For immediate release:
April 23, 2008
For more information, contact:
Sarah Segura
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
sarah@arl.org
Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors has appointed Charles B. Lowry as Executive Director of the Association, effective July 1, 2008. Dr. Lowry is currently Dean of Libraries at the University of Maryland, College Park.
ARL President Marianne Gaunt, University Librarian, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, announced the appointment via e-mail to the ARL membership. “Charles is a seasoned colleague who is eminently well prepared to assume this role as we embark on updating our strategic plan to position the Association for the future,” she wrote. “He brings a rich array of leadership experiences in research libraries to assist the Association in moving forward.”
Since 1996, Dr. Lowry has been the Dean of Libraries at Maryland (http://www.lib.umd.edu/), leading a library system that serves over 35,000 students, faculty, and staff. Within ARL he has served on numerous committees, and he was elected by the membership to serve on the ARL Board of Directors for 2005–08. He has led the development of ClimateQUAL™—Organizational Climate and Diversity Survey (http://www.lib.umd.edu/ocda/) that is a new offering from the Statistics and Measurement program of the Association.
Before arriving at Maryland, Dr. Lowry was University Librarian at Carnegie Mellon University (1992–96). His other previous library positions include Director of Libraries at the University of Texas at Arlington (1985–92); Director of Libraries at the University of South Alabama in Mobile (1980–85); Head Librarian and Director of Learning Resources at Elon College, North Carolina (1978–80); and Social Science Reference Bibliographer and Head of Reference at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1974–78).
In his 30 years as an academic library director, Dr. Lowry has served on boards of SOLINET and Amigos as well as OCLC advisory committees and chaired state consortia. In addition to his teaching and research experience, he has co-founded two journals: Library Administration and Management and portal: Libraries and the Academy, which he currently edits. For more details on Dr. Lowry’s career, see his bio at http://www.lib.umd.edu/deans/deanswelcome.html.
“I am extremely pleased to be asked by my colleagues to serve as ARL Executive Director,” said Dean Lowry. “It is both a singular honor and responsibility, particularly at a time of immense challenge for research libraries. The Association has become one of the main forces for positive change in scholarly communication, with all that means for higher education, teaching, and research. My service on the Board has reinforced my strongly held belief that the Association of Research Libraries is the most important organization working on behalf of research libraries. Following in the footsteps of Duane Webster’s exemplary leadership will be a challenge; but, with the support of a superb staff and my colleagues in the Association and on the Board, I know that the Association will continue to flourish.”
Dr. Lowry will step down from his deanship at Maryland and take a leave of absence to lead ARL for the next three years. When this limited term concludes, he will return to teaching and research in the university’s iSchool, where he holds a tenured professorship. The ARL Board expressed its appreciation to the University of Maryland administration for making it possible for Dr. Lowry to take on this important assignment.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.