I know it has been a while since I wrote some news. It’s been an amazing fall. We are still in the midst of associate dean searches and I want to thank all of you for participating and making our candidates feel welcome. All of them have applauded your efforts. I appreciate your participation for future candidates and I know you will come through. Your hard working search committees and chairs are thrilled by your participation. Thank you!

In addition, we’ve had a lot of activity with guests, donors, and friends of the library coming through during the always busy football season. Kudos and congratulations to Jackie Esposito and her team for an incredibly successful event this past Friday, “Moving the Chains: Preserving Penn State Football History.” This amazing program attracted more than 100 Penn State faithful.

I hope you will join me for the Dean’s Diversity Forum on Tuesday from 10–11a.m., in Foster and on Media Site. We welcome Janice Welburn, Dean of Libraries, Marquette University (located in the polar vortex of Wisconsin), who will bring us into the future of diversity initiatives for research libraries.

In mid-October the Library Development Board gathered in Foster Auditorium and enjoyed presentations by Ben Goldman (digital preservation) and Lauren Reiter (financial education). The Board was very excited about these new directions and enjoyed meeting Ben and Lauren. Although the campaign has ended we are now in a new mode for raising money. Many thanks to the library development team for their efforts. Stay tuned!

Strategic planning continues in earnest at Penn State and in the Libraries. You will receive regular updates but I wanted you to know that I am on one of the university-wide strategic planning groups to work on Provost Nick Jones’ theme – Leveraging Our Digital Future. This group is under the leadership of Dean Marie Hardin (College of Communications) and Chancellor Kevin Snider (Penn State New Kensington). Other groups have formed as well.

I am thankful for each of you and for this great library in many locations. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with safe travels and many good memories. — Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications