Ms. Mary Rader is currently the South Asian studies librarian and the head of the Arts, Humanities and Global Studies Engagement Team at the University of Texas (UT) Libraries. She received her BA in art history from Kalamazoo College, her MA in international studies (with a South Asia focus) from the University of Washington, and her MLS from the University of Texas; throughout all three programs, she conducted language training in Tamil and Hindi/Urdu and was an American Institute of Indian Studies Language Fellow (Tamil) as well as a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow (Hindi).
Before coming to UT, Ms. Rader held similar positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Michigan, and Chicago Public Library. As a South Asian studies librarian, her work inherently focuses on content from and about all South Asian countries, in all formats, in all disciplines, and in all South Asian languages. Finding collections that have hitherto been ignored or hidden and making them publicly available is a particular focus of her efforts. A national leader in cooperative collection development efforts for South Asian studies, she regularly partners with the South Asian Materials Project (SAMP), the South Asian Open Archives (SAOA), and other collaborative initiatives.
Ms. Rader’s project is seeking and documenting “Hidden Archives” in Delhi and in Chennai. The goals are to locate personal and private archives housed outside of academic and public domains and to document the content and condition of these collections. The study is setting the groundwork for future preservation and discovery of these materials. Beyond traditional deliverables (publications, grant proposals, bibliographic tools), this research will deepen networks for future and ongoing inter-institutional and international relationships between collectors, scholars, and librarians of South Asia.