Deanna Bowling Marcum (August 5, 1946 – August 16, 2022) was an American librarian and nonprofit leader who served as president of the

Council on Library and Information Resources The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, an ...

from 1995 to 2003, Associate Librarian for Library Services at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

from 2003 to 2011, and managing director of Ithaka S+R from 2012 to 2016.

Education and awards

Born in

Salem, Indiana Salem is a city in and the county seat of Washington Township, Washington County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,319 at the 2010 census. History Salem was laid out and platted in 1814. It was named for Salem, North Carolin ...

, Marcum received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

in 1967 and went on to receive a master's degree in English from the

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

in 1969. She taught English and received a master's degree in

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

in 1971. Marcum graduated from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1991 with a doctor of philosophy degree in American studies. She was awarded a doctorate in humane letters by the

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

in 2010. In 2011, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

awarded her the Melvil Dewey Medal (later renamed the ALA Medal of Excellence), the association's highest honor. In 2016, Marcum received the Miles Conrad Award in recognition of her digital library leadership from the

National Federation of Advanced Information Services National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) was a United States non-profit institutional membership organization of content and technology providers, specifically those that support the authoritative information needs and activities ...

, which merged with the

National Information Standards Organization The National Information Standards Organization (NISO; ) is a United States non-profit standards organization that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library applications. It was found ...

in 2019.

Library and nonprofit career

Marcum began her career teaching English at the University of Kentucky, where she switched careers to librarianship and worked for three years on a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

program at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. She then worked with the management training program at the

Association of Research Libraries The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 127 research libraries at comprehensive, research institutions in Canada and the United States. ARL member libraries make up a large portion of the academic and research l ...

from 1977 to 1981. From 1980 to 1989, she worked for the

Council on Library Resources The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, an ...

. She served as Dean of the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

School of Library and Information Science from 1989 to 1992. She served as director of public service and collection management at the

from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, she was appointed president of the

and oversaw its merger with the

Commission on Preservation and Access The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, an ...

to create the

. She served as president of CLIR until August 2003. From 2003 to 2011, she returned to the Library of Congress as Associate Librarian for Library Services, directing fifty-three divisions and offices with sixteen hundred employees and guiding the library toward a more digital future. Her areas of expertise included

cataloging In library and information science, cataloging ( US) or cataloguing ( UK) is the process of creating metadata representing information resources, such as books, sound recordings, moving images, etc. Cataloging provides information such as auth ...

and

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

. On January 1, 2012, shortly after her retirement from the Library of Congress, Marcum joined Ithaka S+R, a division of

Ithaka Harbors Ithaka Harbors, Inc. is a US not-for-profit organization whose stated mission is to "help the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways". It is the paren ...

, as its first managing director. She received grants from the

Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

Lumina Foundation Lumina Foundation is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Since its founding in August 2000, Lumina has made grants totaling more than $250 million. History Lumina Foundation is a conversion foundation crea ...

, and

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

. She retired in 2016, succeeded by former

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

president

Catharine Bond Hill Catharine "Cappy" Bond Hill is the former president of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. She began in 2006, after former president Frances D. Fergusson retired. Before coming to Vassar, Hill was provost at Williams College. In September 2016 ...

, but continued to work for Ithaka S+R as a senior advisor for educational transformation and libraries and scholarly communication until her death in August 2022. In 2013, she was appointed to the Japan-US Friendship Commission, which facilitates cultural and educational exchanges between the United States and Japan. She also served on steering committees for the

Coalition for Networked Information The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization whose mission is to promote networked information technology as a way to further the advancement of intellectual collaboration and productivity. Overview The Coalition for Network ...

(2008–2012) and the

Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) is an international alliance of academic and research libraries developed by the Association of Research Libraries in 1998 which promotes open access to scholarship. The coalition ...

(2008–2011).

Publications

* * " Educating the Research Librarian: Are We Falling Short?" (Ithaka S+R Issue Brief, 2015) * * Reviews: *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcum, Deanna B. 1946 births 2022 deaths American librarians American women librarians Librarians at the Library of Congress University of Kentucky alumni University of Illinois Chicago alumni University System of Maryland alumni Catholic University of America faculty North Carolina State University alumni Southern Illinois University alumni People from Salem, Indiana Kentucky women librarians American women academics 20th-century American women 21st-century American women American nonprofit chief executives American women non-fiction writers American technology writers