Christie Stephenson Assistant Director for Digital and Special Collections Research Library

As Assistant Director for Digital and Special Collections, Christie Stephenson seems thrilled to talk about her new position at the Museum. Bringing years of experience along with master's degrees in library science and art history, Christie's primary responsibility is to digitize and provide online access to the older materials from the Museum's Research Library.

Since her arrival in September 2005, Christie has been exploring Special Collections, which includes film, manuscripts, art and memorabilia, and more than 500,000 photographic images, and documents everything from 19th-century scientific expeditions to the history of exhibition at the Museum. "The process of displaying and communicating scientific information to the public has evolved so much over the years. To see that transition documented visually is really fascinating."

She also serves as technical advisor to the Darwin Digital Library of Evolution, a major project to provide online access to the literature of evolution from the 17th century to the present.

Christie admits that among the greatest challenges she faces is the preservation of information for the future, as film and paper are replaced with "born digital" documentation. She anticipates a future where digital content from the library and the scientific departments can be linked using standard Web protocols, "so that diverse bodies of data can be searched comprehensively."

As the daughter of two geologists, Christie grew up with a love for the outdoors, and eventually became an admirer of the "built environment" and architecture, adding to her appreciation for New York.

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