Ann Thornton

Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public
Libraries

Ann Thornton was appointed the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries in 2012. In her current role, Ms. Thornton is responsible for four world-renowned research libraries and their many activities, including collection development, preservation, reference and research services, fellowships, programs, and exhibitions. Ms. Thornton began working at NYPL in 1996 when she was hired as the Science, Industry, and Business Library's first public training coordinator, and she subsequently held the positions of Assistant Director of Electronic Resources, Associate Director, Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Director of Reference and Research Services, and Acting Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries.

Ms. Thornton has a BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MLIS from Florida State University. Early in her career, Thornton served as a systems librarian at the University of Houston Libraries; more recently she was a 2009-10 Research Libraries Leadership Fellow in a program sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries. She is an advisory board member of the Syracuse University Libraries and serves on the New York State Education Department’s Board of Regents Advisory Council on Libraries.