Meet the experts from across the USC Libraries and the USC Shoah Foundation who provide the digitization, preservation, and discovery services we offer:
Executive Team
Sam Gustman
Associate Dean for Technologies at the USC Libraries
CTO of the USC Shoah Foundation
Sam has nearly three decades of leadership experience in information technology, which includes his role as chief technology officer for the USC Shoah Foundation and serving as the primary investigator on various National Science Foundation research projects with cumulative funding of more than $8 million.
Sam is responsible for, among other things, the operations, preservation, and cataloging of the USC Shoah Foundation’s 8-petabyte digital library, one of the largest public video databases in the world. Sam also serves as associate dean at the USC Libraries, where he holds a faculty appointment and is in charge of information technology.
Linda Truong
Senior Director
USC Digital Repository
Linda directs the business functions of the Digital Repository, which includes budget management, reporting, and the development of strategic partnerships. Linda has two decades of operations and program management experience, which includes USC Library IT, where she also serves as senior director of information technology.
She held positions with the U.S.-China Institute at USC and UCLA’s Asia Institute, where her responsibilities included everything from marketing and program development to grant writing, publications management, and coordinating study abroad programs in East Asia and Shanghai.
Management Team
Catherine Gao, Program Manager
Catherine graduated from USC as a business major, worked at USC as a student, and after a brief stint in the private sector, came back to USC as a full-time employee for the USC U.S-China Institute. She currently manages projects and client services for the Digital Repository.
Deborah Holmes-Wong
Director
USC Digital Library
Deborah Holmes-Wong is Director of the USC Digital Library. She has worked as a USC librarian since 1987 and has managed projects ranging from the Association of Research Libraries’ Scholars Portal Project to a large-scale inventory of USC Libraries’ special collection, business continuity efforts across the USC Libraries system during the COVID-19 pandemic, and upgrades to the USC Libraries’ website, integrated library system, digital library and search experience. Holmes-Wong has been PI or Co-PI for numerous IMLS-, NEH-, Mellon Foundation-, and NHPRC-supported digital projects involving large cultural heritage collections. She holds a BA and MLIS from UT Austin.
Cassandra Mack
Information Security Office
USC Libraries and USC Shoah Foundation
Cassandra Mack joined USC with 25+ years of combined IT, Security, and Risk Management experience. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband, Sean and two kids, Kira and Riker.
Louise Smith, Project Manager
While Louise earned her MLIS from USC she started working in the USC Digital Imaging Lab as a student. Upon receiving her master’s degree, she became Manager of the Digital Imaging Lab, and then moved to her current role as Project Manager for the Digital Library.
Digitization Team
Alan Auyeung, Video Archivist & Post-Production Specialist
Alan Auyeung oversees the collection, management and transfer area of broadcast video equipment; administers educational, instructional and reference materials collections; and provides services for patrons including ensuring requests for distribution copies of the archive are fulfilled. Prior to joining USC, Alan worked at a Los-Angeles area post-production technical support service provider for 20 years as an Electronic Technician, with experiences in post-production systems and equipment repair, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
Dan O’Brien, Digital Imaging Lab Manager
Dan oversees the operations of the Digital Imaging Lab. He holds a degree in film production and photography from Loyola Marymount University, as well as certifications in cultural heritage imaging and FADGI compliance. He has extensive knowledge of analog and digital cameras, film processing and handling, and studio lighting.
Nicholas Camardo, Digital Imaging and Content Manager
Nicholas specializes in the digitization of motion picture film, audio tape, and video tape. Prior to USC, Nicholas raised funds and organized production for a human rights short documentary and spent time working with motion picture film archivists to learn the craft of film digitization and preservation practices. Nicholas graduated from St. John Fisher College, earning a degree in Media and Communication and Digital Cultures & Technologies.
Bill Cunningham, Digital Imaging Specialist
Katie Ehrbar, Video Archivist & Post Production Specialist
Katie recently graduated summa cum laude from USC with a degree in Cinema and Media Studies, where she was a co-founding member of the school’s first undergraduate film journal. She previously worked as a student before joining the team full-time after graduation. She now oversees student workers and maintains daily digitization and preservation operations.
Anastasia Paley, Digital Imaging Specialist
Anastasia joined the USC Digital Library in 2015 as a student worker while studying for her B.A. in Psychology at USC. After graduating, she joined the team as a staff member and currently works as a Digital Imaging Specialist.
Sean Sprague, Digital Imaging Specialist
Sean holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Art from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He first joined the Digital Imaging Lab in 2019. Sean is also a lecturer on photography, media, and art at the University of California San Diego and UCLA.
Jennifer Sullivan, Digital Imaging Specialist
Metadata Team
Zoë Nissen, Metadata Librarian
Zoë Nissen (she/they) has been a Metadata Librarian with the Digital Library since 2018 and holds an M.A. in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Zoë works with a variety of collections in the DL and is the proud namesake of the Zoë Method of importing metadata into OrangeDAM. (photo by Sydney Cassatta)
Kelsey Raidt, Archivist
Kelsey joined the USC Digital Library in 2021, first in the Digital Imaging Lab as an Imaging Specialist and now as an Archivist working in Metadata. She has an MA in Public History with a focus in archive and museum collection management. She previously worked at various museums in the Army Museum Enterprise and as project archivist for the University of California Cooperative Extension project at UC Merced.
Yuriy Shcherbina, Metadata Manager
Yuriy moved to LA in the very beginning of 1997. In 1999, he joined the Survivors of SHOAH Visual History Foundation (aka Spielberg’s SHOAH Foundation), where he worked as a video testimonies cataloger until the end of the project in December of 2005. In 2006, Yuriy joined the USC Libraries as a Metadata manager at the Digital Library, where he works to this day.
Wayne Shoaf, Metadata Librarian
Wayne received his BM (Music), BS (Chemistry), and MS (Library Science) from Oberlin College and Conservatory and Columbia University respectively. He has worked as a sound archivist (New York Public Library), music archivist (Arnold Schoenberg Institute, USC), director (Technical Services, USC) and digital and metadata librarian (USC).
Infrastructure Team
Robert Alvarez, Systems Administrator
Robert has over ten years experience administering Windows and Linux systems in an academic setting. Robert currently maintains key storage systems for the Digital Repository, including our Dell-EMC file server environment.
David Brown, Senior Systems Administrator
David comes to us with 20+ years of enterprise platform management and support. He is primarily responsible for the Digital Repository's virtualization platform and the supporting compute and storage and also provides support for Dimensions in Testimony exhibits.
Will McCown, Senior Technical Project Manager
Will comes to USC with 25 years of experience in the Motion Picture Post Production, Animation, and Special Effects industry. Will has extensive experience in IT infrastructure for digital media as well as Color Science and Image Processing.
Hoan Tran, Unix System Administrator
Hoan has over 15 years of experience in software development and operations. Hoan specializes in managing systems engineering, system administration, and information
systems security.
Software Engineering Team
Daniel Gonzalez, Programmer Analyst III
Daniel is a seasoned software developer with a rich experience spanning nine years, having successfully developed and implemented impactful solutions within the fintech and education industries. His technical proficiency covers a diverse array of technologies, notably React.js, .Net Core, and SQL. Holding a BA in World Literature from UCLA and an MA in Latin American Studies from CSULA, Daniel combines his academic background with his passion for learning to foster innovative technological solutions that are informed by a broad spectrum of perspectives.
Zahid Rafique, Programmer Analyst IV
Trevor Williams, Senior Software Engineer
Trevor worked for several years in the private sector doing .NET based web development before joining USC in 2018. Currently he does the development work for the DRMS website and manages a suite of background services that support the ingest and preservation processes.
Creative Media Team
Craig Stubing, Digital Media Producer
Craig is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and worked as the Multimedia Editor for the USC U.S-China Institute for 12 years. He's the host of the award winning Beta Cell podcast and has founded three nonprofits, Type One Run, Beta Cell Foundation, and Beta Cell Action. At the Digital Repository, he oversees the production of our Interactive Interviews and our video and digital marketing.