Denise Troll Covey

Employment Information

Carnegie Mellon University
Principal Librarian for Special Projects – April 2004-present

Conduct research to inform library administration and strategic planning. Work with University Libraries administrators to develop projects and partnerships to support multimedia education and research at Carnegie Mellon and beyond. Write grant proposals. Participate in library governance, assessments, and strategic planning. Keep abreast of technological developments, their social implications, and the laws, policies, practices, and standards relevant to digital libraries and library administration. Engage in legislative lobbying through the American Library Association. Contribute to creating a culture of evidence in the University Libraries. Manage library performance measures and statistics. Coordinate or manage significant library initiatives. Publish and give conference presentations about digital library initiatives at Carnegie Mellon and issues critical to academic libraries in general. Keep library employees informed about significant projects and trends.

Carnegie Mellon University
Associate Dean, University Libraries (title change) – 2003-March 2004
Associate University Librarian, Arts, Archives, and Technology – 2001-2003

Provided leadership for four departments: Arts and Special Collections, Archives and Digital Library Initiatives, and Library Information Technology Operations and Research and Development. Worked with library administrators to develop projects and partnerships. Coordinated or managed significant initiatives to develop a multimedia digital library. Participated in library governance, assessments, grant writing, and strategic planning. Kept abreast of technological developments, their social implications, and the laws, policies, practices, and standards relevant to digital libraries and library administration. Published and gave conference presentations about digital library initiatives at Carnegie Mellon and issues critical to academic libraries. Managed library performance measures and statistics, and relevant portions of the Libraries’ budget. Supervised department heads and a secretary.

Digital Library Federation (DLF)
Distinguished Fellow – November 2000-October 2001

Responsible for leading the DLF initiative on usage and usability. Conducted a qualitative telephone survey to identify the assessment practices of leading digital libraries, and the issues, problems, and lessons learned in conducting usage and usability assessments. Wrote a white paper as pre-work, then surveyed and convened a meeting of selected academic library directors to understand and prioritize their assessment needs and help design research to meet their top priority need. Conducted a quantitative follow-up survey to determine whether librarians in different departments and different levels of the organizational hierarchy have the same priorities, practices, perceptions, and problems with assessment.

Carnegie Mellon University
Assistant University Librarian, Library Information Technology (LIT)1998- 2001
Acting Assistant University Librarian, Library Information Technology (LIT) – 1996-1998

Responsible for providing leadership for LIT Operations and Research and Development. Worked with the University Librarian and Associate University Librarians to develop partnerships, write grant proposals, and cultivate donors. Participated in strategic planning for library space allocation and renovation, cost effective management of human and financial resources, and the development of scholarly tools, interfaces and architectures for digital library collections and services. Managed relevant portions of the Libraries’ budget. Supervised department heads and a secretary.

Carnegie Mellon University
Head of Research and Development (R&D), LIT – 1993-1998

Responsible for developing R&D plans, partnerships, and grant proposals. Participated in strategic planning for LIT and helped negotiate research and development contracts with commercial vendors. Set priorities, tracked project milestones, prepared progress reports, and supervised staff. Made decisions based on financial considerations, policy requirements and project contracts. Conducted or planned human factors research, analyzed the results, built usage models based on system transaction logs, and recommended actions based on analysis of the data. Supervised programmers and a human factors researcher.

Carnegie Mellon University
Research Manager, Library Automation – 1992-1993 (full-time permanent position)
Senior Researcher, Mercury Project, Library Automation – 1989-1992 (full-time temporary position)

Responsible for planning and conducting human factors research on the digital library to determine user interface design and functionality. Major projects included Project Mercury, the Heinz Electronic Library Interactive Online System (HELIOS), and The University Licensing Program (TULIP). Built usage models based on system transaction logs and recommended actions based on analysis of the data. Designed and managed the University Libraries’ conversion from an AppleTalk to an Ethernet network. Provided user support for library staff and patrons. Tested client and server software. Supervised programmers. Helped write grant proposals.

See also: Teaching