Jo Ann Jenkins Appointed Chief Operating Officer
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Jo Ann C. Jenkins as chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1, 2007.
Jenkins succeeds Deputy Librarian General Donald L. Scott, who is retiring on Dec. 31, 2006. General Scott has provided strong and effective leadership for the Library's internal operations for the past 10 years and has served as a respected and highly visible diplomat for the Library's many outreach efforts throughout his tenure.
"Ms. Jenkins is known and respected throughout the legislative branch as an extraordinary leader with highly-honed political skills and exceptional judgment," said Billington. "Her seasoned experience, dedication and leadership skills as chief of staff for the past 10 years have contributed to some of the Library's most high-profile initiatives, including the Library's Bicentennial celebration, six National Book Festivals and currently the New Visitors Experience."
As chief operating officer Jenkins will have full authority and responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the Library. She will be directly responsible for planning, reviewing, monitoring and directing overall programmatic and infrastructure support operations consistent with the Library's mission and the Librarian's goals.
The chief operating officer will directly supervise the chief financial officer and directors of Human Resources, Integrated Support Services, Workforce Diversity, Contracts and Grants Management, Security and Emergency Preparedness, Communications, Special Events and Public Programs, and the General Counsel.
The chief operating office is responsible for managing the agendas of the Executive and Operations Committee to ensure appropriate focus on the Library's operational and strategic issues and the Librarian's priorities.
Jenkins will work collaboratively with the associate librarian for library services, the associate librarian for strategic initiatives and chief information officer, the law librarian, the director of the Congressional Research Service, the register of copyrights and the inspector general to ensure overall mission effectiveness. As chief operating officer, Jenkins will continue to lead efforts to finalize the Library's Strategic Plan for 2008-2013.
Jenkins is active in several organizations including The Links Inc. and Jack & Jill of America Inc. She is a founding member of the U.S.-Japan Young Leaders Program and a member of the AARP Services Board of Directors.
Jeremy Adamson Named Director for Collections and Services
Jeremy E. Adamson, chief of the Library's Prints and Photographs Division since May 2001, has been appointed director for Collections and Services.
The Collections and Services Directorate incorporates the general, international and special format collections, and provides direct and online reference services in 16 of the Library's 21 reading rooms.
Adamson joined the Library in 2001 after serving as senior curator at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where he worked since 1988. He holds a bachelor's degree in fine art, a master's degree in the history of art from the University of Toronto and a doctorate in the history of art from the University of Michigan. He has taught art history at The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Toronto, and he has served as a collections curator at several museums, including the National Gallery of Canada. During his curatorial career, Adamson lectured widely and organized a number of groundbreaking exhibitions that were accompanied by scholarly publications.
Susan Vita Appointed Chief of Music Division
Susan Vita, chief of Special Materials Cataloging from December 1996 until she became acting chief of the Music Division in June 2005, has been appointed chief of the Library of Congress Music Division.
During her tenure as acting head of the Music Division, Vita facilitated major initiatives such as the "Song of America" tour featuring baritone Thomas Hampson, the creation and launch of the new Performing Arts Encyclopedia and the release of Great Conversations in Music, a four-part television program celebrating Eugene Istomin and some of the world's most renowned artists. She also was instrumental in the acquisition of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Archive.
Vita has served the Library in various leadership roles, including chief of six different divisions or programs since she joined the Library in March 1976. Her first assignment was as chief of the Cataloging in Publication program, where she greatly increased the number of participating publishers. Since that time, she has also served as chief of the MARC Editorial Division, the Social Sciences Cataloging Division and the Whole Book Cataloging Project, which led to the complete reorganization of the 800-person Cataloging Directorate.
Since 1996 Vita has also been active in the Music Library Association and is currently serving as the Library of Congress representative to its Bibliographic Control Committee.
Matt Raymond Appointed Director of Communications
Matt Raymond has been appointed director of the Library's Office of Communications.
Raymond served since May 2005 as the senior advisor for communication at UNICEF, where he was the chief speech writer and senior aide to the executive director. He was responsible for UNICEF's communications vehicles, including press, publications, broadcasts, Web presence and events.
Prior to his position at UNICEF, Raymond was the director of speech writing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he developed major communications policies and strategies across the 100,000-employee executive branch department.
His legislative branch experience includes serving as communications director for Virginia Senator George Allen, deputy press secretary and communications director for Montana Senator Conrad Burns, and chief of staff for Montana Rep. Rick Hill.
Raymond began his media career as a television news reporter, covering Montana's state government and its legislature. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.