Sarah E. Thomas, director of Oxford University’s library system, was appointed vice president for the Harvard Library, University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 announced in a press release Monday.

Thomas will take over the responsibilities formerly held by Senior Associate Provost for the Harvard Library Mary Lee Kennedy, who is leaving Harvard to lead the New York Public Library as its Chief Library Officer.

Thomas, a member of the faculty at Oxford, was the first woman and non-British citizen in four centuries to lead the Bodleian Libraries, a group of nearly 40 libraries that serve the university. She previously worked as the university librarian at Cornell.

“Sarah Thomas is a leader in her field with an exceptional record of success running major academic libraries. She is uniquely capable of building on the progress we have made thus far in responding to the evolving expectations of the 21st century scholar,” Garber said in the press release.

After graduating from Smith College in 1970, Thomas earned a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College in 1973 and received her Ph.D. in German literature from Johns Hopkins University in 1983.

—Staff writer Maya Jonas-Silver can be reached at mayajonas-silver@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @mayajonassilver.