The Digital Public Library of America is pleased to announce that Michael Della Bitta has been named Director of Technology.
"As a longtime fan of DPLA, I'm very excited to take on the responsibility of Director of Technology," said Della Bitta. "We have a wonderful team here and a lot of unique challenges to tackle, but more importantly, a tremendous opportunity to provide services to our community. I'm looking forward to being a part of showing what we can accomplish for our partners and patrons."
As DPLA's Director of Technology, Michael will work with the Technology team to improve the design, implementation, and improvement of DPLA's core infrastructure, user-facing applications, and back-end systems. Michael will also continue to cultivate and develop the culture and values of the DPLA Technology team and the larger organization and support the philosophy of open source, shared, and community-built software, frameworks, and technologies.
Michael joined DPLA's team in September 2016 as Developer for Data and Usage Analytics, playing a key role in improving data ingestion systems and working in close collaboration with the Tech team led by Interim Director of Technology Mark Breedlove.
"We're delighted to see Michael step into this critical role at DPLA. He impressed everyone with his immediate and profound impact since joining us this fall, and we're glad that he can work with the technology group and DPLA community in this broader new capacity," said Executive Director Dan Cohen.
Prior to joining DPLA, Michael worked in software development, publications, and in the startup, library, and education spaces for nearly twenty years. Michael most recently worked as the engineering manager at the content marketing company ScribbleLive. Prior to that, Michael worked as a developer and architect on the repository and Digital Gallery teams at The New York Public Library, and built content management, online learning, and semantic metadata applications at Columbia University. Michael holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Bates College.