Last modified: Monday, July 6, 2009
IU libraries dean takes position at University of Maryland
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Patricia Steele, Indiana University's dean of University Libraries, has accepted a position as dean of University Libraries at the University of Maryland, Provost Karen Hanson announced today (July 6). Steele was scheduled to retire from Indiana University this fall. Hanson said that an interim dean will be appointed soon and that a search committee, which was convened during the spring semester, will continue its work to find a new dean.
"Pat has provided outstanding leadership for the University Libraries," said Hanson. "It will be an enormous challenge to find a leader to continue the record of excellence and comity that she has achieved. She has been both an energetic innovator and a wise conservator of our best traditions. The university is in her debt. We will greatly miss her, but of course we wish her well at Maryland."
"As you can imagine, after decades of association with Indiana University, this move to the University of Maryland will be quite a change in my personal and work lives," Steele said. "I know that every day I will draw upon the experience I have gained at this extraordinary university, its world-class library and all the people who make it happen. It always will be part of me."
Steele has served as the Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries at Indiana University Bloomington since 2005. She has been a national leader in efforts to improve access to library collections by digitizing the content of academic libraries, including the Google Books Project. She is a co-founder of the HathiTrust, a shared digital repository for the nation's great research libraries.
Steele's tenure with the IU Libraries began in 1975. She has served as head of several Bloomington campus libraries, and as executive associate dean of the University Libraries. She has served as president of the Indiana Library Federation, president of the Board of Trustees of the Monroe County Public Library, and a member of the Indiana State Library and Historical Board.
The dean of University Libraries provides administrative leadership for a system of libraries on eight campuses. On the Bloomington campus, the dean provides strategic planning and policy direction in the areas of collection development, public and technical services, facilities planning and personnel policies.
Robert Schnabel, dean of the School of Informatics, serves as chair of the Dean of University Libraries search committee. The other members of the committee are librarians Julie Bobay, Polly Boruff-Jones, Diane Dallis, Erika Dowell, Deloice Holliday, Robert Noel, Phillip Ponella and Jenn Riley; faculty members John Bodnar, Christoph Irmscher, Timothy Londergan and Deborah Shaw; staff members Kay Martin (who represents the Bloomington Professional Council) and Chuck Peters (who represents CWA Local 4730); and students Willie Miller and Lisa Schelling (who represents the Graduate and Professional Student Organization).
Individuals wishing to nominate a candidate for dean of the IU Libraries should submit a letter of nomination, including the name, position, address and telephone number of the nominee. Requests for information, written nominations and application materials should be directed to Drs. Jan Greenwood or Betty Turner Asher, Greenwood/Asher & Associates Inc., 42 Business Center Drive, Suite 206, Miramar Beach, Fla. 32550.
