Excellent choice, indeed a brilliant and imaginative choice, so well done to Drew Faust and Steve Hyman. Let's hear from the naysayers on this one.
 

How old is Darnton?
 

Class of 60. So that means around 70.
 

What an incredible coup on the part of Steve Hyman, to get someone such as Darnton to be University Librarian.
Bravo!
Sam Spektor
 

Sorry actually he turned 68 two weeks ago.
 

The new 48. Brilliant appointment!
Richard thomas
 

Wow, wow, and wow!!! This is wonderful news. And gives the position of the Librarian a high profile, as it should have.
 

Well done Rich, you beat the Crimson by 6 minutes!
 

Wow is right.
 

Off topic so I'll be brief: and I hope if there are further kudos coming on the librarian hire, which I also think is outstanding, that I won't stifle them by posting this.

--Now THIS, Richard, is *community* news.

"The contrast between the performance of the Gehrkes and Kirshners as house masters—highlighted in a letter signed by 77 Quincy House seniors sent to the Kirshners in April and recently obtained by The Crimson—demonstrates the power that masters wield in forming a house’s social fabric."

But notice how the Crimson handles it.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518984

It's in an OPINION piece. It's not considered news in itself that half of this House's senior class has committed lese maitre. Or if it is, the News guys never got a crack at it.

This campus happening -- an unprecedented? expression of 'no confidence' in a pair of House Masters -- this remarkable act of speech by an outgoing senior class is subordinated by the Editorial Board to their own larger agenda of having "larger student involvement" in administrative matters.

Yes, yes, Editorial Board, we know: you think the place should be run by students. We hear you. --But why should adults trust students to set priorities and run an institution that undergirds a community, if the students who run the community newspaper can't be trusted to identify community news and treat it as such? What if student groups use power only to enhance their own power, and student-body mouthpieces tend to speak only to heighten the prestige of student mouthpiece-ness?

--And yes, to be sure, let's talk about how the College treats and evaluates House Masters. Not that this blog is the place to do it! Say... Perhaps the Crimson could -- nah, never mind. What was I thinking? They don't care about community; only about who has power within it.

Standing Eagle