Elaine Rice Bachmann, previously Maryland Deputy State Archivist, became the Maryland State Archivist as of July 1.

LibraryLinkNJ, the New Jersey library cooperative, has named Ralph Bingham, most recently Director of the Gloucester County Library System, NJ, as its new Executive Director.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation has hired Laura Block, most recently Associate Dean and Chief Operations Officer of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, as the organization’s first-ever Chief Operating Officer. Block will be based in Fargo, ND.

Ed Garcia, Director of Cranston Public Library, RI, recently received the Emerson Greenaway Award, given each year by the New England Library Association to honor an individual who has provided distinguished service in librarianship.

Allison Grubbs has been named the new Director for Broward County Libraries Division, FL. Previously Libraries Division Assistant Director, Grubbs served as Interim Director since February, replacing Kelvin Watson after his departure to become the Executive Director of Las Vegas–Clark County Library District, NV.

The Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) has selected Jeremy Johannesen, formerly Executive Director of the New York Library Association (NYLA) from 2012–21, as Executive Director.

Tamara King has been promoted to the Executive Administrative Team at Richland Library, SC, to serve as Chief Diversity and Community Engagement Officer. Over the last six years King has led the library’s Social Awareness Taskforce and cochaired its Let’s Talk Race Team, as well as establishing the nationally recognized “My Life Experience Empathy Lab.”

Robert (Jay) Malone became the new Executive Director of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of The American Library Association (ALA), on September 7. Malone comes to ALA from the History of Science Society, where he served as its first Executive Director.

Angela McGraw has been appointed the new Director at technology library Do Space, Omaha, NE. Prior to joining Do Space, McGraw led STEM programs, marketing and community engagement efforts in higher education.

Michael Meth, previously Associate Dean for Research and Learning Services at Florida State University, has been named Dean of the San José State University Library, effective October 1.

In August, Kenvi C. Phillips became the inaugural Director of Library Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Brown University, RI. Phillips previously served as the Johanna-Marie Fraenkel Curator for Race and Ethnicity at Harvard Radcliffe’s Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.

Jennie Pu became the new Director of the Hoboken Public Library, NJ, on August 9. Pu, formerly Dean of College Libraries at Hudson County Community College, NJ, succeeds Lina Podles, who retired in June after serving as director for 20 years.

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library (TSCPL), KS, Board of Trustees has announced that Marie Pyko, currently TSCPL Public Services Director, has been selected as the new Chief Executive Officer. She replaces former CEO Gina Millsap, who retired December 1, 2020. Chief of Staff Thad Hartman has served as Interim CEO for the last 10 months.

Arizona State University Library has appointed Alex Soto as Director of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center, the library’s dedicated Indigenous community space and collection of materials by, for, and about Native Americans. Soto, a member of southern Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Nation, was previously Assistant Librarian with the Labriola Center, and will serve as its first new Director in more than 20 years.

Thomas Stagg was elected President of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) Board of Directors on July 30 to serve a one-year term. Stagg has been a member of the RAILS Board since July 2018, and also serves as Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of Alpha Park Public Library District in Bartonville, IL.

Kent District Library, MI, Executive Director Lance Werner was recently appointed to the Library of Michigan Board of Trustees to serve on as a representative from a public library.

At Library of Congress (LC), Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has appointed Judith Conklin as Chief Information Officer and John Rutledge as Deputy Chief Information Officer. Conklin served as LC’s Deputy Chief Information Officer since 2015; Rutledge served as LC’s first Director of IT Partner Engagement since 2018.

In addition, nine experts in technology, cultural memory, libraries, and archives have signed on to serve as the advisory board for LC’s Connecting Communities Digital Initiative, a key component of the new Andrew W. Mellon Foundation–funded initiative Of the People: Widening the Path, which aims to connect LC more deeply with Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. They are: André Brock, Associate Professor of Media Studies at Georgia Tech; Brian Carpenter, Curator of Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum; Jennifer A. Ferretti, artist, information professional, and Digital Library Federation Senior Program Officer at the Council on Library and Information Resources; Gabrielle Foreman, founding Faculty Director of the Colored Conventions Project and professor of English, African American Studies, and History at Penn State; Samip Mallick, cofounder and Executive Director of the South Asian American Digital Archive; Elizabeth Méndez Berry, Vice President and Executive Editor of One World, an imprint of Penguin Random House; Bari Talley, Tribal Library Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe; Janet Tom, Reference Librarian at San Francisco Public Library and recipient of the 2020 I Love My Librarian Award; and Jewon Woo, Professor of African American, American, and Women’s Literatures and Humanities at Lorain County Community College, OH.

LC and Every Child a Reader have announced that author Jason Reynolds’s term as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature will be extended to include a third year, for the first time in the history of the program.

IN MEMORIAM

John Eldred, President and owner of Midwest Tape and change agent in the library marketplace, died on May 27 at age 73.