Randy Riley

Randy Joseph Riley (September 21, 1962 – January 3, 2026) was an American librarian who served as the State Librarian of Michigan from 2014 to 2025.

Background Riley was born in Ionia, Michigan, on September 21, 1962, to Leonard and Camilla Riley. He married Lori Cunningham on August 27, 1988 and the couple had two children.

Riley died in East Lansing, Michigan, on January 3, 2026, at the age of 63. After his death, a memorial service was held at the Library of Michigan with over 500 attendees.

Career Riley began his career as a teacher, teaching history and social studies. He had many roles within the Library of Michigan including being head of special collections, and Michigan eLibrary (MeL) coordinator. He worked with Archives of Michigan to create SeekingMichigan, an online resource for genealogical research containing over one million freely available death records. He coordinated the Michigan Notable Books program as well as the Michigan Center for the Book. He worked on projects such as the Post-Pandemic Public Library Project, an initiative to help library directors and their communities reconnect after COVID.

Riley had a career belief in outreach saying "We have plenty of librarians that love books. We now need more librarians that love people." In 2023 he was in the advisory board for the University of Michigan School of Information's Civic Librarian Project, a course encouraging librarians to work with local governments and residents on solutions to civic problems.