Dear All, We are pleased to inform you that one of our young and dynamic library professionals from, Dr. J. K. Vijayakumar has been recently been appointed as the Library Director of KAUST. https://library.kaust.edu.sa/ staff-member/j-k-vijayakumar I am taking this liberty to wish him on behalf of whole Indian LIS fraternity a great success for his new assignment. With kind regards, Suresh K Chauhan ----- Forwarded Message ----- kaust.edu *To:* Suresh K. Chauhan *Sent:* Tuesday, 1 August 2017 12:27 PM *Subject:* New KAUST Library Director Announced [image: https://library.kaust.edu.sa/thumbs/270x270c/staff/vijay-02.jpg] We are pleased to announce that J. K. Vijayakumar (Vijay) has taken over the role of Library Director at KAUST as of July 1, 2017. “I want to thank the search committee, chaired by Brian Moran, for their commitment to finding the new Library Director. Vijay has a strong background in librarianship and a comprehensive knowledge of the KAUST Library. I am very excited to be working with him in this new role,” states Vice President for Academic Affairs James Calvin. Vijay joined KAUST in 2009 and has contributed to the library’s growth in many leadership roles, including Senior Subject Specialist, Research and Reference Manager, Collections and Information Service Manager and Acting Director. As a member of the library management team, Vijay has been engaged in developing strategic plans and policies, and managing services, budget, staff development and assessment initiatives. He has also represented the Library in many prestigious international and regional professional forums and boards. Vijay has a M.Sc. in Information and Library Studies from Robert Gordon University in the UK, a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from Bhundelkhand University in India and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Annamalai University in India. He brings with him 20 years of professional working expertise gained from working at different academic and research libraries from the Middle East, the Americas and India. His research has been published in reputed journals and in many conferences. A leader in his field, he is also a member of several Journal Editorial Boards, Publisher’s Librarian Advisory Boards and IFLA ACD Standing Committee. *About KAUST and the Library* *King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)**KAUST* was founded in 2009 as an international private research University, and provides research and graduate training programs in English. It was announced in 2013 that KAUST had one of the fastest growing research and citation records in the world and in the 2016 Nature Index Rising Stars was ranked #19 in the world of the fastest rising universities for high quality research output.KAUST was ranked as the world's top university in citations per faculty ranking indicator as per QS World University Rankings for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. [image: https://thelens.kaust.edu.sa/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/library.jpg] Opened in August 2009, the University Library is a centerpiece of the campus. It never closes, open to its community twenty-four hours every day of the year. The building itself was the recipient of the 2011 AIAA/ALA Best Library Building Award at international level and provides a natural venue for the University to communicate for a wide variety of events, including orchestral performances and art exhibits, as well as academic gatherings. The library facility, with 14,000 square meters of space, offers 150 public workstations, wireless network connectivity, seating for 400, quiet and group study areas, a computer lab, a meeting/presentation room, copy center, and café. KAUST Library is known for its huge digital collection, a digitally born library where 95% of its collection is online. With a staff of 27, the Library offers research support, library skills training, subject specialists, collection development, resource discovery, open access, research repository, textbook distribution, document delivery, events management, outreach services, archives and records management to its community. The resourceful Library staff comes from 12 different nationalities and play active roles in implementing cutting edge library technologies and systems, building world class collections and services, providing seamless access and extending research support, aligned to Library’s strategic plans, which is revised every year. KAUST Library is member of international associations and forums like IFLA, CNI, SPARC, EduCase, OCLC Research, DCC, ORCID, NISO, ICSTI, IATUL, ALA, CILIP, SLA, UKSG, ICA and funding partner of World Digital Library. More details are from http://library.kaust.edu.sa -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.