Dr. Irene Owens – Dean, 2008-2016

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Dr. Owens has been an Elementary School Teacher, a Classification Record Assistant at the Library of Congress, and has held several positions at Howard University in Washington, D.C., including Director of the Consciousness IV Undergraduate Library Project (funded by the Council on Library Resources), Head of the Reference Department, and a Branch Librarian. She has served as a Consultant in several capacities, including the Triangle Research Libraries Network (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina State University), the U.S. Office of Education funded Library Evaluation Project with Tribal Librarians, conducted in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin, and for the U.S. Embassy in South Africa. She is the recipient of numerous awards including an Outstanding Service Award from Howard University, the Texas Excellence in Teaching Award, and is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society. She is also a Junior Fellow in British Studies and a Faculty Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Owens has published widely, including entries in the International Information and Library Review, College and Research Libraries, the Bulletin of the American Society of Information Science (ASIS), the Journal of Management, The Journal of Library Administration, and Library Management. She is the editor of Acquisitions and Collection Development in the Humanities.

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Education

ALISE (Association of Library & Information Science Educators)

Texas Library Association Planning Committee, 1999

Black Caucus of the American Library Association

Dean – School of Library and Information Science, (2005-Present)
North Carolina Central University

Associate Professor, September (2001-2005)
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Texas at Austin

Assistant Professor (January 1995 – August 2001)
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Texas at Austin

Head, Reference Department, Founders,
The Graduate Library, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Conducted planning, evaluating, staffing, budgeting and programming for the department.
Director, Consciousness IV Undergraduate Library Project, Howard University Libraries,
Assisted, with the Director of University Libraries and the Head of Circulation the writing of this grant as well as the Director of the project. Responsible for implementing and monitoring the project as well as continuous planning and evaluation.

Graduate Assistant to the Dean,
School of Information and Library Science, The University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
Assisted the Dean in research projects, recruitment and the admissions selection process.

Classification Record Assistant, U.S. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Responsible for assigning last cutter number before books were available for use, requiring accuracy and consistency.

Teacher of First Grade Students, Mollusk and Brookdale Elementary Schools in Mollusk and in Kilmarnock, Virginia.

Undertook an approach to teaching that First Grade students could learn any subject even though these students had no Head Start or Kindergarten training and experience

Books

• Owens, Irene (2003).The Management of Staffing in Libraries. Westport,Connecticut: Greenwood Press. (In Progress).
• Owens, Irene (Editor).(2002). Strategic Marketing in Libraries and Information Science. Binghamton, New York:Haworth Press. (At Press)
• Owens, Irene. (Editor). (1997). Acquisitions and Collection Development in the Humanities. New York: Haworth Press.

Book Chapters

• Owens, Irene(2003). “Strategic Marketing in Library and Information Science: A Selected Review of Related Literature,” The Acquisitions Librarian, ( At Press)

• Owens, Irene and Donald G. Davis, Jr. (2001). International Librarianship, The American Approach: An Historical Perspective,” In International Librarianship: Cross-Border Idea & Information Flow Among Libraries and Information Centers>, Lanham, MD:Scarecrow Press.

• * Owens, Irene(2001). “Stories Told But Yet Unfinished: African-American Collections in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, In Diversity Now: People, Collections, and Services in Academic Libraries: Selected Papers from the Big 12+ Libraries Consortium Diversity Conference, New York: Haworth Press.

• * Owens, Irene(2000). Managing Diversity in Information Agencies,” In Developing Diversity Training For the Workplace, edited by Lauren N. Nile. Washington, D.C.: National Multicultural Center Publications, 4-51-54.
• * Owens, Irene(1997). Issues of Access, Ownership and Document Delivery: Considerations for the Humanities,” 1997, pp.45-62. In Acquisitions and Collection Development in the Humanities. Binghamton, New York: Haworth Press. Also published as an article in The Acquisitions Librarian, Number 17/18, 1997.

Articles

• * Owens, Irene. (2003). “Strategic Marketing in Library and Information Science: A Selected Review of Related Literature,” The Acquisitions Librarian, ( At Press) Published also as Book Chapter.

• * Owens, Irene. (2001). “South African Libraries from Pre-Apartheid to Apartheid in the 1960s and 1970s: The Beginning of the End,”Library Management, 23 (1/2).

• * Owens, Irene. (2001). “Stories Told But Yet Unfinished: African-American Libraries and Collections in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, The Journal of Library Administration, (published also as book chapter).

• * Owens, Irene. ( 2000). “A Managerial/Leadership Approach to Maintaining Diversity in Libraries: Accountability, Professionalism, Performance Evaluation, and Team-Building.”Texas Library Journal,76(1), 20-27.

• * Owens, Irene. (2000). “Maintaining Diversity in Information Agencies: Accountability, Professionalism, Performance Evaluation, and Team-Building.”Bulletin of American Society of Information Science (ASIS), 26 (4), 17-20.

• * Owens, Irene. (2000). “Managementul Calitatii, Factor Al Schimbarii: Strategii Pentru Secolul XXI,”Bibliotheca Bibliologica, 21 (40), 49-58.

• * Owens, Irene. (1999). “The Impact of Change from Hierarchy to Teams in Two Academic Libraries: Intended Results vs. Actual Results Using Total Quality Management.”  College and Research Libraries, 60 (6), 571-584.

• * Owens, Irene. (1997). “Issues of Ownership, Access, and Document Delivery: Considerations for the Humanities,”The Acquisitions Librarian, 17/18, 45-62. (Article published also as book chapter).

• * Owens, Irene. “The Retort As A Link to Better Understanding the Questioning Process in the Reference Interview: An Application of Social Exchange Theory,”  The Library Quarterly.(under revision)

• * Owens, Irene. (1985/86). “The Importance of A Library in the Black Local Church,” Journal of Religious Thought, 42 (2),62-68.

• * Owens, Irene. (1987). “Ministry as Servant of Good and of the Church: A Bibliography,” AME Zion Quarterly Review, April, 42-44.

• * Owens, Irene. (1982). “Resources on the Life and theology of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” AME Zion Quarterly Review, 94(2), 39-40.
• * Owens, Irene. (1980). “Selected References on Black Religious Music,” AME Zion Quarterly Review, 92 (3), 52.

Authorships

• * Owens, Irene and Angelescu, Herminia.(2000). “Plowing in Rocky Land: Organizational Culture, Managed Change, and Quality Improvement in Selected Post-Communist Romanian Libraries,”International Information and Library Review, 31, 197-224.
• * Owens, Irene and Biddle, Reginald.(1975). “The Black World Religious Resources Collection at the Howard University School of Religion Library,” The Journal of Religious Thought, Fall-Winter, 32 (2), 113-123.
• Owens, Irene (and others).“Acceptance of Social Marketing Concepts in Selected Romanian Libraries: Culture and Context,” (Under Review)

Translated Works

• * Owens, Irene and Angelescu, Herminia.(2000). “Plowing in Rocky Land: Organizational Culture, Managed Change, and Quality Improvement in Selected Post-Communist Romanian Libraries,”International Information and Library Review, 31, 197-224.(Translated into Romanian, published in the Revista Bibliotecii Nationale a Romaniei, Anul Vinumarul 2/2000, 42-55.

• * Owens, Irene. (1999) “The Impact of Change from Hierarchy to Teams in Two Academic Libraries: Intended Results vs. Actual Results Using Total Quality Management.”College and Research Libraries, 60 (6), 571-584. (Translated into Japanese for the home page of the School of Library and Information Science at Keio University in Japan.)

Referred Journals

• Biography
  •  “Dr. Joseph Henry Reason, 1905-1997”  Dictionary of American Library Biography.
• Book Reviews Essays
  • Owens, Irene. (2000). Untold Stories:Civil Rights, Libraries and Black Librarianship, Edited by Mark Tucker,Libraries and Culture, 35 (2), 359-363.
• Book Reviews
  • Owens, Irene. (1999) Adventures with Britannia, Volumes I and II.By Roger Lewis, Libraries and Culture, 34 (4),423-425.
  • Owens, Irene. (1977/78). The Howard University Bibliography of African and Afro-American Religious Studies; With Locations in American Libraries, by Ethel L. Williams and Clifton F. Brown, Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc. The Journal of Religious Thought, 34 (2),73-74.
• Web-Based Text
  • Owens, Irene.(1999) “The Impact of Change from Hierarchy to Teams in Two Academic Libraries: Intended Results vs. Actual Results Using Total Quality Management.” College and Research Libraries, 60 (6), 571-584. (Translated into Japanese for the home page of the School of Library and Information Science at Keio University in Japan.)
• Invited Papers – International
  • International Conference on Public Library Management in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Taipei Public Library, October 23-27, 2002. Presented Paper entitled ” A 50/50 Split (Present and Future):Strategic Planning and Marketing for Public Libraries.”
  • Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA). Fourth Annual Conference. 25-28 September, Johannesburg, South Africa. Delivered Paper entitled, “Library Resources on the African Diaspora Located in U.S. Libraries: Challenges and Opportunities.”
  • Libraries in times of utopian thoughts and social protests- the libraries of the late 1960-ies and the 1970-ies. A conference organized by the Round Table on Library History and The Section Library Theory and Research within IFLA. Delivered paper entitled, “South African Libraries from Pre-Apartheid to Apartheid in the 1960s and 1970s: The Beginning of the End.” The University of Boras, Boras, Sweden. May 27, 2001.

Research

Research project:

• Empowerment and Democratic Process in the Management of Community Libraries: Haiti and South Africa.

• Completing research project:
  To What Extent does the Content of Courses in Library Management Reflect the Needs and Expectations of Library Managers in the Workplace.

• Completing book entitled:
  The Management of Staffing in Libraries ( under contract with Greenword Press, Westport Connecticut).

• Completing article entitled:
  The Retort as a link to Better Understanding the Questioning Process in the Reference Department of an Academic Library: Librarians and Student Users.

Future Projects:
The influence of technology upon management, and the use of principles to teach academic librarianship.