Staff Directory

Ginny Steel became UCLA university librarian on July 15, 2013. In 2016 UCLA alumnus Norman Powell endowed the position, which is now known as the Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian.

Throughout her career Steel has focused on understanding the information needs of faculty, students, and staff and enhancing and building services and collections to meet those needs. She has established and fostered strategic partnerships with campus organizations, philanthropists, corporations, and foundations to improve services and support for students and faculty; to expand open access to library holdings and published research; and to provide physical and virtual spaces that foster creativity, engagement, and a wide range of intellectual pursuits.

Steel is well-versed in the complex national and international landscape of policies affecting academic and research libraries. She has been a vocal advocate for national and state level public access policies and legislation. An extensive list of her public statements on major issues affecting the UCLA Library and research libraries nationally and internationally is available online.

Steel has a long history of strong leadership and service in the library community. She is currently chair of the steering committee of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, chair of the board of the Center for Research Libraries, and an OCLC trustee as well as a member of its global council. She has served as chair of the Association of Research Libraries advocacy and public policy committee, president of the Library Administration and Management Association and on the board of the Greater Western Library Alliance.

Steel holds a BA from the University of Rochester and an MA from the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago.