Executive Vice President of Technology, Chief Information Officer

Michael Gorrell Executive Vice President of Technology, Chief Information Officer Email: [email protected]

About Michael Gorrell Michael Gorrell is the Executive Vice President of Technology, and Chief Information Officer of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO). He is responsible for managing all technology operations for EBSCO, as well as providing key leadership in strategic product direction for the EBSCOhost platform. Michael joined EBSCO in August 1994, coming from the high tech industry, specifically hired to help usher in the ambitious new service called EBSCOhost. He has been responsible for building a high performance system that meets the highest industry standards for performance and availability.

Michael has been instrumental in making usability testing central to the product design of the EBSCOhost platform, overseeing an industry-leading end-user testing program that has yielded tremendous feedback and enhancements to EBSCO’s interfaces. In addition, under his direction, EBSCO has become the industry leader in website accessibility for users with various physical and visual disabilities.

Furthermore, Michael Gorrell has led EBSCO's involvement in Internet2’s Shibboleth project since 2002. He has also been a driving force behind EBSCO Discovery Service technical developments and directed the EBSCO Discovery Service beta program through to its successful conclusion in December 2009.

Following EBSCO’s acquisition of NetLibrary, the technology teams were charged with the mission of integrating eBooks into the EBSCOhost platform and Michael Gorrell’s direct involvement helped allow this to be accomplished within one year, including new functionality that had never before been available for eBooks.

Michael has lectured at universities, including the Eppes Lecture at the Florida State University Information Use Management and Policy Institute, and has spoken at many conferences, including The Charleston Conference, PLA (Public Library Association), The NISO Forum on Library Statistics and Performance Measures, etc. He has been published in library publications including Information Standards Quarterly and Against the Grain and has had interviews published in Charleston Advisor, Booklist and Network World.

Articles "Improving the Discoverability of Scholarly Content in the Twenty-First Century", A White Paper Commissioned by SAGE

"E-books on EBSCOhost®: Combining NetLibrary™ E-books with the EBSCOhost Platform", Information Standards Quarterly, 2011 Spring 23(2):31-34.

"The 21st Century Searcher: How the Growth of Search Engines Affected the Redesign of EBSCOhost", Against the Grain, volume 20, issue 3, June 2008, pages 22, 24. “ Snel en simple vinden wat je zoekt", Intellectueel Kapitaal, August 2011

Interviews "An Interview with Sam Brooks and Michael Gorrell on the EBSCOhost Integrated Search and EBSCO Discovery Service", CharlestonAdvisor, Jan 2010

"Making a Power Play", Network World, Sept 2008