Ronald Wheeler Joins USF

Wheeler is responsible for all aspects of the library’s operations, including an expansion of its reach and services in support of the law school’s teaching, scholarship, and other activities.

Wheeler said that during his first month at the Dorraine Zief Law Library he has focused on learning about the institution, by acquainting himself with USF and its unique processes, and the people.

“I think it is imperative for me to sit down one-on-one with the people in the library to talk with them about what they do, how they do it, how they feel about their jobs and the institution,” he said. “I feel that I have a responsibility to help them succeed in their jobs and in their careers, and I can't do that unless I really get a handle on this information.”

In the next year, Wheeler’s primary objectives are to fill vacant positions in the library, expand library services, and establish a long-term collection management strategy.

“The library has a history of providing excellent service to the law school faculty and students and to the greater university community,” he said. “I’d like to explore how the library can continually make inroads to providing legal research or instructional services in every facet of the law school’s programs—like in clinics, emerging areas of curricular focus, study abroad and LLM programs, and centers.”

Wheeler also plans to focus on his writing during the next year. He is the author and co-author of numerous publications, including a chapter in the 2010 edition of State Practice Materials: Annotated Bibliographies and an article on hiring in academic law libraries published in Law Library Journal in 2008. He co-edited an annotated bibliography on sexual orientation and the law published by William S. Hein & Co. in 2006.

Wheeler was elected to a three-year term of the executive board of the American Association of Law Libraries beginning in July. He previously served as associate director of the Georgia State University College of Law Library, where he oversaw the library’s public services department, including circulation, inter-library loan, reference, faculty research, and instructional services.