Lucas McGill

University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX

Master of Science in Information Studies (MSIS) May 2026

• Concentration: Digital Archives and Preservation
• Endorsement of Specialization: Archives & Records Management
• Relevant coursework: Digital Libraries, Archival Enterprise I & II, Electronic and Digital Records, Records Management, Theories and Applications of Metadata, Moving Image Preservation, Prompt Engineering
• Capstone (Spring 2026): Audio analysis and de-duplication of Indigenous language field recordings with the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA). Graduate Dean's Choice Award Honorable Mention, UT Austin School of Information, 2026.

St. Edward's University Austin, TX

Bachelor of Arts in English Writing & Rhetoric May 2015

Graduate Dean's Choice Award Honorable Mention

UT Austin School of Information 2026

Awarded for the MSIS capstone, an audio de-duplication and disposition project with the Lyle Campbell Collection at AILLA.

LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Research Fellowship

LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, UT Austin Spring 2026

Competitively selected fellowship supporting the trilingual AILLA Language Atlas digital scholarship project.

Graduate Research Assistant

Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA), University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · May 2025-May 2026

• Created descriptive metadata for born-digital and digitized materials, ensuring discoverability and compliance with archival standards
• Created metadata for Submission Information Packages (SIPs) for ingest into Archivematica; staged and accessioned materials into AILLA's digital repository
• Completed 2 EAD XML finding aids following DACS standards: updated and reformatted the AILLA collection finding aid; created a preliminary inventory EAD for the Terrence Kaufman Papers from scratch using an extensible processing approach
• Migrated metadata for 3 collections from AILLA's previous Islandora platform to its current Fedora-based repository: cleaned and reconciled legacy records, ran transformation scripts, and prepared input spreadsheets to load metadata into standardized schemas
• Coordinated audiovisual digitization and processing workflows: digitized 16 audio cassettes, transcoded 72 videos with FFmpeg for repository access, and segmented 50+ digital audio recordings
• Provided archival reference services at the LLILAS Benson Reading Room (Summer 2025): paged special collections materials for researchers, explained reading room policies, and supported patron access to archival holdings
• Wrote Python scripts to pull collection extent information from AILLA's backend API
• Developed and documented policies and workflows for digital stewardship; authored staff guides for HandBrake video encoding and a backend API script; trained staff and student workers on procedures and technologies
• Participated in UT Libraries ArchivesSpace co-working sessions as the institution prepared to implement the platform
• Navigated access restrictions and rights considerations for sensitive Indigenous language materials
• Relabeled and validated existing Nora England Papers collection folders
• Created AILLA and Archiving for the Future WordPress websites

Archival Enterprise Practicum

Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · January-May 2025

• Processed the Carlos Morton Papers from start to finish, including arrangement and description
• Created EAD XML finding aid following DACS standards, applying LCSH subject headings; the finding aid was subsequently published to Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO), Texas's regional EAD discovery platform
• Collaborated with Dr. Morton throughout the project, coordinating on appraisal and description of archival materials

Graduate Assistant

School of Information, University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · January-May 2025

• Served as assistant to the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
• Coordinated meetings and administrative operations for the C7 committee for UT Libraries
• Created C7 Committee annual report and UT Libraries 101 onboarding document for new committee members
• Edited and prepared Triptych: Death, AI, and Librarianship by R. David Lankes for publication

Web Developer

Zollege Austin, TX · November 2022-February 2023

• Developed JavaScript scripts for automated data collection, aggregating 500+ job listings weekly into structured datasets
• Created ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) workflows; improved data accuracy by 40% through validation protocols and quality control measures

MLS Product Analyst

Austin Board of REALTORS Austin, TX · January 2019-April 2021

• Mapped and converted local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) property metadata to the national Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) Data Dictionary, enabling interoperability across 15+ software platforms
• Served as the technical point of contact for realtor members, helping them navigate the MLS platform and adapt to system changes
• Documented and tracked 60+ system enhancement requests from realtor members in Airtable, coordinating with them from initial request through implementation
• Trained support staff on updated metadata standards and system workflows

Content Moderator

BCforward (Contract for Facebook) Austin, TX · July 2018-January 2019

• Processed and analyzed 800+ digital content items daily using specialized research tools
• Collaborated with regional teams to refine classification methodology and improve process consistency
• Identified user interface improvements for research tools that were implemented by development team

Program Assistant

The Writing Barn Austin, TX · May 2016-April 2018

• Produced The Porchlight podcast and edited promotional video content, including platform selection, audio recording and editing, and training staff on equipment and procedures
• Developed 3 online course formats and created comprehensive procedural documentation for instructors and students
• Created and optimized digital content across multiple platforms, resulting in 25% increase in new course enrollments

Senior Marketing and Membership Intern

Austin Film Society Austin, TX · May 2015-August 2015

• Created online guide documenting programming notes for 1,500+ films screened over 12 years
• Digitized and preserved Chale Nafus's handwritten screening notes, a unique primary source documenting Austin film culture
• Edited automated communications in Raiser's Edge database backend

Communications Intern

El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission Austin, TX · 2011-2012

• Created content, templates, and email marketing campaigns for nonprofit programs serving Austin's Latino and immigrant communities
• Developed social media content and graphics for digital outreach campaigns

"Imagining Impossible Virtual Worlds: Final Fantasy XI Private Servers as Imagined Living Community Archives"

Visual Resources Association Bulletin Vol. 53, No. 1 · June 2026

"Imagining Impossible Virtual Worlds: Final Fantasy XI Private Servers as Imagined Living Community Archives"

Visual Resources Association (VRA) Annual Conference October 2025

Digital Scholarship Showcase: Digital Projects in Art History and Community Archives. Examined how niche online gaming communities preserve and document their own cultural practices outside institutional structures, exploring the intersection of community archives and born-digital preservation.

Lyle Campbell Collection Audio De-duplication Project (MSIS Capstone)

AILLA, University of Texas at Austin Spring 2026

Graduate Dean's Choice Award Honorable Mention, UT Austin School of Information, 2026

• Developed systematic workflows to identify and dispose of duplicate audio recordings across a 50+ year collection of Indigenous language field recordings
• Built custom Python scripts using librosa for audio fingerprinting and profile analysis, comparing recordings via MFCC feature extraction and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)
• Applied archival appraisal criteria to guide disposition decisions
• Used BagIt for packaging and fixity checking; produced comprehensive workflow documentation for future AILLA staff
• Code: github.com/ailla-ut/audio-dedupe

LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Research Fellowship: AILLA Language Atlas

LLILAS Benson, University of Texas at Austin Spring 2026

• Built a trilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) interactive atlas mapping Indigenous language documentation across Latin America using StoryMapJS
• Developed a Python data pipeline extracting metadata for 641 languages across 263 collections from AILLA's public API, processing 18,548 items and 118,893 files
• Curated interactive maps featuring 27 languages from the Mayan and Quechua language families with geographic, temporal, and collection data
• Published on GitHub Pages with iframe embedding support for integration into AILLA's website
• Documented complete methodology, data dictionary, and extraction procedures for reproducibility
• Code: github.com/ailla-ut/ailla-language-atlas · Atlas: sites.utexas.edu/ailla/mayan

"Well-Worn but Unpaved": A Crosswalk Between Steam Tags and the Video Game Metadata Schema

Theories and Applications of Metadata, University of Texas at Austin Spring 2026

• Mapped Steam community sub-genre tags (folksonomy) to the Video Game Metadata Schema (VGMS) controlled vocabularies for Gameplay Genre and Mechanics
• Built a Python pipeline to fetch, filter, and crosswalk 61 tags; produced gap analysis and structured JSON output

Jane Schlansker Film Collection: Finding Aid and Preservation Plan

Moving Image Preservation, University of Texas at Austin Spring 2026

• Created finding aid and preservation plan for a collection of 15 16mm film reels and 5 videotapes (U-Matic, VHS) held at the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI)
• Conducted physical media inspection and condition assessment, identifying vinegar syndrome and sticky shed in acetate-base reels

The Vicksburg Daily Times Digital Exhibit

Course Project, Digital Libraries, University of Texas at Austin Fall 2025

• Curated an online digital exhibit featuring a Reconstruction-era Mississippi newspaper using CollectionBuilder
• Generated metadata, developed contextual materials, and created teaching activity and grant proposal based on the materials
• Demonstrated how metadata arrangement and presentation can surface historical narratives from primary sources
• Exhibit: vdt-utischool.github.io/vdt_cb

Personal Video Game Preservation Project

Introduction to Electronic and Digital Records, University of Texas at Austin Spring 2025

• Recovered save files from childhood game cartridges and developed Python scripts to extract and visualize gameplay data
• Demonstrated practical application of digital preservation techniques to born-digital materials and personal cultural heritage

RAG Chatbot Development

Prompt Engineering, University of Texas at Austin 2025-2026

• Built a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) chatbot as final course project, exploring the capabilities and limitations of generative AI tools in information retrieval contexts

Student Representative

MSIS Committee, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin Fall 2025-Present

• Represent MSIS student interests and perspectives on faculty-run graduate committee for program-level decisions and curriculum development

Treasurer

SAA/ALA Student Chapter, University of Texas at Austin Fall 2025-August 2026

• Manage chapter finances and coordinate funding for professional development events
• Co-organized an ArchivesSpace and EAD workshop for iSchool students, led by UT Libraries' Resident Archivist
• Support student engagement with both archival and library science professional communities

Secretary & Vice President

Givens Park Working Group Austin, TX · 2018-2020

• Provided organizational leadership for community advocacy initiatives in a historically underserved East Austin neighborhood
• Coordinated meetings and facilitated communication among diverse community stakeholders