Current Unsustainability of Academic and Research Libraries

Who said librarians weren’t entertaining?  This Wednesday, Dr. Pat Burns will tell the exciting life of CSU’s library system, beginning with an exposé of the nature of an academic, research library, and the importance of collections to the Institution.  Rumors are he may have pictures, and even data!  Dr. Burns will be introduced by Dick Dunn.

The ubiquitous internet, the changing needs of 21st century students and faculty and changes in the publishing industry are all changing the nature of libraries.  Dr. Burns will discuss a nation survey by the Association of Research Libraries, and how libraries, including CSU, are responding to the changing needs.  

Dr. Burns received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 1978 from the University of California at Berkeley in heat transfer and energy systems.  He joined the Mechanical Engineering department at CSU in August of 1978, and performed research and teaching in that department for 20 years, developing expertise in data analytics.  Concurrently he served ten years as the Principal Investigator and Director of the Westnet regional network that spanned six western states.  In January 1998, he became Director of Academic Computing and Networking Services at Colorado State University, and eventually became the Vice President for Information Technology.  In July 2008, he was appointed interim Dean, then became Dean of CSU Libraries in 2010. He is CSU’s primary representative to the Unizin consortium, and has been/is a co-PI on CSU’s IPAS and IPASS-2 grants.