The 2025 Mortenson Center Associates had a post program review meeting on Zoom with the Mortenson Center Team. The associates each had a chance to share what their Action Plans were after completing the program and provided an update on the implementation, including challenges and opportunities they had encountered in implementing the projects. Some of the challenges included a lack of funding, new management, and time constraints. A common challenge was finding different priorities or realities in their workplaces that necessitated a change in their proposed action plans from the program. Some of the opportunities mentioned included presentations, publications, collaborations and plans for further studies. The associates expressed a desire to stay connected and to continue staying engaged with the center. The projects the associates are working on are varied and include:
Fernando Bravo- Provided an update on a project on improving and enriching an Audio-Book Platform; his IFLA library impact training workshops in Chile and Perú and is looking forward to pursuing a PhD program in Library and Information Studies.
Donus Buadi- Working on establishing institutional journals at Accra Technical University. Interested in pursuing a PhD in library and information studies.
Fabiola Marin Soto– Interested in establishing a research lab for students in the school of library and information science at the University of Costa Rica. Will be pursuing a master’s in library and information science.
Beatriz Martinez Calle– Interested in AI in libraries/ Use of chatbots in libraries.
Unika Omowale- Interested in establishing a historical medical collection; She is serving as a Member on the American Library Association (ALA) webinar committee.
Kandis Roberts- Was encouraged to move toward becoming an internal resource on Human-Centered Design (HCD) for NALIS.
Takashi Shimada- Exploring Maker Spaces in Libraries. Has been involved in presentations and conferences and Collaborations (with students, the community, and internationally). Examples: Collaborations with universities in Hong Kong (mainly HKSKH Ming Hua Theological College), and collaborations for publication with colleagues/Associates from Trinidad and Tobago.
Ahmad Samsudin- Presented his action plan “Unlocking Miri’s Oil & Gas Legacy: Preserving and Promoting Historical Industry Records,” to management and met with several interested parties, including community leaders, which led to the purchase of several digitization devices and the initiative is scheduled for implementation under their 2026 strategic plan. Had an opportunity to share his Mortenson Associates Program experience with the Librarians Association of Malaysia (Sarawak) through an online session titled: “From Local Roots to Global Platforms: A Librarian’s Journey of Knowledge Sharing.”
Hien Tran- Working on updating library online tutorials on information literacy. Library also planning on purchasing a license for Synthesia, a tool for creating AI-generated avatars to produce a suite of new interactive videos.
Veliswa Tshesha- is leading the implementation of a new research workflow and the Journal Quality and Compliance Check Tool and is also helping researchers align their work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She has developed a Research Commons page inspired by Ohio State University Library’s Research Commons. She is also piloting AI-assisted science communication using Google Notebook LM to translate complex academic research into accessible public storytelling.