Mark Winston returns to New Jersey to lead Dana Library at Rutgers Universitry in Newark
A former professor of library studies is returning to Rutgers as assistant chancellor and director of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University in Newark. The appointment of Mark Winston was jointly announced by Steven J. Diner, chancellor of Rutgers University in Newark, and University Librarian Marianne Gaunt, of the Rutgers University Libraries. His appointment is effective Sept. 1.
Winston’s duties will include daily management of Dana Library and long-range planning, budgeting, staff development, and development of resources, services and facilities. The director also will work with the Office of the Chancellor on outreach and academic initiatives, to engage the Dana Library with the campus’s urban mission, and to maintain strong ties to the Newark community.
The Dana Library, the third-largest in the Rutgers University library system, supports all undergraduate and graduate programs offered on the campus except law, with an emphasis on business, management, and nursing. It has a collection of approximately 300,000 books, 100,000 bound periodicals, and 200,000 federal and state publications, as well as more than 600,000 pieces of microform and 15,000 audiovisual items. It also is home to the Institute of Jazz Studies, the world’s largest jazz archives; a digital media lab; study rooms; a media department; the Dana Room, a smart classroom and meeting space; an art gallery; a special collections room; an electronic classroom; and a seminar room.
Winston had been associate professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill since 2006, and prior to that, taught for seven years at the Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Studies on the New Brunswick campus. Since 1997, Winston also has been a consultant and trainer in management, diversity and leadership. He has written nine books or book chapters, as well as numerous articles in journals or refereed publications, many addressing equity, multiculturalism and diversity issues in library studies, information services and teaching. “Mark Winston’s expertise in information and library science, combined with his background in incorporating multiculturalism and diversity into library management and the teaching of library studies, makes him a perfect fit for our diverse urban campus,” stated Diner.
Winston also was an assistant university librarian and assistant professor at Valdosta State University Library, Valdosta, GA., from 1996-1998. Earlier in his career he was a Visiting Program Officer for the Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C., and the business and undergraduates service librarian and coordinator of library instruction at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “It is with genuine enthusiasm that I accept the position of Assistant Chancellor and Director of the John Cotton Dana Library,” stated Winston. “I am doubly excited about the opportunity to bring all aspects of my professional background to one of higher education’s most impressive library organizations. I look forward to returning to Rutgers to work with such an impressive group of library and teaching faculty, administrators, and staff members.”
Winston earned his undergraduate degree in business management from Hampton University in Virginia, graduating summa cum laude. He received both his master’s of library science and his Ph.D. in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a doctoral fellow and teaching assistant.
Winston is a sought-after presenter at professional conferences, and the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the National Award for Achievement in Library Diversity from the American Library Association, the Rutgers University President’s research in Service to New Jersey Award, and a Rutgers University Library and Information Science Departmental award for Service. He is a member of the Association for Library and Information Science Education, the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Library Administration and Management Association and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Winston succeeds Lynn Mullins, who retired after 20 years as Dana Library director. Ka-Neng Au, who had been acing director in the interim, will return to his duties as business librarian at Dana.