For Director

JESUS LAU, Ph.D.

Dean of Information Services and Accreditation, Universidad Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

SLA Member Since: 1993

Past Employment: Dean of Academic Affairs, Juarez University, (1997-2000); University Librarian, Juarez University Libraries, (1995-1997); Senior Researcher, Tecnologico de Monterrey ­ Toluca Campus, Center for Strategic Studies (1993-1994); Library Director, Instituto Tecnologico de Durango Library, (1977-1984, 1988-1992).

Education: University of Sheffield, England, Ph.D. in Information Studies (1988); University of Denver, CO, MA in Library Science, (1977); Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, Mexico, Law Degree, (1974).

SLA Chapter Activities: Member of the Rio Grande Chapter

SLA Division Activities: Science and Technology Division

SLA Association-Level Activities: Member (twice) of the SLA Global 2000 Conference Steering Committee, (2002); Nominating Committee, (1998-1999); SLA representative for two periods, IFLA Academic Libraries Standing Committee, (1998).

Other Professional Activities (selected): Secretary, Treasurer and other different roles at the Mexican Library Association throughout the years; President and founder of the Durango State Library Association (Mexico); Member, OCLC Advisory Council of College and University Libraries, (1999-2004); Co-Chair, President's Program Committee, ALA Midwinter, (1999); President, IFLA Round Table on User Education, (1999); Chair, Mexican Library Association International Relations; Committee Board, Trejo Foster Foundation for Hispanic Library Education (TFF), USA, (2001).

Awards and Honors and Publications (selected): Awards: National Researchers System Award, (1989-2004); Librarian of the Year Award from the Border Regional Library Association, El Paso, TX, (1998); UACJ best library in the city, Juarez Rotarian Club, (1999); Ph.D. thesis award from the UK Chancellors Committee, (1987). Publications: Technical Dictionary of Library and Information Science, English/Spanish, Spanish/English. Co-author. NY, USA: Garland Publishers, (1994); edited 9 books, and authored 4 monographs, and more than 90 articles/ conference papers; working on a bilingual dictionary of Mexican acronyms; Most recent articles: "Faculty-Librarian Collaboration: A Mexican Experience," RSR, Reference Services Review (England, MCB University Press), Vol. 29, No. 2, (2001); "The Need for Better Library Graduates: A Demand from Mexican Academic Libraries," Co-author. Sub

mitted to World Libraries Journal (USA), October 16-19, 2001; Recent conference papers: "Collaboration Between the United States and Mexico: The Legacy of SLA-Supported Linkages," Co-author. Global 2000: The Worldwide Conference of Special Librarianship, Brighton, England, March 23-25, 2000; "The CORC Project for Mexican Websites: The UACJ Experience/Proyecto CORC para paginas web mexicanas: la experiencia de la UACJ," X Transborder Library Forum, Albuquerque, NM, USA, March 23-25, 2000; Recent books: UACJ Educational Model: Vision 2020/Modelo educativo UACJ: vision 2020, version breve. Co-author. Mexico: UACJ, (2001).

What are the key qualities of leadership? Give an example of how you exemplify these qualities.

Having a clear sense of direction, examples of professional achievements, contributions to the profession, and work, discipline, and willingness to share knowledge skills and values with colleagues, in my opinion, are key qualities of leadership.

In my experience, I led the work of the Juarez University library system to have the best facilities and the leading user education program in Northwestern Mexico since 1995 to present. I facilitate the accreditation process of academic programs and the university in general by national and international accreditation organizations and advise and provide training to university academic departments on conducting their management processes to obtain external accreditation, as well as teaching a research methods course every semester.

I have been active in library associations since I was a library student, contributing with ideas and work to the profession.

What was your greatest disappointment in life? How has this disappointment made you a better leader?

My greatest disappointment was when I found out that law, the subject of my first degree, did not entitle the challenges that I was looking for in life. This led me to look for another discipline, finding library sciencethe subject and profession that has fulfilled my life.

When you talk to other information professionals, what do you say about SLA? Do you say the same things to people who are not in the information profession?

In comments to colleagues, I say SLA is a focused association. It is dynamic and it is the most international of all American library associations. When commenting to non-information professionals, I refer to examples of professional achievements. SLA is the second largest library association in the US and certainly one of the largest in the world. It integrates the synergy of thousands of information professionals from the corporate and the academic world to make information a difference in organizational settings.