I am pleased to announce that Marie Concannon has agreed to serve as interim Head of Government Documents effective March 1. Marie’s job duties will be significantly enlarged to include administrative management of the Government Documents activities for the MU Libraries. She will take on administrative oversight of the department’s processes and services as well as supervision of the employees within the department. Marie will also represent the MU Libraries in meetings of relevant committees and working groups on campus as well as at the state and national levels. I have elected to defer the decision on permanently filling this position until later this year.

I have also decided to fill the Head of Cataloging position within Technical Services with Felicity Dykas via an abridged search. Felicity has accepted the appointment with the effective date of March 1. This department head position provides leadership in the organization of information and the provision of access to the collections of the University of Missouri Libraries. As a member of the Technical Services Management Group, Felicity will participate in the development and implementation of divisional goals, policies and procedures. She will also represent the University in meetings of appropriate groups at the campus, state and national levels. Felicity brings to her new role fifteen years of experience in serials and cataloging at Linda Hall Library and at UMKC. At UMKC she chaired the Librarian’s Council for two years and also served on the Faculty Senate. Felicity is very active in ALA, and she presently chairs the Continuing Resources Section of ALCTS. She earned a BA in Sociology from Rockhurst College, an MA in Counseling and Guidance from UMKC, and her MLS from MU.

While I realize that national searches are the preferred means of filling academic positions in the Libraries, I opted to pursue an abridged search for the cataloging position for the following reasons:

• Vic Myer’s former position was captured by the Provost Office as part of the Compete Missouri plan to address the issue of academic salaries across campus. Currently, we have no existing salary line for this position.
• There is clearly a need to have permanent on-going leadership for a major department of Technical Services.
• Felicity meets all qualifications for the position and she has been an effective interim department head over the course of the past year.
• The request to conduct an abridged search was reviewed by both the Provost Office and campus HR and deemed an appropriate course of action given these circumstances.

I hope you will join me in recognizing both Felicity and Marie into their new roles.

Jim Cogswell