Library dean fills tech post

Dean of University Libraries Suzanne Thorin has been appointed associate vice president for Digital Library Development, while at the same time, keeping her position as dean.\nIn her added position, Thorin will help make the libraries' technology easily accessible to students and faculty.\nThorin has worked with IU's libraries since 1996. She helped to create the IU Digital Library Program and is currently involved in researching digital libraries. Before working at IU, Thorin was an associate librarian and chief of staff at the Library of Congress.\nShe said she is excited to take on the challenges of her new position and to further the reputation of IU's digital libraries. She said IU doesn't just match other universities in digital technology, it exceeds them.\n"Technology isn't a dream anymore," Thorin said. "There are no excuses because we are at a time where technology is able to push forward. Technology is a unifying ingredient."\nThorin works to blend many aspects of the University. In her new position, she will work closely with the University Libraries, the School of Library and Information Science and the School of Informatics in order to advance digital libraries research.\n"IU has been a leader in digital libraries and a lot of that is because of Suzanne Thorin's leadership," said John Walsh, manager of Electronic Text Technologies. "I am looking forward to her new role because I think more leaders in digital libraries will result from her leadership."\nThe most recent project that Thorin said she wants to advance is digital publication, which will make it possible for students to read publications directly from the Internet. Instead of going into the library's database to find a suggested article, it would be available as a link online, which Thorin said is generally technologically difficult. This way, faculty would be able to avoid confusion and put the article straight into the course. \n"I want technology to be less complicated for faculty to display and easier for students to access," Thorin said. "My job is to make the process seamless."\nGerry Bernbom, director for research and academic computing, praised Thorin's forward thinking. "Thorin does a good job in pulling together efforts and resources from different areas to form a digital libraries program," he said. "She has a great vision of what we should do next."\nThorin said she looks forward to being in a leadership role because it puts her in the position to get more important work done. \n"My job is to try to rationalize and build the best library tools," she said. "I am responsible for having specific goals for the system and making sure the libraries are the best they can be"