From: Laura Mullen <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:54:12 -0400 For Immediate Release Contact: Laura Mullen, 860-347-6933 x124 [log in to unmask] Mark Cummings Joins CHOICE as Editor and Publisher Middletown, CT – July 11, 2013 -- Mark Cummings has assumed the position of editor and publisher of CHOICE Magazine, the premier source for reviews of academic books, electronic media and internet resources in higher education. CHOICE is a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Cummings succeeds Irving E. Rockwood, who served CHOICE in this position for 17 years and recently retired. “I am delighted to have Mark join the ACRL/CHOICE team,” said ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis. “His distinguished career in educational and library publishing will serve ACRL/CHOICE well as we continue to meet the needs of the higher education community in a rapidly changing environment.” Cummings has worked in academic and educational publishing for almost thirty years, beginning his career in the reference and professional books division at Macmillan and continuing at Scribner’s and Oxford University Press. In the early 1990s he joined Grolier Publishing Company as editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia Americana and went on to become vice president and publisher of Grolier’s reference division. Over a ten year period Cummings built an online business that reached millions of students in the United States and overseas. Since 2000 he has concentrated on educational technology, first at Scholastic and then at Weekly Reader, where, as vice president for business development, he focused on creating new reference and literacy products for the school and library market. Cummings holds a B.A. from Michigan State University along with M.A. and M.Phil. degrees from Yale University in East Asia–related fields. The CHOICE editor and publisher provides ongoing strategic direction for the editorial, marketing, advertising and production of a suite of print and digital products. The position directs the development and implementation of a long-term business strategy to maintain CHOICE’s competitive position in the higher education marketplace and ensure ongoing fiscal sustainability. # # # About CHOICE CHOICE (http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice) is a publishing unit of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. Founded in 1964, CHOICE has been the premier review journal for scholarly publications for nearly 50 years and is the leading North American source for reviews of new scholarly books and electronic resources.