Associate professor of information studies is the Martin and Bernard Breslauer Endowed Professor in Bibliography, director of the California Rare Book School and co-director of the Librarianship Institute at UCLA.
Robert D. Montoya has been named chair of the UCLA Department of Information Studies, effective July 1, 2025. He has served as the vice chair of the Department of Information Studies since 2024.
An associate professor of information studies, Montoya holds the title of the Martin and Bernard Breslauer Endowed Professor in Bibliography and serves as director of the California Rare Book School and co-director of the Radical Librarianship Institute at UCLA.
“I feel incredibly lucky to be able to support the faculty, students, and staff in Information Studies and the broader School of Education and Information Studies,” says Professor Montoya. “It is safe to say that the fields represented by those in information studies—library science, archives, data studies, bibliography, museum studies, to name only a few—are facing difficult challenges throughout the country. Which says nothing of the constraints being placed on centers of higher education and innovation such as UCLA.
“My hope during my tenure is to engage with the IS community and harness our collective strengths to positively impact the future of our fields. The faculty in IS are some of the most esteemed and respected in this area and will continue to lead the way during this period. I welcome both new and continuing students and look forward to engaging with each of you over the next many weeks and months.”
Montoya’s research focuses on special collections and rare books, book history, and knowledge organization, with particular attention to international library development and publishing. He explores questions of information representation and positionality, and is committed to critical, ethical, and justice-oriented work in library and information science (LIS). His expertise includes rare books and print culture, library science and studies, and library continuing education and pedagogy. He also works extensively in international library development and brings a specialized focus to biodiversity informatics, especially as it relates to museum environments.
“It is my great pleasure to welcome Dr. Rob Montoya as the new Chair of the Department of Information Studies,” says Wasserman Dean Christina Christie. “Dr. Montoya is a distinguished scholar and leader whose vision, energy, and commitment to excellence will greatly benefit our department and the Ed&IS community more broadly.
“As chair, Dr. Montoya will guide the department into its next chapter, building on its outstanding faculty and staff, supporting the success of our students, and shaping the future of information studies at Ed&IS during this most critical moment in our history as a campus and community of scholars in higher education,” says Christie. “Please join me in congratulating and warmly welcoming Dr. Rob Montoya in his new role as chair of the Department of Information Studies.”
Professor Montoya’s work has been funded by The Mellon Foundation, National Science Foundation; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; the U.S. State Department; the U.S. Embassy, Kosovo; and the National Library of Kosovo. Currently, he is the principal investigator on the creation of the Librarianship Institute and Community Press at UCLA, supported by grant from the Mellon Foundation.
A triple Bruin, Professor Montoya achieved his bachelor’s degree in American literature and culture, his MLIS, and his PhD in information studies at UCLA.