CCC Welcomes Portal Manager Kate Flynn

By Aria Eckersley

Kate Flynn was appointed Chicago Collections Consortium (CCC) portal manager on January 1. She will oversee the development and launch of the CCC Chicago Portal.

Kate will manage the implementation of the Portal, alongside UIC developers and the CCC Chicago Portal Committee. She also will collaborate with archivists at the member institutions to prepare digital media and metadata for the Portal.

Kate’s mission is to ensure that the Portal user experience will be exceptional. She will work closely with CCC’s Executive Director Jaclyn Grahl, the Portal Committee, and designers to develop a user-friendly Portal design. She will also prepare user documentation and training, including webinars and on-demand training. She will gather and analyze user feedback throughout the development process so that the final product meets the needs of CCC members submitting content and the students, teachers, researchers who will search the Portal. Regarding the new position, Flynn explained, “I think this is an excellent opportunity to work on a project that will expose a lot of related content for users who might not have been aware of it before.”

Kate joined the University of Illinois at Chicago Library in January 2013 in UIC’s Academic Resident Librarian program. In that role, she gained knowledge of UIC’s Chicago-focused digital collections. She was also an active member of the CCC Image Task Force and helped establish the procedures that will be used to integrate digital image collections in the CCC Portal.

Kate received her Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan, with a specialization in archives, records management and preservation of information. Her bachelor’s degree is in Japanese studies with a minor in political science from the University of Pittsburgh.