Kelly Miller staffId: 462

Kelly E. Miller is Associate Dean of Learning and Research Services, Director of Mindfulness and Well-Being Programs, and a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher at the University of Miami Libraries in Coral Gables, Florida, where she has worked since 2014. In the role of Associate Dean, she is responsible for library units and fellowship programs that support the learning and research needs of University of Miami students and faculty. These units include the subject librarians in Richter Library, subject-specialty libraries (Architecture, Business, Music, and Marine and Atmospheric Sciences), Creative Studio, and Learning Commons. As Director of Mindfulness and Well-Being Programs, Kelly leads University of Miami Libraries’ efforts to support student, faculty, employee, and community well-being. In conversation with campus partners, she works to develop initiatives and programs in the libraries that contribute to community health and well-being (an evolving area for libraries that is aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal #3: “Good Health and Well-Being”) and integrate these initiatives and programs with existing library programs and services. Prior to joining the University of Miami Libraries, Miller held library positions at UCLA Library and University of Virginia Library.

A 2013 graduate of the Leading Change Institute, she focuses on the transformation of library spaces and services to support students and faculty. She has published articles on libraries in Educause Review, portal: Libraries and the Academy, Urban Library Journal, and Archive Journal. She has presented at conferences of the International Association of University Libraries, Society of College and Urban Planning, Educause Learning Initiative, Coalition of Networked Information, and Designing Libraries, among many others. She also serves on the Editorial Board of Archive Journal. From 2005 to 2007, she held the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Postdoctoral Fellowship in Academic Libraries at the University of Virginia Library.

Trained as a humanist and scholar, Miller earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Russian and English from Stetson University. In 2001-2002, she held a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has published scholarship on Russian literature and visual art and translations from Russian and Czech in such publications as Kosmas: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, Canadian Slavonic Papers, and Slavic and East European Information Resources. She has taught courses on Russian language, literature, and art history at the University of Michigan, Dickinson College, and University of Virginia. Her scholarly and creative work focuses on the relationship between between poetry and painting.

In recent years, Miller has been focusing on the beneficial role that libraries can play in supporting health and well-being in the midst of the climate emergency and other related crises, including that of mental health. In 2016, she co-founded the Libraries' Mindfulness Program in collaboration with the University of Miami Law School's Mindfulness in Law Program. In 2017-2018, she completed courses in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and Cultivating Compassion. In February 2021, she graduated from the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP), a two-year training program for teaching awareness and compassion-based practices, and she is currently a participant in the Kincentric Leadership program. In the past year, she has given numerous invited talks on the topic of libraries and well-being, including for CLIR Institutes, Hemispheric University Consortium, and AMICAL.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1701-4006

Recent selected publications:

Kelly E. Miller and Kineret Ben-Knaan and Roxane Pickens. “Co-Creating the Commons: Campus Partnerships at the Heart of Two Library Space Design Projects at the University of Miami.” Designing Libraries for the 21st Century. Edited by Tom Hickerson, Joan Lippincott, and Leanora Crema (Chicago, Illinois: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2022), pp. 225 – 240.

Kelly E. Miller and Kineret Ben-Knaan. "How Librarians Contribute to Interdisciplinary Research Teams." Integration and Implementation Insights. September 20, 2020

Kelly E. Miller and Lisa Baker. "Sailing Together at the University of Miami: How New Campus Partnerships are Leading to the Transformation of Librarian Roles," IATUL Proceedings 2019 (Purdue e-Pubs)

Kelly E. Miller, "On Being in Libraries," EDUCAUSE Review 53, no. 5 (September/October 2018).

Recent selected presentations:

Kelly Miller, “At the Heart of the Whirlwind: The Library’s Role in Supporting Mental Health and Well-Being,” AMICAL 2024 conference, keynote presentation, online, May 2024.

Kelly Miller with Guayana Paez-Acosta, “The Library’s Role in Building Community Well-Being and Resilience in an Era of Climate Crisis,” Hemispheric University Consortium (HUC) Library Network, webinar, March 2024.

Kelly Miller, “On Well-Being in Cultural Heritage Environments: Cultivating Support for Communities in Crisis,” Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), New Zealand, online, November 2024.

Kelly Miller with Joan Lippincott and Shan Sutton, “Supporting Learning, Student Success, and Wellbeing," Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) webinar (online), February 2023.

Kelly Miller with Kineret Ben-Knaan, Angela Clark Hughes, and James Sobczak, "Librarians on Interdisciplinary Research Teams," OCLC Research "Works in Progress Webinar," September 2020

Kelly Miller with Kineret Ben-Knaan, Angela Clark Hughes, and James Sobczak, "Exploring Roles for Librarians on Interdisciplinary Research Teams," CNI Fall Virtual Meeting 2020