The Rutgers University Libraries are pleased to announce the appointment of Haipeng Li as the new Associate Director of the John Cotton Dana Library, on the Rutgers-Newark campus. Li has served as reference librarian and outreach coordinator at the Oberlin College Library in Ohio, where he has worked for 16 years, and is a widely published author of books and articles in professional journals.

In the newly created post of Associate Director Li will oversee research support services for undergraduate and graduate students, coordinate personnel administration, and play a leadership role in library planning, assessment, and innovation. He will direct initiatives to expand outreach, engagement, collaborations, and fundraising for the Dana Library on campus, in New Jersey, nationally, and internationally.

Li has gained prominence here and abroad for his authoritative studies on United States academic libraries, information literacy initiatives, managing and fostering diversity, and global collaborations.

In the professional community of more than 120,000 libraries in the U.S., he is an international leader in fostering collaboration between the United States and China. The President's Commission on the Arts and Humanities has encouraged collaboration between the U.S. and China. Haipeng has played a key leadership role in the first official collaboration between the United States government and China's Ministry of Culture in the grant-funded “Think Globally, Act Globally’ partnership that will “facilitate collaboration,  exchange  of information, and professional development of librarians from the U.S. and China.’

Li has spoken at a variety of forums in China including the Beijing Normal University Libraries, the China Society for Library Science Annual Conference, Yunnan University Library, and Shansi Agricultural University.

Li is the author of Academic Libraries in the United States for the 21^st century: Theories and Practices (Beijing Library Press, 2007), “Leadership Diversity: A Study of Urban Public Libraries’ (co-author, published in Library Quarterly, January 2007), “Information Literacy and Librarian-Faculty Collaboration: A Model  for Success’ (article in Chinese Librarianship: An International Electronic Journal, September 2006), “Global Collaboration: The Case of Oberlin College and Yunnan University Libraries’ (article in Chinese Librarianship: An International Electronic Journal, June 2004), “Managing Diversity in Liberal Arts College Libraries’ (article with Mark Winston, published in College & Research Libraries, vol. 3, 2000), and other books and journal articles as well.

Li is the interim executive director of the Chinese American Librarians Association and a past president, taskforce chair, conference planning chair, and publications committee chair for the group. He is also a member of the American Library Association nominating committee and served as a member of ALA's international relations committee.

“Haipeng Li is the ideal choice for this important position, to play a key role in Dana Library's direct support of the University's research and instructional mission on the Newark campus’ said Mark Winston, Director of the John Cotton Dana Library and Assistant Chancellor for the Rutgers-Newark campus.

“He has such an impressive set of professional and scholarly accomplishments. He is a national and international leader in fostering diversity in library services, in particular bringing his unique experience and valuable perspective on how librarians in the U.S. and China can share expertise and build substantive partnerships in support of goals that benefit both countries. We are very pleased that he has accepted the post at the Dana Library and look forward to benefiting from his experience and perspective.’

"Haipeng's considerable skills and scholarly expertise in advancing diversity and information literacy, and fashioning global partnerships will help the Dana Library build richer, deeper, and more fruitful contacts on campus, throughout the state, and within the scholarly community. We are delighted to welcome Haipeng to the Rutgers University Libraries," said Marianne Gaunt, Vice President for Information Resources and University Librarian at Rutgers.

Haipeng Li started his work at the John Cotton Dana Library in April. He may be reached via the Dana Library Administration office, at 973.353.5222.