“Dear Prince, Congratulations! You have been selected as a participant in the 2024 Mortenson Center Associates Program…”
The quote above is excerpted from my acceptance letter received on January 11, 2024, for an opportunity I refer to as my “Mortenson Egg” laid by a beautiful female butterfly who aims to transform more caterpillars into butterflies worldwide. According to the teachings of biology, the plant on which a butterfly lays its egg serves as food for the hatching caterpillar. With my case, the host plant for my egg lacked some nutrients due to adverse soil conditions and that nearly killed the dream of my egg ever hatching into a caterpillar. On Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at 12:05am, I was warmly welcomed by Clara M. Chu at the lobby of the Willard Airport at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. That was when it dawned on me that truly my “Mortenson Egg” had fully hatched out of its shells. The adverse soil conditions that nearly starved this egg to death is a story for another day. For now, let’s enjoy what the caterpillar has been feasting on in the first few days.

In the life cycle of a butterfly, the feeding stage is essential, and at this stage all that is required of the caterpillar is to eat and eat and eat to grow. I must confess that in my first week as an Associate, I ate a lot. My first meal was a combination of cultural and knowledge exchange, spiced with some fellowship. And this was at the residence of Barbara J. Ford (Mortenson Distinguished Professor Emerita and former President of the American Library Association) where all 2024 Associates were hosted in a welcome dinner. There was enough to eat and drink literally, whilst introducing ourselves and interacting with each other. This fostered some sense of cooperation and friendship as we connected faces to names. My appreciation of cultural and global diversity deepened as I learned about the culture and traditions of fellow Associates. I was expecting to form some collaborations with my fellow Associates at the later stages of the program, little did I know that this welcome dinner was the plate and cutlery set for that meal. The building of rapport among Associates begun that evening and it was worth it.
Prior to our introductions, I was impressed when Barbara walked to me and said, “Prince, you’re the Associate from Ghana. Look at what I’m wearing, I got it from Ghana. I was there some years ago for a project.” I was so glad Barbara chose to wear something from Ghana for our welcome dinner.
The fun continued when I went over to the kitchen to have some water and I met Barbara and Vuyokazi Jamieson (PhD student and research assistant at the Mortenson Center).
I asked Vuyo to kindly take a photo of me and Barbara, and just when I stood beside Barbara for the photo she said “Prince, I am the tallest in this room, but you make me look so short”, we all burst into laughter and I responded, “oh I forgot, let me grab a chair and sit for this photo” and that was how this beautiful memory (photo) was created.

Just like Prof Elizabeth Amoah, the famous Grandma at the Department for the Study of Religions (University of Ghana), Barbara shows good humor and is full of joy. We had a jovial evening with her at our welcome dinner.
On Monday, June 3, 2024, the Associates Program officially began in room 309 at the University of Illinois Library, Urbana-Champaign. After the official welcome address, an overview of the program was shared, and it was packed with classroom sessions and facility tours.



The classroom sessions got bouncy with what I call the “Shirley exuberance.” The workshops with Shirley Smith-Crews, the owner of Learning Alliances, LLC, were full of fun and brainstorming activities. I was amazed how the DiSC assessment tool was able to describe my personality style and suggest key strategies I need to adopt to help me work more effectively. With DiSC, I have learned how to communicate as a leader and quickly adapt to others by mirroring their behavior if their personality style is not confirmed. I have also learned the common reactions associated with change, therefore, as an emerging academic library leader, I will employ the 3-step transition model as a coping strategy to lead any transformation process at my workplace.


My research interest is in AI in academic libraries; how the technology can be used in knowledge organization and metadata creation. As a cataloger I intend to learn more about the technology in order to design a system that can learn, think, and apply standard classification and cataloging rules to perform original classification and cataloging of information sources in academic libraries. This interest was deepened after I enjoyed the presentation by Laila Hussein and Amina Malik on Data Management with AI Tools. What I found interesting was how AI is used in discovering the looting and trafficking of old books and manuscripts.
Some new meals I was introduced to included digital citizenship and digital navigator. That was my first time hearing those terms. Kristen Mattson’s session on Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship was so enlightening. With the numerous digital resources shared, I have gained some skills needed to fully participate in our rapidly evolving digital space and as a result can educate others on how to be good citizens in this digital world. Guangchun Zheng’s presentation on her ongoing doctoral study informed me about the role of digital navigators in dealing with digital illiteracy. Clara Chu introduced blogging to Associates to enhance our communication skills and promote co-learning. And the skill I gained from that workshop is what has given birth to this post you’re reading; my first ever blog.






Facility tours to the Main Library, Oak Street Library, Grainger Engineering Library Information Center, and Urbana Free Library served as some form of experiential learning for me to complement the classroom sessions. I was exposed to new insights and best practices that are yielding results in these various facilities. I am inspired and motivated to see how these library facilities are functioning well and having an impact on their communities. This tells me that the future is bright for the profession, and as such I won’t give up in my quest to design and develop programs and services geared towards the transformation of libraries in my home country.
As you can see, the caterpillar had lots of food to eat to grow, and it did not disappoint. So much to eat that not all could be captured in this blog but can be found in the blog posts of my fellow Associates. My learning goals that were fulfilled included leadership and communication, user-centered services, and professional networking.
“Ye spirits above, may you let me live to see the successful end of the wheel of change I’ve set in motion…” – Efo Kodjo Mawugbe (In The Chest of A Woman)
My dear readers, it is my pleasure to inform you that the caterpillar is fully grown now. And sharing in the prayers of Nana Yaa in Efo Kodjo Mawugbe’s play, I say that, if the spirits above incline unto us to live to see the successful end of this wheel of change set in motion, the transition stage of the caterpillar will be available to read in my second blog (week 2).
Till then, cheers!
Please read about my experiences and reflections for week 2 here.