hcl.harvard.edu

Biography

Diane Geraci, Librarian for the Social Sciences at Harvard College Library (HCL), leads the Social Sciences Program (SSP), which provides state-of-the-art information resources and research services for the social sciences throughout Harvard. The program brings together the staff, resources, and expertise of all social sciences libraries and units in HCL: Numeric Data Services and Environmental Information Services; Fung Library (government and international studies); Government Documents/Microforms; and the Harvard Map Collection, which supports digital cartography and the Harvard Geospatial Library. Geraci oversees all aspects of SSP, including budget, planning, and management.

Geraci co-teaches a one-week course in the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Program, on providing social science data services, with Chuck Humphrey (Data Library, University of Alberta) and Jim Jacobs (Central University Library, University of California, San Diego). She also serves on the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) User Working Group at CIESIN (Columbia University), is active in various activities with the International Association for Social Science Information Services and Technology (IASSIST), and is a Senior Investigator for the NSF National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Material Digital Library Pathway Project.

Previously, Geraci held the position of Director of Science Libraries at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she managed the Shapiro Science Library, the Museums Library, and Biological Station Library. She also served as Acting Associate Director of Public Services at Binghamton University and as Associate Director/Head of Information Systems and Preservation at the UK Data Archive/Economic and Social Data Service at the University of Essex, United Kingdom.

Education

University at Buffalo, M.A. (Anthropology)
University at Buffalo, M.L.S. (Library Science)
State University of New York, College at Cortland (Sociology)

Areas of Expertise

Development of research support services, implementation of new information technologies, management of libraries and information services, development of social science data archives.

Selected Publications

• In progress — Data Basics: an introductory textbook, with Chuck Humphrey and Jim Jacobs.
• 2005 — with Peter Burnhill and Robin Rice, "The Social Side of Data Sharing: Distilling Past Efforts". Poster and Poster Paper, Presented at the Ensuring Long-term Preservation and Adding Value to Scientific and Technical Data Conference, Royal Society Edinburgh, 21–23 Novermber, 2005.
• 1995 — "For Better or For Worse: Academic Partnerships for Data Services," IASSIST Quarterly, 18(3 & 4): 10–13.
• 1995 — with Ann Gray. "Complex Reference Services: Data Files for Social Research," Reference Librarian, 48:131–151.
• 1992 — with Perry Willett.  "Optical Scanning in an Academic Library," College & Research Libraries News, 53(December): 698–701.
• 1992 — with Linda Langschied.  "Mainstreaming Data: Challenges to Libraries," Information Technology and Libraries, 11(March): 10–18.
• 1989 — "Commercial Bibliographic Databases Relevant to Anthropology," Computer-Assisted Anthropology News, 3(May): 3–13.
• 1988 — with McGrath, William E., and A. Kimball Romney. "Matrix Models and the Search for Structure in Subject-Majors Circulation: A Methodological Study," Library and Information Science Research, 10 (Winter): 77–94.