Nancy M. Cline, who has led the Harvard College Library for nearly 15 years, will be retiring at the end of this academic year, according to an e-mailed message to faculty from Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Cline, who came to Harvard from her position as dean of University Libraries at Pennsylvania State University, has been Roy E. Larsen Librarian of Harvard College since 1996.  In that time she has been responsible for overseeing and managing Harvard’s libraries.

“It’s been a very rewarding career,” she said.

Cline’s guidance has been rewarding for Harvard’s library system as well.  Under her leadership, Widener Library went through a comprehensive renovation which modernized the building, improved preservation techniques of library materials, and created more open space for library patrons. Cline said she was especially proud that the library was kept “open and operational” throughout  construction.

Her tenure was also marked by the beginning of Harvard’s Library Digital Initiative, an effort to expand Harvard College Library’s digital collections.

But Cline’s initiatives have had more intimate impacts on the libraries as well. She said she wanted to make the libraries at Harvard more “approachable”—to students and faculty.

In Lamont, for example, she tried to foster a more accessible and social atmosphere by leading the installation of a café, 24-hour service to students five days a week, and an open house at the beginning of the year.

Collaborations between librarians and faculty in support of teaching and support services for international graduate students have also increased—a focus which Cline felt was lacking when she first arrived at Harvard.

“That’s been one of the most rewarding parts of a job like mine; we can take these vast libraries like Widener and Houghton and make them a part of undergraduate life.”

Continuing in her role through this academic year, Cline is also actively involved in Harvard College Library’s current structural changes.  Earlier this month, the Library Implementation Work Group, established by the Task Force on University Libraries last fall, developed an oversight board as part of administrative changes in the library system.

“The goal is broadly to have the sense that there is a library at Harvard and to make sure that we draw together the power of the many parts that we have,” Cline said.  “It’s an exciting period of time; it was a hard choice to decide when to retire.”

Cline said she will miss watching students coming into the library with one research question and leaving with a whole stack of books, but she anticipates coming back to use the libraries herself.

“I don’t think I’ll feel detached.”

She said she hopes to help in the library restructuring process in whatever way she can, but also has a “to-do list” of her own.  She wants to travel to Scotland and England, and also Japan and China, where she has heretofore only traveled for library business.

But ultimately, Cline will remain a librarian at heart.  “I have so many books that I’m really looking forward to reading!” she said.

-Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.