Jenny Townes

Education

• MSLS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• BA, English, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

Professional Profile

Jenny Townes joined the Emory Libraries Scholarly Communications Office in May 2022 as the Open Access Librarian. In this capacity Jenny leads open access outreach and advocacy, specifically focused on two of the university’s open access repositories: OpenEmory and Emory Theses and Dissertations. Prior to joining Emory University Libraries, Jenny was the Scholarly Communication Librarian at Georgia College & State University. 

Jenny earned an MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a Carolina Academic Library Associate (CALA) working in the North Carolina Collection. After receiving her degree, Jenny spent ten years working at different academic libraries in the Research Triangle before coming to Georgia.  

Jenny actively participates in the advancement of the profession. She is a member of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), currently serves as the co-chair of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) Scholarly Communication Interest Group, and is on the Library Advisory Board for punctum books. 

Jenny’s research interests are open access, institutional repositories, and open educational resources. In 2015 she co-edited the Handbook of Research on Disaster Management and Contingency Planning in Modern Libraries, and she regularly presents at national library conferences.