The Samuel C. Williams Library recognized for innovative programs that foster connection and excellence
Members of the Stevens community know that the Samuel C. Williams Library offers much more than a quiet place to study — it exists at the very center of campus life, providing students access to extensive research materials, leading-edge technology, collaborative work and study spaces and support services. It is this commitment to Stevens’ students — and to excellence — that has earned the Williams Library a 2025 Library Excellence in Access and Diversity (LEAD) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine.
The LEAD Award honors academic libraries’ programs and initiatives that encourage and support inclusive excellence and belonging across their campus. This prestigious award highlights Stevens’ dedication to innovation and accessibility as well as the Williams Library’s role as a hub of knowledge and connection.
Director of the Williams Library, Dr. Linda S. Beninghove, sees the LEAD Award as an opportunity to highlight the important and multifaceted work she and her colleagues do each day to engage with students on campus. “We’re here to support students,” Beninghove says, “and the goal is to find positive, helpful resources — programming, classes and workshops that are designed in close consultation with faculty and staff across campus.”
From voter registration information, to final exam study break activities to support students’ mental health, to the Voices of Castle Point oral history project, the Williams Library team is constantly working to raise awareness about resources and services and to help students find their place among the Stevens community.
“Libraries have become community centers,” says Beninghove, noting that the Williams Library serves as “a place where people meet friends and hang out and where they buckle down and study quietly — so in that way we have to be everything to everyone.”
It is truly Stevens’ intellectual living room, where knowledge, community and student success converge under one welcoming roof.
Learn more about the Williams Library and access library resources here.
