Scott Seaman earned his BA in art and business at Wright State University in 1982. He completed his master's degree in art history at the Ohio State University in 1986, and his MLS at Kent State University in 1987. While studying for his masters degrees, Seaman was also employed as a bibliographic maintenance specialist with OCLC. After completing a year as head of the Research Library and Archive at the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, Seaman returned to OSU where he served as head of the Interlibrary Loan Department from 1988 through 1991. He was also the acting head of the Circulation Department through 1990. Seaman's other contributions during his years at OSU included serving as chair of the Action Committee of the OHIONET Interlibrary Loan Council, and serving as secretary of the Academic and Special Libraries Division of the Ohio Library Association.
In 1991, Seaman moved to Boulder, Colorado where he was head of Circulation Services of University Libraries at the University of Colorado. In 1997, Seaman additionally was appointed as the Libraries' acting associate director of Administrative Services, and in 1998 that appointment became permanent until 2008 when Seaman left for the position of Dean of Libraries at Ohio University. Along the way, Dean Seaman has also participated in Peabody Institute's Summer Institute for Academic Library Leadership, the University of Colorado's Emerging Leaders Program, and the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians.
Among the Dean's many published articles are "Confidentiality of Library Records: Ethics, Laws, and Practice" in Information Ethics in the Electronic Age: Current Issues in Africa and the World, 123-128, 2004; "The Library as Learning Environment: Space Planning in an Academic Library" Colorado Libraries 32 (1): 5-7, 2006; and "Another Great Dissolution? The Privatization of Public Universities and the Academic Library" Journal of Academic Librarianship 31 (4): 305-309, 2005. Dean Seaman has also undertaken editorial responsibilities for such publications as: Journal of Academic Librarianship, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, and LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal.
Among his numerous professional memberships have been: American Library Association (Committee on Pay Equity, 2004-2006); Colorado Library Association (Governing Board, 1999-2001); Central Colorado Library System (Governing Board, 1999-2002); University of Colorado, Boulder (Master Plan Task Force, 1997); University of Colorado, Boulder (Information Technology Strategic Planning Committee, 1998, 2000); and University of Colorado, Boulder (Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee, 2002-2008).
