Conference Speakers

Claire Cocco, Keynote Session Speakerportrait: Claire Cocco

Claire Cocco, a graduate of Northwestern University, has been working on Web-based content delivery systems and applications since 1994. She joined DiMeMa, Inc. in 2002 as the CONTENTdm Product Manager and was part of the core team that evolved the software from a University-based research project to the leading digital collection management software application for libraries, museums and archives. Claire Cocco joined OCLC in 2006 when OCLC acquired DiMeMa and the CONTENTdm software. She is now the Director of Digital Collection Services and oversees OCLC's products and services that support the complete digital lifecycle. Originally from Seattle, Claire currently works out of her home in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Michael Bennettportrait: Michael J. Bennett

Michael J. Bennett is Digital Projects Librarian & Institutional Repository Coordinator at the University of Connecticut. There he manages digital reformatting operations while overseeing the University’s institutional repository. Previously he has served as project manager of Digital Treasures, a digital repository of the cultural history of Central and Western Massachusetts and as executive committee member for Massachusetts’ Digital Commonwealth portal. He holds a BA from Connecticut College and an MLIS from the University of Rhode Island.

Mingyu Chenportrait: Mingyu Chen

As the only metadata coordinator of M.D Anderson Library Cataloging and Metadata Department at the University of Houston, I have been coordinating, developing and leading digital projects and working closely with staff members from Special Collections Department. I have also been effectively managing, accessing, organizing, and preserving the digital repository collections. Our projects range from born-digital to reformatted analog materials.

I am familiar with AACR2, LCRIs and other metadata standards. As a metadata coordinator, I have experience in creating MARC records and developing MODS, DC, TEI, CDWA, METS, MIX and PREMIS schema.

Before joining UH, I had been working as a metadata specialist at OCLC for more than 3.5 years. I have performed original and copy cataloging for both book and non-book formats with MARC21. I have also worked on assigning subject headings according to LCSH, TGM and AAT and assigning call numbers for a variety of library materials in both LC and Dewey.

Dean Farrellportrait: Dean Farrell

Christine Hennesseyportrait: Christine Hennessey

Christine Hennessey has been a librarian at the Ralph W. Steen Library at Stephen F. Austin State University since 2006.


Amy Jacksonportrait: Amy Jackson

Amy Jackson recently began her position as Digital Initiatives Librarian at the University of New Mexico in October 2009. Previously, Amy was the Project Coordinator of the IMLS Digital Collections and Content project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has experienced CONTENTdm as both a service provider and a data provider.

Robin Leechportrait: Robin Leech

I have worked for Oklahoma State University since 1990, first at the Tulsa Campus and most recently in Stillwater, where I am Head, Digital Initiatives. I have worked in a wide variety of public and technical services positions in libraries. I supervise Digital Library Services, the Library web editor, remote access to Library e-resources, and coordinate the new institutional repository at OSU, e-Archive, and other digital projects. I have a BME from the University of Tulsa and an MLS from the University of Oklahoma.

Cara Orbanportrait: Cara Orban

Cara Orban is the history librarian and digital projects manager at Tulsa City-County Library's Research Center. She is responsible for the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of TCCL's digital collections, which include historic Tulsa and Greater Oklahoma images, postcards, oral history interviews, and newspaper clippings. Cara received her MLS from Emporia State University in 2007.


Christine Petersonportrait: Christine Peterson

Christine Peterson provides training, support and consulting services for Amigos member libraries in the areas of Internet and technology. Prior to joining Amigos, Christine worked for eight years as the automation consultant and then manager for the Continuing Education and Consulting Department of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Before that, she was the systems librarian for both San Antonio College and the Florida Institute of Technology.

Christine holds Bachelor of Science in Music and Master of Library Science from Indiana University, Bloomington.


Michele Reilly

Michele Reilly is the Digital Projects Program Director at the University of Houston Libraries. Her duties include the creation of the Library's digital library, the facilitation of an institutional repository, and in determining the direction of all future digital projects. She received her MLS from Indiana University with a dual focus of collection development and library management. Her interests include the future of digital technologies and how users are affected and use these technologies. She is involved with the Texas Digital Library, the Texas Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association, OCLC CONTENTdm User Groups, and has developed a digital library that will respond to the needs of greater Houston community.

Jennifer Rickerportrait: Jennifer Ricker

Jennifer Ricker joined the State Library of North Carolina in 2006 and is currently the Digital Collections Manager. She is responsible for investigating and implementing systems and technologies to collect and ensure that digital state publications are openly accessible to the public, now and in the future. While at the State Library Jennifer participated in the NDIIPP grant to develop the Web Archives Workbench tool set, was a member of the team that pilot tested the Archive-It subscription service, and is currently participating in the NHPRC funded Distributed Custodial Archival Preservation Environments initiative. Jennifer began working with CONTENTdm in 2006 and has recently started working to have Web 2.0 functionality incorporated into the State Library’s CONTENTdm interface.

Elias Tzocportrait: Elias Tzoc

Elias Tzoc, Digital Initiatives Librarian at Miami University of Ohio. Tzoc is a 2007 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information. He currently assists with providing access and management to the University Libraries Digital Collections and the Scholarly Commons (Institutional Repository) Project. His recent work includes: co-coordinated the digitization of the Freedom Summer Collection through a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council and implementing web-customization for DSpace and CONTENTdm –using PHP, CSS, XML, XSLT, and JavaScript.