Gina Costello was recently named Interim Associate Dean for Special Collections. She currently serves as Associate Dean of Technology Initiatives, and will fulfill both roles at Middleton Library and Hill Memorial Library. While the recent appointment is temporary, Costello has several years of experience with LSU Libraries to effectively serve at Special Collections.

Costello began her career with LSU Libraries at Special Collections in 2004. For nine years, she served in Special Collections first as the Digital Services Librarian and later the Head of Digital Services and Reformatting. She managed a number of digitization projects now available in the Louisiana Digital Library and directed grant projects such as the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project, which is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program.

In 2015, Costello was promoted to Associate Dean of Technology Initiatives, where she is responsible for library-wide technology strategy and implementation. She oversees the strategic direction and oversight of the website, application and software development, systems and desktop support, digitization, and the digital scholarship lab. During this time, major initiatives such as the implementation of Aeon, Archives Space, Islandora, and the partnership with Newspapers.com have helped modernize the discovery of special collections materials.

“Special Collections is now and will always be firmly rooted in physical books and manuscripts,” said Dean of LSU Libraries, Stanley Wilder. “For all that, it’s also clear that while it has made enormous progress in becoming more digital in recent years, its future will only be more so. We are so fortunate to have her leadership for that critical agenda.”