Director of Libraries

Dee peterson

Director of Libraries

Education

• B.A., History, Robert E. Cook Honors College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• M.S.L.S., Clarion University

About

Dee Peterson, is the Director of Libraries at Ohio Wesleyan University. Dee leads a talented library staff that work to seamlessly connect all aspects of the libraries to student success, while aligning library strategy with OWU's academic mission.

By fostering close partnerships across campus and within academic consortia, Dee ensures that OWU's library collections, teaching & research services, and learning environments evolve alongside the needs of students and faculty. She oversees strategic collection management, facilities planning, and library information literacy curriculum, while contributing to key institutional initiatives which, in recent years, include the library's intentional student employment program and credit-bearing internships, co-chairing two Moving the Needle workgroups to improve campus services and increase retention, AI literacy education, outreach to groups from Lifelong Learning and Delaware County Promise schools, and the transition to a distributed library system while planning the new Milligan Library.

With over a decade of leadership experience in academic libraries, Dee brings expertise in strategic space planning, emergency response and operations management, and consortial resource sharing and partnerships. She actively contributes to regional and state library organizations, such as OhioLINK and the Five Colleges of Ohio, through committee service. Dee also regularly contributes to campus service, holding a standing appointment to OWU's Teaching, Assessment, and Scholarship Committee (TASC) as well as past appointments to the Committee on University Governance (UGC).

As a first-generation college student and Delaware resident, Dee is particularly passionate about fostering inclusive library spaces and programs and building meaningful connections between OWU and the local community. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, two kids, and very vocal but snuggly dog, Bella, reading, making Tim Horton runs, attending comedy shows, and figuring out next semester's library swag for students.