Hannah Sommers

Hannah Sommers is the Library Program Manager at NPR, and is a deputy to Chief Librarian Laura Soto-Barra. In this role she leads an award-winning team of digital thinkers who specialize in developing the potential of NPR's expansive story and music archives to meet a wide variety of business uses.

The NPR archive is a comprehensive record of each radio story broadcast by the network since 1971. The archives are used each day in contemporary news production and serve as a resource for decision-makers watching trends in storytelling. In 2010, Sommers was a key member of the team that helped to establish NPR's first digital archiving platforms for audio stories, called Artemis. This work evolved into her current role as Program Manager, setting direction for the Library's portfolio of system development efforts, and implementing Agile practices to transform traditional library functions. In recognition of her contributions to NPR, Sommers was recognized as a Mover & Shaker in 2013 by Library Journal.

Prior to moving into her current role, Sommers was an NPR Broadcast Librarian. She aided reporters and production staff seeking audio clips and other information critical to telling a story in sound. She contributed to the maintenance of NPR's audio archives and is particularly proud of the training program she developed with Mary Glendinning to teach NPR staff new research tools and coach them in best research practices. Subsequent leaders of this training program, Lauren Sin and Katie Daugert, were recognized with ALA's Library of the Future Award in 2012.

Sommers came to NPR as an intern in the summer of 2001. Following her internship, she spent two years as a legal research librarian in Austin, Texas. She returned to NPR in late 2004. Before pursuing graduate work, Sommers lived in China for two years, teaching English to Chinese college students in Sichuan Province.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Natural Science with a minor in ESL from Goshen College in Indiana. In 2002, she earned her Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin. She is certified as a Scrum Master.