CHICAGO—Gary White, acting head of the department of reference, collections and research at Pennsylvania State University, has won election as vice president/president-elect of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).
White joined the faculty of the University Libraries at Penn State in August 1992 and became head of the Schreyer Business Library in April 2000. He holds a Master of Library Science from Kent State University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Akron and is currently pursuing a PhD in Higher Education at Penn State. He has been a prominent leader within RUSA, including serving on the Board of Directors (2006-09). He has been active in the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA for more than 15 years, serving as chair in 2003-2004. He received the Gale Cengage Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship, a distinction bestowed annually by BRASS, in 2008.
In addition to his professional association activities, White served as editor of the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship (2005-2010), was editor of The Core Business Web: A Guide to Key Information Resource (Haworth, 2003) and is co-author of Using Microsoft PowerPoint: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians (Neal-Schuman, 1998). He has published numerous book chapters and articles, including publications in College & Research Libraries, Journal of Academic Librarianship, Reference & User Services Quarterly, Reference Librarian, Collection Building and The Journal of Marketing Management. In addition, he has published proceedings and made presentations at many national conferences including the American Library Association, Special Libraries Association, National Online, Internet Librarian, Computers in Libraries, Online World and Integrated Online Library Systems.
“I am honored to be given the opportunity to work with the membership of RUSA in the coming years,” said White. “As the premier organization of reference and user services professionals in the United States, RUSA is at the forefront of providing professional development resources, advocacy, and support to our communities. In today’s environment, librarians and libraries are facing great challenges and also opportunities, and I look forward to working with RUSA leaders and members to provide the best resources we can to assist our membership.”
White will begin serving in the vice-president capacity following the 2010 ALA Annual Conference. A complete list of RUSA election results are posted at the RUSA blog.
The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Not a member, but interested in discounted registration rates on conference, preconferences and other events? Join, renew or add RUSA to your ALA membership at www.ala.org/membership. Learn more about the association at www.ala.org/rusa.
View an expanded version of this news release on the American Libraries site.