Courtney L. Young, Board Chair
Maurice York, Vice ChairTerm FY 2023-2026
As the Director of Library Initiatives for the Big Ten Academic Alliance, Maurice is responsible for coordinating collective action at scale amongst the research libraries of the BTAA toward their commitment to realizing an interdependent, networked future. The central initiative in Maurice's portfolio is the BIG Collection, a comprehensive strategy to strengthen an interdependent future for the 15 world-class research libraries of the BTAA by joining the separate collections into one collection, shared and fully networked, across all physical and digital domains.
Maurice works closely with the library deans/directors of the fifteen member research libraries to help shape strategies that the consortium pursues, oversee execution of those strategies, and continually work to build pathways to interdependence and coherence across member universities. He is responsible for exploring, analyzing, and identifying areas for collective action and innovation and oversee collaborative initiatives through the many cross-institutional project groups of the BTAA.
In his previous position, Maurice was on the executive leadership team at the University of Michigan Library, where he led the technology division in developing and delivering cornerstone digital infrastructure projects for information discovery, content preservation, and access, including the HahtiTrust Digital Library, the Deep Blue repository for faculty publications and research data, and an expansive digital collections ecosystem. Before Michigan, Maurice was the Head of Information Technology at the NC State University Library, where he led the vision and implementation of the technology program for the James B. Hunt Jr. Library.
Kaitlin Thaney, TreasurerExecutive Director, Invest in Open Infrastructure
Term FY 2022-2025
Kaitlin Thaney is the Executive Director of Invest in Open Infrastructure, a non-profit initiative designed to enable durable, scalable, and long lasting open scientific and scholarly infrastructure to emerge, thrive, and deliver its benefits on a global scale.
She previously served as the Endowment Director for the Wikimedia Foundation, where she led development of a fund to sustain the future of Wikipedia and free knowledge. Prior to joining Wikimedia, Thaney directed the program portfolio for the Mozilla Foundation, following her time building the Mozilla Science Lab, a program to serve the open research community. She was on the founding team for Digital Science, where she helped launch and advise programs to serve researchers worldwide, building on her time at Creative Commons, where she crafted legal, technical, and social infrastructure for sharing data on the web.
Wendy Cornelisen, Past Board ChairState Librarian, State Library of Oregon
Term FY 2023-2026
Wendy Cornelisen is the State Librarian of Oregon, with the charge of building equitable access to library and information services to all Oregonians. In her twenty-year career, she has held professional positions at both the Georgia Public Library Service and the Tennessee State Library and Archives after getting her start in public libraries.
Wendy has also served in several positions in state library associations as the past president of both the Tennessee and the Georgia Library Association, and is currently on the Board of the Oregon Library Association. Wendy earned a Bachelor's Degree from Iowa State University and a Master's Degree in Information Science from the University of Tennessee. She is an advocate for equitable access to information resources, no matter what your zip code.
Migell AcostaTerm FY 2025-2028
Migell Acosta is the Director of San Diego County Library since 2016. Migell brings to San Diego County a background in library innovation, leadership, and stewardship. Prior to coming to San Diego, Migell served as Assistant Director and Chief Information Officer for the County of Los Angeles Library. He also worked for Santa Monica Library for ten years and the RAND Corporation before that. Migell is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the California Library Association and is Co-Chair of their Legislative and Advocacy Committee. Migell earned his Master of Library and Information Science from UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA College of Letters and Science.
Kristina Alayan
Associate Dean, University of Maryland Baltimore
Term FY 2025-202
Kristina J. Alayan is associate dean for library & technology and associate law school professor. She oversees all aspects of library and technology operations and services through strategic and collaborative leadership to support the advancement of the scholarly, pedagogical, and clinical goals of the law school. Professor Alayan is dedicated to ensuring the library is an active, thriving center for learning and innovation for the law school community.
She earned her MLIS with a certificate in Law Librarianship from the University of Washington. She graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law with certificates in the International Law and Pro Bono programs. Her undergraduate degree is from Swarthmore College.
Bianca Amaro
Coordinator of the Brazilian Open Science Program, Brazilian Institute of Information Science and Technology (IBICT)
Term FY 2024-2027
Bianca Amaro serves as the Coordinator of the Brazilian Open Science Program at the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT). She coordinates the Brazilian Portal for Scientific Publications and Data in Open Access (Oasisbr), the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD), the Open Access Digital Repositories and Open Access Research Data Repositories for Brazilian universities and research institutes, and both the Brazilian Open Access Scientific Journals project and the project for the creation of the Brazilian Ecosystem of Scientific Investigation (BrCRIS).
Bianca is a member of the Executive Board of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) and represents Brazil on the Governing Board of the Network of Repositories of Open Access to Science - LA Referencia. She serves as co-chair for Brazil’s representation on the Research Data Alliance (RDA).
Amaro earned a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, as well as a degree in Law, Librarianship and Linguistics. She is the 2015 winner of The Electronic Publishing Trust for Development (EPT) award.
Meredith Evans
Archivist, Librarian & Manager of Cultural Heritage, Atlanta, GA
Term FY 2025-2028
Meredith Evans is an archivist, historian and scholar and the director of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta. Her work focuses on the African-American experience in the United States, including the documentation of archival records from African-American churches in the Atlanta area, and the preservation of social media from recent civil rights protests such as those of the Ferguson unrest in Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting of Michael Brown
Jason Kucsma
Executive Director/Fiscal Officer of the Toledo Lucas Public Library
Term FY 2025-2028
Jason Kucsma’s nearly 20 years of leadership in libraries comes after nearly a decade leading a nonprofit independent media organization and publishing an internationally distributed politics and culture magazine while living in northwest Ohio. Kucsma is a born-and-raised Ohioan who earned his bachelor’s degree in Communication and master’s degree in American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University. He earned his master’s degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Arizona before moving to New York City to work with public, academic, school, and special libraries as Executive Director of the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Kucsma returned to Ohio in 2015 to assume the role of Deputy Director at Toledo Lucas County Public Library. He was appointed Executive Director in August 2019 where he helms a leadership team and staff of nearly 400 employees providing world-class library services to the diverse communities of Lucas County. His work in libraries is informed and driven by his dedication to the role public libraries play in building strong communities through equitable access to information and technology—and the expertise library staff bring to help navigate both.
Felton Thomas, Jr.
Executive Director, Cleveland Public Library (CPL)
Term FY 2024-2027
Felton Thomas, Jr. has served as Executive Director of Cleveland Public Library (CPL) since January, 2009.
As Director of Cleveland Public Library, Thomas has launched initiatives aimed at addressing community needs in the areas of access to technology, education, and economic development.
Director Thomas’ awards and accomplishments include being named a “Mover and Shaker” by the Library Journal and being named a White House Champion of Change for Making in 2016. Nationally, in 2015, Felton was elected as President-Elect of the Public Library Association (PLA), served as President in 2016. Felton is currently the Vice Chair of the Digital Public Library of America. He also serves as a trustee on the boards of FRONT International, University Circle Inc., Cleveland Museum of Art and United Way of Greater Cleveland.
Felton lives in Shaker Heights with his wife and has two college-aged daughters. He is an accomplished musician and has become a devoted Cleveland sports fan since his arrival on the shores of Lake Erie.
Zheng (John) Wang
Dean of the Libraries at The University of Texas at Arlington
Term FY 2024-2027
“Zheng (John) Wang is the Dean of Meriam Library at California State University, Chico, where he provides strategic guidance to ensure the library becomes an inclusive, accessible, and intellectually enriching resource for students, faculty, and the wider community.
With experiences at various institutions across the United States, John had the opportunity to serve as an Associate University Librarian at the University of Notre Dame, where he played a vital role in establishing the Digital Library Program and an Endowed Center for Digital Scholarship. These platforms facilitated advancements in scholarly research and technological innovation on campus.
John is actively engaged in research, having functioned as a principal investigator on grant projects focusing on data and software preservation and machine learning. He has published on integrating emerging technologies with library services and project management within libraries.
His educational background includes a bachelor's degree in economics from Beijing Union University and two master’s degrees in library and information Science from Queens College, CUNY, and in Information Systems from Pace University. He has also obtained certifications in Search Engine Optimization from the University of British Columbia and Machine Learning from Stanford University.”
Evviva Weinraub Lajoie
Vice Provost for University Libraries, University at Buffalo
Term FY 2022-2025
Evviva Weinraub Lajoie is the Vice Provost for the University at Buffalo Libraries. She received her undergraduate degree from Boston University in History and her MLIS from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to her role at SUNY Buffalo, she has had increasingly prominent roles at Yale University on the Research4Life programs, Tufts University, Oregon State University, the Digital Preservation Network (DPN), and most recently served as the Associate University Librarian for Collections & Technologies at Northwestern University.
She is an active leader in ALA, ARL, IFLA, and serves on the Steering Committee for the Investment in Open Infrastructure (IOI). She has published and spoken extensively on open-source software infrastructure, development, communities, and collaboration, library management, user experience, and intersectional feminism.
John Wilkin
CEO, Lyrasis
John Wilkin is the Chief Executive Officer of Lyrasis. Prior to joining Lyrasis, Wilkin served as the Dean of Libraries at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2013-2022, as well as UIUC’s Interim Provost from 2017-2018. He was the founding executive director of HathiTrust and served in that capacity from 2008 until 2013. Over the course of his career at the Universities of Michigan and Virginia, Wilkin was an early leader in the development of digital libraries, focusing on combining large-scale discovery with preservation strategies. Beginning in the late 1980s, Wilkin pioneered the use of markup for online text access, founding the Humanities Text Initiative and leading the conversion of the Middle English Dictionary to digital online form. He directed the Digital Library Production Service in projects such as the Making of America and PEAK. He was the library lead in creating the first legal agreement for the Google Books project, including authoring a clause that would later allow the partner libraries to launch HathiTrust. His focus on copyright (e.g., creating the Copyright Review Management System) and preservation played a pivotal role in HathiTrust’s Fair Use strategy, which was successfully defended in court and underpins HathiTrust today.