Gautham Reddy

Education

• Ph.D., South Asian Languages & Civilizations, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• M.A., History of Religions, University of Chicago Divinity School, Chicago, Ill.
• B.A., Asian Studies and Religion, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.

Professional Profile

Gautham Reddy joined Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Library in 2019 as the subject librarian for South Asian Studies and Religion. He is also responsible for supporting research and teaching needs for Southeast Asian Studies and Asian American Studies. Gautham received his PhD, “An Empire of Literary Telugu: Remaking Language and Community in Colonial South India, (1854-1921)” from the University of Chicago’s Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. His primary duties include collection development, library instruction, outreach, and Indic-language cataloging. He has linguistic expertise in Sanskrit, Telugu, Hindi, and German. He has attended several international bookfairs in India and developed trade contacts with vendors across South Asia. 

Gautham’s current professional interests include building greater diversity in South Asia library collections, expanding archival resources for the study of South Asia and the South Asian diaspora, and supporting digital humanities scholarship. He is a member of the Committee on South Asian Languages and Documentation (CONSALD), the professional organization for South Asia librarians, and currently serves as Chair of its executive board. He is a founding member and co-coordinator of the Library of Congress SACO South Asia Funnel, a group that works to address outdated, inaccurate, and harmful cataloging terminology. He is also a member of the South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) initiative to create and maintain a collection of open access materials for the study of South Asia. 

Gautham is also an active scholar who continues to research and publish on Telugu literature, the history of colonial south India, and the history of the book. He has presented papers at the South Asia Conference at Madison and the Association of Asian Studies. He is also interested in literary translation and public humanities. He currently serves as a managing editor for the web journal Maidaanam: Culture, History, and Politics from the Deccan and Southern India.