Dear DLF Community Members,

My first two months as the Digital Library Federation Program Director have been very exciting and I want to briefly share some recent developments, especially in regard to the upcoming 2010 Fall Forum.

As the DLF grows as a CLIR program, we are opening up our community and inviting those who are interested in actively contributing to the fast-changing world of digital libraries to join. The DLF is seeking strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations to better serve our members and leverage our collective expertise. We have received much interest not only from libraries, but also from museums, archives, and other cultural heritage organizations that are involved in the digital library field. Industry and other library support organizations have also expressed an interest in becoming members. We are exploring each of these opportunities, keeping the interest of the whole community in mind as we broaden our perspectives and enrich and enliven our discussions. I am happy to announce that our first new member of the CLIR/DLF community is the University of North Texas. Please extend a warm welcome to Dean Martin Halbert and his team in Denton, Texas! Stay tuned as we announce new members of our community.

We are exploring how the DLF can provide support, information, guidance, and education opportunities in the growing area of digital curation, especially in regard to research data and digital humanities. At the same time, the DLF is committed to continuing its support of digitization and metadata standards and best practices work.

The DLF community has the unique distinction of being a resource and catalyst for collaboration among digital library developers, project managers, and all who are invested in digital library issues and in facilitating the use and support of shared solutions to shared challenges. As digital library issues continue to become more complex, and the need to collaborate becomes more evident, the DLF will provide a framework to facilitate and support true and trusted community efforts through its Forums.

The 2010 Fall Forum is fast approaching and I am happy to report that the Program Planning Committee has been hard at work. In response to DLF Community feedback we are making some changes to the Forum.

•	In the past, the Forums were open only to current DLF members and invited guests; this year the Forum will be open to all who wish to participate. Members will be able to register a week before the general public.
•	There will be a nominal registration fee to cover food costs during the Forum. There will be a DLF Community member rate for current DLF members.

•	We are currently seeking sponsors to help subsidize other costs, such as AV support.

•	The 2010 Fall Forum will have a strong participatory feel, with opportunities for community discussions, creative problem solving, and hands-on workshops. Ideas and activities generated at the Fall Forum will inform future DLF work and shape the program for the future DLF Forums. There will be a limited number of traditional presentations and more opportunities for active engagement and networking.

 A call for ideas and proposals will be out soon. Please watch the DLF Forum Web Page for more details (http://www.clir.org/dlf/dlfforum.html).

The hardworking members of the Fall Forum Planning Committee are as follows:
• Charles Blair, University of Chicago 
• Tom Cramer begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Stanford University 
• Declan Fleming, University of California, San Diego 
• Amanda French, George Mason University 
• Rachel Frick, Council on Library and Information Resources 
• Joshua Greenberg, New York Public Library 
• Delphine Khanna, University of Pennsylvania 
• Bethany Nowviskie, University of Virginia 
• John Ober, California Digital Library 
• David Reynolds, Johns Hopkins University 
• Jenn Riley, Indiana University Bloomington 
• Sarah Shreeves, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
• Jon Stroop, Princeton University 
• Jennifer Vinopal, New York University 

 
I want to thank the DLF community members, the DLF Advisory Committee, and our extended CLIR family for their warm welcome and gracious support. I look forward to the work ahead and am very excited about the possibilities.

Sincerely,
Rachel L. Frick
Director, Digital Library Federation Program

Council on Library and Information Resources
1752 N Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20036-2909
p: 202.939.4758 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202.939.4758      end_of_the_skype_highlighting