The first issue of World Libraries which was edited by Dr. Tze–chung Li has attracted a good deal of favorable comment. He assures me that the work of Theodore Spahn as associate editor has added much value to that issue and to the one you are now reading. The continued interest and support that Associate Editor William V. Jackson provides are also significant to the journal's success. We are all very proud of that.
One of our most internationally minded faculty members in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) was Sister Lauretta McCusker. She was most active in international conferences relating to children’s literature and school librarianship, and she was most welcoming to international visitors to the School. She also regularly taught International and Comparative librarianship, a course which we have recently retitled International Librarianship, with the intent of being more accurate about its scope. Sister had been elected president of the Catholic Library Association, and was to take office in April, 1997, but she died very suddenly on February 23, 1997. At the age of 78, and with many contributions to librarianship and library education to her credit, Sister still had many things she wanted to achieve. A former dean of GSLIS, a professor emeritus and colleague, she is and she will be missed.
Prudence Dalrymple, who has been director of the American Library Association Office for Accreditation since 1992, joins GSLIS as Dean and Associate Professor in August, 1997. Dr. Dalrymple has been on the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and had directed a medical library. As chair of the editorial board for this journal, she will offer leadership and rich perspectives. I know that she looks forward to that association and will do it well.
I have enjoyed almost two years as Dean of GSLIS, and it has made me aware of the significance of World Libraries to the mission of the School. I am planning to work on a consulting basis, to travel and enjoy life, and to carry out some writing projects in the future. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to be associated with this journal, and I send best wishes to all who make it possible by publishing it, evaluating articles, writing for it, subscribing to it, and reading it.
©1997 Peggy Sullivan.