Bob Martin is Coming Home.

Robert S. Martin has graciously agreed to return home and be our keynote speaker. A distinguished archivist, librarian, scholar, and educator, Bob is Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington, DC. He is the first archivist to hold that post.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent federal grant-making agency that supports the nation's libraries and museums. On June 5, 2001, the President of the United States nominated Bob to be director of the agency and his nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 13.

Before his appointment to IMLS, Robert Martin was Professor and Interim Director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University. He joined the School's Faculty in 1999. Texas Woman's University is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top graduate programs in library and information studies in the nation.

From 1995 until 1999, Bob Martin served as Director and Librarian of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. During his tenure as Texas State Librarian, he led a dramatic expansion of TexShare, the agency's statewide library resource-sharing program, and coordinated the development of new school library standards for the state.

From 1985 until 1995 he was Associate Dean of Libraries for Special Collections at Louisiana State University, just up the road in Baton Rouge. It was during his tenure at LSU-Baton Rouge that the members of the Society of Southwest Archivists elected him to be their president for 1989-90, and presented Bob with the SSA's Distinguished Service Award in 1993.

Before LSU, he worked in the archives and special collections at the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Austin. He also taught at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Bob Martin has authored, co-authored, or edited several publications including The Impact of Outsourcing and Privatization on Library Services and Management (2000); Carnegie Denied: Communities Rejecting Carnegie Library Construction Grants, 1898-1925 (1993); Maps of Texas and the Southwest, 1513-1900 (1984, 1999); and Contours of Discovery: Printed Maps Delineating the Texas and Southwestern Chapters of the Cartographic History of North America, 1513-1930 (1982). The latter two books are widely cited in historical literature and reflect another area of his research interest and expertise--the historical exploration and mapping of the American southwest.

Bob has served on the editorial boards of scholarly library journals such as American Archivist, Library Quarterly, Libraries and Culture and Meridian. He has served on the advisory boards for ArchivesUSA and the Dictionary of American Library History.

He has held elected and appointed roles in professional library and archives organizations. At the time of his appointment he was a member of the Council of the American Library Association (ALA). Previously, he chaired the American Library Association/Society of American Archivists Joint Committee on Library-Archives Relations, and the Legislation Committee of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA). He has served as President of the Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA). He is currently President of Beta Phi Mu, the national honor society for Library and Information Studies.

Among the many awards and honors Bob has received are Distinguished Alumnus, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Distinguished Service Award, Society of Southwest Archivists; and the Justin Winsor Prize from the American Library Association.

He has a Doctor of Philosophy in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Rice University.

Bob Martin is a native of Houston. He is married to Barbara Stein Martin, a Professor in the School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas.