Roll Call is reporting that Dr. Mary Mazanec has been named as the new Director of the Congressional Research Service by Librarian of Congress James Billington. (The Library of Congress has password protected its press releases, so a direct link is not possible.) Dr. Mazanec has served as the Congressional Research Service’s Acting Director since April; she was selected by former CRS Director Dan Mulhollan to serve as his Deputy Director effective on August 30, 2010. (Mulhollan served as CRS Director starting in January 1994.) Prior to joining CRS, from 2002-2010, Dr. Mazanec worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In February, a coalition of organizations wrote to Dr. Billington to “ask you to appoint a Director of CRS who will help advance the goal of online free public access to CRS reports.”  In May, the Advisory Committee on Transparency hosted a panel discussion on the future of CRS; the video is online here. We congratulate Dr. Mazanec on her new position, and hope that she will work to bring CRS fully into the 21st century.