by Barbara I. Dewey, dean, University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Colleagues, now that the associate deans are all here I want to update you on what is happening with former Associate Dean Lisa German’s portfolio. You might recall that it was developed at the same time as the descriptions of the other associate deans’ responsibilities but never fully put into place because of her departure to University of Houston. This updated configuration of the organization’s administration is based on the principles of collective and collaborative leadership. What does this mean? It means we recognize that all areas of the libraries are connected, some in very strong ways. The associate deans communicate and make decisions together on appropriate topics and take collective responsibility for these decisions. The associate deans are open and available to all in the organization.

I consulted with associate deans, administrators and affected department heads, considered the associate deans’ areas of experience and expertise and put into place the following which means we will not hire a fourth associate dean:

Access Services reports to Joe Salem.
Acquisitions reports to Anne Langley.
Cataloging and Metadata Services reports to Karen Estlund.

I am grateful to Ann Snowman who has agreed to lead Commonwealth outreach, staff
training/development planning, and Hathi Trust efforts and Chris Avery who has agreed to lead library global initiatives and serve as senior faculty for development.

There are a few areas within the organization that need more discussion and thinking before they are assigned but I can assure you that work is ongoing for these areas. Please let me or one of the administrators know if you have any questions or concerns about the plan so far. Best, Barbara