Christine Di Bella
Program Manager

As Program Manager, Christine plays a key role working closely and collaboratively with the ArchivesSpace community, advisory groups, and Governance Board to set the strategy and goals for ArchivesSpace.  Christine is involved in all aspects of the program, and serves as a key spokesperson and advocate for the program.

Christine has worked in archives for over 16 years, in a number of academic and non-profit settings. From 2009 to 2014 she was the archivist for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, a charter member of ArchivesSpace. Prior to that she was the archivist and project director for the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) Consortial Survey Initiative, a project to assess un- and underprocessed archival collections at 22 Philadelphia area institutions. She has also held positions at the Cambridge Public Library, the 92nd Street Y, the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, and Harvard Business School. She received an MSI from the University of Michigan's School of Information and a bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan University.

Jessica Crouch
Community Engagement Coordinator

As Community Engagement Coordinator, Jessica is responsible for user support, training, outreach, and communications across the ArchivesSpace community. She works to bring our community together through events and activities and is always willing to consider new areas for connection as our community continues to grow and mature.

Jessica was the leader in ArchivesSpace implementation in her role as archivist in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of South Carolina (USC).  She worked closely with colleagues to develop training, documentation, and opportunities for collaboration as well as working closely with the developers and system administrators who facilitate the technical side of their ArchivesSpace implementation. In addition to her work on ArchivesSpace,  she was involved in all aspects of managing physical and digital collections and making them accessible, including providing outreach to donors and users.  As a graduate student and early professional, she had previously been actively involved in USC’s implementation of Archivists’ Toolkit.  Jessica received an MLIS from the University of South Carolina and a BA in History from Wofford College.  Jessica also recently received her Digital Archives Specialist certificate through the Society of American Archivists.

Brian Hoffman
Technical Lead

As Tech Lead, Brian Hoffman is responsible for the infrastructure of the ArchivesSpace application and manages the different streams of development that go into it, including work from staff developers, contractors, and community members. He leads the Core Committers group as they continue to build and strengthen our community of code contributors. He also works closely with community members and the rest of the program team to ensure the ArchivesSpace application meets the needs of archives and other collecting institutions now and in the future.

Brian has worked in libraries and archives as a business analyst and as a software developer, and has consulted on various open source projects, including ArchivesSpace in its early years. Brian worked in early online education as part of Columbia University Digital Knowledge Ventures, and later specialized in digital scholarship and preservation as part of NYU Libraries' Digital Library Technology Services department.

Donald Smith
Developer

As a software developer on the ArchivesSpace team, Don is responsible for designing, writing, maintaining, and reviewing code and tests from internal and external contributors. He also participates in discussions on future development and looks for ways to improve the software and the accompanying processes and practices.

Don received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Rochester Institute of Technology. He has held positions in software development, testing, and operations in both private sector companies and higher education institutions over the course of his career. In the Library Systems group at the Cornell University Library, he set up and maintained the ArchivesSpace installation for the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, and maintained and customized the DSpace installation known as eCommons.

Laurie Gemmill Arp
Director of Collections Services and Community Supported Software for LYRASIS

As the Director of Collections Services and Community Supported Software, Laurie Gemmill Arp supervises ArchivesSpace and CollectionSpace, two community supported open source collection management software programs housed at LYRASIS. Laurie provides coordination between the organizational home and the ArchivesSpace program and support for activities such as strategic planning and developing partnerships.

Laurie has over 20 years of experience working with cultural heritage institutions. At LYRASIS she directs the activities related to digitization and preservation including training and consulting services. Laurie is also responsible for establishing the Digitization Collaborative and for working with members and business partners to digitize and increase access to collections. Previously, she worked for OCLC in positions including Senior Implementation Program Manager and Digital Projects Specialist. For the Ohio Historical Society, she managed several award-winning digital projects. Her other positions at the Ohio Historical Society included State Archivist and Assistant Head of Online Access Department. She received her MLIS from the UCLA; her MA in European History from the UC Irvine; and her BA in European History from the UC San Diego. Laurie was appointed to serve on the State Library of Ohio Board in 2015.

Brian Zelip
Front End Developer

As Front End Developer, Brian is responsible for the user facing systems of ArchivesSpace. He works with the program team and community to maintain and improve the ArchivesSpace user experience.

Before joining ArchivesSpace Brian was Assistant Director of the Web Services Office at the Network of the National Library of Medicine where he supported the project, knowledge, and content management needs of a nationally distributed organization. Prior to that he taught and collaborated with health and life sciences researchers to solve problems through design, 3D printing, and code as the University of Maryland, Baltimore's inaugural Emerging Technologies Librarian. Brian has a MLS in Africana Studies from the University of Toledo where he was actively involved in the burgeoning field of community informatics. His thesis was based on an early web site directory of local Black hair salons, community organizing around digital literacy, and a socio-technical analysis of cultural production. This focus continued at the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences where Brian worked and later earned his MS in Library and Information Science. Here he played a central role in deploying and growing local knowledge sharing web applications, being called a "Civic Hacker Hero" by Code for America. Brian lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and three children (and extensive vinyl record collection).