From a UW-Madison Announcement:
Ed Van Gemert, who has served as interim director of the General Library System at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since December of 2011, has been selected to lead the system on a permanent basis. His title will be Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian.
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an Gemert served as deputy director and associate director for public services in the General Library System before assuming interim leadership. He also held the interim role in 2006, while former librarian Ken Frazier served as interim UW–Madison chief information officer. Van Gemert is an active member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the Council of Wisconsin Libraries. He also chairs the Strategic Advisory Board of the HathiTrust, a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to preserve and ensure access to the record of human knowledge. His research interests include organizational management and digital library development.
“I’m sincerely honored to accept this position, particularly at a time of great change in the library world and higher education,” says Van Gemert. “I view these challenges with a layered approach. Internally, a campus libraries strategic plan, including a complete review of our master facilities plan, will help us make sure that services, instruction and programming are aligned with modern-day needs. Having an opportunity to examine how and where we will use our resources in the future is exciting.”
“The third piece of the puzzle involves seeking out innovative partnerships that further the success of changing instructional environments in higher education,” says Van Gemert. “The partnership that we’ve used to create the WisCEL spaces, for example, needs to be connected to our facilities review. That’s where libraries can contribute to the university’s competitive edge.”
See Also: Ed Van Gemert’s November 2012 Presentation on 21st Century Research Libraries and the Future (Audio)
