Appointments

Karen Albert was appointed library director at Philadelphia University last fall.

Kathleen M. Carney, associate university librarian at Boston College, has been named director of library services at the College of the Holy Cross. During more than two decades at Boston College, Carney has held positions of steadily increasing responsibility. Most recently, her portfolio included research, instructional, and access services. In this role, she has supervised 26 professional librarians and more than 40 support staff. She also served as primary investigator for a $2 million grant from the National Archives/National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Prior to joining Boston College, Carney was a librarian at Loyola University Chicago. She will direct the services and operations at the Holy Cross libraries, which include holdings of more than 630,000 books, periodicals and serials.

Jim Cheng, director of the International Relations and Pacific Studies Library/East Asia Collection at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) since 2002, has been appointed director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University, effective July 1, 2010. Prior to his current position, Cheng has held library positions at the University of Iowa, New York University, and the University of Washington. In 2008, he was named a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal for his work in building the UCSD Libraries’ Asian film collection, film festival, and symposium series. He received a 2009/2010 Fulbright Scholar Research Award to conduct research to complete his book An Annotated Bibliography for Taiwan Film Studies.

Gretel Stock-Kupperman is now director of the Todd Wehr Memorial Library at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Daniel C. Mack has been named the first Tombros Librarian for Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at the Pennsylvania State University Libraries.

Danuta A. Nitecki has joined Drexel University as dean of libraries and professor in its College of Information Science and Technology. Prior to joining Drexel, Nitecki was associate university librarian for public services at Yale University since 1996, where she led several innovative projects focused on improving the library’s support for teaching, learning, and research; transforming library learning spaces; establishing a state-of-the-art, off-site shelving facility; and participating in the creation of the Borrow Direct interlibrary lending service among seven Ivy League institutions. She also held library administrative positions at the University of Maryland-College Park, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Nitecki has published more than 70 papers and articles, coauthored two books, coedited volumes of Advances in Librarianship, presented at international and national conferences, and currently serves on the editorial boards for The Journal of Academic Librarianship and Library and Information Science Research. Her dissertation was honored with awards from the ALISE, ACRL, and ISI; and her last book, Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives: Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes, coauthored with Robert E. Dugan and Peter Hernon (Libraries Unlimited, 2009) will be awarded the 2010 Greenwood Publishing Group Award for the Best Book in Library Literature. A life-member of ALA, Nitecki has served as a council member, president of RUSA [then RASD], chair of MARS, and has served on numerous committees.

Barbara Alvarez has been appointed Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature librarian for the University Library at the University of Michigan for two years.

Jennifer Bonnet has accepted the position of French Studies librarian for the University Library at the University of Michigan for two years.

Jeff Cordell has been appointed instructional pedagogy librarian at the University of Michigan’s Shapiro Undergraduate Library for two years.

Sigrid Cordell has accepted the position of history librarian for the University Library at the University of Michigan.

Riva Feshbach has joined the Columbia College Chicago Library as outreach librarian.

Jeffrey W. Gallant has joined the faculty of Valdosta State University’s Odum Library as instructor of library science and reference librarian.

Jill Jascha has joined the University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s Ottenheimer Library as head of acquisitions.

Aaron McCollough has accepted the position of English Language and Literature Librarian for the University Library at the University of Michigan.

Retirements

Jo Ann Carr, director of Media, Education Resources and Information Technology (MERIT), is retiring after a 36-year career with the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison School of Education. She joined the staff of the school’s then-named Instructional Materials Center (IMC) in 1974 as a cataloger, and rose to the position of IMC director in 1984. When IMC added computer labs and services in 1999, the unit became the Center on Instructional Materials and Computing (CIMC). Carr assumed the dual role in 2005 as director of both the CIMC and the Instructional Media Development Center (IMDC). In 2008, CIMC, IMDC, and the School of Education’s Information Technology unit merged into MERIT, under Carr’s leadership and direction. Carr has given time and service to many state and national professional organizations, including the American Association of School Librarians, ALA, Wisconsin Library Association, University of Wisconsin System Educational Media and Technology Association Council, and the Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries. Carr has received the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010; the Wisconsin Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Leadership, 2007; “LIRT’s Top Twenty” Library Instruction Articles of 2003; ACRL’s Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian, 1999; Library Collection, Acquisitions, and Technical Services Research Award, 1999; and UW-Madison School of Education Dean’s Club Academic Staff Distinguished Service Award, October 1992.

Deaths

James Howard Thompson, 75, retired library director at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG) from 1970 to 1988, died April 13, 2010. Thompson was on the faculty at Duke University (1963–65), at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (1965–66), and at the University of Colorado (1966–68). He was director of the undergraduate library and professor of history at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1968–70). In 1970, Thompson became director of libraries and professor of history at the UNCG, where he retired in 1994. After retiring, Thompson taught in the History department. He was also responsible for planning and opening the Library Tower, which is now a prominent campus landmark. UNCG also adopted its first online catalog during his tenure.