Savannah Lake, an American Library Association Core Emerging Leader, helps expand UNC Charlotte’s digital scholarship at Atkins Library

Savannah Lake is UNC Charlotte’s digital scholarship librarian. She joined the University in January 2021 after working in the publishing industry. Lake was named a 2025 Core Emerging Leader by the American Library Association, placing her in a distinguished national cohort of professionals new to the field of librarianship. Lake discusses this honor and the work she is most proud of at Atkins Library. 

Take me through your regular day-to-day.

I support Niner Commons, which is UNC Charlotte’s institutional repository — a space where faculty, staff and students can promote their scholarship and research. On a regular day, that can look like posting new articles to the repository and working with conferences to get those materials. We’re also migrating to a new platform for the repository, which we’re excited about that will really showcase people’s research.

I also support open access publishing efforts through the library. Faculty who are interested in establishing and running their own open access journal can do so through our open publishing platform. I also help with our open books program. We often collaborate with UNC Press to publish scholarly monographs, research collaborations or books on University history, making the electronic version open access and the print version available through classic retailers.

What is your favorite part about your responsibilities at UNC Charlotte?

I really enjoy supporting all of the incredible work that people are doing at UNC Charlotte. I would say my favorite part is helping preserve and promote research through Niner Commons.

What were you doing previously?

I worked in trade publishing at a literary agency. Then, I shifted gears and attended UCLA to get a master’s degree in librarianship. I really enjoyed the aspects of librarianship that supported the research process. My studies in graduate school also centered around metadata, which is kind of the nuts and bolts behind running something like Niner Commons.

How did you get the news about being a 2025 Core Emerging Leader, and what was your initial reaction to it?

The Emerging Leaders Program is the American Library Association’s (ALA) leadership program for professionals new to the field. It connects a group of 50 librarians across the country from different backgrounds. They come from university libraries, like ours, as well as other types of libraries, such as public libraries and K-12 libraries. The program is an opportunity to connect with others and serve the profession in a leadership capacity. Core is a division of ALA that supports librarians who are working in leadership, collections and technical services. I am very grateful to be a part of the Emerging Leaders Program and to be sponsored by Core.

What are your hopes for that program as it relates to the work that you’re doing at UNC Charlotte?

I’m excited to get more involved with the profession at large. It will be great to connect with people in other libraries who are facing similar issues and have similar projects to us.

What accomplishment at Atkins Library would you say you’re most proud of?

I’m most proud of growing Niner Commons, as we’ve been able to increase the number of works available in the repository. I’m also looking forward to supporting the Open Access Policy, which was passed in April 2024. Especially as we’ve achieved R1 status, it will enable the campus to preserve and share our research.

Looking forward, what are some goals that you have either with the institutional repository or within your role at Atkins Library?

I’m very excited about the new platform for Niner Commons, coming this spring. The site will be streamlined and easier for people to find works within the repository. It also has an author profile feature, so if you’re a researcher or faculty member and you have works within the repository, you can create a digital profile that showcases your research interests and lists your work.

Another part of my work that I’m excited to build on is promoting more student scholarship through the repository. We currently work with the Undergraduate Research Conference and the Summer Research Symposium to share those works in the repository. I look forward to sharing and promoting more student research.

What’s one thing that you want the campus community to know about Atkins Library and the work that you do? 

Atkins is here to support the campus community. If you’re publishing and you’re looking for support in finding journals, publishing openly, reviewing author contracts or making sure you retain as many of the rights as you want for your work, we’re here to help.

Tell me a little bit about you and what you enjoy doing outside of work.

Well, I’m a librarian, so I like to read. I mostly read fiction. I recently enjoyed “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett.