Laurie Blandino Named CARLI Designate Senior Director

On behalf of Nicholas Jones, Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois System, we are pleased to announce that Laurie Blandino has been named senior director designate of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), which is part of the University of Illinois System. She will begin her role December 8, while pending formal approval for her position at the January meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Blandino currently serves as the executive director and associate commissioner of LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, a library consortium that reports to the Louisiana Board of Regents. In addition to her eight years at LOUIS, Blandino previously held several roles at Access Sciences Corporation, an organization that provides information management, document control, records management, and other services.

Over the past four years, Blandino has been the project director for three grants totaling nearly $5 million, including two grants related to the U.S. Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Program. She also has a strong track record of services roles that support libraries; two examples are the EBSCO Consortia Leaders Advisory Board and the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) Americas Conference Planning Committee. Her research interests include exploring the relationship between academic library consortium resource utilization and institutional research productivity, and the impact of library consortia on institutional outcomes.

Blandino has a bachelor’s degree in English and Philosophy and a Master of Library and Information Science, both from Louisiana State University, and is currently working on a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Research: Higher Education Administration.

Blandino will succeed Anne Craig, senior director of CARLI, who will retire December 31. I am very grateful to Anne for her 10-plus years of service. Anne will be missed and we wish her the best in her retirement.