RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – The Library of Virginia today announced that technology leader and acclaimed scholar Scott B. Weingart has been named its inaugural chief technology officer, effective Sept. 25, 2025. 

Joining the Library’s senior leadership team, Weingart will provide strategic vision and operational leadership for the Library’s information technology and digital initiatives, including digital collections, web applications, digital engagement, and the management of critical systems like Alma, Primo and Rosetta. The divisions maintain and provide access to over 130 million digital collection files.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Scott Weingart and look forward to his visionary leadership for this important new role at the Library,” said Librarian of Virginia Dennis T. Clark.  “With his hire, we will focus on being a leading digital-first state library and archives with unique historic and contemporary collections, while prioritizing innovative approaches to make our collections more accessible.”

Weingart brings more than a decade of leadership experience in library technology, data strategy and digital scholarship. He most recently served as chief data officer and inaugural director of the Office of Data and Evaluation at the National Endowment for the Humanities, where he shaped policy for national humanities initiatives, led multimillion-dollar grantmaking and contracting activities, and built strategic partnerships across government, nonprofit and philanthropic institutions. 

Weingart has also directed digital initiatives at the libraries of the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he served as a member of the Library of Congress Copyright Modernization Committee, as treasurer of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations and as an executive council member of the Association for Computers and Humanities. 

Weingart is the recipient of the prestigious Paul Fortier Prize in Digital Humanities. He has coauthored “The Network Turn” (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and “Exploring Big Historical Data: The Historian’s Macroscope” (Imperial College Press, 2014), and has authored dozens of articles spanning the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. He currently serves as a resident scholar at Dartmouth College’s Digital Humanities and Social Engagement cluster and as a research affiliate at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Data, Culture and Society. 

Weingart earned a bachelor’s degree in the history of science and a minor in computer engineering from the University of Florida, and a master’s degree in data science from the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University. 

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ABOUT THE LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA 

The Library of Virginia is the leading source of information on Virginia’s history, government and people. The Library’s collections, containing more than 134 million items, document and illustrate the lives of both famous Virginians and ordinary citizens. Our online resources draw nearly two million website visits per year, and our on-site records, exhibitions and events bring in thousands of visitors annually. The Library is located in downtown Richmond near Capitol Square at 800 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Learn more at www.lva.virginia.gov.