January 3, 2012 Roberta Shaffer Appointed Associate Librarian for Library Services

Contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Roberta I. Shaffer as associate librarian for Library Services. The appointment of Shaffer, who has served as the Law Librarian of Congress since August 2009, is effective immediately.

“Ms. Shaffer brings a breadth of experience in the Library of Congress and in the broader library community, which will serve us well as we continue to provide a unique set of services to the Congress and to the American people,” the Librarian stated.

Shaffer has had a distinguished career as a practicing librarian in various settings and as a library-science educator. Prior to her tenure as Law Librarian, Shaffer served as executive director of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) and the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) in the Library of Congress.

A former Fulbright Senior Scholar, Shaffer has been an active member of the American Bar Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, ARMA International (Records Management) and the World Future Society. She is the current president of the International Council of Scientific and Technical Information, serves as the Library of Congress official representative to the council and is the former chair of its Information Policy Committee. She has also maintained longstanding advisory positions with the DigIn Program at the University of Arizona, the library science program at San Jose State University and the Information School at the University of Texas at Austin, where she previously served as dean.

Shaffer is a graduate of Vassar College and Tulane University School of Law and has a master’s degree in library science from Emory University. She did graduate work at American University in arts management and has a certificate in negotiation and mediation from The Harvard Law School.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 151 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.

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PR 12-006
2012-01-04
ISSN 0731-3527