Alvin Dantes

Alvin Dantes is a librarian interested in making technology work for everyone. He has extensive experience in web technologies that he has leveraged in various library positions throughout the country. Whether it is customizing LibGuides in order to work around the limitations of a website or creating consistent interfaces across a variety of third party library solutions, he can work in flexible environments to make the web work in the best way it can. He has worked with many systems, frameworks, and technologies including Alma, Primo, LibGuides, Drupal, Wordpress, EBSCO Discovery Service and many others. Alvin also has a commitment to increase his skillbase to keep up with the flow of technology change. He continues to add new services and APIs to his personal toolbox and continually looks to find new trends in web design that make sites work better for everyone.

Since 2016, Alvin has been the Digital Initiatives and Technologies Librarian at the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries and Archives at the Art Institute of Chicago. From its founding in 1879, the Art Institute of Chicago has been a shining jewel on Michigan Avenue. It contains some of the most beautiful and recognizable art pieces in the world from such artists as Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Grant Wood, Mary Cassatt, Andy Warhol, and Georgia O'Keefe. At the library, Alvin has been invested in developing technology solutions for library issues. He spearheaded the selection and implementation of ExLibris' Alma and Primo products to replace the legacy integrated library system. He has worked to improve the usability of library software and hardware for scholars, curators, librarians, and visitors. He is in a constant process of learning to find more and better ways of delivering resources to interested patrons.

From 2014 to 2016, Alvin had been the Digital Technologies Development Librarian at Florida International University. This young, diverse, urban university in the city of Miami boasts an enrollment of over 50,000 students and plans to continue its meteoric growth. Alvin worked at the Modesto Maidique Campus in the Green Library. He was the administrator of the library website which is built in Drupal. This requires constant maintenance and care and an eye to the ever changing future of web design and web technologies. He also acted as a front end developer for third party sites such as LibGuides and LibAnswers. In addition to these duties, Alvin contributed regularly to chat and in-person reference and acts as liaison to the departments of Asian Studies and Theatre.

At SUNY Oneonta, Alvin began as the Technology Development Librarian before accepting a position as the Head of Access Services. SUNY Oneonta is a small school in central New York at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The Milne Library is at the center of campus and acts as the center of campus life for many students and faculty members. He began with a project to redo the sites of both the library and the main campus. In addition to this, Alvin designed the very first mobile website for the library and leveraged the EBSCO Discovery Service API and LibGuides API in order to enhance the functionality of all of the library's sites. Soon he was promoted to the Head of Access Services and oversaw the circulation, interlibrary loan, and evening services staff and budgets.

Before beginning his career as a librarian, Alvin was a Technology Consultant for Hewlett-Packard. As a young professional out of college, Alvin learned the data warehouse trade. He was an ETL developer and QA analyst for the consulting arm of HP. Here he was first able to hone his technology skills in a real world position. He quickly learned SQL and became adept at server and database management. For more information, please contact Alvin by e-mail at alvin.dantes@gmail.com or by phone at 773-931-4703.