BTW News Briefs

John Y. Cole Named Library of Congress Historian

John Y. Cole, founding director of the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, has been named Historian of the Library of Congress.

Acting Librarian of Congress David S. Mao announced the newly created position on Tuesday, April 19. In his new role, Cole will serve as the top technical expert and adviser on the history of the Library of Congress and will document institutional history and conduct historical research.

Cole joined the Library of Congress in 1966, following two years of service as a U.S. Army second lieutenant and chief of the library branch of the U.S. Army Intelligence School. Cole has been instrumental in shaping numerous reading and literacy programs during his time as director of the Center for the Book, a public-private partnership created by law in 1977 to promote books, reading, and literacy.

Cole was the first chair of the Library of Congress Literacy Awards; he also co-chaired the bicentennial celebration in 2000 and developed the popular reading and writing contest Letters About Literature in 1992.

Pam Jackson will replace Cole as the new director of the Center for the Book. Jackson has been the deputy assistant director for the Government and Finance Division at the Congressional Research Service for six years. Before joining the Library of Congress in 2003, she served for 11 years as CEO of the Coleman A. Young Foundation.

Both appointments take effect June 12, 2016.

Simon & Schuster Promotes Two in Sales Division

Two employees of Simon & Schuster’s sales division received promotions last week. Christina Pecorale is the division’s new vice president, director of children’s sales, and Sumya Ojakli is the new vice president for special markets.

Pecorale joined Simon & Schuster in 2008 as director of national accounts for children and was named senior director in 2014.

In addition to account management for Barnes & Noble, Ingram, and Baker & Taylor, Pecorale recently assumed responsibility for S&S’s children’s business with independent booksellers and educational wholesalers.

Ojakli joined Simon & Schuster in 2011 after holding positions in consulting and entertainment media for Digitas, Universal, and Billboard. Under Ojakli’s direction, the special markets team works with S&S’s imprints, authors, and client publishers to form partnerships and strategies that expand S&S’s authors’ reach. Ojakli also works with the corporate marketing team and S&S’s CBS sister companies.

In her new position as vice president for special markets, Ojakli will continue to oversee the corporate/premium, custom publishing, direct to consumer, and new business development for Simon & Schuster.