Dan Gjelten named 2007 Minnesota Academic Librarian of the Year
Dan Gjelten, director of UST Libraries, was named 2007 Minnesota Academic Librarian of the Year on Oct. 25 when his years of library experience and professionalism were recognized. In his nomination, colleagues identified him as a "big-picture thinker" and "community builder."
Gjelten has had a long career in Minnesota libraries since graduating from the University of Minnesota library science program in 1978. After several years at the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, he came to the O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center as head of the reference department and, since 1998, has been director of UST Libraries.
Dan Gjelten
Under his leadership, UST libraries has transformed rapidly into a 21st-century electronic resource center with 52 percent of the materials budget now used for online access. Using the "Infocommons" model over the last couple of years resulted in dramatic increases in both library gate counts and online resource use.
Gjelten's professional interest is in leading the academic library through the dramatic transition that is taking place as information resources and user behavior are transformed by the growth in digital resources and network technology. He has taught, lectured and written on library leadership, library design, organizational structure and other topics related to change in the academic library. He works with a wide array of constituents, is highly active in the CLIC consortium, and remains a strong advocate for students and for Library 2.0.
Gjelten has a bachelor's degree in English and philosophy from Luther College, a master's degree in library science from the University of Minnesota, and a master's degree in English from the University of St. Thomas. He is also a fellow of the Frye Institute (2002) and the ACRL-Harvard Leadership Institute (1999).
The Minnesota Academic Librarian of the Year Award was established in 2006 by the Academic and Research Libraries Division (ARLD) of the Minnesota Library Association (MLA). ARLD is the Minnesota chapter of the national Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association. This award recognizes an academic librarian who has made an outstanding contribution to academic libraries or librarianship in Minnesota.
Nominees should have notable and demonstrated achievements in one or more of the following areas:
- Service to Minnesota libraries
- Significant and influential academic library service
- Leadership in the planning or implementation of a model academic library program or project
- Contributions to academic librarianship through research and publication
