{"id":56417,"date":"2020-09-23T08:44:52","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T13:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=56417"},"modified":"2020-09-23T08:44:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T13:44:54","slug":"%ef%bb%bflearning-is-common-knowledge-for-new-forsyth-library-dean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=56417","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffLearning is \u2018common\u2019 knowledge for new Forsyth Library dean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leslie Haas is passionate about lifelong learning, and her career has focused on making learning easier for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haas\nis bringing that philosophy to Fort Hays State University as the new Dean of\nLibrary Services. She will take over her new position at Forsyth Library in\nNovember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haas\u2019\nspecialty has been building Learning Commons, a place she calls a \u201csandbox,\u201d a\nplace where students can try new equipment and experiment \u2013 and build\ncommunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nbelieve my job in my field is to help the students, the faculty, the entire\ncampus community, learn and get excited about what it is that they are doing,\u201d\nHaas said. \u201cA library should be a place where students can go and explore and\ntry out new ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\ntraveling the country \u2013 and the globe \u2013 both professionally and personally,\nHaas found familiarity in her new home in the center of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haas comes to\nFHSU from Statesboro, Ga., where she has served as head of the Research\nServices Department for Georgia Southern University Libraries since 2017. Prior\nto that, she built Learning Commons areas in libraries at both Zayed University\nin the United Arab Emirates and Loyola University in Chicago. She grew up in\nIdaho and is currently working on her doctorate online from the University of\nLiverpool, England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nshe has a connection to Hays from years past. Her dad\u2019s family is from Ness\nCity, just 60 miles southwest of Hays, and while visiting her grandparents in\nNess City as a youngster, she accompanied her family to Hays to shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nhave great memories of western Kansas from my childhood,\u201d Haas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nbrowsing the Internet one day this summer, Haas became intrigued when she came\nacross the Fort Hays State opening. She has a passion for libraries and\nremembers visiting her grandparents in Ness City every summer and making\noccasional trips to Hays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy\nparents are definitely excited about my new job,\u201d Haas said. \u201cMy mom is coming\nto Georgia to help me pack up and move.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haas\nfirst got interested in libraries as a child when she discovered \u201cthe research\nprocess fascinated me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following\nhigh school, she stayed in-state to work on her bachelor\u2019s degree at Boise\nState University, then earned a master\u2019s in library science from the University\nof Arizona and a master\u2019s in education from Loyola University in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nfeel fortunate my parents never put limits on where I could live, and learn,\u201d\nshe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her\nexperiences range from business reference librarian to numerous leadership\nroles <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in\nTexas, Ohio, Utah and the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\nbrings with her vast experiences from around the world, as well as superb\nskills as a supervisor, administrator and leader in higher education,\u201d said Dr.\nJill Arensdorf, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. \u201cI look forward to working closely with Ms.\nHaas to expand library services and advance the Forsyth Library.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haas\ncalls the advent of the Internet a game changer for libraries, where the\nstaff\u2019s responsibility to their clients changed from actually giving them the\ninformation at hand to helping them navigate through all the different avenues\nto find their information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLibrarians\nhave had to learn how to balance providing the information both locally and\nvirtually because the Internet has impacted every part of our library,\u201d she\nsaid. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes librarianship in higher education so interesting \u2013\ncoming up with ways to meet the needs of all our clients, because there are a\nlot of different learners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting\nstudents\u2019 needs is a priority for Haas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s\nrewarding for me is that \u2018ah-ha\u2019 moment, when it clicks,\u201d she said, \u201cwhen\nsomeone sees the fruits of their research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forsyth\nis scheduled for a complete renovation in a few years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nstaff is excited about how the renovations will enhance the space and services\nwere are providing, and I love that enthusiasm,\u201d Haas said. \u201cFort Hays State is\nhead and shoulders above so many other universities. There is a synergy there\nthat is really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nshe is already impressed with what the staff has accomplished and is looking\nforward to begin the next step of her journey with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nwant to work with the Forsyth staff and remove any barriers the students might\nhave,\u201d she said. \u201cThe students may not remember my name. But I would like for\nthem to love how they felt when they were at the library.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS Leslie Haas is passionate about lifelong learning, and her career has focused on making learning easier for others. Haas is bringing that… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Forsyth-Dean-Haas-Leslie.jpg?fit=530%2C733&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56419,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56417\/revisions\/56419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}