KT Vaughan Named Virginia Library Association’s Inaugural Academic Librarian of the Year The new statewide honor recognizes outstanding achievement and leadership in academic librarianship.

By Brian Laubscher
November 4, 2026

KT Vaughan, Hal F. and Barbra Buckner Higginbotham University Librarian at Washington and Lee University, received the inaugural Academic Librarian of the Year Award from the  Virginia Library Association (VLA) at the organization’s annual conference held Oct. 18-20 in Norfolk, Virginia.

The award, established this year by VLA President Nancy Falciani, recognizes outstanding achievement and leadership in academic librarianship across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Vaughan received multiple nominations, which consistently highlighted her leadership and mentorship, as well as her ability to pair strategic goals with tangible improvements for students, faculty, staff and the broader community.

Nominators praised Vaughan for investing in people and for fostering an inclusive and supportive environment to recruit and develop library staff from underrepresented backgrounds, including residency opportunities she helped establish at W&L. She has mentored emerging professionals in the field and focused her scholarship and professional service on disability, accessibility and equity in academic libraries, presenting on these topics at state, regional and national levels.

Her commitment to her profession is also reflected in her leadership of library organizations across the state and nation. Vaughan served as president of the Oberlin Group of Libraries during the 2025-26 academic year and was recently selected to the board of the Library of Virginia, where she will serve a five-year term starting in July 2027. She previously served as president of the VLA 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.

At W&L, Vaughan has worked to enhance the University Library through staff development, fundraising, collaborative programming and community engagement. She led the redevelopment of the Tom Wolfe ’51 Reading Room in Special Collections and Archives, which reopened in October 2025. She also secured support for further improvements to the physical space as well as the preservation of materials and expansion of the digital archives.

The VLA also noted that under Vaughan’s leadership, the library has become more visible, accessible and fully integrated into the academic and cultural life of the university. She has strengthened its role as a center for scholarship, culture and community through programming focused on faculty scholarship and on censorship and intellectual freedom, along with improvements to the library’s web presence. She also secured grant funding for and has led a yearlong celebration of the library’s 250th anniversary during the 2026 calendar year, bringing together campus and community partners to honor the library’s history and its role in the university’s academic life.

Vaughan joined W&L in 2020 after nearly seven years at James Madison University. She 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 VLA was founded in 1905 to develop, promote and improve library and information services, library staff and the profession of librarianship to advance literacy and learning and to ensure access to information in Virginia. Since then, the VLA has expanded its scope and engaged legislatively at the state and federal levels. It provides members with newsletters, scholarly journals and a website, and it supports library education, training and outreach.

If you know a W&L faculty member who has done great, accolade-worthy things, tell us about them! Nominate them for an accolade.