Vanessa Kam

D. Vanessa Kam currently serves at Stanford University Libraries (SUL) as Head Librarian of the Bowes Art & Architecture Library, as of September of 2016.

Prior to returning to Stanford for her new role, she was Head Librarian of the University of British Columbia’s Music, Art and Architecture Library in Vancouver, Canada (2005–2016). Stanford veterans will remember Vanessa as Associate Art Librarian and Exhibits and Publications Manager at the Stanford University Libraries (2000–2005). Vanessa has also worked as a Kress Fellow at the Arts Library, Yale University (2000), and Rockefeller Foundation Research Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin (1997–1998).

She holds two Master’s degrees in Art History, and Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin (1996; 1999). She is a former Executive Board member of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA), and remains very active in the organization, most recently joining their strategic planning committee. Vanessa is a recipient of ARLIS/NA’s Worldwide Art Books Publications Award (2015), and an H.W. Wilson Foundation Research Award (2013) for her articles "The Tenacious Book, Part 1: The Curious State of Art and Architecture Library Collections in a Digital Era," and "The Tenacious Book, Part 2: Publishers' Views on the Once and Future State of the Art Book."
When she is not at work or doing research and writing, she will likely be found singing in a choir or performing backup vocals for rock and roll bands or frequenting Bay Area karaoke boxes.