Newsroom

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Korey Jackson has been named the new Gray Family Chair for Innovative Library Services at Oregon State University Libraries and the OSU Press.

Established with a $2 million endowment, the Gray Family Chair is designed to identify innovative means for accessing and improving the delivery of information to students, faculty and staff - and establish OSU Libraries and Press to the forefront as an information provider.

"It is an exciting time for an organization like ours that combines the skills and expertise of both librarians and university press professionals," said Faye A. Chadwell, the Donald and Delpha Campbell University Librarian and OSU Press director.

"We have established a reputation for experimenting to enhance existing services or create new ones," Chadwell said. "In the coming years we intend to focus on innovative ways to enable the creation and dissemination of knowledge and enhance digital scholarship. Dr. Jackson brings the right blend of experience, vision and talent to lead a deeper investigation of digital publishing opportunities for the Libraries and Press."

Before coming to OSU, Jackson was an American Council of Learned Societies public fellow at Anvil Academic, a digital humanities publisher sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education. While at Anvil he served as program coordinator, helping to create editorial partnerships, engage in social media relations and implement digital publishing strategies for a number of humanities projects.

Prior to this he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan's Michigan Publishing, where he developed campus-wide outreach efforts around open access publishing and digital humanities training and discussion.

Jackson earned his Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan.

Jackson is the third holder of this position. It was first awarded in 2003 to Jeremy Frumkin, followed by Terry Reese in 2008.

The Gray Family Chair for Innovative Library Services was created by the late Portland developer and philanthropist John D. Gray. A 1940 Oregon State alumnus, Gray was widely known for his commitment to education. Among his other gifts to OSU, he gave $1 million for the construction of John D. Gray Hall at the Oregon 4-H Conference and Education Center in Salem.