Library Announces Two Senior Management Appointments
The UCLA Library has announced two senior management appointments: Susan E. Parker as deputy university librarian and chief financial officer and Sarah Watstein as associate university librarian for research and instructional services.
Deputy University Librarian
The position of deputy university librarian and chief financial officer is a new one at the Library. Its responsibilities include fiscal and strategic planning, capital space planning and facilities oversight, assessment and evaluation activities, and other administrative initiatives and projects.
Parker has been associate dean at the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), since 1997. In that position she supervised public services including circulation, interlibrary loan, reserves, microforms, periodicals, and special collections/archives. She also served as head of the library at CSUN's Ventura campus during 1997-2002 and participated in its transition to the library for the independent California State University, Channel Islands campus.
During 1997-2000 Parker headed up the library's $23-million reconstruction and renovation of its facilities following the 1992 Northridge earthquake. This included serving as liaison with all involved parties, coordinating public services in temporary facilities, and supervising the relocation and reorganization of departments when they moved back into the building. When a roof leak during construction affected some 500,000 items, she also coordinated the recovery operations and implemented plans to ensure continued access to materials and services.
Parker was circulation and access services librarian at the Harvard Law School Library during 1986-97. She participated in the university's development of an online catalog and managed its implementation at the Law Library. She also established temporary user facilities and created a system to allow access to stacks collections during an 18-month, $35-million building renovation.
Parker began her academic library career in 1981 at the Wessell (now Tisch) Library at Tufts University, where she was initially assistant government publications and maps librarian, then head of government publications, microforms, and maps.
Parker is currently working on a research project designed to test theories about the role of academic libraries. She has published and spoken extensively on her experiences with disaster planning and building renovations at Northridge and Harvard, among other subjects. She was a member of the 2003 UCLA Senior Fellows Program, organized every other year by the Department of Information Studies.
Parker earned an A.B. from Earlham College in history and American literature, an M.A. from Indiana University in U.S. history and an M.L.S. from Queens College of the City University of New York and is currently working on a Ph.D. from Capella University in organizational psychology.
Associate University Librarian
Watstein takes over the position of associate university librarian for research and instructional services from Bob Bellanti, who has been serving in the position on an interim basis since January 2003.
Watstein comes to UCLA from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries, where she has been associate university librarian for public services since 1992. At VCU she was responsible for public service operations including circulation, education and outreach, media and reserves, research and reference, and special collections and archives. To enhance service quality she implemented continuous evaluation procedures, which involved a cycle of quantitative and qualitative evaluation, redesign, and implementation.
A particular focus has been the VCU Libraries' efforts to support instruction. Watstein coordinated the Libraries' integration with campus course management software, initiated new services to support distance learners and off-site users, and co-chaired the virtual reference project team for the Association of Southeastern Regional Libraries, for which she also managed VCU's participation.
Watstein oversaw the renovation of the James Branch Cabell Library, the main academic library on the Monroe Park campus, coordinating multiple relocations of staff, services, collections, and user facilities in order to ensure uninterrupted service, and worked with library administration to plan and implement wireless network access throughout the building. She supervised the library personnel office on an interim basis, during which she coordinated a new staff compensation plan and conducted systematic reviews of library assistant, student and hourly positions. During 1995-97 she also served as interim director of VCU's University Computing Services for the Academic Campus.
Prior to going to VCU, Watstein held a series of management positions in public services and administration at Hunter College of the City University of New York during 1985-92. She served as a reference librarian at New York University during 1981-85 and at Teachers College of Columbia University during 1980-81, and her academic library career began at California State University, Long Beach, during 1977-79.
Watstein has written and spoken on topics including information technology, reference services, and women's studies. She also co-authored The AIDS Dictionary (New York: Facts on File, 1998), issued in a second edition in 2003 as The Encyclopedia of HIV/AIDS. Like Parker, Watstein was a member of the 2003 UCLA Senior Fellows Program.
Watstein earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, a master of library science from UCLA and a master of public administration from New York University.
