Director of Special Collections at OCLC
Columbus, Ohio Area
- Current
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- Director of Special Collections at OCLC
- Past
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- Director, Product Management, NetLibrary at OCLC
- Director, Product Management, Readex Division at NewsBank
- Publisher at ProQuest
- Project Editor at Cengage Gale
- Education
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- University of Michigan
- University of Virginia
- The College of William and Mary
- Recommended
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Michelle Harper’s Summary
Proven skills in turning around large scale publishing projects and in developing profitable, award-winning print and digital products. Exceptional customer focus.
Passion for the process of search and discovery has been a constant theme in my life--as a journalist, as an academic, and finally, as an information industry professional. For many years, I have been interested in the marriage of technology and history, and particularly in how technology can help people rediscover the past in new ways. This interest has allowed for several opportunities to speak and serve on panels relating to digital scholarship in the humanities.
I have equal passion for working with development teams to build new or improve existing products that facilitate discovery and learning. For the last several years, I have pursued opportunities in library publishing, most recently with OCLC.
More about my background and interests can be found here: http://claimid.com/mlharper
Michelle Harper’s Specialties:
Market Research and New Product Development
Product Line Strategy
Digital Conversion (especially of historical or archival collections).
Digital Scholarship
Pragmatic Marketing Certified (PMC) in Product Management
Professional Editing & Writing skills
Experienced Speaker & Presenter
Michelle Harper’s Experience
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Director of Special Collections
OCLC
(Non-Profit; Libraries industry)
April 2009 — Present (4 months)
Responsibilities include ArchiveGrid, online access to descriptions of archives held by libraries, museums, historical societies and archives worldwide, and OAIster, a union catalogue of previously difficult-to-access, academic digital resources worldwide.
Interests include collaborative partnerships and library created or digitized content, particularly of rare or unique materials. -
Director, Product Management, NetLibrary
OCLC
(Non-Profit; Libraries industry)
February 2008 — March 2009 (1 year 2 months)
Led product management team, created product management roles and processes to ensure that organization and development efforts were market driven.
This included NetLibrary Media Center, a desktop application that allows library patrons to search, manage, transfer and listen to downloadable eAudiobooks on portable devices, including iPods, and OCLC's forthcoming licensed content platform.
Represented NetLibrary on industry panels, podcasts and in various publications.
P & L product line responsibility -
Director, Product Management, Readex Division
NewsBank
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Information Services industry)
2006 — 2008 (2 years)
Created & drove product management processes within organization to ensure products are market driven. Managed product lifecycle & set strategic direction to ensure resulting products supported organization's overall strategy and goals.
Led launch of a cross-searchable interface for over 1000 digital newspapers (America’s Historical Newspapers). This product won the Charleston Advisor Reader’s Choice Award for most improved product in 2006. Also, NYPL’s “Best of Reference” for 2007.
Served as "the voice of the customer" in the creation of several new products, including Foreign Broadcast Service Daily Reports (2007) & Crossroads: A Community for Students, Teachers and Scholars (2008).
Led our ETC (Enhancements, Training and Content) Customer Program to ensure ongoing customer satisfaction & commitment.
Acted as outward-facing representative of the product development effort via participation on industry & scholarly panels. -
Publisher
ProQuest
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Publishing industry)
2001 — 2006 (5 years)
Responsibilities included leading product management team (2-3 pms) for multi-million dollar product lines such as ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Current Newspapers, & others for the library market.
Conducted market research, created business plans & requirements for several new products, including ProQuest Obituaries, Black Newspapers and ProQuest Civil War Era.
Extensive field experience with Sales & customers. -
Project Editor
Cengage Gale
(Publishing industry)
March 2000 — May 2001 (1 year 3 months)
(formerly known as the Gale Group)
Michelle Harper’s Education
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University of Michigan
M.A., ABD , History
- Activities and Societies:
- Fellow, Advanced Study Center, "Archives, Documentation and Institutions of Social Memory," Sawyer Seminar sponsored by the Mellon Foundation.
Bockman Meyer Fellowship
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University of Virginia
M.A , English
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The College of William and Mary
B.A.s , History, English
- Activities and Societies:
- Phi Beta Kappa
Additional Information
Michelle Harper’s Websites:
Michelle Harper’s Interests:
New product development; writing; online communities; digital scholarship; history, digitization, social and interactive media. Personal interests: Looks old and is high tech? I love it! Also, world fusion music; dance, art nouveau/vintage jewelry; learning/teaching; writing; heavily involved in dog and horse rescue, equestrian sports; Appendix quarterhorses, Arabians; travel.
Michelle Harper’s Honors:
Richmond News Leader (now Richmond Times Dispatch) Journalism Award
Michelle Harper’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
