Right now, I'm engaged in an NHPRC-funded grant project which models a very low-cost method of providing online access to manuscript materials in a way that echoes the experience of researchers in the reading room. This is the Septimus D. Cabaniss Papers Digitization Project, notable for the efforts this lawyer made to free the slaves of Samuel Townsend.

At the University of Alabama Libraries, we have developed a system of digital file naming and organization which has greatly reduced costs and speeded up our ability to move content to the web once digitized. It also clarifies how files are related without requiring complex metadata schemes, and this, combined with our low-cost LOCKSS partnership model has simplified our approach to digital preservation.

To read more about how we do what we do, please visit our University of Alabama Libraries Digital Services Wiki.

Research, Presentations and Publications:

• Report on the 2010 Semantic Technology Conference, (website), held in San Francisco, CA, 21-25 June, 2010.
• "Metadata In, Library Out. A Simple, Robust Digital Library System," coauthored with Tonio Loewald, in Code4Lib Journal, Issue 10, June, 2010.
• "Digital Library Development from the Bottom Up, or: Organization, Clarity, and Sanity: Digitization for the Future On a Shoestring," presented at the Computers in Libraries 2010 Conference in Arlington, VA, April 14, 2010.
• "Digital Libraries and Long-term Access for the Rest of Us: The University of Alabama Acumen Experience", a joint presentation by Tom Wilson, Jody DeRidder and Tonio Loewald, at the Coalition for Networked Information Spring 2010 Membership Meeting in Baltimore, MD, April 13, 2010.
• "Report on the Spring 2010 Membership Meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information," held in Baltimore, MD, 12-13 April 2010.
• "From Confusion and Chaos to Clarity and Hope," a chapter in Digitization in the Real World: Lessons Learned from Small to Medium-Sized Digitization Projects, Kwong Bor Ng and Jason Kucsma, ed. To be published by the Metropolitan New York Library Council, 2010.
• "Report on the Coalition for Networked Information Fall Task Force Meeting," held in Washington, DC, 14-15 December 2009.
• "Bringing Order to Chaos: Preparation and Organization for Long-Term Access" (a Powerpoint presentation). Delivered at the Southeast CONTENTdm Users Group 2nd Annual Meeting, Charleston, SC, October 13, 2009.
• "Report on the Imaging Science & Technology Archiving 2009 Conference: Preservation Strategies and Imaging Techniques for Cultural Heritage Institutions and Memory Organizations." 2009.
• "Preparing For The Future As We Build Collections." Published in the proceedings of The Society of Imaging Science & Technology Archiving 2009 Conference, May 2009, Vol. 6.
• "Preparing For The Future As We Build Collections,", presented at the Society of Imaging Science & Technology Archiving 2009 Conference in Arlington VA, May 2009.
• Report on iPRES 2008: The Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects "Joined Up And Working: Tools And Methods For Digital Preservation" held in London, 29-30 September 2008.
• "Googlizing a Digital Library" An exploration of effectively and efficiently providing full-text web search capabilities to a dynamically-generated set of digitized materials, in order to leverage the power of web search to enhance access. Code4Lib Journal Issue 2, 2008-03-24. Available from http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/43
• "Choosing Delivery Software for a Digital Library".Library Hi Tech News, 24:9/10, 2007, pp. 19-21. Related PowerPoint with exercises for students comparing Fedora and DSpace. Presented to University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences Digital Libraries classes in 2007 & 2008.
• "The Immediate Prospects for the Application of Ontologies in Digital Libraries." Knowledge Organization, Vol. 34, No. 4, December 2007 (preprints available), and the PowerPoint presentation, (oriented more toward explaining ontologies), presented to an IS class in 2007.
• Choosing Delivery Software for a Digital Library, guest lecture for a University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences Digital Libraries class, fall 2007.
• "Embracing More of the Information Life Cycle: Opportunities for Academic Librarians" and a short PowerPoint presentation, 2007.
• A (2007) short report and PowerPoint presentation on Dublin Core metadata terms and uses.
• "Metadata in Digital Libraries", an overview (2006) which won the School of Information Sciences Best Technical Project award in 2007.
• "Choosing Software for an Institutional Repository." Developed for internal use by the University of Tennessee Digital Library Center.
• A PowerPoint presentation for the Metascholar American South meeting (2002), about implementing a digital library repository for the Open Archives Initiative.

For more info about me: my resume.