Perhaps you’ve noticed a new face or two here in Milne Library? As of September 10th, Angela Galvan is our new Digital Resources & Systems Librarian. She will be working in the Information Technology Services (ITS) department and is the lead administrator for our discovery services, collection of digital resources and our electronic resource management systems. Angela has an extensive background in resource sharing and ILLiad management, in addition to other systems work. Angela comes to us from the Ohio State University Health Sciences Library in Columbus, where she was Head of Interlibrary Services and Digital Reformatting Specialist. Prior to that, she worked for Mount Carmel Health Sciences Library, also in Columbus. She is a fellow at this year’s Digital Library Federation Forum.
So what, exactly, does a “Digital Resources & Systems Librarian” do, you ask? We asked Angela this very question and she replied, “… in essence I establish, monitor, and further integrate digital resources and systems. This requires understanding everything that happens in the library, from circulation, to IDS activity, to how people search our materials, to how they’re taught in classrooms. In a practical sense, I’ve done well when users find what they’re looking for and don’t spend as much time struggling to learn an interface. It’s one of those jobs where, when done well, no one notices because everything runs efficiently.”
Her interests are varied and include being “something of a gamer,” writing, and crafting handmade soap. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Angela is happy to have landed here in rural Western New York with her cat, Hallie, an 8-year-old domestic shorthair, and a rescue.
She holds an MLIS from Kent State University, where she researched digital memorials and the impact of technology on bereavement. This area of study came about after a friend passed away suddenly and Angela found herself in a curious intersection of personal and professional demands; dealing with thanatosensitive materials. The concept of “thanatosensitivity ” is used to describe an approach that actively integrates the facts of mortality, dying, and death into HCI (human-computer interaction) research and design. She presented on the topic at Code4Lib Midwest and recommends Dying, Death, and Mortality: Towards Thanatosensitivity in HCI as one of the better papers on thanatosensitive information management.
