Mary Taylor named LITA executive director

Contact: Larra Clark


312-280-5043

ALA News Release


For Immediate Release


April 2001

Mary Taylor named LITA executive director

The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce that, effective April 30, 2001, Mary C. Taylor will be the executive director of the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the ALA.

Taylor has been with the ALA for the past 10 years and comes most recently from serving as assistant director of the Office for Accreditation (OA). Working at OA since 1994, she has been responsible for the recruitment and training of External Review Panels; publication of the
Library and Information Studies Directory of Institutions Offering Accredited Master's Programs, and
Prism, the OA newsletter; development of the OA website; and various other projects.

Since 1999, she also has been the coordinator for ALA participation in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), working with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). In that role, she worked with AASL on the development of policies and procedures related to the NCATE review process, helped develop the AASL School Library Media Education Web content, recruited and trained AASL members to conduct folio reviews, and developed a record management system for local and state reviews.

Prior to joining OA, Taylor worked with the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in the area of members services. Her responsibilities included membership recruitment and retention, pre-conferences and liaison support for a number of ACRL groups. She also worked with the ACRL publications program, including book publication, the ACRL Official Documents program and a biennial statistical survey.

Before joining the ALA, she served as Communications/Special Projects Manager at OCLC, where she established and coordinated the Distinguished Seminar Series, planned and moderated an annual research retreat for scientists and executives, established the Annual Review of OCLC Research and worked with other research-oriented programs.

"Ms. Taylor's experience with ALA and OCLC and her embrace of new technologies, as well as her high enthusiasm for LITA and its future, convinced the search committee that she will continue LITA's solid approach to leadership in library and information technology," said Search Committee Chair Pat Ensor. "We are very fortunate to have her in this position."

Taylor has an MLS from Kent State University and a B.A., in history, from the University of Illinois. She is a member of Beta Phi Mu. In addition to ALA, she is a member of ASIST, where she has been chair of the Chicago and Central Ohio Chapters.

Ensor, chair of the LITA National Forum-2000 and chair of LITA's Top Technology Trends Committee, led the search committee. Other members were Sara Randall (LITA president), Tamara J. Miller (LITA councilor), Karen Muller (ALA Librarian/Knowledge Manager) and Dorothy Ragsdale (Director, ALA Human Resources).

LITA has almost 5,000 members, and its activities and publications "promote, develop, and aid in the implementation of library and information technology."