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:

• Neveen Nagy Eid (Egypt) – Establishing a “Book a Librarian” program at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Ola El Zein (Lebanon) – Creating a Virtual Exhibition of Historical Medical Artifacts at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and AUB Medical Center (AUBMC)
• Ulrike Junger (Germany) – Automating Cataloging Tasks at the German National Library
• Tebogo Khama (Botswana) – Establishing a Research Data Management (RDM) and curation Service at the University of Botswana
• Jinsook Lee (S. Korea) – Renovation of the “Study Garden” (open study space) at the Seoul National University Library
• Florence Plockey (Ghana) – Advocating and Marketing Library Resources & Services thru social media at the Accra Technical University
• Minsang Song (S. Korea) – Using whiteboards for team meetings at the National Library of Korea
• Tereza Richards (Jamaica) – Improving Research Data Management services at the University of West Indies- Mona Campus