By: Audrey Waite, University of Texas at Austin
My name is Audrey Waite, and I am an MSIS student at The University of Texas at Austin, just finishing my first year. My focus is in digital scholarship and humanities, making TCDL the perfect fit for me. In my first year, I have been able to work on digital collections projects with the Alexander Architectural Library and the Benson Latin American Collection, as well as having the opportunity to work on physically processing an archival collection at the HJ Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports. Through these experiences, I have fallen in love with metadata, uncovering collections, and figuring out ways to connect a wider audience with these materials and the lessons to be learned from them. I am also a graduate research assistant at UT Libraries, working as the Open Education Resource GRA within the Research and Scholarship Team. In that role, I work alongside the OER librarian, Heather Walter, to connect students with OER and help build out programs and communications to foster OER use and awareness on campus, both for students and instructors.
This year, I was honored to be selected as a scholarship recipient for TCDL 2026. This was an amazing opportunity for me to learn more about digital libraries and the many directions digital libraries are moving into the future, including new technologies, collaborations with other fields, and finding ways to make information more widely accessible from dedicated and knowledgeable professionals and emerging professionals in the field. The theme for this year’s conference was “Finding Joy! Playful Innovation and Community in Action”, which perfectly encapsulated everything I love about digital libraries. My two days at the conference were spent attending presentations on emergent work in digital libraries, scholarship, and humanities, engaging with professionals in panels, and networking with fellow students across many universities as well as established professionals.
The keynote presentation, “Illuminating Dropcaps: The Magic of the Collaborative Process” by Jessie Contour and Kelcey Gray, was a fascinating look into their creative, collaborative process of meeting, building a game together, and teaching a course using their game (and teamwork) as a framework. This wasn’t the keynote I had anticipated for a library conference, but as they spoke, it became evident that my passion for digital libraries aligns with their mission: utilizing creativity to facilitate exploration of new ideas and technologies, while promoting fostering connections between individuals from seemingly different fields or interests. This keynote also highlighted the importance of connection and friendships within our professional lives, because you never know what opportunities you may encounter from being known by others. To end their presentation, they shared photos of students from their class presenting the games they had made in their teams. Seeing the joy and creative output from the students was a reminder of why we do what we do: sparking innovation, curiosity, and community. Not only did this opening presentation open my eyes to the many ways I can imagine a digital scholarship project, but their message about the importance of connection put me in the right headspace to take advantage of this opportunity to get to know others and explore what community in this professional space can look like.
As a scholarship recipient, the committee paired me with a mentor to help guide me through the experience, answer questions, and facilitate connection in a brand-new space. My conference buddy was Whitney Johnson-Freeman, the Repository Librarian at the University of North Texas. I am incredibly grateful to Whitney for being a friendly face and encouraging me to reach out to others and really get connected. When listening to my experiences in the iSchool and projects I’ve worked on, she even encouraged me to consider presenting next year. Through her, I was able to meet likeminded students, other emerging professionals, and receive great advice about really leaning into the experience. One of my favorite presentations was Hosting the Digital Humanities: A Project-Based Approach by Bryan Tarpley & Kayley Hart from Texas A&M University. I was incredibly inspired by their work building and hosting digital collections for members of the campus community, and it seemed like a direction I could envision my own professional journey taking. Through Whitney’s advice, I found the confidence to speak to the presenters after the session, ask questions, and get to know them and their story leading up to their new home in TAMU libraries.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at TCDL 2026, and I plan to be back next year! I would like to thank everyone on the TCDL awards committee who gave me this opportunity, my wonderful conference buddy, the Research and Scholarship team at UT Libraries to sharing this event with me, my supervisor Heather Walter, and the professors I have had so far that imbued their love for digital libraries in me. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!