The search for a new university librarian is proceeding to campus forums and formal interviews.

The first candidates coming to campus are Steven Gass of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Denise Stephens of the University of Kansas.

The recruitment advisory committee announced that it intends to bring in one or two more candidates as well, but so far only the two open forums have been scheduled.

The forum with Stephens is set for May 26 and the forum with Gass is set for June 1. Each forum is scheduled from 4:10 to 5:30 p.m. in the courtyard of Shields Library.

The committee announced that all members of the campus community are invited. Each forum will consist of a brief presentation and a question period, followed by a reception.

People wishing to submit confidential comments may do so in writing, by e-mail to Chancellor Linda Katehi, chancellor@ucdavis.edu, and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Enrique Lavernia, lavernia@ucdavis.edu.

Information regarding the deadline for submitting comments will be provided later, along with information about the additional candidate or candidates. Forums for the additional candidate or candidates are tentatively scheduled for June 3 and/or 7, at the same times and location as the earlier forums.

About the first two candidates:

• Steven Gass — Associate director for Public Services, MIT Libraries, since 2002. He has been with MIT Libraries altogether for more than 20 years and also worked in the Stanford library system. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from MIT in 1972, and Master of Library Science degree from the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science in 1978.

• Denise Stephens — Vice provost for Information Services and chief information officer, University of Kansas, since 2005. Previously she worked in the Syracuse University Library as acting university librarian and associate university librarian for Public Services, as head of Anschutz Library at Kansas, and in the libraries at the universities of Virginia and Oklahoma. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma in 1987 and a Master of Library and Information Science from Oklahoma in 1993.

More information, including the Gass and Stephens curriculum vitae: chancellor.ucdavis.edu (click on “Executive Recruitments 2010”).