightspace operations, Learning Commons technologies, Help Desks and statistical computing support. He develops strategy and policy in these areas and guides the processes and projects to ensure that the technology in the libraries and classrooms are positioned to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.

Marc is also a member of the ITS Directors team of Dalhousie; resulting in ATS working in concert with the campus-wide IT teams. This has allowed ATS to leverage scale and expertise from outside the unit to deliver top-quality IT services for students and faculty in libraries and classrooms. Marc is a graduate of Dalhousie's Computer Science program. marc.comeau@dal.ca

 

Sandra Dwyer, Director Libraries Human Resources

Sandra Dwyer has worked for the Dalhousie Libraries since 1990, holding various positions from Weekend Shelving Coordinator, to Evening Circulation Supervisor, to Assistant Head of Circulation, to Head of Circulation.

In her current role, Sandra provides a comprehensive HR service to all library staff and management for the five Dalhousie Libraries. This includes the provision of operational and strategic direction for human resource planning, recruitment, and development for both faculty and staff within the Dalhousie Libraries.

Sandra manages operational human resources issues, including development and communication of policies, providing support and advice to recruitment or selection committees and supervisors, performance management processes, and job related employee coaching and counseling services as well as staff training and development and succession planning. She is a graduate of the MLIS program at Dalhousie. sandra.dwyer@dal.ca

 

Melissa Helwig, Associate Dean Research & Scholarly Communications and Head W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library

Melissa Helwig (She/They) has worked as a health sciences librarian for just over 15 years with 9 of those years with the Dalhousie Libraries focused on supporting the College of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, and the School of Health Administration. As an Information Services Librarian at the W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library she has participated in a variety of system wide initiatives like Research Bootcamp, the Scholarship at Dalhousie Libraries Series, and the International Student Support Strategy group.

As Associate Dean Research & Scholarly Communications, Melissa provides leadership to a portfolio that looks to support researchers, faculty, students, and staff through the research lifecycle including services and systems that enable scholarly communications, open science, data management and research analytics. This includes initiatives such as the Dalhousie Current Research Information System – UNIWeb.

As Head of the W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library, Melissa provides leadership in the development and provision of knowledgeable and flexible library services and scholarly resources at the local level for the  two spaces under the Kellogg banner: the Kellogg Library Learning Commons in the Collaborative Health Education Building and the Kellogg Health Sciences Library in the Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building.

Melissa is a member of the Maritime Health Libraries Association, the Aligning Health Needs and Evidence for Transformative Change: A JBI Centre of Excellence at Dalhousie University, and the AFMC Network on Libraries. She is a member and the Continuing Education Director for the Canadian Health Libraries Association. Helwig@dal.ca
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9915-3928

 

Elaine MacInnis, Associate Dean Library Services and Head MacRae Library

Elaine joined the Dalhousie Libraries in 2012 when the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) merged with Dalhousie University. She held the position of University Librarian at the NSAC prior to the merger and also served as their Copyright Officer. She has held executive positions on both the Novanet Board of Directors and the Council of Atlantic University Libraries Board of Directors.

As the Associate Dean Library Services, Elaine coordinates with staff in the Dal Libraries in the areas of advanced reference services, service points, reference and research tools, liaison services, Document Delivery, user experience and assessment, internships and practicums, and copyright. She also works with staff at the MacRae Library in Truro to advance learning and scholarship by ensuring access to high-quality resources and services for students, faculty, and researchers. elaine.macinnis@dal.ca

 

Anne Matthewman, Associate Dean Learning & Teaching and Chief Law Librarian

Anne Matthewman has worked for the Dalhousie Libraries since 2010. Since that time she has been the Chief Law Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library and has taught legal research to law students at the first year and the advanced levels.  

In 2013 she was appointed Associate University Librarian, Learning & Teaching (in 2019, this title changed to Associate Dean). In this role, Anne works with Dal Libraries’ staff who provide instruction and information literacy programs and support to faculty and students. Her team works to coordinate existing efforts and to develop new programmes, policies and best practices in library instruction and information literacy. anne.matthewman@dal.ca

Michelle Paon, Associate Dean Resources and Head of the Sexton Design & Technology Library

As Associate Dean Resources, Michelle oversees the Libraries’ acquisitions budget, and works closely with the Resources Management Librarian, the Collections Analysis Librarian, and library staff across the system who select, acquire and provide access to relevant scholarly resources in a variety of formats. As Head of the Sexton Library, she oversees the provision of library resources and services to faculty and students in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture and Planning.

Michelle Paon has been a science librarian at the Dalhousie Libraries since 2002 and is currently the Oceanography liaison librarian. Over the years, she has supported faculty and students in the study of biology, the environment, oceanography, and marine management, as well as psychology and neuroscience, sustainability, and Indigenous issues.

Michelle was actively involved in the establishment of the DalSpace online research repository and the Killam Library Learning Commons – at the time, both ground-breaking projects for a Canadian research library. She has served on the Curriculum Committees of the Dalhousie Faculty of Science and College of Sustainability. In recent years, she has partnered with colleagues at the Dalhousie Writing Centre to provide integrated research-writing services for students and to conduct related research. 

Michelle holds a Master of Library and Information Studies from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Science (Biology) from St. Francis Xavier University. She is a member of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association and is a past president and life member of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science. Her research interests include collaborative service initiatives, open access, information literacy, and environmental history. michelle.paon@dal.ca

Janice Slauenwhite, Manager of Financial & Physical Resources

Janice Slauenwhite has worked for the Dalhousie Libraries for over 35 years. She has held various positions including Information Services Clerk, Interlibrary Loan Clerk, and Administrative Secretary.

In her current role, Janice manages the complex budgets of the Dalhousie Libraries. She also maintains the facilities of the Dalhousie Libraries (coordinates repair and renovation projects); coordinates personnel administration, manages the office of the University Librarian, and coordinates the collection and submission of statistics to the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. janice.slauenwhite@dal.ca

Sarah Stevenson, Associate Dean Archives, Records Management, and Special Collections; Head, Killam Memorial Library

Sarah graduated from Dal's MLIS program in 2001 and started in a tenure-track position with the Dal Libraries that same year as a science librarian. In addition to being Associate Dean Archives, Records Management & Special Collections; & Head of the Killam Library, she is also the subject liaison for Chemistry, Mathematics & Statistics, Marine Management, Resource & Environmental Studies, and Physics & Atmospheric Sciences.

Sarah has contributed to the success of Dal Libraries in numerous ways, including being publisher of Libraries’ website (2009–2016) and co-chair of Libraries’ website renewal project 2015-2016; chair of Library Council 2020-2021, co-chair of the Libraries Strategic Planning working group (2021-2022), being an MLIS Killam Intern supervisor, and participating in the Professional Partner mentoring programme in SIM. She is also a member of the Scholarly Resources Management Group for the Libraries. She is currently a non-voting member of the Faculty of Science Council and attends the FASS Faculty meetings.

She also holds a BSc (Chemistry) from the University of New Brunswick and completed the University of King’s College Foundation Year Programme. She worked for Diagnostic Chemicals Ltd (now Sekisui Diagnostics) in Charlottetown as a chemist for 9 years.

Sarah is a member of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Canadian Association for Information Science, and the Association for Information Science & Technology.
sarah.stevenson@dal.ca