Robert H. McDonald oversees the technological infrastructure and innovations that facilitate, support, and enhance IU Libraries collections and services. As the Associate Dean for Library Technologies, he is responsible for the IU Libraries' Technology Division. McDonald is the co-principal investigator on several technology-related Libraries initiatives including the HathiTrust Research Center, a digital library initiative providing large-scale data access. He also currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Data to Insight Center at IU's Pervasive Technology Institute, responsible for collaborative projects that utilize the IU Digital Library Program in mass data storage, data analysis, data curation, and digital library infrastructure. He currently serves as Director of Kuali OLE Community Development, a multi-institutional initiative to develop open source library management software and as a steering committee member for the VIVO open source software project.
Prior to joining the IU Libraries, McDonald held senior management positions with the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego and the Florida State University Libraries. He is an active writer and speaker, covering diverse topics in library and information science including open source software, storage, marketing, metadata, and collaborative digital preservation.