David S. Ferriero Named Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of The Research Libraries at The New York Public Library

New York, NY, April 26, 2004 ----- Library Chairman Samuel C. Butler and Library President Paul LeClerc today announced the appointment of David S. Ferriero to the position of Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of The Research Libraries at The New York Public Library (NYPL). Mr. Ferriero is currently the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University. Mr. Ferriero's appointment, effective September 1, 2004, comes after a nationwide search, which began in January following the departure of William D. Walker from the position for the University of Miami Libraries.

Mr. Ferriero will be responsible for the operations and overall management of The Research Libraries, including public service, cataloging, conservation, automation, and collection development. The Research Libraries, which annually serve 1.7 million people onsite and millions more through the web, comprise four centers with combined collections containing 43 million items, including 15 million books. The Humanities and Social Sciences Library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue is one of the world's great scholarly resources; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located in Harlem, is one of the most widely used research facilities in the world devoted to preserving materials documenting the African diaspora; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, located within the Lincoln Center complex, is a preeminent collection chronicling the history of dance, theatre, and music; and the Science, Industry and Business Library, at Madison Avenue and 34th Street, is one of the largest public information research centers focusing on science and business in the United States.

"Entrusting David Ferriero with the responsibility of leading our Research Libraries is one of the most important decisions we've made," said Dr. LeClerc. "David is a great research librarian, a great administrator, and a great lover of books all combined in one very likeable person. His task at The New York Public Library will be to plot the right course for one of the world's most distinguished research libraries just when the speed of the digital revolution begins a rapid rate of acceleration. I know that he will do so brilliantly."

"I have spent my entire career at two institutions, and I have been extraordinarily happy at both, so it would only be an opportunity such as this at The New York Public Library -- the very top -- that would have attracted me," said Mr. Ferriero. "The scale of the Library, the scope of its physical and digital collections, and the prospect of making a difference in the future of The New York Public Library and its growth in the global community are all enormously exciting to me. By reputation the staff of the Library are the most talented in the field, and I relish the opportunity to work with them."

"While I am very pleased for David, The New York Public Library's gain is truly Duke's loss," said Nannerl O. Keohane, President of Duke University. "David has been a remarkably effective and visionary leader of our Library system since we lured him away from MIT. He is something of a Renaissance man, who combines a commitment to the life of the mind with a practical and collaborative approach to serving the diverse needs of our library clients. He has brought Duke libraries into the electronic age and helped all of us understand technology's challenging issues and opportunities, while successfully leading a major fund raising program to expand and modernize Perkins Library. And he has done all this with charm, wit, and great sensitivity to the multicultural nature of our university."

Mr. Ferriero joined the staff of Duke University in 1996, after 31 years in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries. Starting as a shelver in the Humanities Library at MIT, Ferriero was later Associate Director for Public Services and was Acting Co-Director of Libraries at the time of his departure for Duke. In his last three years at MIT, Mr. Ferriero was the captain of a reengineering process that transformed printing and publications, at substantial long-term savings to the University.

As the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke, Mr. Ferriero administers the University's Perkins Library system, comprising eight libraries and a state-of-the-art shelving facility. The Duke system ranks among the nation's top ten private research libraries, housing more than 4 million volumes, over 20,000 serials, and millions of additional resources in a variety of formats. Mr. Ferriero oversaw the planning of the major expansion and renovation of the Library, launched in summer of 2003, which will add 130,000 square feet of new space -- the first expansion since 1968. Mr. Ferriero has provided leadership in the delivery of information services that support the teaching and research needs of the members of the Duke community as well as the international community of scholars. Working closely with the University's Chief Information Officer, Mr. Ferriero is responsible for instructional technology initiatives, which includes overseeing the Center for Instructional Technology.

Mr. Ferriero has been engaged in initiatives on campus, in the Durham community, and at the state and national levels. At Duke, his current commitments include membership on the Provost's Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property, the Information Technology Advisory Council, and the editorial board of the Duke University Press. He chaired the President's Advisory Committee on the Future of Information Technology in Teaching and Research. Mr. Ferriero sits on the IBM Reinventing Education, Durham Public Schools, Advisory Board as well as the AT&T Teaching Technology to Teachers Advisory Board. He spearheaded the Teaching Technology to Teachers program in which staff from the Duke Libraries mentored one hundred teachers in twenty-three Durham public schools.

Nationally, Mr. Ferriero serves on the Council on Library and Information Resources/American Association of Publishers Joint Working Group on Scholarly Communication and the editorial advisory board of Early English Books Online (EEBO). He is a member of the boards of directors of the Center for Research Libraries and the Research Libraries Group.

Mr. Ferriero has a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Northeastern University, and an M.S. from the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. He served as a Navy hospital corpsman assigned to a Marine unit in Danang, Vietnam, and on a hospital ship, the U.S.S. Sanctuary, also in Vietnam. He is married to Gail Zimmermann, the Associate General Manager of UNC-TV, the local PBS station in Durham, NC. Ms. Zimmermann was formerly with WGBH-TV in Boston.

Heike Kordish, who has ably served as Acting Director of The Research Libraries since Mr. Walker's departure, will return to her duties as Director of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library.

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Contact: Nancy Donner (ndonner@nypl.org)
Caroline Oyama (coyama@nypl.org)
212.221.7676



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