2026 Texas Conference on Digital Libraries

This Year’s Theme

In the constantly evolving digital landscape, our community faces both complex challenges and unique opportunities. The Texas Digital Library (TDL) and the Texas Conference on Digital Libraries (TCDL) believe that embracing joy, playfulness, and experimentation is a powerful way to honor our core values of collaboration, openness, and service.

“Play” in our professional context isn’t about mere diversion; it is an active approach to fostering creativity, exploring new ideas in a low-risk environment, and building strong, supportive connections within our community. It is the spirit of intellectual curiosity and flexibility that drives innovation in how we manage, preserve, and provide equitable access to digital content of enduring value.

TCDL is a gathering place to explore how we can infuse a playful mindset into our daily work:

• Playful Innovation: We invite you to share how experimentation with open source technologies, creative problem-solving in metadata or preservation, or agile approaches to project management have led to breakthroughs and new ways of working. This includes imaginative approaches to existing services (such as repositories, ETDs, or research data management) or piloting new initiatives that enhance user engagement and access. We also encourage proposals that explore how playful elements can be used in teaching, services, or as tools for professional development and team building.
• Community in Action: TCDL thrives on the mutual support and shared expertise of its members, from repository managers to faculty, students, and technical staff. We will celebrate how our collaborative spirit, our “community in action”, turns individual creativity into collective solutions that build a practical, usable, and sustainable model for digital libraries across Texas and beyond. We will also explore how a shared sense of play can help us build a resilient and mutually supportive community.

Join us as we explore how a playful approach can transform our work, spark new collaborations, and, most importantly, help us find joy while serving our communities and advancing the future of digital libraries.

Opening Keynote Session on June 2, 2026

“Illuminating Dropcaps: The Magic of the Collaborative Process”
By Jessie Contour & Kelcey Gray