Devan Donaldson

Devan Ray Donaldson, Ph.D., is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Information and Library Science at Indiana University Bloomington’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, home to the nation’s No. 9-ranked Library and Information Studies program (U.S. News & World Report). He directs the department’s specializations in Archives and Records Management and Digital Content, Curation, and Collections (DC3). In 2022, Donaldson became the first African American to earn tenure in the department’s history.

Donaldson’s research examines a fundamental question: "What makes information trustworthy enough to preserve, reuse, and act upon?" Drawing on archival studies, biomedical informatics, artificial intelligence, and digital curation, he investigates trust, provenance, data quality, transparency, and accountability across digital information systems. His interdisciplinary research applies theories and methods from library, archival, and information science to emerging challenges involving electronic health record data quality, AI data stewardship, machine learning, research data management, digital preservation, and community-engaged archival practice.

Donaldson is Project Director of DECODE: Developing Competencies for AI Data Evaluation in Library and Archival Education, a three-year, $671,369 Applied Research grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. DECODE investigates the emerging information objects produced and used by artificial intelligence systems, including training datasets, model files and learned parameters, configuration files, evaluation logs, prompt histories, and system documentation, as well as the competencies library and archival professionals need to responsibly appraise, preserve, provide access to, and steward them.

A federally funded researcher, Donaldson has contributed to more than $14 million in collaborative research initiatives and secured more than $1.1 million in competitive federal and internal awards as PI or Co-PI. His research has been supported by organizations including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Regenstrief Institute, University of Michigan, and Indiana University.

Donaldson has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, with scholarship appearing in venues including Scientific Data in the Nature portfolio, PLOS ONE, the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Archivaria, and the International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC). He has delivered more than 40 research presentations across 15 countries and 22 U.S. states. In 2021, he delivered an invited keynote address for the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library.

From 2019 to 2026, Donaldson served as Director of the Master of Library Science Program at Indiana University Bloomington. Asked to assume the directorship while still an untenured assistant professor, he led the department’s largest graduate program, with responsibility for recruitment, curriculum development, program assessment, and student success. During his tenure as director, BIPOC enrollment in the MLS program increased by nearly 50 percent. He continues to contribute to curriculum development, student mentorship, faculty governance, and academic leadership across the department and Luddy School.

Donaldson serves as a First-Year Seminar Faculty Fellow at Indiana University Bloomington for the 2026–2027 academic year. Through the fellowship, he teaches first-semester undergraduates and helps students navigate the transition from high school to college, develop the habits and skills needed to succeed at a major research university, and connect with the academic resources and opportunities available to them at Indiana University.

Nationally, Donaldson contributes to the evaluation of emerging research through service on National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine Special Emphasis Panels. He previously served on the National Library of Medicine’s Biomedical Informatics, Library and Data Science (BILDS) Review Committee from 2018 to 2021. Internationally, he is co-founder and co-chair of the Research Data Alliance Early Career and Engagement Interest Group and co-chair of the Repository Platforms for Research Data Interest Group.

Donaldson’s honors include selection as a Bill Gates Millennium Scholar, Horace H. Rackham Merit Fellow, Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society member, and Research Data Alliance U.S. Data Share Fellow. His faculty honors include the Luddy Faculty Recognition Award (2024), Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award (2017–2018), and Champion of Inclusion Award (2016).

Donaldson earned his Ph.D. in Information from the University of Michigan, M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and B.A. in History from the College of William & Mary.

• Doctor of Philosophy in Information at University of Michigan, 2015

• Archives and Record Management
• Data Curation and Digital Preservation
• Data Science @Luddy
• Digital Heritage
• Digital Libraries and Digital Humanities
• Ethics and Values in Digital Society
• Information and Library Science
• Intellectual Freedom and information/data ethics
• Knowledge Organization, Cultural Informatics, and Natural Informatics

By appointment

• INFO-I400 - Introduction to Data Science
• Z505 - Evaluation of Resources and Services
• Z550 - Information Institutions and their Management
• Z581 - Introduction to Archives and Records Management
• Z586 - Digital Curation
• Z604 - Advanced Archives