It is with pleasure that the J. Willard Marriott Library announces the appointment of Joel Thornton, M.S., as the Associate Dean for Collections and Scholarly Communication, effective February 2022. With this appointment, Mr. Thornton will lead and direct collection development and acquisition of materials, digital scholarship services, faculty services, graduate and undergraduate services, and scholarly communication for the Marriott Library. He brings over 25 years of experience in private industry and academic libraries.  His most recent roles include Director of Research and Instruction Services and Interim Associate Dean of Research & Learning at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, along with Associate Professor of Library Science at Fayetteville and previously at Texas A&M University.

Thornton graduated from the University of North Texas with a M.S. in Information Science after earning a B.B.A. in Accounting from Pittsburgh State University. He is continuing his personal educational endeavors, currently pursuing a M.S. in Operations Management and Project Management Graduate Certificate from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. As a Certified Public Accountant, Thornton has provided financial leadership and expertise for global business operations, as well as oversight of financial audits for airline giant, American Airlines.

Thornton was a Spectrum Scholar and is a past participant of the Association of Research Libraries Leadership and Career Development Program.  Before leaving the University of Arkansas, he also participated in the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program.

Thornton’s scholarly research work combines business and libraries with a focus on strategy development in areas that pose challenges to university libraries including publication pricing, digital landscapes and subtle discrimination. His articles are featured in several publications, including “Elsevier Title Level Pricing: Dissecting the Bowl of Spaghetti,” published in the Journal of Librarian Leadership and Scholarly Communication and “Researching Public Pension Plans,” published in the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship.