BLC Retreat

Last week I joined my BLC colleagues for our annual retreat. The second day was kicked off by Mark Brimhall-Vargas, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Brandeis University. Mark engaged BLC in a discussion around a variety of diversity issues and it was interesting and informative to see how different institutions are dealing with these challenges.  I also officially handed over the reins of the organization to Lisa Raymond, the Co-Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Vice President/President Elect, Simon Neame, Dean of Libraries at UMass Amherst.  It was a wonderful experience to have served as president for a great group of individuals across the BLC network, and I am proud of the expertise and participation on behalf of the UConn Library in the committees, the communities of interest groups, and the Leads initiative.

Health Sciences Library

I had the last of my monthly meetings at the Health Sciences Library last week. I have enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with the health sciences where I spent a significant amount of my career. I am encouraged by the progress we have made and expect that this will strengthen over time to benefit the One UConn Library system.

Staff Notes

It is of great pleasure to formally introduce to you a new title for a member of our staff – Dr. Patrick Carr. Patrick has earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communications from East Carolina University. The title of his dissertation was “Extending the Technological, Discursive, and Rhetorical Horizons of Academic Research Libraries’ Information Architectures: An Analysis of North Carolina State University’s James B. Hunt Jr. Library.” Please join me in congratulating Patrick on his accomplishment.

Khara Leon is also deserving of our congratulations, receiving her Master of Science in Human Resource Management from UConn’s School of Business in May.

I would also like to congratulate Richard Bleiler for his election to the EAST Operations Committee beginning in July. This Committee is responsible for development, implementation, and operationalization of EAST policies and procedures and I have no doubt that Richard’s expertise will be of great benefit to further the work of EAST.