NIU has scheduled two public forums for students and staff to meet the finalists for the new dean of NIU Libraries.

According to a Feb 13. NIU news release, the dean will be the chief administrative officer of University Libraries and manage 30 professional staff and 76 support staff.

“The dean of University Libraries is a key position on our campus, overseeing what amounts to the knowledge center of campus life,” said Provost Ray Alden in the news release. “We’ve attracted two very strong finalists, and I’m hopeful that faculty, staff and students will come out to meet the candidates and provide us with their input and insights.”

Anne Kaplan, the vice president for administration and university outreach, added that the public forums are an important opportunity for campus users to assess a candidate’s ideas about 21st century university libraries.

“The search committee would welcome as much input as possible from as many parts of the campus as possible because we view this as an important appointment,” Kaplan said.

There is a public forum with finalist Myrna McCallister of Indiana State University from 10 to 10:55 a.m. Friday in Altgeld Hall, room 315.

The other public forum for finalist Patrick Dawson of the University of California-Santa Barbara is scheduled from 10 to 10:55 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19 in Altgeld Hall, room 315.