Alenka Prinčič appointed as Head of Centre for Digital Scholarship at Leiden University Libraries
From March 1, Alenka Prinčič will be the new Head of the Centre for Digital Scholarship (CDS) at Leiden University Libraries. Her expertise in the areas of Research Support, Research Infrastructures and Open Publishing as well as her longstanding experience as a manager are excellent starting points for coordinating all activities of the CDS team.
Alenka’s background is in Microbiology. An open culture in science has been her modus operandi since her first days as a young researcher. Her research was initially done in an international setting, connecting three research institutions: University of Ljubljana, Michigan State University and Netherlands institute of ecology NIOO-KNAW. Through working with major publishers in the years that followed she witnessed the start of the digitisation of scholarly communication and the transition to open access.
For the past 10 years, she took on the role of Head of Research Support at TU Delft Library. Looking back on that period, she states: “Working at TU Delft Library enabled me to continue operating amidst an academic community and connect the scientific staff with excellent support for research. Ten years of heading a team of experts in digital services has taught me to balance and listen to their needs as well as those of the researchers.”
She looks forward to taking up her new position at Leiden University Libraries: “Openness, fairness and sharing knowledge are ideals that I carry on today in my daily work. I believe that in an environment where everyone’s talent is appreciated and acknowledged, cooperation will always prevail over competition. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to put my experience and knowledge into coordinating the excellent services of CDS. The scale of the digital era is exciting and challenging. By finding a balance between new developments and the current services of the centre, I hope to bring a meaningful contribution to the growing excellence of the CDS.”
Centre for Digital Scholarship
The central objective of the CDS is to support and to facilitate Digital Scholarship within Leiden University and the Leiden University Medical Center, in close collaboration with other centres of expertise, with research institutes and with national and international research support organisations. Within the CDS, there are three clusters of expertise: data management, open access and analysing/using digital data. In addition to this, an expert on research software management and a copyright expert are also part of the CDS team.