G. Marcille “Marci” Frederick, a Chicago-area college library director, will be Eastern Mennonite University’s new director of the Sadie A. Hartzler Library. She will start July 1, succeeding Beryl Brubaker, who is retiring.
Frederick is currently library director at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, a post she has held since 2006. Before that she was director of library services for eight years at The King’s University College in Edmonton, Alberta. And previous to that, she was director of library and information services for five years at the Institute for Christian Studies, a graduate school in Toronto.
In addition to her library work over the years, Frederick served on university committees on environmental sustainability, racial/ethnic diversity, gender equality and spiritual formation. She has taught several courses over the years, including “Truth and Falsehood in the Marketplace of Ideas,” centering on information seeking and retrieval.
While in Illinois, Frederick has been active at Community Mennonite Church in Markham. She preaches about once a month and was approved by Illinois Mennonite Conference as a supply preacher. She is currently finishing a three-year non-degree program at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.
“The search committee was impressed both by her vision for the role of a library in an Anabaptist institution of higher learning and by her breadth of experience in library directorship,” said EMU Provost Fred Kniss.
“I’m a librarian because I love bringing people together to create community around ideas, gathering and sharing resources to nurture deep reflection,” said Frederick. “My calling as a library director is to bring a deep focus on institutional mission into ongoing conversations about that community’s information needs.”
A 1982 graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin, Frederick went on to earn three master’s degrees – a master’s of library science and an M.A. in American history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a master’s of philosophy from the Institute of Christian Studies in Toronto.
Frederick will come to EMU with her husband, Paul Cook, a studio artist, and her 11-year-old daughter, Jocelyn Cook.
She will oversee a staff of seven as well as numerous student assistants. The three-story Hartzler Library, which includes the Menno Simons Historical Library, is located near the center of EMU’s campus. It was built in 1971 after a student-led fund drive pushed the project over the finish line for a federal matching grant. The student effort attracted national media attention.
Brubaker, who has directed Hartzler Library for six years on what was initially a “temporary” basis, is finally retiring after a life-long career at EMU. Starting as a nursing instructor, she later chaired the nursing department, became vice president for enrollment management, was selected as the school’s first provost and even served as interim president.