Howard Besser is a Professor of Cinema Studies at New York University, where he is Director of the Masters Degree program in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation. Previously he was a Professor of Education & Information Studies at UCLA, where he taught and did research on multimedia, image databases, digital libraries, metadata standards, digital longevity, web design, information literacy, distance learning, intellectual property, and the social and cultural impact of new information technologies. He has also been in charge of information technology for two museums.

Dr. Besser has been involved in numerous standards development efforts for digital cultural heritage materials, including the Dublin Core and the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standards (METS). He was one of the founders of the Museum Educational Site Licensing Project (MESL). He is the author of several articles on digital preservation, has participated in planning for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, and is on the National Research Council panel reviewing the National Archives plans for their Electronic Records Archives. Besser has authored dozens of articles on automation of cultural materials. And he consults widely with libraries, museums, and archives over a wide range of issues, including metadata, digital preservation, and intellectual property.