Library Journal

Zahra Baird, Youth Services Librarian, Chappaqua Library, NY, will be leaving after eight years at the library to take a similar position at Yonkers Public Library, NY.

Carol Ann Batt is the new COO, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System ­(BECPLS). A 30-plus-year veteran of BECPLS, she most recently was Assistant Deputy Director of Information Technology and Technology ­Support.

Bernie Bellin has been appointed Interim Director, Muskego Public Library, WI, a position to be held until January 16 while a search is conducted for a new Director. He retired as Director, Lakeshores Library System, Waterford, WI, in 2009.

Alex Boyd, Director, Newark Public Library (NPL), 1988−2004, died October 25. Under his leadership, all ten branches plus the Main Library were renovated or refurbished. He was 1997 President, New Jersey Library Association, and 1992–94 President, Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

Patty Braden is the new part-time Director, Romulus Public Library, MI. She most recently was Youth Services Librarian, Wayne Public Library, MI.

Keri Cascio has been appointed Director of Innovative Technologies and Library Resource Management, Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology, Kansas City, MO. She previously was Branch Manager, St. Charles City-County Library District, St. Peters, MO.

Dean Corner, Director of Reader and Information Services, Maine State Library, Augusta, since 2006, has announced his retirement. He formerly was Assistant Director, Patten Free Library, Bath, ME.

David Gray has been promoted to Assistant Director, Hancock County Public Library, Greenfield, IN. Most recently, Gray served as Director of Technology at the library.

Maureen Hirten is the new Director, Capital Area District Library, Lansing, MI. She has been Interim Director since April; prior to that, she was Assistant Director.

Jill Lininger will become the new Director, Oak Creek Public Library, WI, effective November 24. She currently is Youth Services Librarian, Racine Public Library, WI.

Ruth Lufkin will become Director, Bernards Township Library, NJ, effective January 2, succeeding the retiring Anne Meany. She currently is Supervising Reference Librarian.

Chris Mahon is the new Children’s Librarian, Yorktown-Mount Pleasant Public Library, IN. She previously was Director, Daleville Community Library, IN.

Lindy Moore has been named County Librarian, Douglas County Public Library (DCPL), Douglasville, GA. She was Branch Librarian, Lithia Springs Branch, DCPL.

Alexandria Payne has been named Digital Services Manager, Newport News Public Library System, VA. She previously was Webmaster, Pendergrass Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Barbara Sutton is the new Children’s Librarian, Poway Branch Library, San Diego County Library. She most recently was Librarian, Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, La Jolla, CA.

B. Kristen Valyi-Hax is the new Director, Romeo District Library, Washington, MI. She previously was Director, Ruth Hughes Memorial District Library, Imlay City, MI.

Cheryl Willliams has been promoted to Branch Supervisor, Cassville Branch Library, Barry-Lawrence Regional Library, MO. She was Children’s Coordinator.

The president of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) sent a letter on November 2 to Public Printer William Boarman and Superintendent of Documents Mary Alice Baish to express concern about recent decisions by the Government Printing Office (GPO) that have rejected new multi-state partnerships within the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

Joyce L. Ogburn,  president of ACRL and the dean of the J. Willard Marriott Library and university librarian, University of Utah, wrote:

ACRL believes that the future of libraries will be based in innovative uses of technology and intensive collaboration across geographic boundaries. The multi-state models for managing federal documents that libraries have developed address the pressing issues of the economic climate, the imperative for wider collaboration, and the improvement of access to these critical resources. We view these as necessary and viable partnerships that will sustain library collections and services and will create enduring programs of access and preservation.

On the ACRL website, Ogburn added that “I appreciate how this issue stirs passions. I also know that we are all invested in finding a viable future for the depository program and for its relationship to academic libraries across the country.”

As LJ has reported, the issues revolve around two plans that the GPO has expressed reservations about: (1) a proposed multi-state arrangement that would have allowed the University of Minnesota libraries (UMN) to act as the regional federal depository library for the 43 selective depository libraries in Michigan, and (2) a proposal spearheaded by the 38 members of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) that would reshape the FDLP program across 10 states in that region.

(ASERL also wrote to GPO on October 21 to address some of the agency’s concerns and to ask for a meeting with Baish.)

Ogburn wrote in her letter:

… ACRL is convinced that the quality of services associated with collaborative efforts will be stronger than stand alone efforts. ACRL urges the GPO to work closely and openly with depository libraries to explore and establish new models.

The roster of library organization that have now expressed concerns about  GPO’s recent decisions include, in addition to ACRL and ASERL, the Association of Research Libraries,  thirty-one of the 47 regional coordinators at regional depository libraries around the country, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), and the Great Western Library Alliance.