October 22, 2008 (REVISED October 28, 2008) Library of Congress Announces New Asian Division Chief

Peter R. Young, director of the National Agricultural Library (NAL) since 2002, has been appointed chief of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress. “I am delighted that Peter Young will be returning to the Library of Congress following his distinguished service directing the National Agricultural Library,” said Associate Librarian for Library Services Deanna Marcum. “I am counting on Peter to lead the Asian Division as well as to work with me to develop a collection strategy for digital science resources that is appropriate for the national library.” “I am excited about returning to the Library and I look forward to working with my wonderful colleagues in the Asian Division,” said Young. “I am also delighted to be working with Deanna Marcum to help develop plans for the Library’s digital support for science information.” A native of Washington, D.C., Young received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from the College of Wooster and a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University’s School of Library Science. He served as a film-library specialist with the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division (1968-1970) and was awarded three bronze star medals for meritorious achievement directing a Special Service Library in Chu Chi, Vietnam. Young has held numerous professional positions in national, academic, research and public libraries, and has extensive government and industry experience. He is the only Chinese American librarian to hold high-level managerial positions at two U.S. national libraries. Young joined the Library of Congress in 1980 as a customer services officer in the Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS). From 1984-1985, he served as assistant chief of the Library’s MARC Editorial Division, and from 1985-1988 held the position of chief of the Cataloging Division of the U.S. Copyright Office. In 1988, Young left the Library to direct Faxon Academic Information Services, where he founded the Faxon Institute for Advanced Studies in Scholarly and Scientific Communication. From 1990-1997, he served as executive director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, an independent federal agency advising the president and Congress on library and information services and policies. Young returned to the Library in 1997 to head the Cataloging Distribution Service. Prior to joining NAL in 2002, he served as acting chief of the Library’s Asian Division. An active member in the American Library Association, Young has made major contributions to the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), the Library Information Technology Association (LITA), the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), the Public Library Association (PLA) and the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA). He served as president of CALA from 1989-1990 and received the association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2003. The Library of Congress, the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Founded in 1800, the Library seeks to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, which bring to bear the world’s knowledge in almost all of the world’s languages. The Library of Congress is a central repository for all types of Asian publications that are not broadly available at other locations in the United States. Initiated in 1869 with a gift of 10 works in 934 volumes offered to the United States by the Emperor of China, the Library's Asian collection of more than 2 million items is the largest and most comprehensive outside of Asia. For more information about the division, go to www.loc.gov/rr/asian/.