HOUSTON (Feb. 7, 2008) - The Lone Star College-North Harris is pleased to announce that Pradeep Lele has been named director of the college’s 60,000 square-foot library replacing former Director, Maryann Readal, who retired last fall. Lele began this position on January 3.

Lele’s background and experience includes two undergraduate degrees including a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Library Science from the University of Bombay. He worked in several libraries in India, including the British Deputy High Commission Library in Bombay. In 1991, Pradeep moved to Columbia, MO, where he earned a Master’s of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and worked as a reference librarian in the university’s library. He moved to the Lamar University Library in Beaumont, TX, in 1993.

Lele joined the LSC-North Harris (formerly known as North Harris College) faculty as a librarian in September 1999 and served as a reference/technology librarian and professor for seven years, providing leadership in the development of the library’s technological evolution and offering exemplary instruction to students in research classes. In 2005, he was presented with the college’s Faculty Excellence Award. Lele has served the campus community in many capacities, including as a faculty advisor to student groups and a representative on the Faculty Senate. In August 2006, Lele was named the director of the college’s Faculty and Staff Center, but with this new appointment, he returns to his first love, the library.

“Librarianship is a part of my legacy-from my maternal grandfather–Mr. T. D. Waknis who was amongst the first few librarians from India to attend library school in England and then traveled to the U.S. to study libraries on behalf of the Gaekwar of Baroda State,” says Lele. “The first public library my grandfather headed in Baroda (now Vadodara) was founded in 1910 still stands today in a busy neighborhood with a collection of 280,000 volumes. After independence from Great Britain, he moved to Bombay where he retired as the Curator, Central Library, Bombay. I am sure he will be smiling down upon me as I take up the position of the Library Director here.”

Lone Star College-North Harris is located at 2700 W.W. Thorne Blvd., one-half mile south of FM 1960 E, between Aldine-Westfield and Hardy Roads. For more information about the college, call 281.618.5400 or visit: northharris.lonestar.edu.

Lone Star College System consists of five colleges, including CyFair, Kingwood, Montgomery, North Harris, and Tomball, six centers and Lone Star College-University Center. It is the largest college system in the Houston area, and third largest community college district in Texas. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.

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