The UCLA Library has announced the appointment of Sharon E. Farb as associate university librarian for collection management and scholarly communication. The appointment was effective as of Aug. 1.

"I am pleased that Sharon has agreed to accept this appointment," said University Librarian Gary E. Strong. "Her extensive experience with digital collections management and licensing, intellectual property and copyright management issues, budgetary constraints, and statewide and national consortial initiatives will help us build, enhance and make accessible our extensive physical and virtual collections, which enable UCLA students, faculty and staff, as well as users from around the world, to meet their academic and intellectual needs."

Farb has been at the UCLA Library since 1989, most recently as head of digital collection services. Her responsibilities in that position included advising, developing and encouraging new forms of scholarly communication and new models of sustainable publishing; expanding collections of high-use, high-impact licensed resources; designing and implementing systems, tools and metadata to manage collections and enhance services; leading UCLA Library and University of California negotiations and licensing of digital resources and collections; and advising on copyright and intellectual property issues.

Farb has represented the library in campuswide, systemwide, national and international planning, policy and consortial activities. She has served on numerous councils and committees, including as a founding member of the Digital Library Federation's electronic resources management steering committee and on the National Institute of Standards Organization/Digital Library Federation's license expression working group and the California Digital Library's rights management group. She has also published in the areas of licensing, electronic resources and copyright, and intellectual property.

Farb completed her doctorate in information studies at UCLA in 2006. She earned a master's degree in library science with a specialization in information policy from UCLA in 1991, a J.D. from Golden Gate Law School in 1984 and a bachelor's in criminology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1980.

Farb takes over the position from Cindy Shelton, who announced her retirement in June 2006. The associate university librarian has leadership, management, and policy and planning responsibilities for collection management functions, including collection development, cataloging, acquisitions, and e-resource licensing and management, and for the UCLA Library's scholarly communication program.

About the UCLA Library

Ranked among the top 10 research libraries in the U.S., the UCLA Library system is a campuswide network of libraries serving programs of study and research in many fields. Its collections encompass more than 8 million volumes, as well as archives, audiovisual materials, corporate reports, government publications, microforms, technical reports and other scholarly resources. Nearly 80,000 serial titles are received regularly. The UCLA Library also provides access to a growing collection of digital resources, including reference works, electronic journals and other full-text titles and images.

-UCLA-

DS351