July 10, 2006 (Chicago) -- At its annual membership meeting on June 25 in New Orleans, the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) elected Mary A. Dempsey, Commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, Chair of the ULC Executive Board.  Rivkah Sass, Director of the Omaha Public Library and Library Journal’s 2006 Librarian of the Year, and Robert Martin, the Lillian Bradshaw Endowed Chair in Library Science at Texas Woman’s University and former director of the national Institute of Museum and Library Services, were elected to serve as board members.

The ULC is a membership organization of 157 of North America’s premier metropolitan public library systems and related library consultants and suppliers.   ULC is respected for its research about issues facing urban libraries; its cultivation of innovations in library services to cities; and for its programs that groom the next generation of urban library leaders.  

Dempsey’s term runs from June 2006 through June 2007.  As Chair, she will lead the ULC’s 15-member board, the primary decision-making body of the ULC.  Representing both ULC members and major stakeholders of North America's major public libraries, the board sets direction and guides the ULC's programs and its development.

Dempsey has been an active member of the ULC’s board since 2002, helping to shape such programs as the ULC Partners for Successful Cities Conference.  To wit, Dempsey was instrumental in the inaugural conference’s Chicago venue in 2002 as well as its return to the Windy City in 2005, when Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Public Library hosted ULC members, mayors and county executives from across the country.  The conference, which convenes a unique team of urban players for discussion on the issues and challenges facing cities, showcased how the Chicago Public Library has established itself as an important educational and lifelong learning resource in all of Chicago’s neighborhoods.  The conference is part of the ULC’s larger mission to position libraries as tools for improving city life.

“We’re honored and excited to have Mary at the helm,” said ULC President Martín Gómez.  “We have an aggressive agenda of research and education ahead and Mary’s clear, strategic approach to decision-making will keep these initiatives moving forward.  Even better, we’re confident that Mary will further hone the ULC’s hallmark orientation for innovation.  This is going to be an exciting year.”

Under her leadership, the Chicago Public Library has constructed or renovated 39 full service branch libraries, expanded its public service hours to seven days a week at its three largest locations, upgraded its automated public access catalog, expanded book collections and library services for children and adults, installed free public WiFi access in all 79 libraries, initiated a systemwide professional training and development program for all library staff, launched Internet access and online automated reference services for library patrons and staff and formed cultural partnerships with Chicago’s museums.  Two additional branch libraries, now under construction, will open in early 2006. For more information, about the Chicago Public Library, please visit the Library’s website at chicagopubliblibrary.org, or call the Chicago Public Library Press Office at (312) 747-4050.
 

For more than 30 years the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) has worked to strengthen public libraries as an essential part of urban life.  A membership organization of North America’s premier public library systems and the corporations that serve them, the ULC serves as a forum for sharing best practices resulting from targeted research, education and forecasting.  The ULC’s programs are acclaimed for inspiring new organizational models that invigorate urban libraries and enrich the areas surrounding them.  The ULC is headquartered in Evanston, Illinois.  For more information, visit the group on the Web at www.urbanlibraries.com.