Dr. Steven Olsen-Smith received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Delaware in 1999 and joined the faculty of the Department of English at Boise State University in 2000. He has held past appointments as the Holland H. Coors Endowed Visiting Chair in digital applications and approaches to literature with the Department of English and Fine Arts at the United States Air Force Academy. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in American literature and in digital applications and approaches to literature.

Dr. Olsen-Smith is a nationally recognized expert on Herman Melville’s life and writings, and the primary scholar responsible for tracking the recovery of Melville’s dispersed personal library of approximately 1,000 books. He leads an interactive web project devoted to the reading and marginalia of the 19th century author, Melville’s Marginalia Online.