KT Vaughan Initiated as Next President of the Oberlin Group of Libraries The Hal F. and Barbra Buckner Higginbotham University Librarian will serve a one-year presidential term as part of her three-year membership on the executive board.

By Brian Laubscher
October 20, 2025

KT Vaughan, Hal F. and Barbra Buckner Higginbotham University Librarian at Washington and Lee University, was initiated as the next president of the Oberlin Group of Libraries at the association’s annual meeting held Sept. 28-30 on the campuses of Union and Skidmore Colleges.

Vaughan was vice president during the 2024-25 academic year and will serve a one-year term as president as well as one year as immediate past president for a three-year term on the executive board.

As president, Vaughan will be responsible for all the organization’s operational and strategic activities during the 2025-26 academic year. This involves leading and managing the group’s budget and outreach and communications efforts as well as supervising work group activities. She will also set and manage the top strategic priorities for the year by recruiting and supporting volunteers from the member institutions. Those priorities include expanding membership engagement, supporting existing groups and adding new groups focused on artificial intelligence in small college libraries and collective approaches to cataloging and resource share work.

“Oberlin Group library directors are my peers, mentors and friends,” said Vaughan. “Collectively we are able to share and learn with each other on how to best support our small liberal arts college libraries. The Oberlin Group’s community of library leaders is key to my success at W&L and it is an honor to serve this year as the president alongside a team of excellent peers on the board of directors.”

Vaughan joined the W&L community in 2020 after nearly seven years of service at James Madison University. She served as president of the Virginia Library Association in 2022 and has held various leadership roles in the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, the Association for Information Science and Technology and the American Association of Colleges and Pharmacy. Vaughan holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Harvard University, a Master of Science in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Education from Arizona State University.

The Oberlin Group is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization comprised of 88 leading liberal arts colleges and small universities in the U.S. and led by a board of directors elected from its member library directors. The group evolved from meetings of college presidents in 1985 and 1986 at Oberlin College. The primary purpose for the Oberlin Group is to provide a forum for member directors and staff to discuss issues of common concern, to share accomplishments and information on best practices in library operations and services and to help members anticipate and adapt to the challenges of college library administration and liberal arts education. The Oberlin Group focuses on library and scholarly publishing issues and related services that support our liberal arts missions. It also maintains an annual collection of statistical data that is only shared with participating members.

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