Law Librarian M. Kathleen Price will leave the Library this spring to become director of the Law Library and professor of Law at New York University School of Law starting May 1.
"I hope in my new position to work cooperatively with the Law Library of Congress to deliver its collections to an international audience and to publicize its electronic law projects," Ms. Price told her staff Feb. 28.
"Ms. Price has been a strong advocate of the Law Library and a hardworking member of the Management Team," said Dr. Billington. "We will be sorry to see her leave, but we wish her well."
Ms. Price told her staff that New York University has the nation's third largest law school library. NYU officials, she said, are interested in developing a "global legal information service" to support a network of 24 "partner" schools abroad.
Ms. Price came to the Library of Congress in August 1990. She took over the leadership of the 100-employee Law Library (budget: $5.6 million) from Charles Doyle, who had been acting law librarian since the retirement of Carlton Kenyon in 1989.
The Law Library is responsible for providing reference and research services in foreign law for Congress and in foreign and international law for the agencies of the executive branch. In addition, the Law Library provides reference and reader services to the public in American and foreign law. The holdings include materials from all foreign countries and all the world's legal systems.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Ms. Price grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earned her undergrduate degree from the University of Florida, a master's in library science from Florida State (1967) and her law degree from the University of Illinois (1973). She practiced law in Chicago for two years. She is a member of the Illinois Bar.
After five years as law library director and professor of law at Duke, she went to the University of Minnesota in 1980. She ran the law library, taught law, and was the acting assistant vice president for academic affairs in 1985-86. She is a former president of the American Association of Law Libraries.
During her tenure at the Library, Ms. Price is known for working long hours, and spurring new initiatives. One of her main feats was making the law library a leader in sharing electronically legal research materials with European parliaments, ministries of justice and the European Community, and other multinational organizations. She also began a pilot project linking the Law Library electronically with Mexico to get the Mexican official gazette (where new laws are published) for researchers at LC in timely fashion.