Alma C. Ortega is a tenured librarian at the University of San Diego's Helen K. and James S. Copley Library in San Diego, California. She has more than 12 years' experience in academic libraries. She is a reference librarian and bibliographer for the areas of history, Spanish and Italian literatures as well as Asian Studies. She also teaches course-integrated sessions, works extensively with graduate students, and researches collection management, archives place in libraries, and leadership styles in academic libraries. She earned two bachelor's degrees in Peace and Conflict Studies and Spanish from the University of California at Berkeley (1996) and two master's degrees in Library and Information Studies (2002) and Latin American Studies (2003) from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a PhD Candidate in Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego. She has been working in libraries since 1998.