Anne Washington

Anne Washington, coordinator of metadata services at University of Houston Libraries, has been chosen as the 2020 recipient of the Texas Digital Library Individual Impact Award. The award honors an individual who has made significant contributions and improvements related to the field of digital curation or digital scholarship.

In her letter of nomination for the award, Annie Wu, head of Metadata and Digitization Services, stated that “Anne Washington has shown excellence in promoting common and best practices across the profession, advancing community open source initiatives and fostering research in the digital and metadata field.” Washington’s many accomplishments include a demonstration of outstanding leadership and collaboration via service in library organizations at the national and regional levels; significant contributions to innovative projects at both the national and institutional levels; and a record of scholarship in digital, metadata and linked data initiatives presented at high-profile national and international venues. She has served as the co-chair for the ALCTS/LITA Linked Library Data Interest Group, vice-chair/chair-elect of the ALCTS Metadata Interest Group, and Programming co-chair for the ALCTS Metadata Interest Group; the chair of South Central States Fedora Users Group; member of the Bridge2Hyku project team, which was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop a migration toolkit to assist institutions in adopting the open-source Hyku digital repository; and member of the Bayou City DAMS (BCDAMS) implementation project, helping the team to establish the UH Libraries’ next-generation digital system’s infrastructure.

Washington has authored and contributed to numerous peer-reviewed articles published in journals such as ALCTS Library Resources & Technical Services, Journal of Library Metadata, and Code4Lib. Her co-authored monograph, Linked Data for the Perplexed Librarian, was recently published in March 2020.

In her role at UH Libraries, Washington is responsible for managing metadata creation and maintenance for the University of Houston Digital Library. She is currently a Product Owner for the development, implementation, and migration to a new digital asset management (DAM) ecosystem for UH Libraries’ rare and unique digital content. She is also involved in initiatives to expand the Libraries’ services to researchers including consulting with students and faculty on how to use metadata for their projects and research data. Her research interests include emerging technologies, such as linked data, that have the potential to more broadly expose and connect resources as well as inclusive, user-centered approaches to metadata.

TDL presented the awards at an online ceremony this month.