Amy Deschenes

Amy Deschenes is the Interim Director of UX & Discovery and oversees work related to digital collections, user experience, library discovery, and digital accessibility. Her role focuses on connecting the Harvard community to library discovery systems and digital collections, as well as making the Library’s resources accessible to scholars everywhere. She provides strategic direction for user-centered decision-making across the Library and works closely with Library Communications and Library Technology Services to advance a cohesive, accessible, and user-centered online strategy. 

Amy leads a department that focuses on digital discovery initiatives and user experience projects. Amy has built programmatic student engagement into library operations by embedding students in high-priority initiatives, and conducts regular research on library services with members of the Harvard community. Her recent work has been published in Weave: Journal of Library User Experience and Evidence Based Library and Information Practice.

Prior to coming to Harvard, Amy was the Systems & Web Applications Librarian at Simmons University. She holds a BA from Sacred Heart University and an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons. She teaches user-centered design at Brandeis University.