[The Dean's Update is a column introducing each issue of the Libraries' monthly e-newsletter In Circulation.] Recently President Obama nominated Carla D. Haden for the position of Librarian of Congress. The action likely went unnoticed by many watchers of this year's political theater, but for a minute it shed light on libraries during diverse speculations about their future. Reflecting on the country's oldest federal cultural institution poses the mind-boggling question of what it takes to lead the largest library in the world. I do not presume to know what the 'right stuff' is, but thought some of our readers might be interested to put academic libraries with which they are more familiar, in context against our country's--and the world's--leading research enterprise.

[The Dean's Update is a column introducing each issue of the Libraries' monthly e-newsletter In Circulation.] To start the New Year, students and faculty returned from the holiday break to find two newly defined library spaces that continue the Libraries' efforts to create learning environments for exploring information and data. One is in Hahnemann Library, while the other is in W.W. Hagerty Library's Bookmark Cafe, and both can be visited by members of Drexel's community.