About dLOC : Outreach

Reaching Out to the World

dLOC is more than a digital library - it is an international initiative dedicated to promoting and supporting Caribbean Studies, providing improved access to Caribbean resources, and fostering a collaborative digital library community in the Caribbean region. As such, dLOC is in the process of implementing outreach programs to integrate our efforts into both the scholarly community which we serve and the local community where our initiative is based.

Outreach initiatives to date include:

• Holding teacher training workshops
• Funding the creation of Educational web modules
  • Education modules, lesson plans from the dLOC Lesson Plan Competition, and materials related to the dLOC Teacher Training Series are all available in the dLOC Teaching Guides & Materials Collection
• Hosting an online Caribbean Lectures series, Caribbean Scholarship in the Digital Age, September 2009
• Sponsoring presentations on Caribbean Studies
  • “Politics and Resistance in Twentieth Century Haiti” by Dr. Matthew J. Smith, presentation sponsored by the Digital Library of the Caribbean as part of the 12th Annual Haitian Studies Institute of Florida International University.
  • Red and Black in Haiti, presented at book launch by Dr. Matthew J. Smith
• Publishing and presenting on Caribbean Studies
• Creating online exhibits
• Conducting onsite trainings

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Teacher Trainings

First Annual Caribbean Challenge

On Thursday, November 17, 2011, 20 top students from the Academy for Advanced Academics (at FIU), Felix Varela Senior High School, John A Ferguson Senior High School were chosen by their teachers to participate in the Caribbean Challenge at the Green Library at FIU.

The students learned about the Digital Library of the Caribbean and Analyzing Primary and Secondary Sources from Miami Dade teacher Daniel Vinat and dLOC Coordinator Brooke Wooldridge. They participated in a roundtable discussion with FIU historian Sherry Johnson, Special Collections Librarian Vicki Silvera and African and African Diaspora graduate student Felix Jean Louis. Finally, the student teams worked with the key dLOC resources in the bookshelves below selected by FIU Latin American and Caribbean Center graduate student Pierre Losson. They had one hour to read, interpret and prepare a five minute presentation of their findings. All of the presentations were excellent, but the honorable judges FIU Librarians Gayle Williams and Adis Beesting and FIU Latin American and Caribbean Associate Director Liesl Picard selected the group on Panama as the overall winner for their ability to place Panama in the international context, well-coordinated presentation and clear description of the primary and secondary sources.

The event was co-sponsored by the Digital Library of the Caribbean, FIU Libraries, FIU Latin American and Caribbean Center and Miami Dade County Schools. We owe a special thanks to the County District Supervisor for the Curriculum and Instruction Division of Social Sciences and Life Skills at Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Bob Brazofsky, for his support of this event and the funding to make it possible for the teachers to participate in this important experience. Most of all, we thank Daniel Vinat for the vision to develop this project and John Burkowski, Diana Nadaskay, Carlos Ardaya for being excellent teachers and providing their students with exceptional opportunities both inside the classroom and in the community.

Check out this resource packet if you would like to recreate the Caribbean Challenge in your classroom:

• Full packet for Caribbean Challenge
• dLOC Bookshelves for the Caribbean Challenge
  • Panama and the Canal: http://www.dloc.com/folder/925/brief
  • Jamaica: http://www.dloc.com/folder/919/brief
  • Trinidad and Tobago - Eric Williams: http://www.dloc.com/folder/912/brief
  • Hurricanes: http://www.dloc.com/folder/926/brief

Teacher Training Workshop: Caribbean Leaders' Contributions to Black Intellectual Movements

Professional development workshop for primary and secondary teachers positions the Caribbean as a site for the transference, interpretation and promotion of larger movements and provides an overview of various Caribbean leaders and their ties to black intellectual movements, while highlighting motivating factors for engagement and diversity among some of the more influential, and also infamous figures.  Led by Matthew J. Smith, Ph.D., Department of History and Archaeology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.  Sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU, in partnership with Miami Dade County Public Schools. 
The Role of the Caribbean in Black Intellectual Movements, 1940s-1970s.
From Negritude to Natty Dread: An Introduction  
From Garvey to Marley: A Look at Caribbean Leadership 
Time: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 @ 08:30 AM
Venue: FIU Biscayne Bay Campus, Wolfe University Center Ballroom, North Miami

Integrating Technology and Area Studies:  Discovering Caribbean Diversity (Spring 2010)
Professional Development Workshop for middle and high school foreign language, social studies and language arts teachers
Saturdays: Jan 23 & Feb 6, 8:30am-4:30pm, accompanying online modules (Orange Park High School; 2300 Kingsley Ave; Orange Park, FL)
Saturdays: Apr 24 & May 1, 8-3:30pm, accompanying online modules (Space Coast Credit Union; 20 S. Wickham Rd; Melbourne, FL)

• Learn about a region strategically important to Florida
• Interact with experts on Caribbean issues
• Take home a Caribbean resource manual
• Learn to use interactive technology tools while integrating content
• Create ready-to-use standards-based materials
• Earn up to 20 in-service hours

Lunch fee of $10.  Workshop limited to 25 participants. Sponsored by:  Florida International University, University of Florida, Digital Library of the Caribbean and the Foreign Language Educators of Northeast Florida

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Publications

"Developing an Open Access, Multi-Institutional, International Digital Library: the Digital Library of the Caribbean" (in Resource Sharing & Information Networks), by Brooke Wooldrige, Laurie Taylor, and Mark Sullivan, 2009.

"Digital Library of the Caribbean : a User-centric Model for Technology Development in Collaborative Digitization Projects" (Invited paper to a Special issue of OCLC Systems & Services: International Digital Library Perspectives), by Marilyn Ochoa and Mark Sullivan, 2009.

Presentations: 2011

Dutch Caribbean Library Conference, Curacao
Willemstad, Curacao, February 23-24, 2011
Participants: Brooke Wooldridge,  Laila Miletic-Vejzovic

Florida International University GIS Day
Miami, FL, March 25, 2011
Participant: Brooke Wooldridge

Dartmouth Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies Symposium
New Hanover, NH, April 8, 2011
Participant: Brooke Wooldridge

Florida International University Tuesday Times Roundtable
Miami, FL, April 12, 2011
Participants: Brooke Wooldridge, Liesl B. Picard

The University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies
Chicago, IL, April 20, 2011
Participant: Brooke Wooldridge

Presentations: 2010

Caribbean Diversity Teacher Training
Jacksonville, Florida
Participants:  Mary Risner, Brooke Wooldridge, Chantalle Verna, Andrea Queeley, Heather Russell, Gerry Murray

Endangered Archives Workshop
Harriet Tubman Institute, York University, Canada, January 23, 2010
“A Multi-Institutional Approach to Newspaper Preservation in the Caribbean”
Participant:  Gayle Williams

Miami Dade Council for Social Studies Conference
March 1, 2010
“Teaching Haiti’s History: Past and Present”
Participants:  Adam Silvia and Brooke Wooldridge

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) and the Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library
Florida State University, March 26, 2010
Presenters: Matt Loving, Mark Sullivan, and Laurie Taylor

Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, April 20-24, 2010
Participants:  Brooke Wooldridge and Vicki Silvera

Haiti’s History:  Foundations of the Future
Duke University, April 22-23, 2010
Participant:  Brooke Wooldridge

Caribbean Diversity Teacher Training
Melbourne, Florida, April 24 and May 1, 2010
Participants:  Mary Risner, Brooke Wooldridge, Chantalle Verna, Heather Russell, Nicola Foote, Rosalyn Howard

Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library
University of Virginia, May 6-7, 2010
Participants: Laurie Taylor and Brooke Wooldridge

Latin America & Outreach Conference
Stone Center for Latin American Studies, May 20-21, 2010
Participants:  Hannah Covert, Liesl Picard, Brooke Wooldridge

Caribbean Studies Association CSA
Georgetown, Barbados, May 24-28, 2010
Participant: Brooke Wooldridge

Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries ACURIL
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 6-12, 2010
Participants: Laila Miletic-Vejzovic, Mark Sullivan, Laurie Taylor, Judith Rogers, Brooke Wooldridge

Global Resources Network Forum (Fair Dealing and Sustainable Management of Archives and Cultural Evidence)
Center for Research Libraries, Washington DC, June 25, 2010
Participant: Gayle Williams

Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials SALALM
Providence, Rhode Island, July 23-27, 2010
Brooke Wooldridge

Florida Council for Social Studies
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, September 24-27, 2010
“Take Latin America and the Caribbean into Your Classroom”
Participants:  Mary Risner and Brooke Wooldridge

Latin American Studies Association  
Toronto, Canada, October 10-15, 2010
Participants: Brooke Wooldridge, Liesl B. Picard

Haitian Studies Association Conference
Providence, Rhode Island, November 10-13, 2010
Participant: Brooke Wooldridge

Haitian Studies Association
University of Indiana, Bloomington, November 15, 2010
“The Digital Library of the Caribbean – Collaboration for Improved Preservation and Access for Research Materials”
Participants:  Brooke Wooldridge and Adam Silvia

Jamaica Journal Launch
Florida International University, November 16, 2010
Participants:  Barry Chevannes, Clover Johnston

Digital Library of the Caribbean Summit
Florida International University, November 16 -17, 2010
Participants:  dLOC Partners

The Role of the Caribbean in Black Intellectual Movements, 1940s-1970s.
From Negritude to Natty Dread: An Introduction  
From Garvey to Marley: A Look at Caribbean Leadership 
Miami Dade County Schools Teacher Training
Florida International University, December 8, 2010
Participant:  Matthew J. Smith