DLOC, the digital Library of the Caribbean, relies upon Caribbeanist scholars to contribute their support and expertise to help shape the direction of its collections and to develop its services.

Four U.S. institutions and five Caribbean partners have been awarded a U.S. Department of Education Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA) grant to build the Digital Library of the Caribbean. This award is for the four-year period October 2005 – September 2009.

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is a multifaceted and collaborative international digital library project that will preserve and increase access to valuable resources for the study of the Caribbean and the advancement of Caribbean Studies. dLOC will be an umbrella for digital projects and collections from and about the Caribbean that might exist in isolation at a single institution, thus providing a critical mass of resources in a single space. This digital library will comprise collections that examine the similarities and differences in histories, cultures, languages and governmental systems throughout the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean.

dLOC will convene a new seven-member dLOC Advisory Board in spring 2006. The Board will provide guidance to the dLOC Executive Committee and the co-Directors by reviewing proposals for collections, by nominating collections for inclusion, and by reviewing standards developed by the sub-committees.

The members of the Advisory Board will be skilled in technical issues, in relevant academic disciplines, and/or in curriculum development. Members should be active members of CSA and be willing to attend an annual dLOC meeting at CSA. No travel money is available, but Advisory Board Members will receive an annual honorarium of $100. Members will serve a two-year term from March 2006 through December 2007 and can be reappointed.

The dLOC Advisory Board will be chaired by Dr. Eduardo Gamarra, Prinicpal Investigator and Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University and by Dr. Carmen Diana Deere, co-PI and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida.

If interested in becoming a member of the dLOC Advisory Board, please send a statement of interest and qualifications to both Catherine Marsicek (marsicek@fiu.edu) and Judith Rogers (jrogers@uvi.edu), co-Directors of dLOC, by February 1, 2006.