“Over the past six months, Susan Ryan has engaged enthusiastically and expertly in drafting a vision for the place of the duPont-Ball Library in Stetson’s vibrant learning community, as well as the imperative of advancing our distinctiveness in integrating digital learning resources,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth “Beth” Paul. “It is very clear that she will provide the advancement of excellence and national recognition of the library and the university.”

Stetson changed the title of the position this spring to reflect the library’s role in student learning, as well as the future direction of libraries in general.

“The Stetson library will continue to support the integrity of its excellent print and unique archival and historical collections, but we will also develop and increase online collections,” Ryan said. “Stetson is known for the quality of its undergraduate research, and the library will play a lead role in digitizing and sharing both student and faculty research online for wide dissemination. I look forward to leading a very dedicated group of librarians and staff as we move in new directions to support our students.”

Also this spring, Debbi Dinkins, a member of the library faculty since 1993, has been appointed associate dean of the duPont-Ball Library. Dinkins previously served as a catalog librarian, technical services librarian, and, since 2002, as head of Technical Services.

Ryan has been a member of the library faculty at Stetson since 1989, working as head of the Government Documents Department, associate director of Public Services and, since 2002, as associate library director.

Before coming to Stetson, Ryan was an Intelligence Analyst for the CIA and worked as a librarian at the Fullerton (Calif.) Public Library and the Yuma (Ariz.) City-County Library. After completing undergraduate studies at Florida State University, Ryan earned a Master of Science in International Relations from FSU and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Ryan has impressive breadth and depth of expertise,” Paul said. “Her passion for learning and library science fuels her active professional engagement in the field. Areas of particular expertise and experience include emerging technologies, government information policy and website administration.”

Ryan has published numerous articles on government information policy, including three in the top government information journal, Journal of Government Information (now merged into Government Information Quarterly). Ryan won the journal’s Bernard Fry Award for Best Article of the Year in 1997. Her book, Downloading Democracy: Government Information in an Electronic Age, was featured in W.S Hein’s recommended purchase list distributed to law libraries and others in the legal profession.

In 1995, Ryan became the only librarian to win Stetson’s Hand Award for Research. The following year she won the premier national government information research award, the Catharine J. Reynolds Award for Excellence in the Field of Government Information.

Ryan’s recent research interests have focused on library website administration and the analysis of reference desk transactions; she has published articles on these topics in one of the top academic library journals, The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Ryan has served as a referee for three journals, has been a consulting editor and a series editor for Libraries Unlimited (publisher), and a column editor for the Journal of Government Information.

During the last few years, Ryan has increasingly focused her attention on the University Archives and Special Collections. She serves as curator for the large Clay Shaw and Max Cleland collections (which include a combined 10,000 photographs and thousands of pieces of memorabilia), as well as for a number of smaller special collections. She has successfully pursued donations of additional memorabilia from alumni and serves as the university’s liaison to the Central Florida Memory digitization project.

In addition to her excellent service on a number of university committees, Ryan has held a number of regional and state leadership positions, including Executive Board member of Florida College and Academic Research Libraries, Chair of the Government Documents Caucus of the Florida Library Association, and Chair of the Government Documents Interest Group of the Central Florida Library Consortium. She also served a three-year term as a member of the Council of Advisors for the School of Library and Information Studies of the Florida State University.

Dinkins holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University and a Master of Library Service from the University of Alabama. Before coming to Stetson, she worked as an engineer for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft and Rockwell International. Her areas of expertise include collection development, collection management and patron-driven acquisitions. She has published articles on these topics in several well-respected academic library journals.