Roy Tennant worked at OCLC Research from 2007 to August 2018. While here he worked on projects related to improving the technological and bibliographical infrastructure of cultural heritage institutions. Specific areas in which he was active are linked data, open access content, and metadata quality control.
Prior to joining OCLC in May 2007, Roy worked for the University of California for over 20 years, first at UC Berkeley, then the California Digital Library. His experience included managing the process for UC Berkeley libraries to automate circulation, establishing the first Digital Library SunSITE, and launching the eScholarship Repository and eScholarship Editions for the California Digital Library.
Roy is the owner of the Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic discussions, and the creator and editor of Current Cites, a current awareness newsletter published every month for nearly 25 years.
Roy has written five books on technology in libraries, wrote a column for Library Journal for ten years, and has numerous articles in other professional journals and magazines.
Awards
- 2005 Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence, Outstanding Paper, Library Management and Library Studies
- 2003 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Communication for Continuing Education in Library and Information Science
- 1992 Network Citizen Award, Apple Library, Apple Computer, Inc.
WorldCat Identities Page
http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-no92-24789
Publications

Summary of Research: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
31 May 2023
Chela Scott Weber, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brooke Doyle, Lesley A. Langa, Merrilee Proffitt, Bruce Washburn, Itza A. Carbajal
Synthesizes OCLC’s findings for the Building a National Finding Aid Network project. The research investigated end user and contributor needs for finding aid aggregations and evaluated EAD encoded finding aid data quality and consistency from existing regional archival aggregators.

EAD Analysis: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
30 May 2023
Bruce Washburn, Merrilee Proffitt, Chela Scott Weber
Analyzes a corpus of EAD encoded collection descriptions provided by regional finding aid aggregators in the US to assess existing EAD data as raw material for building a national finding aid aggregation.

Focus Group Interviews: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
30 May 2023
Chela Scott Weber, Merrilee Proffitt, Lesley A. Langa, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brittany Brannon, Brooke Doyle
Investigates the needs of archivists and others who might contribute to a national archival aggregator through focus group interviews with archivists and archives administrators from across the United States.

Pop-up Survey: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
30 May 2023
Lesley A. Langa, Chela Scott Weber, Lynn Silipigni Connaway
Summarizes OCLC’s findings from a national survey of more than 3300 end users searching for archival materials online for the Building a National Finding Aid Project.

User Interviews: Findings from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network Project
30 May 2023
Chela Scott Weber, Itza A. Carbajal, Lesley A. Langa, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brooke Doyle, Brittany Brannon, Merrilee Proffitt
Details methods and summarizes findings from semi-structured individual interviews with end users of archival aggregation.