[December 6, 2006] Howard Boksenbaum, currently Assistant Director for Central Information Management Services at the Rhode Island Division of Information Technology, has been named the new Chief of the Office of Library and Information Services. Mr. Boksenbaum has worked for the State of Rhode Island since 1988, starting at the Department of State Library Services (DSLS), which he helped transform into the Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS) in 1996. His career in library and information services spans over 30 years.

While at DSLS and OLIS Mr. Boksenbaum served as the Supervisor of Technical Services, Chief of the Division of Library Planning, Development and Information Services, and finally as a Library Program Manager. During his time at DSLS he managed the RI Library Network's transition from five library regions to a single statewide multitype network. He was a creator of the Ocean State Free-Net and helped create RINet and OSHEAN (Ocean State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative Network). In 1997, he began working for the Information Technology (IT) Division of OLIS, directing the state's IT program. Mr. Boksenbaum had a major role in bringing state government online, including the creation of RI.gov, and in establishing the statewide interoperable public safety communication network, RISCON. He served as acting Chief Information Officer from 2002 to 2003. In 2004, the IT Division became the separate Division of Information Technology within the Department of Administration.

Before joining state government, Mr. Boksenbaum coordinated the Island Interrelated Library System, one of five regional library systems in Rhode Island at the time. During his tenure there he streamlined interlibrary loan process, automated office procedures, and devised one of the nation's first automated government document depository control systems. He has also worked as the System Coordinator for the Greene County (PA) Library System, and as a cataloger of Japanese materials at the East Asian Library at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Boksenbaum earned his undergraduate degree in Linguistics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and Waseda University in Tokyo; he earned his MLIS at the University of Pittsburgh. A former ALA Councilor, he has held leadership positions in the Rhode Island Library Association and the Coalition of Library Advocates, and served on many committees in the library world and state government, including long term memberships on the ADA Equipment Committee for the Governor's Commission on Disabilities and the Information Futures Institute.

Mr. Boksenbaum will start work as the Chief of the Office of Library and Information Services on January 22, 2007, and looks forward to returning to OLIS and working with the Rhode Island library community.