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Simmons Library School Graduate Named "Librarian of the Year" by National Library Journal

BOSTON (February 7, 2005) — Susan Nutter, a 1968 graduate of the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Boston, has been named 2005 "Librarian of the Year" by the national Library Journal.

Nutter is vice provost and director of libraries for the North Carolina State University Libraries, a 3.2 million-volume research library system for North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh, NC. Nutter received her Masters in Library Science from Simmons.

Library Journal, founded in 1876, is the oldest independent national library publication in the United States, read by more than 100,000 professionals in the public, academic, and special library fields.

Nutter, who was appointed NCSU libraries director in 1987, took "a middling library and made it into a model for the entire profession," says her colleague Carla Stoffle, dean of libraries at the University of Arizona. The library system's rankings rose from 101 among its peers in North America when Nutter first took her post, to 32nd less than a decade later, based on rankings of the Association of Research Libraries. That leap is an unprecedented accomplishment in ARL history.

NCSU provost James Oblinger said Nutter brought about a "transformation" of the library system, until it is "now recognized across our campus as vital for the university's success."

He noted that as an example of Nutter's leadership, the NCSU faculty decided to forgo personal salary increases during trying financial times in North Carolina, insisting that the money instead go to support the development of the library.

The NCSU library system under Nutter is especially known for the strengths of its collections in the specific disciplines of the university, the caliber of the library staff, and the quality and innovation of the services it offers.

The Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science is a nationally recognized school offering two degree programs: a Master of Science and a Doctor of Arts. The Archives Management concentration and the School Library Teacher Program are the school's best known specialties. More information on the Simmons library school is at www.simmons.edu/gslis. The main Simmons College website is www.simmons.edu .