Libraries inspire, nurture, inform and educate our citizens in a public sanctuary that promotes stronger economies capable of competing in a global marketplace, enabling working people and managers to grow through self-directed learning. Everyday across this country and the world, libraries demonstrate with our partners that by using accessible state-of-the-art technology and traditional information and cultural resources we are an essential public service that remains a vital foundation and cornerstone for a safer, healthier, productive and inclusive society.
Currently, I serve as the Director of the San Diego County Library and am responsible for a system that includes a new literacy program, 33 libraries and two mobile libraries. Our library serves a population that is both geographically and culturally diverse, including ethnic, rural and urban populations in what is the fourth largest (by area) county in the United Sates.
Over the course of 32 years in libraries, I have had the honor of working with the talented people in the Tucson Pima Library System, Pikes Peak Library, West Palm Beach Public Library and libraries in Santa Barbara, Oceanside and Orange County in California. During my tenure, I have had the good fortune to experience a wide variety of library work: I have driven bookmobiles, served rural and urban branch libraries, and in terms of bibliographic and technical services, have co-authored a materials selection and collection development policy. Finally, I have served the better part of my professional career as a public library director of libraries in Florida, Colorado, and California where I have also served three years as a deputy city manager.
My experience as a library director and deputy city manager includes working with federal, state, municipal, and county government. More specifically, in addition to my professional work as a library and city administrator I have worked with the California State Office of AIDS, California Arts Council, and the Stanford-California State Library Institute for 21st Century Librarianship. More recently, since 2004 I have served the President, Congress, and the American people as a Commissioner on the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.
Finally, for the last four years I have had the honor to serve as an advisor on the Advisory Board of the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries, working to improve our nation's school libraries in our communities of greatest need. Concurrent with our Foundation's national schools focus for the last two years, we have been active in the Gulf Coast post Katrina recovery efforts. To that end, I have taken three trips to the Gulf Coast since the Katrina and Rita catastrophes to visit schools, rebuild library collections, and provide professional consultation, as well as help administer over $5 million dollars of Laura Bush Foundation grants in the region. Central to the success of my work and that of our team has been the ability to balance energy, passion, and commitment with the capacity for diagnosis, reflection and objectivity.
Changing gears, I continue to balance my professional and personal life competing in marathons and duathlons. I am a seasoned competitive amateur athlete and to that end, I have qualified three times for the United States Triathlon Federation's National Duathlon team, as well as won the U.S. Nationals in my age group in 2002, and placed fourth and first at the World Duathlon Championships in the Netherlands and Austria in 2001 and 2002.
EDUCATION:
Bachelor of Arts – Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York
Masters of Library Science – University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
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