Message from the Director
Another year has flown by. I can’t believe I have been a part of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) as the DLF program director for four years now. It has been an exciting journey, accomplishing so much in such a short time.
We have grown our community from 35 to 86 members, including a growing interest from Canada.
We reinvigorated the annual Forum with record attendance and program contributions, making it a dynamic place to share, collaborate and create.
As a community, we have seen the Digital Public Library of America launch and celebrate its one-year anniversary; we are investing in new services to support the changing needs of the communities we serve, like data management, digital scholarship, and distributed digital preservation networks. The DLF is thriving, both as a program of CLIR, but more importantly, as a community.
For those of you who have contributed to our shared success, I thank you.
If you were nominated or served on the DLF Advisory Committee, contributed to the Forum as part of the PPC or as a presenter, taken a survey, been a fellowship recipient, participated in our Cross-Pollinator program, or shared your story in our Community Spotlight or Contribute web-series, you have played a huge part in in making our program and community strong. If you are participating in our E-Research Peer Network and Mentoring Group, hosted a Data Curation Postdoctoral Fellow, were a part of the Leadership, Technology & Gender Summit, stopped by the IDEAdrop House, or are an alum of the E-Research Institute, thank you for making these experiences a great avenue for important, inspiring and sometimes difficult, conversations.
Your participation and constructive criticism in these events helps us improve and identify where we can be of the most service and make a true impact.
The DLF program serves our community by supporting allied events through diversity scholarships, like those offered at Code4Lib, developer challenges and hackathons, as well as ongoing efforts like those organized by the team behind the growing LODLAM community.
I am often asked what are the benefits of membership. Broadly speaking, by supporting the DLF program, we are able to leverage annual membership revenue towards activities like the ones mentioned above and develop new training, education, and outreach opportunities for our DLF community members, including DLF working groups, such as the newly formed Assessment group.
Directly, DLF members receive discounted Forum registration, complimentary job postings on www.diglib.org, DLF communications and outreach support for their work via our social media and other networked channels, the opportunity to have me come to your institution or event to speak or provide consultation, grant support, or other initiative planning.
In the upcoming year, the DLF program is looking forward to opening up more spaces, facilitating discussions, and creating opportunities to level up our skills so our best work is yet to come. We couldn’t do it without you. Thank you to all who have made the strategic choice to continue investing in the DLF program by renewing your membership or joining this year.
It is our firmly held belief that DLF is more than a program, but a platform to share the contributions of our members, and a set of tools and resources to help all of us amplify our activities and move us all forward. But more importantly, the DLF also represents a community of dedicated individuals who are committed, creative, and are actively contributing, who challenge us all to do our best work making the present state of digital libraries a vibrant place to be.
Rachel L. Frick
Director, Digital Library Federation
