Patricia Renfro, currently Associate Director of Libraries and Director, Public Services, at the University of Pennsylvania, has been appointed Deputy University Librarian at Columbia University. In making the announcement January 21st, Elaine Sloan, Columbia's Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian, said, "Patricia Renfro's leadership and experience in the areas of public services and digital libraries will be a great asset to the Columbia University Libraries. I believe that her knowledge and skills will greatly enhance our efforts to create one of the world's finest university libraries."

Renfro, whose appointment is effective April 17, will have responsibility for providing direction in the operation of the Columbia University Libraries system, ensuring interdivisional coordination, and overseeing progress in achievement of strategic goals. She will work with the Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian and other members of the University Librarian's Executive Committee to lead one of the nation's largest library systems.

"I am delighted to be joining this great research library at such an exciting time in the growth and development of its collections and services, both print and digital. I look forward with excitement to working with colleagues at Columbia who share the same open, service-oriented focus that I have known and appreciated at Penn," said Renfro.

A graduate of the University of York, England, Renfro earned an Academic Postgraduate Diploma in Librarianship at the University of London, and a M.A. in history at the University of Kentucky. She has served as Head of Circulation Services and as Reference Librarian for the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Other positions have included Head of Reference Services/Reference Librarian at the University of Kentucky; and, Deputy Acquisitions Librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Renfro is an active participant in the National Information Standards Organization's Circulation Interchange Protocol Committee, and has actively served in the programs of numerous professional organizations, including the Research Libraries Group, and the Association of College & Research Libraries. She has published several articles on electronic information technologies and on library services.

Sloan thanked the Search Committee for the Deputy University Librarian, co-chaired by Angela Giral and Vace Kundakci, for its outstanding efforts.