Whit Gaines, MLIS

Education and Certifications

• Master's in Library and Information Science, with honors - Valdosta State University
  
• M.S. in Instructional Technology, with honors - New York Institute of Technology
  
• Bachelors of Science in Special Education, Magna Cum Laude - Columbus State University

Biography

Whit Gaines is an assistant professor and has worked in libraries for over 10 years. They hold a Bachelor's Degree in Special Education from Columbus State University, a Masters in Instructional Technology from New York Institute of Technology, and a Master's in Library Science from Valdosta State University.
Whit has been a librarian in the Columbus area for over 10 years, as a reference librarian or a genealogy and local history librarian. In their work, Whit has collaborated on projects with the Digital Library of Georgia and Galileo to preserve local Columbus, Georgia, history, focusing on black history. They have presented on those topics at local, state, and national conferences for the last 5 years. Because of their work, Whit was recognized as an American Library Association’s Emerging Leader of 2023 and received a professional development grant from the Society of American Archivists the same year.

Whit’s work now focuses on preserving present-day scholarly publications at CSU, documenting student life in CSU’s digital repository, the CSU ePress, and managing CSU’s library systems and eResource subscriptions.

Academic Areas

• Digital Libraries
  
• Digital Repositories
  
• Digital Exhibitions
  
• User-Centered Design

Research Interests

• Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resource (OER)
  
• Columbus, Georgia History
  
• Leadership theories