The Mortenson Center for International Library Programs warmly congratulates the graduates of the 2026 Associates Program. This year’s program brought together 13 exceptional leaders representing nine countries for professional and leadership development, enhanced by their rich diversity of perspectives, experiences, and expertise from across the global library and information field.
Congratulations to: Left to right, Standing: Clara Chu (Mortenson); Mary Ngure (Kenya); Jamillah Scott-Branch (Qatar); Amani Ayad (Mortenson); Pablo Figueroa Lorenzo (Spain); Dominic Agyei (Ghana); Asha Moncrieffe (Trinidad and Tobago/Jamaica); Shri Ram (India); Lyudmila (Lucy) Tomova (Bulgaria); Sujin Yang (South Korea); Barbara Ford (Mortenson); Gladys Kemboi (Mortenson)
Left to right, Sitting: Vuyokazi Jamieson (Mortenson); Amirah Al Sarraj (Qatar/Philippines); Elena Savova (Bulgaria); Junko Nakamura (Japan); Shinae Kim (South Korea); Hyeree Pyo (South Korea)
From June 1st to 24th, the Associates engaged in meaningful learning, professional exchange, and networking to strengthen libraries and empower communities under the theme of “Poised for Impact: Data, User, Strategy-Driven Libraries”. Their active participation underscores the Mortenson Center’s commitment to fostering international connections and developing library leaders worldwide.
We celebrate the 2026 Associates on their significant achievement and look forward to seeing the continued impact of their leadership and innovation in their home institutions, communities, and countries.
You are invited to the 2024 Mortenson Center Associates Showcase and Graduation. This year the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs welcomed 12 librarians from 11 countries in its Associates Program (June 3-26, 2024), who will be presenting on the theme
The 2023 Mortenson Center Associates had a mid-term post program review meeting on Zoom with the Mortenson Center Team. The associates each had a chance to share the PDP (Professional Development Plans) from the program and provided an update on their implementation, including challenges and opportunities they had encountered in implementing the projects. Some of the challenges included a lack of funding and issues related to time management while some of the opportunities mentioned included buy-in from administration and thus securing funding for the projects, and opportunities for networking and more travel outside of their countries. The associates expressed a desire to stay connected with zoom meetings at least quarterly. Vuyo Jamieson, the center’s Research Assistant and PhD student at the iSchool is working on some Alumni Engagement initiatives that will ensure former associates stay engaged and connected beyond their time at the center. The projects the associates are working on are varied and are listed below:
The 33rd Mortenson Center Distinguished Lecture featured Dr. Ricardo L. Punzalan, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, and a scholar of archives and digital curation. His lecture “Reciprocity, Reparative Actions, and Decolonial Work” explored the case of “decolonizing” U.S. Philippine materials to transform our digital work to enact reparative actions that connect collections with communities that have been long separated by colonization. View recording at: 
Congratulations to our 2023 Associates! Thank you all for participating and supporting the program as we learn to collaborate, develop meaningful connections and services, and employ new technologies in library spaces. We are hopeful that our Associates as leaders in libraries will pave ways for innovation and advancement. They all have demonstrated the foundational professional values of librarianship, connecting and empowering others through information.