George Franchois is the Director of the U.S. Department of the Interior Library in Washington, DC. He has served as the Director since 2006, overseeing the daily operations of the Interior Library. He is the current Chair of the Federal Library and Information Network’s (FEDLINK) American Indian Libraries Initiative Working Group. He has also served on the FEDLINK Advisory Board and Education Working Group, coordinating its “Great Escapes” tours of government libraries in the Washington area. Additionally, he is active in the Special Library Association’s Government Information Division serving as its Programming Director from 2007 to 2010 and Chair in 2014.
During his time as Director of the Department of the Interior Library, Mr. Franchois has worked with Interior Department officials and the library staff to greatly increase the number of electronic resources available to Interior Department personnel around the country through the Library’s website (http://www.doi.gov/library). He has also implemented a series of regular training programs on print and electronic resources available at the Interior Library, as well as special programs highlighting National Park Service history and sites in the Washington area. All of these programs have been made available not only to Interior Department personnel, but also to the library community and the general public.
Prior to his current appointment, he worked for Lockheed-Martin/Aspen Systems Corporation as the Project Manager/Reference Librarian for the Interior Library staffing contract from 2002-2006. He has also served at the Interior Library as Deputy Project Manager/Reference Librarian from 2000 to 2002 and as a Library Technician from 1994 to 2000. He also has experience as a Library Technician at the Broadcast Pioneers Library in Washington from 1988 to 1991 and the EPA Headquarters Library from 1991 to 1994.
Mr. Franchois received his Masters degree in Library and Information Science from the Catholic University of America and his undergraduate degree in History from the Pennsylvania State University.