{"id":272342,"date":"2017-10-05T09:33:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T13:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=272342"},"modified":"2017-11-01T13:54:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T17:54:59","slug":"mary-ann-mavrinac-new-president-association-research-libraries-272342","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/mary-ann-mavrinac-new-president-association-research-libraries-272342\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Ann Mavrinac new president of the Association of Research Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mary
Mary Ann Mavrinac, the University\u2019s vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of University of Rochester Libraries. (University of Rochester photo \/ Marc Bollmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mary Ann Mavrinac<\/a>, the University\u2019s vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of University of Rochester Libraries, has started her term as the new president of the Association of Research Libraries<\/a>. The ARL represents 125 leading research libraries in the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n

In her new role, Mavrinac supports the nonprofit association\u2019s mission of influencing the changing environment of scholarly communication and public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. The ARL\u2019s aim is to transition the research library from its role as a knowledge service provider within a single university to become a collaborative partner within a broader ecosystem of higher education. Part of that, Mavrinac says, is to strengthen international partnerships through the International Alliance of Research Library Associations and to harness the power of the collective.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s truly an honor to be recognized by one\u2019s peers,\u201d says Mavrinac of her election, which makes her the first Rochester library director to become ARL president. Prior to her arrival in Rochester in 2012, the Canadian native served for eleven years as the chief librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga.<\/p>\n

Of course, libraries have undergone dramatic changes in the digital age, Mavrinac notes. Once primarily focused on the end products of research\u2014the acquisition, cataloguing, discovery, and preservation of scholarly content, books and journals\u2014their roles have significantly broadened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these activities continue,\u201d Mavrinac says, \u201cwe are now heavily engaged upstream in the creation of knowledge, supporting student learning, and in the lifecycle of scholarly communications.\u201d That means activities such as data management and curation, digital scholarship, information literacy, experiential learning, collaborative, technology-rich learning spaces, scholarly publishing, and digital preservation.<\/p>\n

Libraries have become a kind of dot connector: \u201cThey used to be storage, a warehouse medium with user spaces\u2014and now we\u2019re a convergence space, connecting the content,\u201d Marvinac explains. \u201cWhen things are electronic, students may not necessarily know what\u2019s available. When you walk into the stacks, you can see the books\u2014you may not know which ones you need, but there they are, and you\u2019re probably pretty sure you can find the right ones with some help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mavrinac\u2019s new role at the ARL ensures the University remains an important participant in important discussions and initiatives that will affect research libraries across North America.<\/p>\n