IRVINE : UCI Names Acting Head of Library

John L. King, a UC Irvine professor of management and computer information services, was named Tuesday as acting head of the campus library.

King, an associate chairman in the department of information and computer services, will assume the added duties of acting university librarian on Oct. 15 while a search committee continues to seek a permanent chief, university officials said.

He replaces 11-year librarian Calvin J. Boyer, who will assume as yet unspecified duties, mostly likely on the library staff, said William H. Parker, associate executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Boyer’s administration had been the focus of three separate reviews since 1989 following complaints of bias against minorities and women in promotion and hiring and favoritism. King said Tuesday that he hoped to put behind those problems at the library.

“There are a lot of very competent individuals in the UCI library who are dedicated to making it the best it can be,” King said. “I do not think we are going to do well by focusing on the past or by rehashing anxiety-filled accusations about this or that . . . when the alternative is to move forward and do things effectively.”

The more important challenge is how to keep the department of about 200 employees moving forward during the current budget crisis, said the 40-year-old professor, one of very few faculty members who had received his graduate and undergraduate degrees at UCI.

“My job is to be realistic about and to manage carefully the fiscal (situation) the university library faces and to help the professional library people make decisions that are workable . . . given the constraints we face, while doing the least damage to the crucial role of the university library.”

Parker said King was selected in part because of his previous managerial experience as chair of the department of information and computer sciences and his professional research work on information systems.

During his tenure as acting head of the library, King is expected to have to grapple with the problem of how to allocate shrinking resources to acquire library materials. Library officials are currently meeting with faculty across the campus over plans to slash periodical subscriptions because of budget cuts.

King also will have to deal with key personnel hiring and staff development issues. “We have some critical vacancies below the university librarian level that we need to fill,” Parker said. They include assistant university librarians for humanities and social sciences, for collections and for personnel.

King’s appointment was not widely known on campus, but reaction was generally positive.

“I’m pleased that an announcement has been made,” said James E. Crooks, a data services librarian who is president of the UCI chapter of the Librarians Assn. of the University of California. “I know him by reputation as an excellent manager and knowledgeable in information systems and management. We’re looking forward to working with him.”

English professor Myron Simon, who chaired the Academic Senate special committee that first investigated problems within the library, called King a “very fine scholar” and termed his appointment as acting librarian a good thing for the university and library staff.

Of plans for Boyer to join the ranks of library employees, Simon said: “I think there’s nothing wrong with that. He’s a librarian who has done good work in the field of library technology, and he’s had a great deal of experience.”