OCLC chief Jordan stays in surprise reversal

Library center mum on why it’s not hiring appointed successor

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Greg Bartram | Columbus C.E.O.

Robert L. “Jay” Jordan, 69, had planned to retire this month from the OCLC.

By  Tim Feran

The Columbus Dispatch Friday June 22, 2012 5:23 AM

In a reversal of a yearlong search, OCLC will retain Robert L. “Jay” Jordan as president and CEO.

Only two weeks ago, Dublin-based OCLC, formerly known as the Online Computer Library Center, announced it had chosen Jack B. Blount, 60, to replace Jordan, 69, who last year announced his intention to retire by the end of this month.

But in a statement released late Wednesday, the OCLC board of trustees said that it “has concluded that rather than moving forward with the appointment of Jack B. Blount as its president and CEO, it is in the best interest of OCLC to have Jay Jordan continue serving in these capacities.”

No other reason was given for reversing the decision to hire Blount, who was to have taken over OCLC from Jordan on July 1.

OCLC’s board plans to meet soon to determine its next steps in finding a successor to Jordan, spokesman Bob Murphy said in an email. No timetable has been set for finding a replacement, he said.

The reversal “is a bit unusual,” Bill Coleman, president of Columbus-based executive-search firm Coleman Search Consulting, said in an email. “But credit the board here for wanting to get it right, and taking some time to understand its overall leadership and succession needs.” 

Neither Blount nor Jordan could be reached for comment yesterday.Blount was looking forward to becoming CEO, said Carl Grant, an independent library consultant

“I talked to him on Monday. Jack is an accomplished and impressive guy. This blindsided a lot of people, probably including Jack and Jay. Something somewhere went badly astray.”

The timing of the announcement “is terrible,” Grant added, pointing to the fact that thousands of librarians will meet today in Anaheim, Calif., for the American Library Association’s annual conference, the year’s largest gathering in the library sector. The announcement will undoubtedly become the main topic of conversation at the conference, Grant said.

“The word mess doesn't begin to describe the situation,” Grant said. “It certainly isn’t what is needed by OCLC or the profession of librarianship.”

Blount was most recently president and CEO of Alpha Bay Corp., a global technologies and services provider based in Salt Lake City. Before that, he was president and CEO of Dynix Corp., a technology-based library services organization that was acquired by Sirsi in 2005 to form SirsiDynix.

The OCLC board had praised Blount for his “extensive leadership and management experience, background and expertise in technology, global outlook and demonstrated commitment to and appreciation of libraries.”

tferan@dispatch.com

 

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