Butler Named Distinguished Librarian by SUNY Trustees

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Meredith Butler, director of the University Libraries and dean of the Library Faculty at the University at Albany, was appointed the State University of New York's first Distinguished Librarian by the SUNY Board of Trustees at their meeting last month.

The Distinguished Librarian rank honors and promotes the achievement of personal excellence, groundbreaking professional progress, and wide-ranging benefit to the academic community. This rank parallels the Distinguished Professor rank. By extending its "Distinguished" ranks to the library faculty, the State University of New York assumes national leadership within the academy by becoming the first university system to so encourage and foster the full potential of the faculty status of librarians.

Chancellor Robert L. King said, "Libraries are central to the mission of higher education. We are pleased to honor Dean Butler for her groundbreaking achievements and we look forward to honoring future recipients of this important new designation."

In nominating Butler for the award, University President Karen R. Hitchcock said, "While Dean Butler has served the majority of her professional career at the University at Albany, her contributions transcend the boundaries of the Albany campus. Through her professional service and research, she has had substantial impact on the theory, practice, and development of librarianship throughout New York State and the nation."

State University Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas F. Egan said, "We are pleased to honor Dean Butler as the first in her field to be elevated to the rank of Distinguished Librarian. She is a distinguished scholar and an innovator in the fast-changing world of library science."

Butler's efforts have been instrumental in guiding the campus into the information age. She has been the principal leader in planning and introducing automated technologies in the University Libraries and has been at the forefront in helping the University develop the necessary infrastructure for full participation in the global information community.

Butler also provided critical direction and oversight for planning and construction of the University's new Science and Technology Library, an electronic library that will be an enormously important asset for the campus and the Capital Region. In addition, she provided leadership and coordination for the University's Campaign for the Libraries, which raised $3.5 million to complete the new facility.

"I have the great fortune as a librarian and a research library administrator to have worked with so many knowledgeable and talented colleagues at Albany, within SUNY, and in the broader professional community," Butler said.

Her publications are highly respected contributions to her field. Butler's most recent publication is a co-edited volume, The Economics of Information in the Networked Environment. She also edited the volume, User-Centered Organizations: Imperatives for Organizational Change (1994). She is currently preparing a book of case studies on fundraising for academic libraries.

Butler joined UAlbany in 1981 as assistant director for planning and resource development in the University Libraries. Throughout the development of her administrative career, she has been increasingly active as a leader in her profession and holds the rank of Full Librarian, equal to Full Professor. Butler has a joint appointment in UAlbany's School of Information Science and Policy, where she has taught a graduate course.

Albany's University Libraries are among the top 100 research libraries in the country. The University Library and the newly opened Science Library on the Uptown Campus, and the Thomas E. Dewey Graduate Library of Public Affairs and Policy on the Downtown Campus contain two million volumes, subscribe to 5,276 periodicals, and provide access to 2.7 million microforms.

For more University at Albany information, visit our World Wide Web site at https://www.albany.edu.

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January 4, 2001

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