Wei Ma, M.L.S.
Title: Full Librarian/Professor
Department: University Library
Email: wma@csudh.edu
Phone: (310) 243-2085
Contact Preference: Email
Areas of Expertise
Information Technology and Applications in Libraries, Information Access, Assistive Technology, Library Science, Accessibility
Professional Background
Wei Ma has been a full Librarian and Professor at CSUDH since 2004. Previously, she was a Librarian and Associate Professor of Library Administration for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
She has initiated and developed Web-based systems and tools which have been recognized as the pioneers of the current library user service systems, and which have received several awards.
From 2004 to 2017, she transitioned the CSUDH Library from print-based to digital-based using open-source (free) software. She helped the library build a digital infrastructure to process and handle digital resources to meet the trend of digital-based libraries. She also helped build the library’s Assistive Technology Service to comply with the 508-accessibility requirement.
From 2018 to present, she has initiated two creative projects. She created a prototype Web-based Scholarly Article Content Extraction Tool which can help students and scholars summarize scholarly articles, reducing the mass of article content so that users can focus on the essential and most important information in the research process. She also creatively expanded the usage of the Text-to-Speech tech to all users, including faculty, staff, and students. Text-to-Speech tech has always been used only for users with disabilities. This project meant to expand the usage to users with/without disabilities, giving them the flexibility to listen to their course reading materials while multitasking anytime and anywhere.
Education
M.L.S., Wayne state University, Michigan, USA
B.A., Language and Education, Guangxi University, China
Related News Stories
Too Much Reading? Try Listening Instead, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2009
