Mark A. Puente

For immediate release:
January 22, 2009

For more information, contact:
Sarah Segura
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
sarah@arl.org

Download a PDF of this release (1.6 MB)

UIUC's Mark A. Puente Appointed Director of ARL Diversity Programs

Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has appointed Mark A. Puente as Director of Diversity Programs, effective March 2009. Puente is currently Coordinator of Digital Projects and Special/Gift Collections for the Music and Performing Arts Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

As Director of Diversity Programs at ARL, Puente will provide leadership for a range of initiatives that recruit people from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups into careers in research libraries and that prepare and advance minority librarians into leadership positions in ARL libraries.

A musician by training and experience, Puente earned his bachelor’s degree at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio before earning an MA in vocal performance at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He began his career teaching music and offering voice instruction in secondary schools and served for two years as general manager of the San Antonio Opera Company. In 2003 he began graduate work at the University of Arizona (UA) School of Information Resources and Library Science, where he was named an intern in the UA Knowledge River initiative and an American Library Association Spectrum Scholar.

Puente earned the master’s of information resources and library science degree in 2004 and, upon graduation, interned in the Music Library at the University of North Texas and served as Minority Resident Librarian/Music Librarian at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. He was selected to participate in the Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians in 2006 and joined the staff at UIUC Music Library as Assistant Professor of Library Administration in 2007.

“Mark Puente is an excellent fit for this position,” said Karin Trainer, University Librarian at Princeton University, and Chair of the ARL Diversity Initiatives Working Group. “He brings valuable experience in outreach to multiple audiences, in library public services, and in technology, and is fully committed to applying this expertise to increase the diversity of the research library workforce.”

“We are very pleased that Mark Puente has accepted the challenge of leading ARL Diversity Programs,” said ARL Executive Director Charles B. Lowry. “Mark brings a wealth of relevant experience, energy, and organizational connections that will help realize the tangible outcomes and collaborative relationships that ARL seeks.”

Beginning in March, Mark Puente may be reached at mpuente@arl.org.

About ARL Diversity Programs

ARL Diversity Programs are a suite of initiatives to recruit to careers in research libraries, including:

• the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce that provides stipends to attend MLS programs;
• the Career Enhancement Program that provides MLS students with fellowships in research libraries; and
• the Leadership and Career Development Program that prepares midcareer librarians from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to take on increasingly demanding leadership roles in ARL libraries.

ARL Diversity Programs are on the Web at http://www.arl.org/diversity/.

About ARL

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/.