This post was written by Danielle A. Terrell, who received a DLF HBCU Fellowship to attend the 2018 Forum.
Danielle A. Terrell received her M.L.I.S. in Library and Information Science from Clark Atlanta University in 1999. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Library Services and Government Documents Librarian at Alcorn State University.
She serves as a mentor to all new library employees. She is dedicated to the field of library science and is always accepting of whatever task she is given.
She wears many hats within the J. D. Boyd Library, such as, librarian, chair of the Friends of the J. D. Boyd Library and project manager for Alcorn archives digitization. No matter what her main goal is always to be a mentor to students, faculty and staff.
Danielle is a 2009 Summer Fellows of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development/Academic Librarianship Institute.
Sometimes we get caught up in the daily routine of the same ole same ole, even our local conference can sometimes become stale. That’s why I attended the 2018 DLF Forum. It was worth the experience.
Who would not jump at the chance to go to Las Vegas, Nevada, especially for a conference, right? Well, I jumped through several hoops, like convincing my university to let me go was one thing, but being there, was another. I want to thank the DLF and the HBCU Alliance for allowing me to be an HBCU Fellow to attend the 2018 DLF Forum.
From the time I walked up to the registration desk, I felt welcome and at home. The DLF provided me with a mentor and I also served as a mentor. Unfortunately, my mentee was unable to attend but my mentor was very inspiring. From our introduction my mentor was very encouraging, inspiring and a world traveler. She encouraged me to embrace the conference and meet new people and try to create partnerships.
I enjoyed the sessions from born digital boot-camp to the museum cohort. All the sessions gave a first-hand account of how to use and access open source materials and how to move metadata from the finding aids to primary sources. The Opening Plenary speaker Ms. Sengupta was great, she spoke about inclusion by bringing people to the table and creating “Wiki” editing parties. With the editing parties one can help edit the Wikipedia and other sites with the help of native people from various cultures. Also, the class on “Zoom Reflex’ was very interesting because it focused on creating partnerships for such things as creating new software, grant-funding and research collaborations. By working with someone outside of your library, museum or archive you tend to think outside of the box and want to make the project more successful.
By working with someone outside of your library, museum or archive you tend to think outside of the box and want to make the project more successful.
This conference had so many things to offer, that I am still trying to process it all. The Fellows Breakfast allowed me to meet other Fellows as well. The meals throughout the event were very good.
One of the most impressive things about this conference was the lightning rounds, where twelve presenters spoke for ninety seconds. It seemed very fun and informative. I do not know if could do that.
As I close, I would to encourage anyone on the fence about attending this conference next year. Even if you do not know anything about digitization, open source, or preservation, this conference is worth the journey.
Want to know more about the DLF Forum Fellowship Program? Check out last year’s call for applications.
If you’d like to get involved with the scholarship committee for the 2019 Forum (October 13-16, 2019 in Tampa, FL), sign up to join the Planning Committee now! More information about 2019 fellowships will be posted in late spring.
