Rebekah Irwin Appointed Dean of the Library

Rebekah Irwin has been named dean of the library after serving in the interim role during the 2025–26 academic year. She succeeds Mike Roy, who retired in 2025.

“I am immensely grateful for Rebekah’s leadership,” said Michelle McCauley, executive vice president and provost. “Rebekah’s focus on ensuring the library is a welcoming space for all, along with her deep commitment to supporting faculty colleagues, staff, and students, is an inspiration.”

McCauley said the College has benefited greatly from Irwin’s leadership as interim dean and in her previous role as director and curator of Special Collections. In that role, Irwin oversaw the College’s rare book collection and archives, as well as exhibits, digital collections, and conservation efforts. During Irwin’s tenure in Special Collections, tens of thousands of visitors engaged with Middlebury’s rare books and manuscripts through hands-on discovery, ranging from medieval animal skin paper, vintage typewriters, and AI-powered transcriptions of handwritten Civil War letters. 

Rebekah is an “ardent advocate for libraries as places dedicated to the preservation and propagation of everything that matters, always seeking common ground between the history of the book and its reimagined future,” said McCauley.

Irwin, who joined Middlebury in 2011 as head of collections and digital initiatives, has been active in archival and library organizations locally, nationally, and internationally throughout her career. She has served on the board of trustees of the Ilsley Public Library, and in 2018 Governor Phil Scott appointed her to a two-year term on the Vermont Board of Libraries. In 2019, Irwin launched and served as associate director of the Twilight Project, a multiyear grant that sought to expand archival holdings of groups historically underrepresented in the College archives.

Prior to joining Middlebury, Irwin spent nearly a decade at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Throughout her career, she has engaged on topics ranging from the history of the book and digital humanities to oral history, book arts, and advocacy for the enduring value of libraries, special collections, and archives.