Yale Law News
Yale Law School’s top librarian has left the position, according to announcements by Law School administrators on Monday and Tuesday.
Dean Cristina Rodríguez, whose deanship began on Sunday, and Deputy Dean Yair Listokin, who previously served as interim dean, announced that law librarian Femi Cadmus “is no longer serving” in this position in an email sent to Law School faculty on Monday and obtained by the News. In a Tuesday email to the law school community also obtained by the News, Rodríguez announced that Daniel Dollar, currently the associate University librarian for scholarly resources, would become the interim law librarian on Feb. 9.
Daniel Dollar
“We write with the news that Femi Cadmus is no longer serving as Law Librarian,” Rodríguez and Listokin wrote on Monday. “We thank her for her contributions over these last five years.”
Cadmus’ departure follows a period of turmoil at the Lillian Goldman Law Library marked by high employee turnover and low morale — the subject of a News investigation published in November.
In an employee survey conducted in December 2024, the law library scored lower on every metric of staff sentiment than the average for all Yale employees. Less than a quarter of employees at the law library agreed at the time that “all employees, regardless of their differences, are treated fairly.”
In the aftermath of the survey, then-Dean Heather Gerken announced that the Law School asked an outside auditor to “conduct a review of issues” present in the survey.
Blair Kauffman, who led the law library from 1994 to 2016, praised the selection of Dollar as interim director in a phone interview with the News, calling him “well-respected” and “a good choice.”
Dollar is an outsider to the law library but not to Yale. According to Rodríguez’s Tuesday announcement, Dollar has nearly 25 years of “extensive leadership experience” working in Yale libraries, and started at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library in 2001.
“It should be a welcome change in the law library,” Kauffman said. “He’s positioned to do a good job to steer them through this tough period.”
Kauffman also praised Rodríguez for her decision, saying he was pleased that she did it at the beginning of her term.
“It’s been a tough five years for the law library, and I’m glad to see there’s an end to that period,” Kauffman said. “I’m glad that Cristina is doing something and this seems like a good first step.”
Cadmus, whose title since 2021 was law library director and professor of law, did not respond to the News’ request for comment.
When asked for comment, Law School spokesperson Alden Ferro wrote that he would not discuss personnel matters and stated that the law librarian does not have tenure.
“The conferral of tenure is an extensive process at Yale, requiring a faculty vote, recommendation to the provost, and approval by the Corporation. The Law Librarian position does not go through the tenure process,” Ferro wrote.
Cadmus is a former president of the American Association of Law Libraries.
https://yaledailynews.com/articles/law-library-director-leaves-post-after-turbulent-stretch
