Donald Gould was born and raised in New York City, attended local schools, and graduated from the University of Maine, Orono, Maine with a bachelors degree in History and Government, with a minor in Asian Studies, and was awarded a Masters of Library Service from the same institution.

In 1984, he received a PhD in Library and Information Management from the University of Southern California, and was the recipient of Doctoral Dissertation Award from the College and Research Library Association, sponsored by the Institute for Scientific Information, awarded annually to the most outstanding dissertation in the field of library and information science studies.

From 1984 to 1989, Dr. Gould served as adjunct faculty at USC's School of Library and Information Management, as well as working as an information systems and services consultant and contractor.

From 1989 to 1993, Dr. Gould was employed by Comalco Smelting, division of CRA, to work on the implemention of the SAP business information system. At the completion of his contract he worked as an independent systems and training consultant on various projects for Comalco and BHP Information Systems.

After returning to the States in 1998, Dr. Gould returned to the library profession, and was employed at the University of Louisville's Health Sciences Library. Following a move to California, Dr. Gould is currently employed as a senior reference librarian for the largest library system in the United States, the County of Los Angeles Public Library.