Debbie Schachter, Director of Library Services and Learning Commons, Langara College, and Janet Walls, President of Delta Blvd, a leadership consulting and executive coaching organization, took their seats on the OCLC Board of Trustees during the board’s regular November meeting.
The two new board members replace two retiring members. There are nine librarians from five countries serving on the 15-member OCLC Board of Trustees.
Dr. Debbie Schachter is an academic library leader, teacher and researcher in higher education who represents academic and Canadian libraries in local and international consortia, cooperatives and associations. She joined Langara College in Vancouver in July 2021, as Director of Library Services and Learning Commons, as well as Director of CAPER-BC, a provincial service providing alternate format resources to students.
Schachter’s previous roles in higher education include University Librarian at Capilano University, in North Vancouver, and Director of Learning Resources and Records Management at Douglas College in New Westminster, Canada. Debbie also has experience working in public libraries, as a senior leader at the Vancouver Public Library, in charitable and non-profit organizations, and in special libraries.
Schachter is active in the BC-ELN, OCLC and IFLA, and held positions of Chair of the OCLC Global Council and Chair of the America’s Regional Council in 2019-2020, and Chair of the OCLC Canadian Advisory Committee from 2014 to 2021.
She has a Bachelor of Arts (in English and History) and a Master of Library Science degree from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University, and a Doctor of Education from the University of Edinburgh.
Janet Walls is President of Delta Blvd, a leadership consulting and executive coaching company she founded in 2007. She coaches executives, business owners, and entrepreneurs in the areas of strategy, leadership development, and professional growth. Prior to starting Delta Blvd, she spent 27 years in the corporate world including roles as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Operations.
Walls received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Master of Education degree in Learning and Organizational Change from Belmont University. She serves as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University and as a Leadership Development Coach at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. She was previously honored by the Nashville Business Journal as a Woman of Influence and is actively involved in several civic and professional organizations.
Walls is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) and a former board member of International Coaching Federation, Tennessee. She currently serves on the board of Impact100 Nashville and is a founding member of 100+ Women Who Care, Williamson County.
Retiring from the OCLC Board are Jim Neal, University Librarian Emeritus at Columbia University, and John Patrick, President of Attitude LLC, a Florida-based consulting firm, and former Vice President of Internet Technology at IBM.
The OCLC Global Council is elected by OCLC members to represent the global library community. They provide reflection and insights regarding the needs and issues facing libraries. They also elect members to the OCLC Board of Trustees.
About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library organization providing shared technology services, original research and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC’s WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world’s collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff and partners make breakthroughs possible.
