Larry P. Alford
Larry P. Alford is Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto, a position he assumed in August 2011. The University of Toronto Library System is the largest research library in Canada and ranks third among North American university research libraries. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Toronto Press. Prior to joining the University of Toronto he was Dean of University Libraries at Temple University where he was also responsible for the Temple University Press which publishes approximately 60 scholarly monographs per year.
Prior to joining the Temple Libraries in February 2005, he worked in a variety of positions in the libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over a 30 year period including serving as Deputy University Librarian and Interim University Librarian. He has extensive experience in library budgeting and management, collection development, licensing, scholarly communication, digitization, technology implementation, facilities planning, and program planning.
Mr. Alford has also had extensive involvement in a variety of library cooperative activities. He served as a trustee of OCLC, Inc. from 2002 – 14, and as its chair form 2007 – 2012. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization with revenues of $200 million that provides computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing and preservation services to 41,000 libraries in 82 countries and territories. Mr. Alford is an active member of the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). He serves as an elected board member of ARL, and is the ARL Vice President, President-elect. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Canadiana.org, a Canadian non-profit providing digital access to Canadian heritage collections. From 2005 – 2011 he served as a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Foundation in Philadelphia, PA and has also served on other community boards.
Mr. Alford has spoken extensively on a variety of library topics. He holds a B.A. and M.L.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award (http://sils.unc.edu/news/releases/2005/04_alford.html) from the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science in May 2005.
Larry P. Alford is Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto, a position he assumed in August 2011. The University of Toronto Library System is the largest research library in Canada and ranks third among North American university research libraries. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Toronto Press. Prior to joining the University of Toronto he was Dean of University Libraries at Temple University where he was also responsible for the Temple University Press which publishes approximately 60 scholarly monographs per year.
Prior to joining the Temple Libraries in February 2005, he worked in a variety of positions in the libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over a 30 year period including serving as Deputy University Librarian and Interim University Librarian. He has extensive experience in library budgeting and management, collection development, licensing, scholarly communication, digitization, technology implementation, facilities planning, and program planning.
Mr. Alford has also had extensive involvement in a variety of library cooperative activities. He served as a trustee of OCLC, Inc. from 2002 – 14, and as its chair form 2007 – 2012. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization with revenues of $200 million that provides computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing and preservation services to 41,000 libraries in 82 countries and territories. Mr. Alford is an active member of the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). He serves as an elected board member of ARL, and is the ARL Vice President, President-elect. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Canadiana.org, a Canadian non-profit providing digital access to Canadian heritage collections. From 2005 – 2011 he served as a board member of the Abraham Lincoln Foundation in Philadelphia, PA and has also served on other community boards.
Mr. Alford has spoken extensively on a variety of library topics. He holds a B.A. and M.L.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award (http://sils.unc.edu/news/releases/2005/04_alford.html) from the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science in May 2005.
