NMRT President's Program 2004

DeEtta Jones

Director of Organizational Learning Services
Association of Research Libraries/Office of Leadership and Management Services
Washington, DC

DeEtta Jones is the Director of Organizational Learning Services at the Association of Research Libraries. Her portfolio spans the suite of services within the Office of Leadership and Management Services, including the Training and Leadership Development Program, Organizational Development Consulting, the Distance Learning Program, Information Services, and the Diversity Program. DeEtta's most noted accomplishment through ARL is the creation and management of the Leadership and Career Development Program. This program, created to enhance leadership skills and promote visibility for professionals from underrepresented groups, has come to be the prototype for other national diversity and leadership initiatives. Since 1996, DeEtta has traveled extensively to universities and library associations around the world facilitating leadership, diversity, and management workshops, and serving as an organizational development consultant. She has an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. in Higher Education Administration, and B.S. in Psychology from Colorado State University. Her presentation will address the development of leadership skills from a training perspective.

Robert McDonald

Assistant Director of Libraries
Division of Library Technology
Florida State University Libraries
Tallahassee, Florida

Robert McDonald is the Assistant Director of Libraries for Technology at Florida State University. He has a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of South Carolina, and a Master of Music Composition from the University of Georgia. Prior to his current position as assistant director, he was the head of the Media Center and the Interim Head of Communications/Publications at the Florida State University Libraries, and the Information Technology Librarian at Auburn University. His numerous publications and research interests include such topics as library marketing strategies, intellectual property, open knowledge initiatives and open source software. Mr. McDonald is also a member of the American Society for Information and Science Technology and the Video Development Initiative, and enjoys going to the beaches of the Florida Gulf Coast on weekends. His presentation will address his experience with developing interdepartmental skills within an academic library setting.

Teresa Neely

Head of Reference
Albin O. Kuhn Library
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Baltimore, Maryland

Teresa Y. Neely is currently the head of reference at the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Prior to her current position, she was an assistant professor and reference librarian at Colorado State University Libraries (CSU), where she held several positions. She has a bachelor of science degree in accounting from South Carolina State College (now University), and received her M.L.S. and Ph.D. degrees in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh. Active in national library associations, Dr. Neely currently serves as a member of the ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Round Table Stonewall Book Award jury for nonfiction and literature. Her scholarly interests include diversity, information literacy, reference services, and management issues, and her publications include Diversity Now: People, Collections, and Services in Academic Libraries, co-edited with Kuang-Hwei (Janet) Lee-Smeltzer, and In Our Own Voices: The Changing Face of Librarianship, co-edited with K. K. Abif. Her presentation at the upcoming conference will address developing leadership skills within an academic library setting, in which she will draw upon her experience as an African-American librarian within the profession.

Mary Pergander

Director
Lake Bluff Public Library
Lake Bluff, Illinois

Mary Pergander is currently the Head of the Lake Bluff Public Library, a position she has held for nearly two years, and she holds a Master's degree from the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Prior to her library career, she worked in hospital administration for twenty years. Her interest in developing library leadership skills resulted not only in her position at Lake Bluff Public Library, but also in her interview with ten public library directors for the Public Libraries article "Experiences of Early-Career Public Library Directors." Active in state and national library organizations, Ms. Pergander was recently chosen to participate in SYNERGY, an Illinois library leadership initiative. Her presentation will address the development of these skills within the public library setting.