The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is pleased to welcome two new members to the DRI Board – Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh (Dublin City University) and Helen Shenton (Trinity College Dublin). We are also pleased to announce that Joanne Rothwell (Waterford City and County Council) has been newly appointed as the chair of the DRI Board, taking over from John McDonough (Dublin City University).
DRI Director Dr Lisa Griffith welcomed the new board members and newly appointed chair:
We are excited to welcome Helen Shenton and Brian Ó Raghallaigh to the DRI board. Both bring a wealth of experience and new perspectives to the group.
We are also delighted to share that Joanne Rothwell has been elected to the position of chair of the board. Joanne possesses extensive archiving and governance experience and we’re looking forward to working with her in her new role.
Helen Shenton is librarian and college archivist at Trinity College Dublin, where she leads the strategic development of the historic and digital libraries and is a senior officer of the University. Current initiatives include the conservation and redevelopment of the Old Library, the creation of the Virtual Trinity Library, creation of a ‘digital first and foremost’ research and innovation library on the new campus, and a framework for a ‘green library’.
Helen moved to Ireland in 2014 from Massachusetts where she was executive director of Harvard Library, at the heart of bringing together the services of seventy-three libraries. Prior to Harvard, Helen worked at the British Library (BL) where she led the care of the UK’s national documentary heritage and national printed archive. She was involved with international world heritage projects such as the virtual re-unification of the earliest New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus. She established digital preservation at the BL, was the first chair of the Digital Library System, and a founding member of the UK’s Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC). Helen brings vast national and international experience in digital preservation, digital cultural heritage, and governance to the DRI Board.
Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh is an assistant professor at Dublin City University where he is a member of the Gaois research group. He is principal investigator (PI) on the Logainm Placenames Database of Ireland project and Co-PI on the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Irish Research Council (IRC)-funded Decoding Hidden Heritages project. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) Historical Dictionary of Irish Management Board. He has a BA (Mod.) in computer science, linguistics and Irish, and a PhD in speech technology, both from Trinity College Dublin. His current research is focused on the creation of digital Irish-language resources for general and specialist users, language technology, and other applications. Brian brings extensive experience in managing large-scale research projects, years of experience in corporate governance, and expertise in Irish-language digital humanities research to the board.
Joanne Rothwell was appointed Waterford county archivist in October 1998. Since the merger of Waterford City and County Councils in 2014, she has served as the Waterford city and county archivist. She served as training officer with the Society of Archivists, Ireland (now Archives and Records Association, Ireland) 2001–2004 and was involved in organising conferences on records management, electronic records, and legislation and litigation. She is currently chair of the Irish Archives Resource, an online portal to archival collection descriptions. Joanne brings valuable digital archiving knowledge and governance experience to her role as chair of the DRI Board.
The DRI Board fosters the long-term success of the DRI through encouraging the highest standard of corporate governance and accountability, providing guidance to the DRI director on the strategic direction of the Repository with a view to the DRI’s long-term sustainability, and monitoring progress towards strategic goals and key performance indicators.
To learn more about DRI’s Board members, please visit the DRI Board page on our website.
