Meet Daniel, Our New Head of Systems and Digital Initiatives

Dan DraperDaniel Draper is the new Head of Systems and Digital Initiatives for the William H. Hannon Library. He provides leadership and supervision to staff working on library systems support and digital projects and services, including digital scholarship, the institutional repository, and digital collections. This work highlights and provides worldwide access to LMU’s diverse scholarship and special collections.

Dan comes to LMU from Colorado State University, where he was Head of the Digital Repositories Unit. His responsibilities ranged from managing a digital repository consortium to collaborating with faculty in curating and delivering research datasets. He has published and presented on technical library issues, federal documents, and research data curation. Dan holds an M.L.I.S. and B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

We are delighted to welcome Daniel to the library. We asked him to share some information about himself and his role here at Loyola Marymount University.

What drew you to the world of academic libraries?

While working as a student at one of the University of Illinois’ small subject libraries, I was offered an overview of academic library duties from assisting patrons with reference questions and training to solving technical problems. I found the experience fulfilling, and it helped me understand that all library responsibilities center around patron service.

What about this new role are you most excited about?

This new role has so many things to be excited about, but, primarily, it’s working with such impressive and knowledgeable people.

What is the last show you watched or book you read? Would you recommend it to others?

I recently completed Projection and Re-Collection in Jungian Psychology by Marie-Louise Von Franz [available through LINK+]. It was very enlightening and interesting.

What is something about you that we would be surprised to learn?

I visited most of the prisons and mental health facilities in Illinois. Fortunately, it was only while working as a paralegal for the Attorney General of Illinois in building legal cases against asbestos manufactures.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us, Daniel!