WORCESTER, MA- Gwen Arthur, Clark University Librarian, was recently elected vice-president/president-elect of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).
RUSA, a division of the American Library Association, is responsible for stimulating and supporting the delivery of reference/information services in every type of library. As Vice-President/President-Elect, Ms. Arthur will lead RUSA's strategic planning at a time when the organization is emphasizing front-line reference service along with developing a vision for the future of reference services. RUSA also supports professional development for reference librarians from all types of libraries as well as advocacy for state and national information policies that maintain open access to information for all.
Ms. Arthur is RUSA's first president hailing from Worcester, birthplace and home of Samuel Swett Green, co-founder of the American Library Association (1876) and commonly known as the father of American reference service. Ms. Arthur began as University Librarian at Clark's Goddard Library in August 1999. Previously, she served as Head of Public Services for three years at Trinity College Library (Hartford, CT) where she oversaw a department that included Reference, Interlibrary Loan, Government Documents, Circulation, Reserves, and Music and Media Services. Her professional interests include library personnel issues (including continuing education and training), electronic reference and collection development, and social sciences librarianship. She has been active at both the national and regional levels, most recently chairing the Reference and User Services Association's Management and Operation of Public Services Section.
Ms. Arthur grew up in Maine and Massachusetts and attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She received her MLS from Columbia and a second master's degree in communications from the University of Pennsylvania (the second degree reflecting her long-term academic interest in both the humanities and the social sciences). She participates in several professional organizations, and has published in the library literature on a variety of staff training and development topics.
Ms. Arthur and her husband, Thomas Whistler, live in Worcester.
Clark University is a private, co-educational liberal-arts research university with 2,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in the United States, Clark has challenged convention with innovative programs such as the International Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the five-year BA/MA programs with the fifth year tuition free.