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Questia Media, Inc Announces Prominent Librarian Advisory Council
Academic leaders form consortium to drive scholarly research
HOUSTON (November 1, 2000) Questia Media, Inc. announces the formation of its Librarian Advisory Council, created to provide strategic insight in developing the collection which will grow to 250,000 scholarly books and journals by 2003. Importantly, this news follows the October 30 announcement of the Questia Advisory Council which includes Former First Lady Barbara Bush, Harvard University Library Director Dr. Sidney Verba, Xerox Corporation Chief Scientist Dr. John Seely Brown and Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) Director Dr. Clifford Lynch.
Inaugural members of the Librarian Advisory Council are all leaders in the field of library and information science. The distinguished members include Rhoda Channing of Wake Forest University, Barbara Doyle-Wilch of Skidmore College, Mari Miller of the University of California Berkley, Ann Okerson of Yale University, John Lubans of Duke University, Sue Phillips of the University of Texas, and Julie Todaro of Austin Community College.
Questia's Librarian Advisory Council members will assist in the analysis of student research needs. Moreover, they will provide guidance in the development of the Questia online collection and composition tools that enhance writing skills among students. The group will also be instrumental in supporting and identifying current trends and issues in higher education and librarianship. Members serve two-year terms, with meetings twice a year.
“The appointment of this elite group of librarians and information specialists reinforces our core mission of providing students worldwide with better access to knowledge,” said Troy Williams, founder and CEO of Questia Media, Inc. “Guidance from the advisory group will enable Questia to develop its collection to best suit the needs of college students nationwide.”
“From the beginning, Questia has recognized the importance of creating a balanced scholarly collection which emphasizes the topics that college students are researching most often,” said Carol Hughes, Ph.D., Questia director of collections development. “This advisory council, along with our first-rate staff of librarians, will help us continue to develop a comprehensive service with the breadth and depth to meet researchers' wide-ranging needs.”
As the world's largest digitization project, Questia is building the first online research service for undergraduates, featuring unlimited access to tens of thousands of scholarly books and journals. Launching in January 2001 with more than 50,000 books and journals, and growing to 250,000 by 2003, the subscription service will include a suite of composition tools, with powerful keyword searches and hyperlinks. The Questia service will also have the ability to automatically format text, to create footnotes as well as a bibliographies, in specified formats.
Rhoda Channing
Rhoda Channing is the Director of Wake Forest's Z. Smith Reynolds Library in Winston-Salem, N.C. She has been with Wake Forest for 11 years, and her responsibilities have grown to include many aspects of library management, academic facilities planning, and integration of high technology. Her past positions include social science reference librarian at the University of N.C. at Chapel Hill, business and economics librarian at the University of Kentucky, and chief librarian of school management at Boston College.
Barbara Doyle-Wilch
Barbara Doyle-Wilch, college librarian, is with the Lucy Scribner Library at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She began her career in library science over 25 years ago, having held positions such as Acquisitions Librarian, University of Illinois, Chicago, Collection Development Consultant, Colorado State Library, and Dean of Academic Services, Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. She is responsible for a wide variety of library and media services, collection assessment, and circulation services.
Mari Miller
Mari Miller, librarian for undergraduate collection for the University of California at Berkley, possesses more than 25 years of professional experience. Her accomplishments include an award in 1997 for outstanding contributions as Northern California Chair (1996-1997) from the California Clearinghouse on Library Instruction. In addition, she has served as editor of the CCLI newsletter for five years and has held leadership roles in the American Library Association including chairwoman of the ALA Distance Learning Section Discussion Group and chairwoman of the ALA Association of College Research Librarians Alliances for New Directions in Teaching and Learning Discussion Group.
Ann Okerson
Ann Okerson is Associate University Librarian at Yale University. She has more than 15 years experience in her field, and she has authored numerous articles and papers on topics from licensing to electronic libraries. Ms. Okerson performs numerous duties within the library, and she oversees other academic projects designed to benefit the university's student body. She was awarded the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA)/Library Hi Tech Award in recognition of outstanding achievement in library and information technology in 1999.
John Lubans
John Lubans is Deputy University Librarian at Duke University. Currently on sabbatical, he is writing and consulting about organizational studies and Internet use, as well as conducting workshops for public and academic librarians. He holds Master of Arts degrees from the University of Michigan School of Library and Information Science and from the University of Houston Public Administration program.
Sue Phillips
Sue Phillips is associate director for technical and networked services for the University of Texas' Austin General Libraries. She plays an active role in the university's digital library system, as well as the TexShare program, a statewide library resource sharing program in Texas.
Julie Todaro
Julie Todaro, dean of library services at Austin Community College, possesses more than 25 years of experience in library and information environments. A former member of the Texas Library Associations' Executive Board, she is currently president of the Texas Library Association, and chairs the Library Services and Technology Act Advisory Council for the Texas State Library. Ms. Todaro was presented with the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) 1997 Institute of the Year award, and was named Librarian of the Year in 1996 by the Texas Library Association.
About Questia
Founded in Houston in 1998, Questia Media, Inc. is building the first online service to provide unlimited access to the full text of hundreds of thousands of books and journals, as well as tools to easily use this information. For millions of college students and researchers, the QuestiaSM service will enable them to efficiently research and compose papers at any time, from every connected corner of the world. Based in Houston with over 270 employees, Questia is delivering on the true promise of the Internet by providing access to a wealth of human knowledge. Visit www.questia.com for more information.
Contacts
Ann Brimberry
Public Relations Manager
(713) 358-2704 / (713) 562-8817 cell
ABrimberry@questia.com
Media:
Richards/Gravelle Public Relations
Stacie Barnett (214) 891-2910
stacie_barnett@richards.com
Publishers
Linda Cunningham
Questia Media, Inc.
(212) 297-6127
lcunningham@questia.com
