Julia Blixrud:

Julia Blixrud has been with the Association of Research Libraries since December 1996 , serving now as Assistant Executive Director, External Relations. She provides staff support for ARL's Strategic Direction III: Research, Teaching, and Learning. Julia represents the Association at national and international meetings and events, participates in ARL's assessment and new measures activities, provides advice for ARL publications and communications, and conducts special projects. She is staff to the Association's Membership Committee, the Visiting Program Officer program, and the Leadership Development Task Force. She has served as a faculty member for ARL's former Office of Leadership and Management Services, conducting workshops on facilitation, the culture of assessment, and leadership and management as well as providing consulting services for institutional planning and assessment. In addition to her ARL duties, Julia is the Assistant Director for Public Programs for SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. Serving in that capacity since August 1999, she is implementing a grassroots educational and advocacy program directed to scientists and scholars, librarians, and society publishers.

Julia's 30-year career in the library community has included positions at CAPCON and MINITEX library networks, the Council on Library Resources, and the Library of Congress. Her interests and professional activities have included cooperative programs, serials, technical standards, library assessment, intellectual property, and scholarly communication. She has a BA in library science and Scandinavian studies from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and an MA in library science from the University of Minnesota.

 

Melanie Hawks:

Melanie Hawks has fifteen years of experience designing and conducting training for adult learners in the nonprofit sector. She also has extensive experience facilitating group meetings and retreats. She currently works for the University of Utah’s Human Resources Division, where she runs a university-wide Management Development Program. She was the ARL/OLMS Program Officer for Training and Leadership Development from 2000-2005 and the Staff Development Officer for the University of Utah’s Marriott Library for four years prior to that. She has designed both in-person and online learning events for ARL such as the Advanced Facilitation Skills Lab and the Coaching for Performance course. She has redesigned significant elements of the Library Management Skills Institutes I & II, the Leading Change Institute, and the Facilitation Skills Institute.