Santi Thompson

Santi Thompson, head of Digital Research Services at University of Houston Libraries, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Eva Digital Research Endowed Library Professorship. The appointment enables UH Libraries to expand its services in the emerging areas of digital research, data preservation and accessibility, and scholarly communication.

In his role at UH Libraries, Thompson develops policies and workflows for the digital components of scholarly communications, including digital research support and digital repositories. Thompson is integral in positioning UH Libraries to support research productivity of the University, as a leader in advancing the Libraries’ strategic initiatives and as a significant contributor to the development of research support services. Under his direction and with support from the UH Division of Research and Office of the Provost, UH Libraries launched the Digital Research Commons (DRC) in 2018, a facility dedicated to the production of digital research projects and instruction on digital research methodologies. Thompson has been instrumental in the creation of the Libraries’ digital collection development policy and in the development of the Libraries’ future digital asset management system. He was also involved in the development of a digital preservation policy and the selection of a digital preservation tool; and collaborated with several Libraries departments on the Cougar Research Open Access Repositories (Cougar ROAR).

Thompson has authored and produced numerous peer-reviewed publications and presentations and has been invited to present his work at international venues. He has represented the profession and the University through leadership roles with the Digital Library Federation (DLF), the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), and the Texas Digital Library (TDL). In 2018-2019 he served as an inaugural DLF Futures Fellow. He is the principal investigator for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded “Digital Content Reuse Assessment Framework Toolkit (D-CRAFT)” grant project and the co-principal investigator for the IMLS-funded “Bridge2Hyku Toolkit: Developing Migration Strategies for Hyku.” He previously served as the principal investigator for the IMLS-funded “Developing a Framework for Measuring Reuse of Digital Objects.”

“Mr. Thompson continues to develop and lead library services that have boundary-spanning and culture-shifting implications for UH Libraries,” said Marilyn Myers, interim dean of UH Libraries. “He represents the type of leader a successful research library requires and a career model for colleagues seeking advanced status in the profession.”