Diane Dallis-Comentale was appointed Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries in April 2022, following her appointment as Interim Dean of IU Libraries upon Carolyn Walters' retirement in July 2021.
In June 2018, Dallis-Comentale was named the Associate Dean for Administration and Planning to oversee Strategic Planning and Assessment, Business and Financial Services, Communications, and Libraries Human Resources. She served as chair of the IU Libraries’ Diversity Committee. Her most recent successes include leading IU Libraries in adapting services during the pandemic, and overseeing the Lilly Library Reading Room Mural project, part of a once-in-a-generation renovation of one of the world’s great libraries. Prior to this role, Dallis-Comentale served as Associate University Librarian for Research and Instruction at the University of Chicago Library for one year, where she directed a number of new initiatives and services and created or strengthened partnerships with several major units across campus.
Dallis-Comentale brings a diverse portfolio of experience overseeing library services for students and faculty including Access Services, Special Collections, Archives and Manuscripts, Communications, and academic-discipline-focused departments including Area Studies, Arts and Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. The first half of her career was focused on undergraduate student support and she tailored instructional services for courses and programs such as Groups Scholars, IFS, and New Student Orientation. Diane has led transformative organizational changes, and developed new partnerships between IU Libraries, UITS, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. During this time Dallis-Comentale envisioned new service models and spaces as she managed three major renovations in the iconic Herman B Wells Library, including dynamic collaborations between the library and academic units across campus. This resulted in the popular Learning Commons, Scholars’ Commons and Moving Image Archives and Collections spaces that undeniably recast perceptions of academic libraries. Dallis-Comentale developed IU’s first Information Literacy Grants that went on to become today’s successful, donor-funded Jay Information Literacy Grant Program.
Dallis-Comentale is a demonstrated leader in academic libraries, on the IU Campus, and at the national level. She has presented at national conferences published (co-edited) the textbook Planning and Implementing Resource Discovery Tools in Academic Libraries and serves on the editorial boards of two highly regarded peer-reviewed journals; portal: Libraries and the Academy, published quarterly by Johns Hopkins University Press, and Library Leadership & Management, a journal of the American Library Association.
She works closely with the IU Libraries’ Diversity Committee, serves on the Center of Excellence for Women in Technology (CEW&T) Advisory Council, and has served on a multitude of Bloomington Faculty Council and Bloomington Library Faculty Councils as well as campus and library administrative committees. Dallis-Comentale contributes her time and/or resources to support community and national organizations which emphasize equity, education, and mental/physical health, including the Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington, The Loveland Therapy Foundation, Monroe County School Corporation, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, National Alliance for Mental Illness, National Association of Black Journalists, Planned Parenthood, WFIU, WTIU, IU Health Statewide Racial Equity in Healthcare Fund, and Indiana University. Dallis-Comentale earned her Master of Library Science and Bachelor of Science in Education from Indiana University Bloomington.