Hometown: Flint, Michigan

When I arrived in Morgantown 20 years ago, I never dreamed that my career at the WVU Libraries would become something bigger than life. I helped launch our Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) program 10 years ago, making WVU the 2nd institution in the world to require ETD submission. Over the past decade I have served on the Board of Directors for the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) international consortium. During that time I have helped lead the way to share our wisdom with others through programs I have coordinated, such as the “ETD Innovation and Leadership Awards”, “ETDs for Rookies” seminars and open access promotions. Today hundreds of schools around the world have implemented similar programs.

These types of initiatives are revolutionizing scholarly communications. Universities can now immediately share their intellectual property output with the world through the Internet. ETDs also assist people in developing regions of the world by providing unfettered access to cutting-edge research, and they allow for low-cost distribution and access to their research as well. As a library professional, I feel it is our responsibility to take charge of the development and dissemination of WVU intellectual property output through our institutional repository program as well as to show others how to do what we have accomplished. It is is our small contribution to humanity, which when applied collectively, is radically changing the nature of research and discovery; the evolution and changing face of scholarship. Ultimately, it is changing the world – providing social justice through open access digital scholarship. Access to knowledge is the great equalizer.