Name: Douglas Bates
Title: Dean
Organization: Tennessee Tech University
Website: http://www2.tntech.edu/library/index.asp

Born and Lived: Born and raised in Berkeley, California. Since then I have moved around, living in Sweden, Utah, California again, Texas, Kansas, Hawaii, and now Tennessee.

Professional Career and Activities: I started out in the food service business, working in restaurants and company food service, including some time at Universal Studios in California. After a few years in business I went back to school and made the change to libraries. I have worked in government documents reference and then worked in various library administration jobs until I became director at BYU-Hawaii. I moved back to the mainland to accept the job at Tennessee Tech.

Family: Married with four daughters

In My Spare Time: I work with the young people in our church.

Favorite Books: I don’t have a favorite although I read a good mix of fiction and non-fiction. I go through lots of audiobooks while working out.

Philosophy: It is only a job, it is not your life.

Most Memorable Career Achievement: Helping create a learning commons at Tennessee Tech

Goal I Hope to Achieve Five Years from Now: That the library will be as or more relevant to the university then as it is now.

How/Where Do I See the Industry in Five Years: The options for people to find, acquire and keep information will continue to grow. Librarians will have to identify what problems they can solve or needs they can fill at their institutions in order to remain relevant.