Georgetown has appointed Alexia Hudson-Ward, a leader in university library systems, as the new university librarian and dean of the library.
Hudson-Ward will begin her role on Aug. 30, 2025, following the departure of Library Dean Harriette Hemmasi, who is retiring after seven years at Georgetown.
Hudson-Ward is the associate director of research, learning and strategic partnerships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries.
As dean, she will serve as the chief administrative officer for the Georgetown University Library, which holds 3.5 million volumes and extensive collections and offers research and information services for students and faculty.
Hudson-Ward will oversee the university libraries, which include the Joseph Mark Lauinger Memorial Library, Blommer Science Library, the Capitol Campus Library and the historic Riggs Memorial Library.
“Alexia Hudson-Ward is a visionary leader in library science and open access to information and an accomplished scholar dedicated to excellence and the common good,” said Soyica Diggs Colbert (C’01), interim provost. “We look forward to welcoming her to Georgetown and remain grateful for the leadership of Dean Harriette Hemmasi.”
Hudson-Ward is also the incoming president-elect of the Association of College and Research Libraries and was elected to the American Antiquarian Society in recognition of her achievements in preserving and amplifying African American history from the Early Republic and the pre-Civil War eras.
A Lifetime Love of Libraries
Hudson-Ward’s career in librarianship was sparked in the vaulted ceilings and bookshelves of the Free Library of Philadelphia in her hometown.
Hudson-Ward grew up in a multi-generational household raised by a single mother who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. She “lived at the library,” she said, attending after-school programs in elementary school and tending to her bookshelves at home. For Hudson-Ward, the library was a place of wonder.
“The library opened up a world to me that was not conceivable or accessible growing up with limited means,” she said. “All this incredible knowledge that the librarians and the staff and the curators were willing to allow me as a young African American girl to touch, to interact with, to read, to check out, to enjoy. That’s what really struck me — the unfettered access to information.”
The spark stayed with Hudson-Ward through college at Temple University. After graduating, she wanted to pursue a master’s in library science. But as a first-generation college student, she felt compelled to get a job first. She worked as a jazz reporter and entertainment editor for The Philadelphia Tribune, the oldest continuously operating African American newspaper in the U.S., and later as a marketing manager at Coca-Cola, before turning her career toward her passion: librarianship.
Leading University Libraries
Hudson-Ward earned her master of library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, where she pursued both academic and corporate librarianship tracks, and her doctorate in library and information science from Simmons University.
In the years since, she served as a tenured associate librarian at Pennsylvania State University and the director of libraries for Oberlin College — the first person of color to lead in the library’s 192-year history. In this role, she oversaw four libraries, a $7.2 million budget, and the renaming of the Main Library after Oberlin alumna Mary Church Terrell, who was one of the first Black women to earn a college degree and the co-founder of the NAACP.
She joined MIT in 2020, where she leads research and learning services for MIT’s library; partnerships with more than 40 MIT departments, labs, centers and institutes; and the library’s AI strategy — work she’s eager to continue at Georgetown. Her latest book project, Social Intelligence in the Age of AI, will be published by ALA Editions later this year.
“Georgetown is admirably unwavering in its values,” she said. “To my knowledge, no other institution is so intentionally centering its values and transdisciplinary approaches to address the complex, multidimensional challenges of AI. Georgetown is seizing this pivotal moment through a distinctly humanistic lens — and in doing so, I believe its mission truly meets the moment.”
Hudson-Ward said Georgetown’s Jesuit values influenced her decision to join the university.
“This is such a great opportunity to lead one of the world’s storied library systems at a time where we’re all undergoing deep interrogation on what the future of higher education and the future of academic libraries could and would mean,” she said.
She said she’s looking forward to meeting the library’s staff, developing a strategy and goals, and contributing to the university’s Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation work.
“This role not only presents the opportunity to lead the libraries and partner with the dedicated library staff and colleagues, but also enables a meaningful partnership with an institution of enduring distinction.”
Editor’s Note: The first photo in the story is by Kevin Thai.
