The members of HathiTrust have elected a new member of the Board of Governors. Gohar Ashoughian, University Librarian and Archivist, Wilfrid Laurier University (HathiTrust member since 2020), will join the HathiTrust Board of Governors for a three-year term beginning on January 1, 2023. The proposed 2023 Budget was also unanimously approved by participating members.
Claire Stewart of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and in-coming Chair of the HathiTrust Board of Governors, welcomes Gohar. “It’s an exciting time to help guide a collaborative organization like HathiTrust. We need champions that believe in the work and who are willing to put their time and effort into helping build the future of scholarship and access. I recognize this commitment in Gohar and look forward to all she will bring to HathiTrust.”
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Since 2012, Gohar has served as the University Librarian and Archivist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada (HathiTrust member since 2020). In this role, she has a broad portfolio that encompasses WLU Libraries, WLU Archives and Special Collections, WLU Press, Robert Langen Art Gallery, and the centralized Copyright Office. Gohar says, “HathiTrust fulfills a unique, significant, and transformative mission providing access to a substantial corpus of human knowledge in digital format in support of the academic, scholarly and cultural missions of our universities.” Her vision includes exploring a “robust, digital-age understanding of access imperative,” including navigating the complex international copyright landscape to ensure continued access to HathiTrust collections and to facilitate potential development and expansion of digital content beyond textual material into a diverse multi-format realm. She also serves as Treasurer for the Executive Committee of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and Chair of the OCUL Financial Management Advisory Committee.
Virginia Steel, University of California, Los Angeles, served as Chair of this year’s nominating committee, which included Gwen Bird, Simon Fraser University; Karim Boughida, University of Rhode Island; and Theresa Byrd, University of San Diego.
Departing the Board at the end of 2022 is Elaine Westbrooks, Cornell University.
The HathiTrust Board of Governors has ultimate responsibility for HathiTrust's activities, strategy, finances, and operations. It includes six at-large members elected by the membership and six members appointed by the founding institutions, which include Indiana University, the University of California, the University of Michigan, and the members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The current members of the Board and their terms follow:
Theresa Byrd, University of San Diego (2022-2024)
Diane Dallis-Comentale, Indiana University (appointed)
Mike Furlough , HathiTrust ex officio
Donna Hayward, University of Michigan (appointed)
Anne Houston, Swarthmore College (2022-2023)
Holly Mercer , University of Tennessee, Knoxville, chair, 2021-2022 (term ends Dec. 2023)
Beth Namachchivaya, University of Waterloo (2022-2023)
Virginia Steel, University of California Los Angeles (appointed)
Denise Pan, University of Washington, ex officio, Program Steering Committee Chair
Claire Stewart, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Chair-elect, 2021-2022 (appointed)
Günter Waibel, California Digital Library, (appointed)
Xuemao Wang, Northwestern University (2022-2024)
John Wilkin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (appointed)