NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 28 number 3 - Spring 2008

New Library Personnel

Kristine M. Alpi

Kristine M. Alpi became director of the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Library of Veterinary Medicine at the NCSU Libraries effective March 17, 2008. Alpi develops and manages collections and services in support of the university's veterinary medical programs and related disciplines. Working closely with College of Veterinary Medicine administrators, faculty, staff, and students, she will expand library services through current and emerging technologies and further research initiatives and scholarly communication in support of the university's Centennial Biomedical Campus.

Alpi formerly held the position of associate library director and lecturer in public health at the Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, where she shared responsibility for administration of the library and oversaw management of human resources, facilities and renovation, and development and implementation of its strategic plan. She also worked as adjunct science reference librarian at New York University, information services librarian at the Weill Cornell Medical Library, and library manager of the Public Health Library of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

She is active in the American Medical Informatics Association and the Medical Library Association and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Medical Library Association and Hypothesis. She has taught courses on public health resources, bioinformatics, and molecular biology and genetics. She was a National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow and received the Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences. Alpi holds an M.L.S. and a B.A. in Spanish and honors history of art from Indiana University, Bloomington. She earned an M.P.H. from Hunter College, City University of New York.

Jason Casden

Jason Casden became the NCSU Libraries' digital technologies development librarian on December 17, 2007. He provides programming expertise for digital library projects; identifies emerging technologies that have potential for new and improved library services; and develops functional prototypes of new digital library services through an iterative process that emphasizes performance, sustainability, and usability. Collaborating closely with Information Technology staff to develop and maintain supporting technology infrastructure, Casden maintains and provides enhancements to existing digital library applications.

Casden previously worked as digital projects librarian at the New York University School of Medicine's Ehrman Library. There he developed a MySQL database-driven system for managing and searching card-based archives inventories. He represented the medical library on the Repository Services Planning Committee at NYU's main library, led Perl-script customization, and solved server issues for a librarywide trouble ticket project. During library school, Casden was a Carolina Academic Library Associate in the Library Systems department. He has served as a research assistant in the UNC-Chapel Hill Southern Folklife Collection and the Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University.

He is a member of several professional associations and holds an M.S.L.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill. He earned a B.A. in English and in linguistics, with a minor in computer and information science, from Ohio State University.

Matthew S. Sumner

Matthew S. Sumner became the NCSU Libraries' geospatial data services librarian on November 1, 2007. He develops and manages spatial and numeric data resources and services, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services, that support teaching, research, and extension. He consults with faculty and students to analyze data needs and to develop instructional modules, including classroom presentations, Web-based tutorials, data documentation, and research resources. He participates in the selection, organization, delivery, and management of data collections and establishes configurations for public GIS workstations while offering guidance in their use.

During graduate school, Sumner developed a strong background in environmental and urban GIS technologies. He worked as a GIS technician in the Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium where he geo-referenced herbarium plant specimens and attributed each specimen point with its latitude, longitude, and maximum error radius. He served as GIS support analyst at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and worked on the creation of spatially accurate habitat distribution maps of freshwater species in Florida and edited a Digital Elevation Model representation of a stream segment layer to extend coverage of the National Hydrography Dataset.

Sumner is a member of the Sigma Gamma Epsilon National Honor Society in the Earth Sciences and is a recipient of the Philip J. and Nancy LaPorte Meek Community Leadership and Service Grant and the Kraus Wilderness Preserve Research Fellowship. He holds an M.S. in geographical information science from Florida State University and a B.A. in geology from Ohio Wesleyan University.