Amanda Whitmire

Bio

I grew up on the shores of Huntington Beach, CA, and my interest in marine biology goes back as far as I can remember. After spending most of my adult life studying and working in the marine sciences, I jumped ship and became a data specialist with the libraries at Oregon State University in 2012, and have been with Stanford Libraries at Hopkins Marine Station since December 2015. I have a strong interest in exploring how library collections can be leveraged to surface historical environmental and biodiversity data and embrace a "collections as data" approach at Miller Library.

Current Role at Stanford

My main goals are to:

1. support excellence in research by any means necessary, with physical and virtual library spaces and collections;
2. facilitate effective stewardship and curation of information and data generated by the research community at Hopkins Marine Station;
3. extend the preservation efforts of HMS archival collections to create actionable research products, thus broadening their utility and impact; and,
4. share the remarkable work of Hopkins researchers with our local community through meaningful engagement with diverse audiences.

As the Head of the Science and Engineering Resource Group, I have oversight of the science and engineering branch libraries at Stanford University, including the Branner Earth Sciences Library, Terman Engineering Library, Robin Li & Melissa Ma Science Library, Harold A. Miller Library, and the David Rumsey Map Center. As Head of the Harold A. Miller Library, my primary responsibilities include: overall management of the library; collection development (books, journals, data and electronic resources) in marine sciences; plan and direct curation of our unique legacy collections, including historical archives and data; assist Hopkins residents in finding the information they need, procure documents not available locally or online, and provide instruction on use of physical and virtual library resources and spaces; lead the operation of our makerspace; provide research services, including consultations on scholarly communication and data management, sharing and curation.

Find me on Bluesky @thalassalib.bsky.social

Education & Certifications

• Ph.D., Oregon State University, Oceanography (2008)
• B.S., honors, University of California, Santa Barbara, Aquatic Biology (2000)

Projects

• Hopkins Marine Station CalCOFI hydrobiological survey of Monterey Bay, CA: 1951 - 1974, Stanford University

  In 1951, the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University became a partner in the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) program in order to collect oceanographic data in and near Monterey Bay. The aim of the program was to conduct joint fisheries-oceanographic cruises that would help researchers understand what contributed to observed fluctuations in the California sardine fishery. Hopkins conducted weekly sampling (more or less) continuously from March 1951 through June 1974. The raw and aggregated data for most of these cruises currently reside in analog form (handwritten data logs, annual reports, etc.) in the library at the Hopkins Marine Station. The dataset includes variables such as temperature, salinity, oxygen, phosphate, silicate, phytoplankton and zooplankton community structure and abundance, meteorological conditions, fish and marine mammal counts, and more. The collection includes forty-four 3-ring or loose-bound notebooks, twenty-two small, bound notebooks, minutes from annual meetings, annual data reports, and other ephemera. The Hopkins CalCOFI collection is large, completely analog, and very heterogeneous. We are in the early phases of planning a curation strategy, but our general objectives for the dataset are to digitize it, add metadata, convert sampling data to actionable formats, and make it all public.

  Location

  120 Ocean View Blvd., Pacific Grove, CA 93950 USA

  For More Information:

  • Hopkins CalCOFI project page
  • CalCOFI_Stations_MontereyBay1.600x600.jpeg
• Stanford Oceanographic Expeditions: digital curation, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University

  Location

  120 Ocean View Blvd., Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Service, Volunteer and Community Work

• Trustee, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Board of Education (December 2018 - Present)

  Location

  Monterey, CA

Personal Interests

gardening, knitting, crochet, weaving, sewing, cooking