Announced on December 20, 2010 by Richard Levin in an email to the Yale community (excerpted below):

It is with great pleasure that I write to announce the appointment of Edwin C. Schroeder as Librarian of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and Associate University Librarian.

Known to all as E.C., Mr. Schroeder came to Yale in 1989 to work with the Rare Book Team as a catalog librarian at Sterling Memorial Library, and since then has held positions of increasing responsibility at the Beinecke Library.  He brings an impressive breadth of rare book and managerial experience to his new position.  E.C. earned a BA in History at the College of the Holy Cross in 1988 and an MS in Library Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1989.  Since June 2004, E.C. has been Head of Technical Services for the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, where, working closely with curators and the Beinecke Librarian, he has set priorities and managed acquisition, cataloguing, conservation, archival processing, and digital projects for the Library.

Through E.C.’s work with staff across the Beinecke, changes in cataloguing have expanded access to the collections, and publicity and improved digital access have increased where and how scholars learn about the renowned collections found at the Library.  Just two of the many ways E.C.’s leadership has augmented the role and reputation of the Beinecke include collaborating with the University Library to enhance the cataloguing of the Beinecke’s outstanding collections of Arabic, Hebrew, and Japanese manuscripts, and increasing collaborations with national and international library consortia that have made the Beinecke’s collections more well known internationally.  In addition, E.C. has overseen efforts that have dramatically improved digital access to the Library’s collections and enabled the opening of two new off-site processing facilities, which have greatly improved productivity.

E.C. is active in a number of professional library organizations, and he has held numerous leadership positions, including chair of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.  He is also a member of the ACRL budget and finance committee, the American Library Association’s representative to the Rare Book & Manuscript Section of the International Federation of Library Associations, and Yale’s liaison to the Consortium of European Research Libraries.  At Yale, his committee work ranges from chairing the University Library Travel Committee and the Map Cataloguing Planning Group to serving on the Adrian Van Sinderen Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize Committee.

Colleagues have praised E.C.’s intimate knowledge of both the collections and the workings of the Beinecke, his technological savvy, and his thoughtful administrative style. The Beinecke will continue to concentrate on its core responsibilities of acquiring, describing, preserving, and providing access to world-renowned collections, as well as expanding efforts to digitize the collections.  As Beinecke Librarian, E.C. looks forward to building on Frank Turner’s accomplishments and to working closely with colleagues in the Beinecke and across the University to expand ways in which students and scholars at Yale and from around the world use the collections to improve scholarship.

In a field that included outstanding internal candidates, several of whom are respected senior scholars, E.C. was the unanimous choice of the Search Committee.  Special thanks go to committee chair Pericles Lewis for his indefatigable work and steady counsel throughout the process. I am deeply grateful for the effort and advice of the others who served on the committee: Rolena Adorno, Meg Bellinger, John Mack Faragher, Paul Freedman, Brian Lizotte, Joseph Manning, R. Kenny Marone, Douglas Rae, Holly Rushmeier, Lloyd Suttle, and Christine Weideman.

We look forward to sustaining the unique excellence of the Beinecke, and I know you will all join me in welcoming E.C. Schroeder to his new position as Librarian of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and Associate University Librarian.

Sincerely yours,

Richard C. Levin

And reported in an online exclusive by the Yale Daily News. Join us in welcoming E.C. Schroeder.