Dot-Com Guru—Tito Sierra

Tito Sierra came to librarianship from the dot-com environment, including several years at Amazon.com. “I was looking for a change of environment and change of pace,” he says. “I’ve always loved libraries and knew I could apply my previous skills and experience to make a positive impact.”

That’s exactly what he’s done by bringing his project management and technical skills to NCSU. In just two years, Sierra has spearheaded several projects, including Quick Search, a library web site search engine “customized with shortcuts to help library users get the information they need quickly and easily.” He analyzed search logs to identify common patterns, then “added a small amount of intelligence in the search software to respond to these patterns in special ways.” For example, says Sierra, “If you search for 'lexis nexis,’ or even 'lexus nexus,’ the first result is a direct link to the LexisNexis Academic database.”

Another innovation, My Courses, lets students “log into their personalized My Courses page using campus authentication to see all the reserves for their classes.” The application also integrates library course pages and subject gateways. Sierra intends to continue improving course-based access to library resources through such projects.

Sierra explains, “On any given day I may work on four or five different projects in a variety of capacities. The diversity is what makes the job interesting…I wouldn’t want it any other way.”