2019-20 academic year represents a time of transition in the leadership of OU Libraries. It is my honor to serve as interim dean and to provide institutional continuity. I am very grateful to Dr. Amanda Hess for serving as interim associate dean as well. The search process for selecting a new library dean is well under way and we look forward its successful completion.
Even as the leadership is in transition, the pace of accomplishments and the enthusiasm for new initiatives is as high as always:
- Research Help services are piloting a new model of on-call research help, offering extensive FAQs online and meeting students where they are digitally through chat and email.
- Dominique Daniel, Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections, continues to encourage donations of materials about OU’s history to be added to our archival collections, most recently in an Oakland Post article.
- Julia Rodriguez, Scholarly Communications Librarian, has headed up a campus-wide Affordable Course Materials Initiative to move the needle on student expenses for textbooks.
- Anne Zacharias, Outreach Librarian, is in the process of bringing new events that focus on inclusion and on breaking through common social stereotypes. More as details are finalized.
- Amanda Hess has headed up a task force charged with researching and developing a proposal for the re-envisioning of how we utilize the south wing of our main floor.
OU Libraries continue to offer welcoming learning environments and library collections and services to help students, faculty, staff, and community researchers meet their academic goals and enrich their learning. "Knowledge Unbound" is a befitting motto encapsulating the intent behind our selection of relevant resources to include in the libraries’ electronic and print collections, the choice of meaningful digital and physical access to them, and the development of library services to best unlock the potential for new knowledge in every library experience.
We are excited to have another successful academic year!
Kindly,
Mariela Hristova
Interim Dean, University Libraries
