Goetsch elected ACRL vice-president/president-elect

Contact: Mary Ellen Davis
ACRL Executive Director
(312) 280-3248
medavis@ala.org

 

NEWS
For Immediate Release
May 20, 2008

 

Goetsch elected ACRL vice-president/president-elect

CHICAGO - Lori A. Goetsch, dean of libraries at Kansas State University, has been elected vice-president/president-elect of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).  She will become president-elect following the 2008 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., and assume the presidency in July 2009 for a one-year term.

"Heartfelt thanks to my ACRL colleagues for your vote of confidence and the opportunity to serve as your vice-president/president-elect. It is an honor, a privilege and an awesome responsibility,” said Goetsch. “I plan to use my presidential year to give special focus to exploring issues and opportunities for library workforce development and the changing skill sets we need in our libraries. Our ability to recruit and retain talented staff for this ‘new work’ is clearly an issue of growing interest in the profession and is now part of the ACRL Strategic Plan. What is the ‘new work’ for academic librarians as we see it and as our users see it?  I look forward to exploring these questions during my term in office.”

Goetsch has held numerous positions in ACRL, including  director-at-large on the ACRL Board and member of the 2005 National Conference Invited Papers Committee. She chaired the 2005 ACRL Nominating Committee, the University Libraries Section (ULS) in 1997-98 and Women’s Studies Section (WSS) in 1994-95. She was also a member of the Information Literacy Competency Standards Task Force from1998-2002,  secretary of ULS from 1991-93, a member of the WSS Publications Committee from 1989-93 and chair of  the ULS Organization and Bylaws Committee from 1989-90.

“ACRL is delighted to have Lori Goetsch continue on the Board as vice-president/president-elect,” ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen Davis said.  “Her knowledge of the Board's work over the last few years will be invaluable as ACRL continues to reinvent its structure and systems to meet member needs and to implement  its strategic plan.”

Goetsch was a member of the 1996-97 ALA Equality Award Jury and the ALA Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship from 1994-96. Her work with state and regional associations includes membership in the Greater Western Library Alliance, where she is currently on  the Board of Directors, and  on the 2005-06 Planning and Organization Committee. She is also currently a member of the State Library of Kansas Board. Goetsch received the University of Tennessee’s 1995 Professional Development Award and was awarded Michigan State University Libraries’ Distinguished Librarian Award in 1992. 

Her publications include co-authoring "Creating a Culture of Security in the University of Maryland Libraries," Portal: Libraries and the Academy, October 2001; co-author, Electronic Reference Service (Association of Research Libraries), 1999; editor, Information Technology Planning (Haworth Press), 1999; co-author, "Readin', Writin', Arithmetic and Information Competency: Adding a Basic Library Skills Component to a University's Curriculum," CWIS: Campus Wide Information Systems, 1998; and co-editor, On Account of Sex, 1987-1992 (Scarecrow Press), 1993.

From 1997-2004, Goetsch was director of public services at the University of Maryland Libraries. She also served as head of reference services at the University of Tennessee (1993-97); head of information/reference at Michigan State University (1987-93), where she also worked as information/reference librarian (1985-87); and as assistant reference librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1982-85). Goetsch received her master’s of library and information science from Rosary College. She received both her master’s and bachelor’s of science degrees in English from Illinois State University. 

###

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments.