Laurie Arp

Laurie Gemmill Arp has over 20 years of experience working with cultural heritage institutions. As the LYRASIS Director of Collections Services and Community Supported Software, she directs the activities of several community supported software efforts including ArchivesSpace and CollectionSpace. Laurie also directs activities related to digitization and preservation including training, consulting, the Digitization Collaborative and working with members and business partners to digitize and increase access to collections. Previously, she worked for OCLC as Senior Implementation Program Manager and Digital Projects Specialist. For the Ohio Historical Society, she served as State Archivist and managed several award-winning digital projects, including Ohio Memory and the African-American Experience in Ohio, part of the Library of Congress American Memory online resource. She received her MLIS from the University of California, Los Angeles; her MA in European History from the University of California, Irvine; and her BA in European History from the University of California, San Diego. Laurie serves as Co-Director on the IMLS funded project “It Takes a Village: Open Source Software Models of Collaboration and Sustainability”