Journalism Library welcomes Jennilyn Wiley as new head librarian
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Nov. 4, 2025) — Jennilyn Wiley, an experienced librarian with a varied background in business and accounting, is the new head librarian of the Missouri School of Journalism’s celebrated Journalism Library.
As head librarian, Wiley will oversee an historic collection of books, periodicals, digital resources and other sources of information that began with the founding of the School of Journalism in 1908. The collection now boasts more than 30,000 print books, the largest academic photojournalism collection in the world and a 4,000-volume journalism fiction collection.
“The Journalism Library is an important resource for student and faculty researchers and for our professional newsrooms, and Jennilyn has the skills and background to lead it into the future,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School. “Under her guidance, the library is poised to enhance its role as a collaborative, accessible asset for the School’s devoted fact gatherers.”
“The Journalism Library is an important resource for student and faculty researchers and for our professional newsrooms, and Jennilyn has the skills and background to lead it into the future. Under her guidance, the library is poised to enhance its role as a collaborative, accessible asset for the School’s devoted fact gatherers.”
David Kurpius, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism
Wiley brings a multifaceted set of experience to the role, having begun her career as an auditor and software trainer before moving into communication and libraries. That fusion of knowledge was on display in her previous role as a business, entrepreneurship and economics librarian at Auburn University Libraries, where in addition to research assistance and library instruction, she gained experience helping students develop projects for entrepreneurship competitions.
At a time when rapid evolutions in technology have changed how people access and compile information, her varied toolkit will be a key part of the Journalism Library’s interdisciplinary and multiplatform work with students, staff and faculty on research for academic and news projects.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Jennilyn Wiley to Mizzou Libraries as the new head of the Journalism Library,” said Kara Whatley, vice provost for libraries and university librarian at Mizzou. “Her background in business and entrepreneurship librarianship, combined with her expertise in social science research and data analysis, brings a powerful blend of skills to this role. Jennilyn’s experience supporting students and faculty across disciplines will be a tremendous asset as we continue to strengthen our services for the School of Journalism and beyond.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Jennilyn Wiley to Mizzou Libraries as the new head of the Journalism Library. Her background in business and entrepreneurship librarianship, combined with her expertise in social science research and data analysis, brings a powerful blend of skills to this role.“
Kara Whatley, vice provost for libraries and university librarian, University of Missouri
For Wiley, that blend of skills was not necessarily purposeful. Dissatisfied with auditing but enamored with data analysis, she wasn’t sure where to turn. It wasn’t until a simple question prompted her to perform a bit of data analysis on herself that she realized how central libraries were to her sense of purpose and belonging.
“Someone was doing a presentation, and they were talking about the concept of home — when you first move somewhere, what is it that you do to make a place feel like home to you?” Wiley recounted. “I realized my answer to that question was: I get a public library card. Every place I’ve ever been, I get a card within the first couple of days, and that’s what makes it start to feel like home to me. So that kind of felt like a lightbulb went off in my head, and I thought maybe I should be a librarian.”
Now, armed with a doctorate in communication and information from Kent State University, she is ready to bring it all together in administering the Journalism Library with an eye toward what the business world calls “knowledge management.”
“Someone was doing a presentation, and they were talking about the concept of home — when you first move somewhere, what is it that you do to make a place feel like home to you? I realized my answer to that question was: I get a public library card. Every place I’ve ever been, I get a card within the first couple of days, and that’s what makes it start to feel like home to me. So that kind of felt like a lightbulb went off in my head, and I thought maybe I should be a librarian.”
Jennilyn Wiley
“It’s about thinking, what are all the documents we have and how will people find them?” Wiley said. “How are they organized? What tags are we using for people to find them?”
And in the era of generative AI, that approach is vital to ensure that insights aren’t lost as methods of fast — but not always reliable or complete — research become more accessible.
“We need libraries even more than we did before, because a lot of the good work you can find in a library is not found online,” Wiley added, noting that AI often does not have access to scholarly articles and other information that resides in paid sources like research journals. “Generative AI is not touching on a lot of our best stuff, so knowledge management is extremely important.”
In addition to her doctorate from Kent State in 2019, Wiley earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bowling Green State University in 1994, as well as master’s degrees in library science and knowledge management from Kent State in 2012.
Updated: November 3, 2025