For Immediate Release
January 12, 2007

PDF of this press release

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

Washington, DC—Duane E. Webster has announced that he will retire from his position as Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) no later than May 2008. By announcing his retirement plans now, Webster provides the ARL Board of Directors with ample time for a search and a seamless transition of leadership.

Webster has led the Association for two decades, following his appointment in 1988 as Interim Executive Director and then in 1989 as Executive Director. Under Webster’s leadership, ARL emerged as a significant agent for change in the world of research libraries and in scholarly communication. Highlights of his career at the helm of ARL include:

• Advancing an ambitious legislative agenda, in part through the establishment of the Library Copyright Alliance—a collective voice for ARL along with the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library Association, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association
• Strengthening ties between the library and the information technology communities by co-sponsoring the creation of the Coalition for Networked Information in partnership with EDUCAUSE
• Promoting innovation in new systems of scholarly communication by establishing the ARL Office of Scholarly Communication and, with an expanded membership base, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
• Encouraging current and future leaders in research libraries to become active partners in the transformations affecting scholarly communication and research institutions by operating a multi-faceted library leadership development program
• Recruiting and retaining a diverse research library workforce by initiating a suite of diversity initiatives that promote and help develop careers in research libraries among groups underrepresented in the profession
• Cultivating a culture of assessment that helps libraries improve and market their services by developing LibQUAL+® and other new assessment tools

Webster also provided the energy and resourcefulness required to reposition the ARL agenda twice. He first led ARL through a strategic planning process in 1988, which called for a much-expanded agenda for the Association, engaging 10 key challenges facing the future development of research libraries. The second strategic planning process through which Webster led ARL was the 2004 call for a refocusing of Association efforts on three strategic directions: Scholarly Communication; Public Policies Affecting Research Libraries; and the Role of Research Libraries in Research, Teaching, and Learning.

As ARL Executive Director, Webster has recruited and nurtured a dynamic staff that has gained recognition as premier spokespersons on issues of their expertise. Other notable accomplishments are relocating ARL to 21 Dupont Circle in state-of-the-art offices and conference facilities as well as expanding working relationships with key associations in the higher education arena.

Webster first began at ARL in 1970 when he was appointed director of a newly created office of university library management studies. Initially funded by the Council on Library Resources, this office evolved over 36 years to operate a variety of management training, information clearinghouse, and organizational development activities in support of research libraries. Among the best-known and most influential activities was an assisted self-study process that was applied to management, collections, and services in over 500 libraries. Over the decades, thousands of librarians have benefited from participating in these library management programs, often at multiple points in their career development paths.

“Duane is a forceful advocate for research libraries,” said ARL President Sherrie Schmidt, University Librarian at Arizona State University. “A review of ARL achievements under his leadership is a humbling and inspiring experience. Humbling because not many people can look back on their careers having achieved such significant and far-ranging impact on research libraries. Inspiring because it demonstrates what is possible when an individual has the combined abilities to see the full potential for research libraries and to develop association capabilities that enable members to pursue that potential. Research libraries have benefited enormously from Duane’s leadership.”

Webster indicated that, while he is stepping away from his role in the Association, he intends to remain professionally active in the academic and research library community—but with a dramatically expanded schedule of golf excursions. Of the association he has been a part of for almost four decades, Webster said, “It’s been a marvelous experience and my extraordinary good fortune to work with a talented group of colleagues who are committed to advancing the roles and contributions of research libraries in fulfilling the missions of the academy and their wider communities.”

The ARL Board of Directors is appointing a search committee that will be led by Brian E. C. Schottlaender, ARL Past President and University Librarian at the University of California, San Diego. The committee will conduct an open search for Webster’s successor, starting with a formal announcement and position description posted on the ARL Web site following the winter meeting of the ARL Board in February 2007. The Board aims to conclude the search by the end of 2007 with an appointment early in 2008. About ARL

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 located on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.