This spring, "Club Raynor" will change management.

The university recently announced that Janice Simmons-Welburn, associate dean of libraries at the University of Arizona, will become dean of John P. Raynor, S.J. Library on April 3. Simmons-Welburn succeeds Nicholas Burckel, who retired in December after 10 years in university libraries.

"Marquette is a community of engagement," Simmons-Welburn said in an e-mail interview. "It is forward-thinking and an environment that I want to be a part of."

Prior to her work at the University of Arizona, Simmons-Welburn spent 13 years working in university libraries at the University of Iowa. She has been at Arizona for three years, where her responsibilities include administration of daily library operations, communication with the rest of campus and recommendation for hiring and personnel decisions.

When she comes to Marquette, Simmons-Welburn's responsibilities will include more administrative leadership work. She said she considers the job "the culmination of my dreams and prior experiences."

"As dean I will need to bring together our community around the Marquette vision for library and information services," she said.

Simmons-Welburn's desire to support Marquette's vision was one quality that separated her from a set of candidates for the library dean position, according to Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs and Learning Margaret Bloom. Bloom served as chair of the search committee, which she said began recruiting applicants last summer.

The university "advertised broadly" and "sent letters to every library school in the country" in order to find the new dean, Bloom said. Marquette ended up with a strong pool of applicants, which Bloom attributed partially to the brand-new facilities at Raynor.

"I think that Ms. Simmons-Welburn was seen as someone who could really contribute to the long-term goals here at Marquette and the role the library is going to play in that," she said, referring to University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild's goal of making Marquette one of the top three Catholic schools in the country.

Simmons-Welburn said she was really drawn to Marquette because of the university's mission to be part of society rather than removed from it, but that Raynor was an additional perk.

"Marquette is growing in its prominence among the nation's selective institutions, and Raynor Library has a strong national reputation," Simmons-Welburn said.

Simmons-Welburn began working in libraries as an undergraduate studying history. While pursuing her master's degree at Atlanta University, she became interested in papers about the American South and how researchers used them.

She decided to put her history studies on hold and attain a library degree.

"The opportunities I found in our profession were such that I changed my career goals to focus on bringing people together with their information needs," she said.

Michael Pate, associate director of libraries at Marquette, has been acting as dean since Burckel's retirement. He said Simmons-Welburn will be an asset to the university and he is excited to work with her.

"She is very up-to-date in the newest issues facing libraries — the movement to electronic resources, budget issues," Pate said. "We're really looking forward to her being with us."