FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLUMBUS (August 15, 2012)—Chancellor Jim Petro today appointed Gwen Evans to serve as interim director of OhioLINK, a consortium of 88 Ohio colleges and university libraries.
Evans replaces John Magill, who had directed the consortium since his appointment in April 2010. Magill is leaving the OhioLINK post to work on workforce and economic development initiatives at the Ohio Board of Regents.
The OhioLINK (www.ohiolink.edu) consortium serves more than 600,000 students, faculty and staff, providing them with access to more than 49 million books and other library materials, millions of electronic articles from 17,000 journals, 140+ electronic research databases, 68,000 e-books, theses and dissertations from Ohio students, and thousands of images, videos and sounds.
"John Magill's leadership over the last two years was instrumental in stabilizing the OhioLINK infrastructure and moving the consortium forward," said Chancellor Jim Petro. "We believe that his demonstrated ability to organize and motivate the people around him will significantly impact the economic development efforts of the Board of Regents."
"We also have great confidence in Gwen Evans' ability to step in and lead the consortium" he said. "Gwen will leverage more than 20 years of experience working in libraries and with technology to guide Ohio's unique, nationally recognized resource for students, faculty and staff members."
Formerly director of special projects for the Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH), Evans served as a liaison between OhioLINK and OH-TECH on issues regarding technology infrastructure and services. She also worked to pursue research and grant opportunities for OhioLINK infrastructure development. OH-TECH serves as the research and technology arm of the Ohio Board of Regents and is comprised of the Ohio Academic Resources Network, the Ohio Supercomputer Center and eStudent Services.
"I'm excited to lead an organization that is so integral to providing cutting-edge library services to Ohio's higher education community," said Evans. "OhioLINK, OH-TECH and the Board of Regents will continue to build on the strong consortial foundation established by the Chancellor and to work with the OhioLINK Advisory Board and the OhioLINK library community to further our mission."
Prior to the OH-TECH post, Evans served as an associate professor and coordinator of library information and emerging technology at Bowling Green State University. Her expertise spans access services, reference, systems, and digital initiatives, as well as experience in libraries at research universities, mid-size universities, small colleges and community colleges.
Evans chaired the OhioLINK Digital Resource Management Committee from 2010 to 2012. During her tenure, Evans spearheaded the successful nominations for the Digital Resource Commons to receive the American Libraries Association's Office for Information Technology Policy Cutting Edge Technology in Library Services award and a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Start Up grant. She also is a founding member of the Association of College and Research Libraries TechConnect blog.
Evans received her master's degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in 2002. She also earned a master's degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago.
Media Contacts:
Kim Norris @ (614) 466-6000 or knorris@regents.state.oh.us
Jamie Abel @ (614) 292-6495 or jabel@oh-tech.org
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