Four Elected to BCR Board of Trustees,
One Delegate to OCLC Users Council

BCR member libraries elected four individuals to the BCR Board of Trustees and one delegate to represent BCR on the OCLC Users Council. The newly elected representatives will take office July 1, the beginning of BCR's fiscal year (2001-2002) and will attend their first Board meeting in September.

BCR's newly elected trustees are:

• Cynthia K. Berner Harris, Wichita (Kansas) Public Library, at-large trustee.
• Frances B. Clymer, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Wyoming), special libraries trustee.
• Marilyn J. Mercado, University of Northern Iowa, Rod Library, at-large trustee.
• Larry Wieland, Jefferson County (Colorado) Public Schools, processing centers and school libraries trustee.

Richard Doyle, Coe College (Iowa), Stewart Memorial Library, was re-elected as BCR's delegate to the OCLC Users Council.

The new trustees were elected for two-year terms, while Doyle, as OCLC Users Council delegate, was elected for a three-year term. Doyle, Mercado and Clymer are incumbents returning to serve their second full terms in their respective positions.

Candidates provided statements for the elections that outline their positions on the major issues facing libraries. The statements of BCR's newly elected officials are reprinted below:

Cynthia K. Berner Harris
"Libraries of all types and sizes share the challenge of balancing customer expectations for the service and efficiency generated through the use of information technologies with the realities of limited funding. Alliances with cooperatives like BCR help individual libraries to leverage their limited resources through access to quality training and technical assistance as well as discounted fees for resources. As a member of the Board of Trustees, I am looking forward to continuing to ensure that BCR services and activities are responsive to the needs of its member libraries."

Frances Clymer
"The last two years have brought exciting challenges to BCR's staff and trustees. Our membership has grown by five new member states, a number of BCR's excellent educational programs are now available on the Internet and new technologies make more online materials and resources available at reasonable costs. My own professional experiences have given me a broad understanding of the difficulties small and mid-sized libraries encounter as they confront the increasingly complex world of information services. I am honored to continue serving the interests of special libraries on the BCR Board of Trustees."

Marilyn Mercado
"I remain committed to assisting BCR serve its member libraries in the most cost- effective, efficient manner possible. The future will provide some very important and exciting challenges for BCR management and staff and the Board of Trustees including the provision of services to libraries in the five new member states, containment of costs and quality of service for all member libraries, development of news services and training needs for all member libraries and helping libraries of all types and sizes to be best positioned for the delivery of information to our patrons. I welcome the opportunity to continue my service on the BCR Board."

Larry Wieland
"As diverse as libraries are, they share many common goals. Among them, the organization and indexing of knowledge is especially important. OCLC plays a large role in this process. It is also important to link school libraries together so that they can share common resources. This saves small libraries money so that their scarce resources can go further.

As supervisor for a school district library cataloging service, I would like to see OCLC look closely at how to better serve small school libraries and their needs. As representative on the BCR Board of Trustees, I will try to represent all school and small libraries in their quest for better cataloging and resource sharing."

Richard Doyle
"The pace of change has quickened at OCLC. Users Council has spent the past year and a half involved in a strategic directions and governance study. A new strategic plan, Extending the OCLC Cooperative, A Three Year Strategy is now in place; the governance study will be concluded shortly. Users Council has played a large part in shaping the new plan and changing the governance of OCLC. During these deliberations, Council continued to push for the integration of new technologies into our libraries, thereby improving the quality of services to our users. Further, Council has articulated that our libraries are the major contributor to the network, and finally, our libraries must be considered the primary portals on the Internet. Users Council has been a significant voice in these three areas; an articulate, well-heard and respected member of OCLC governance. I am honored to again represent the OCLC member libraries of the Bibliographical Center for Research."

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February 27, 2008
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