Community Updates

Karen Williams
image © ACRLKaren Williams, associate university librarian for research and learning at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has been named dean of university libraries at University of Arizona, effective August 1, 2013. Williams will succeed Carla Stoffle, who is stepping down as dean after 22 years in the position to join the faculty of the School of Information Resources and Library Sciences, effective July 31. For more information about Karen Williams, see her profile on the University of Arizona website.

Jaclyn Grahl
image © CCCThe Chicago Collections Consortium (CCC) has announced the appointment of its first executive director, Jaclyn Grahl. The CCC is a newly formed organization that aims to preserve, present, and promote the history and culture of the Chicago region by leveraging the collections, programs, and expertise of its members: libraries, museums, and other institutions with Chicago-focused archival collections. CCC members include three ARL members—Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago—as well as the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, Newberry Library, and Roosevelt University. A major first initiative of the CCC is to develop a freely accessible, online portal to materials documenting the Chicago metropolitan area.

Alberta Davis Comer
image © Indiana State UAlberta Davis Comer, dean and associate dean of library services at Indiana State University, has been named dean and director of the J. Willard Marriott Library and university librarian for the University of Utah, effective August 19, 2013. Comer will succeed Joyce Ogburn, who served as dean at Utah from 2007 to 2012 and recently accepted the position of dean of libraries at Appalachian State University. For more details about Comer's appointment, see the June 24 University of Utah news release, “University of Utah Names Dean for Marriott Library.”

Clifford Lynch
image © Cecilia PrestonNext weekend at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago, CNI executive director Clifford Lynch will participate in two panel discussions about libraries and technology. He will take part in the Digital Content Working Group (DCWG) panel “ALA, E-Books & Digital Content: What’s Next?” on Saturday, June 29, 1:00-2:30 p.m., in the McCormick Place Convention Center room S502. He will also participate in “LITA’s Top Technology Trends Panel” on Sunday, June 30, at 1:00 p.m., in convention center room S105a-c.

Yolanda Cooper
image © U MiamiYolanda L. Cooper, deputy university librarian and a librarian associate professor at University of Miami, was named acting dean and university librarian, effective June 1, 2013. Cooper will serve in her interim role until a permanent replacement is appointed for William D. Walker, who stepped down as dean and university librarian on May 31 after 10 years in the position. For more information about Yolanda Cooper, see her staff profile on the University of Miami website.

image © Ed UthmanThe Library of Congress (LC), in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), has selected 10 candidates for the inaugural class of the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) program. The nine-month program begins in September 2013.

image © Thomas HawkToday the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) announced that the HathiTrust Digital Library will partner with DPLA to expand discovery and use of HathiTrust’s public domain and other openly available content. DPLA provides an online portal to freely available digital material held by libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. The HathiTrust Digital Library offers a collection of millions of titles digitized from academic and research institutions around the world. The new partnership doubles the size of the DPLA collection and provides a wider audience for the HathiTrust titles.

image © CRLLibrarians and library staff visiting Chicago for the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference later this month are invited to tour the Center for Research Libraires (CRL) collections and facility on Friday, June 28. This is an opportunity to see CRL's closed-stack library of rarely held material from around the world. CRL staff will be on hand to discuss new developments in their services, including digitization and offers for electronic resources, as well as expanded access to primary-source collections.

image © Matthew WhiteheadThe next SPARC Open Access Meeting, themed “Convergence,” will convene March 3–4, 2014, in Kansas City. The past year has seen growing momentum in the areas of open access, open data, and open educational resources. As the push for greater openness continues, these three fronts are converging in interesting and potentially transformative ways. Join us as leaders from the library community, academia, industry, student community, and other research avenues discuss how open access, open data, and open educational resources are intersecting, and the impact this convergence might have on research and discovery. The meeting is designed to emphasize collaborative actions that stakeholders can take to positively impact publishing, policy, digital repositories, author rights, and licensing.

Yesterday the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), through its National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), along with the University of Virginia Press launched a beta version of the Founders Online website. Founders Online provides free, searchable access to over 119,000 letters and other documents written and received by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.