LAMP Spotlight – Damon McGhee

The friends and acquaintances that I have made at the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign will always remain a memorable part of my life. As a LAMP scholar I have extended my knowledge wonderfully and gained an even more enveloping gratitude for the work done in the implementation of a program like LAMP. I am able to go places and do things that previously were not possible for me. In mid-July, I will be traveling to Sao Tome off the west coast of Africa to investigate the sustainability of computer technologies in a developing country. This move is part of the Community Informatics Initiative, but more than that it is about people communicating with people. Instigating a dialogue between people allows for learning and engages a community. Currently, I am a Graduate Assistant in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Illinois. I hope this work and my familiarity with rare books and archives allows me to gain further knowledge about people and how they use rare books and other materials.