This proposal requests funding to support a doctoral consortium for Ph. D. students to be held just prior to the Joint Conference for Digital Libraries (JCDL) held this year in Austin, Texas. The doctoral consortium is a workshop for Ph.D. students who are in the early phases of their dissertation work. It is international in scope. The primary goal is to help students develop their thesis proposal and a plan for subsequent research by providing constructive and thoughtful feedback on their work to date and ideas for future work. Students provide formal written papers for critical review, and then present their research at the workshop, which takes place the day before the conference begins. The consortium is led by prominent professors and experienced practitioners in the field of digital library research and development. Leaders come from all over the world, and work at universities, research foundations, and in industry. The JCDL doctoral consortium provides students with an opportunity to meet and interact intellectually with people who would be otherwise difficult to meet, as well as to discuss their ideas with a broad and diverse set of people.
