Thomas Rieger is a Fulbright Specialist with the National Library of Indonesia to support cultural heritage imaging and preservation work in Indonesia. Through the program, he provides training, advises on digitization policy and workflow development, and helps shape a national-level approach to documenting and preserving at-risk cultural artifacts.

Across his career, Rieger has combined technical imaging expertise with a commitment to cultural stewardship. His work supports libraries, museums, archives, and cultural institutions seeking to preserve fragile materials, improve public access, and ensure that digital reproductions meet reliable quality benchmarks for long-term use.

He is a Professor of Practice in the College of Liberal Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he contributes to the university’s museum studies program. Before joining RIT, Rieger served as chief of the Collections Digitization Division at the U.S. Library of Congress. In that role, he helped advance national and international practices for digitizing cultural heritage collections.

Rieger managed Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI)’s Still Image Group that produced the 2016 and 2023 Technical Guidelines for Digitization of Cultural Heritage Materials. He is also a former president of the Association of Imaging Executives and has been involved with standards work through the American National Standards Institute and the International Organization for Standardization.