About Alison Clemens
Alison Clemens is the Director of Access Services and Operations at Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, part of Yale Library Special Collections. In this role, Alison develops vision, strategy, service offerings, and policies and practices pertaining to providing seamless, equitable access to Yale Library’s special collections. She also leads Beinecke’s Access Services and Operations department, which comprises approximately 29 FTE responsible for reading room operations and services, circulation and stacks management, strategic projects, and organizational operations and development. Alison was previously Access Strategist at Beinecke, a role in which she identified, initiated, and implemented strategies and projects to provide seamless, meaningful, and ethical access to Yale University Library’s special collections. She was previously Head of Processing at Manuscripts & Archives (MSSA), Yale University, where she managed MSSA’s accessioning and processing program, and she started her time at Yale as an archivist at Beinecke Library.
Prior to joining Yale Library, Alison built her special collections experience by contributing to achieving the goals of numerous institutions, including The University of Houston, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The Morgan Library & Museum, The Harry Ransom Center, and Denison Library of Scripps College.
She is an MSIS graduate of the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information, where she specialized in Archives & Special Collections and completed a Museum Studies Portfolio. Alison is particularly interested in user experience in special collections; literary and historical manuscripts; uniting technical services with front line user services; and the ongoing education, development, and support of archivists and special collections workers.
Alison Clemens 