David Holden

Biography

David Holden joined the Van Pelt and Opie Library in late 2015. David was new to Library Science and Administration at the time, bringing skills in systems administration, open-source software development, graphic design, and customer service cultivated over 20 years in commercial print manufacturing. 

During his career in printing and under the tutelage of Garlich Printing mentors such as Don Hockenbury, LaWayne Bontrager, and Kent Embree, David oversaw and managed several technology transitions. Two of note are the transition from camera-ready copy into digital desktop publishing, and the transition from film-intermediate to direct-to-plate to direct-to-press lithography. His career in printing and the affordances of working with a closely held and successful private firm took him from print estimation to sales, and prepress operator to Operations Manager and, ultimately, Director of Technology. 

As an entrepreneur, David has started two independent businesses. One wildly successful: designing, manufacturing, and distributing bespoke invitations and paper goods for demanding corporations and individuals in the St. Louis region. The other was not a financial success at all: coding a system for digital marketing and automated sales lead cultivation in the national wholesale used-car space. He can attest to learning far more from failure (and his business partner, Bryson Hartranft) than from success.

In 2015, using the skills acquired as a full-stack open-source developer (and a joyous love of libraries dating back to his elementary school's collection on dinosaurs), he moved to Houghton, joining the library as a Systems and Web Developer. The library's web presence consists of over a dozen separate applications stitched together to enable library operations and patron support. With the guidance and support of Chad Arney, the first projects tackled included a complete revision of the library's main CMS website, the implementation of the preservation platform Preservica, and the ground-up rebuild of the Copper Country Historical Images Database away from .NET and into the open-source Drupal platform, where it enjoys its award-winning second revision, recently developed and expanded with the indispensable help of Bob Cowling.

David currently leads the Communications and Technology Services (yes, CATS) team. Working with John Schneiderhan, CATS supports 3D Printing in the library, large-format printing and scanning, and, in partnership with Tech's fantastic I.T. department, manages the substantial computing and event-support resources within the library. His favorite interactions are consultations with patrons on graphic design endeavors and digital scholarship/humanities projects that push him to acquire new and unexpected skills and leverage his past experiences applying technology to the challenges of communication.