Leslie O’Brien, director of the Collections and Technical Services and assistant professor of University Libraries at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of assistant professor emerita by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The emerita title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands in recognition of exemplary service to the university. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive a copy of the resolution and a certificate of appreciation.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1991, O’Brien made many contributions to the University Libraries and the university in her role as director of Collections and Technical Services by purchasing and licensing access to collections made available to the university community for the purpose of research, teaching, and learning. She also enhanced Virginia Tech’s collective licensing agreements through her work with library cooperatives such as VIVA: Virtual Library of Virginia and with other Virginia institutions to share collections and bundle contracts.
In addition, O’Brien managed the transfer of collections from the University Libraries’ off-site storage facility to the Library Service Center; she worked to improve library workflows through the management of multiple system migrations that involved working with vendors, liaisons, and library teams to balance the needs of users with the needs of library workers; she worked to strengthen the libraries’ electronic access to materials; and she expanded opportunities for open access publishing through participation in open access cooperatives, investments in publisher memberships that reduce article processing charges for Virginia Tech authors, and support for the Libraries’ Open Access Subsidy Fund.
O’Brien authored or co-authored more than 19 journal articles, book chapters, publications, reports, published conference papers and presentations, conference presentations, and poster sessions in her career. Active in professional organizations, she held leadership positions in the American Library Association, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, and Virginia Library Association.
In 2006, she received the University Libraries Faculty Service Recognition Award.
O’Brien received her bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College and a Master of Library Science from the University of Maryland.
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