Bill Gillis
Associate Dean of Libraries and Academic Innovation
Department
Eckles Library
Research & User Services
Resource Description
Senior Leadership Team
Phone number
Office location
Gelman Library
ORCID iD
Work
Bill has responsibility for a management portfolio that includes the Research and User Services and Resource Description units, and provides leadership in the planning and development of services that enable the GW community to create, discover, and share information. Current initiatives to support research and teaching include working with data across the research lifecycle; open scholarship and publishing; reparative cataloging; open educational resources; and textbook affordability. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, Bill advises the Dean on the overall strategic direction of LAI to help GW advance its research, teaching, and learning missions.
Background
Bill came to GW in 2007 as a Research and Instruction Librarian, and from 2009-2016 supported students, faculty, and staff on GW's Mount Vernon Campus. From 2016-2023 he served as Director of Research Services, before moving into his current role as Associate Dean. He was a 2016 member of the Triangle Research Libraries Network Management Academy and was a 2018-2019 Association of Research Libraries Leadership Fellow. From 2013-2018 he was co-instructor of the short term study abroad course, “Paris: Modernism and the Arts, Then and Now.” Bill has published and spoken about innovative teaching collaborations, active and experiential learning, matrix management and agile project management in libraries, and middle management in values-based, mission driven organizations. Bill worked previously at Simmons University in Boston, MA and at the Memphis Public Library in Memphis, TN. He has a BA from Millsaps College, an MTS from the Boston University School of Theology, and an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.
