May 2, 1997
CONTACT: Rosemary Gladden, 594-2585
Dean who brought national acclaim to SDSU's library to leave
SDSU's Dean of Library and Information Access Don Bosseau, who brought
national attention to the University's library with the development of
the world's first electronic course reserves system, is leaving.
Bosseau has accepted the position of Director of Libraries at the University
of Miami.
"Throughout his 15 years at SDSU, Don's leadership
of the library has been superb and we will miss his vision as well as his
much appreciated collegiality," said Ethan Singer, associate vice
president for Academic Affairs.
The innovative library system that Bosseau developed
for SDSU provides students with networked access to digitized course lectures,
graphics, copyrighted journal articles, sample exams and answer worksheets.
With a grant from Apple Corporation, he also initiated another first a
demonstration project using packet radio technology to provide internet
connectivity between libraries. In the past two years, he has assumed responsibility
for student e-mail accounts and home pages, plus a number of web sites
serving the library databases and some of the University's colleges and
departments. Bosseau was one of the leaders behind the $22 million addition
to SDSU's Malcolm Love Library. The addition, dubbed the info-dome because
of its 80-foot high glass architecture and its state-of-the-art technology,
opened this year and has already won an award for excellence.
Prior to coming to SDSU, Bosseau held other positions
where he was involved in projects for new libraries and library additions.
At UCSD, he was assistant university librarian when the University's research
library opened in 1970. From 1973-1977, he was at Emory University as director
of libraries. He then went to the University of Hawaii where he served
as director of libraries until 1982 when he joined SDSU.
Bosseau has master's degrees in library science
and nuclear engineering. He started his career as a nuclear engineer and
received an Atomic Energy Commission graduate fellowship while at the La
Jolla-based General Atomics. There, he was a nuclear engineer and physicist
in the direct energy conversion project. He changed careers in 1966 and
left for the University of Hawaii after being awarded a National Special
Libraries scholarship.
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