By: Luz Gonzalez, University of Texas at Austin
Why yes, I did find joy at TCDL 2026! My name is Luz Gonzalez, I’m a GRA with the University of Texas Libraries Scholar’s Lab. I am a first-year MSIS student at the UT iSchool, and this was my first conference. I am so glad I applied for the TCDL scholarship, and for my colleague Caitlin Young for encouraging me to attend. The world of libraries and archives is new to me, I’m a filmmaker by trade and led a winding path before pursuing information studies. Lucky for me every step I have taken in this new direction has been encouraging, and this conference exemplified that. I am grateful to all the TCDL staff and volunteers for making my experience so special. Meeting and listening to professionals who are passionate about accessibility, cultural heritage, and digital preservation affirmed for me that I am among friends and on the right path.
I am drawn to digital archiving and preservation, and consider myself an aspiring programmer who loves to tinker. I am interested in the intersection of technology and public engagement in cultural heritage. I’m also pursuing a portfolio in digital humanities. Clearly, I adored the opening keynote Illuminating Dropcaps: The Magic of the Collaborative Process by Jessie Contour and Kelcey Gray. Their process, interdisciplinary collaboration, and energetic partnership was a great kick-off to the conference. I left feeling a little braver, emboldened to step out into an unlikely partnership or creative endeavor.
Several sessions I attended inspired me, while others provided me with a deeper understanding of the issues facing the academic library ecosystem. ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) became a prevailing theme I had not anticipated. I learned that their preservation is a complex issue that requires collaboration from several departments. From ensuring hyperlinks remain consistent, to designing publication standards toolkits, sustaining servers and PID’s, and protecting digital collections from AI bots and scrapers, this topic was discussed from various vantage points throughout the conference. In the Digital Preservation session, I enjoyed learning about “Portable Web Archives for ETDs” from Mark Phillips & Lauren Ko at UNT Libraries. In Building Community in Digital Scholarship, the presentation “Hosting the Digital Humanities” by Bryan Tarpley and Kayley Hart from Texas A&M really impressed me. Their thoughtful collaborations with faculty to develop unique interactive digital platforms, offering frontend and backend support, and empowering scholars to learn about web development. Both of these presentations made evident the innovation at play in our roles as information stewards, and how strive to serve our users.
The Texas Digital Collections showcase, which I nearly missed, sparked the most joy for me. The projects shared with us were so memorable that I found myself re-telling the story of the digitization of a 17th century low German bible on multiple occasions. It’s a perfect case study for explaining to friends and family the work we do and the potential it holds. This exciting tale was recounted by Christina Kellum and Noah Garcia of UNT Libraries, and almost more impressive was learning about the high volume capacity of their digitization lab. Also with UNT Libraries, Marcia McIntosh and Bree’ya Brown presented on the digitization and archiving of diverse film materials, giving us a glimpse into the interesting collections that pass through their hands on a regular basis. Betsy Evans Helesic’s Alpine Restaurant Mapping Project traced their journey to preserve the stories of Alpine’s shifting restaurant landscape. What began as an independent passion project snowballed into a larger endeavor, garnering funding and helping hands along the way. A reminder to all of us to suspend our disbelief and pursue our extraneous ideas.
My first TCDL was a great success, I met wonderful folks across diverse specialties and career stages. I am eagerly anticipating entering the workforce, and this conference inspired me and offered an overview of career paths in academic libraries and archives and the challenges I may face. I’ll be graduating from the MSIS program at UT Austin in Spring of 2027. Currently, I’m wrapping up a digital exhibit about Américo Paredes that I made as a Graduate Student Technician in the LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Lab. I’ll be moving onto my next endeavor, supporting the Scholar’s Lab, and hopefully designing a point-and-click story game rooted in archival cookbooks! To keep up with my work, visit my portfolio. Thank you, and hope to see you next year at TCDL!