CFP: Project Briefings @ Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) conference. Briefings (presentations) -address emerging issues in digital information or updates on institutional or collaborative initiatives. Do not need to be a member to submit a proposal.

Job posting: Director, Reckoning with Our Racial Past Initiative @ Smithsonian; 2-Year Term position, w/ possibility of extension contingent on funding availability. FT, onsite Washington, DC; $143,913-$197,200/year Repts to Undersecretary of Education. Deadline for applications: February 27, 2026

No surprise to librarians, but perhaps surprising to users, demands/prices for ebooks /audiobooks are killing public library budgets. David Szalay's book, Flesh,” costs DCPL: $28.99 hardcopy $59.99 ebook $69.99 audiobook DCPL owns hardcopy; rents & must repurchase ebook & audio book every 2 yrs.

This unassuming announcement belies a huge victory. Welcome back IMLS.

Heads up, DC neighbors. Scheduled between midnight and 2:00AM. Will likely wake us all.

Internships @ Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) to explore the museum education & operations fields in context of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander histories & cultures.Apply by: 2/6/26 $8,500 stipend Open to all undergrads or recent undergrads & all majors.

Women's History Internships @ Smithsonian in museum admin; advancement; comms; or digital. $1200/wk stipend+ travel to/from DC. 6/8 - 8/7/26. Apply NOW (deadline = 2/12 OR first 200 applications) Open to U.S. college students/recent college grads, 18 yrs of age or older & have 3.0 or higher GPA.

Research or collections internships @ Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology, Smithsonian's Natil Mus of Natural Apply by 3/1/26 Open to grad students @ US based institutions or US citizens studying abroad. Room/board/tuition/small stipend provided.

Internships @ National Gallery of Art. FT, 34 wks from 9/22/26-5/15/27 Stipend: $34K + travel; relo; housing support, health ins urance & transit subsidy. For grad students or undergrads who have completed degree (or will by Spring 2026) Apply by: April 6, 2026. Great opportunity.

On the underimining of leading cultural heritage organisations under the Trump administration...

Please share: Undergraduate internships @ Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. Part-time, 14 wks onsite from Febr. 23 to May 29, 2026; $6300 stipend Apply at: internships.si.edu/opportunity/...

This thread..👇

Not every beginning has to be loud. Showing up gently still matters.

Believe it or not, the future of the United States may rest on how our museums perform in 2026. It’s time to know the nation’s history, if for no other reason than that it is our only path to building a more perfect union.

Nighthawks at the Diner street mosaic, Rogers Park, Chicago

Happy Public Domain Day Eve! Public Domain Day 2026 arrives with a number of significant works that deserve a closer look—as well as plenty of caveats, asterisks and traps for the unwary. https://loom.ly/lj70hQU

Ten LIS Stories That Shaped 2025 📚 lisnews.org/ten-stories-...

"Tell me what you collect, and I’ll tell you who you are." The coda to that sentiment should be 'and tell me when you collected it. The Louvre collecting its first video work in 2025 says a lot more than what the actual work is, no?

Yo!! “Metro will offer free bus and rail fares from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on New Year’s Eve”!! (Metro will be operating normal service on Wednesday, Dec. 24 and Friday, Dec. 26) www.popville.com/2025/12/dc-m...

When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.

Also, it's up to the people. Cf: Sears Tower (no Chicagoan calls it by the other name...)

Art museum humor. I'm here for it.

This year's tree topper is a peacock. Inspired by Fra Angelico's The Adoration of the Magi.

Looking forward to hearing more about the great work being done by the IIIF community at our in person meeting in June!

Job posting: Training Manager in the Smithsonian's Office of Digital and Innovation. Deadline: 12/23 OR after first 100 applications, whichever comes first (so apply NOW if interested) 2-yr term position onsite, Washington, DC; $101,401-$131,826/yr

Job posting: Director of the Lemelson Ctr @ Nat'l Museum of American History. FT, On-site, $167,603 $195,200. Set the oversee research, fundraising, public engagement for exhibits, public programs & projects; provide leadership to invention education at NMAH. Deadline: 02/13/2026

DC Public Library with a friendly reminder 📚

Save the date: Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) 2026 Archiving 2026 conference, June 15-18, Boston

Do you use the Getty Vocabularies in your work? The team that supports these efforts would love your feedback.

A list of critical work to enter the Public Domain in 2026, presented in an Advent calendar interface!

Two week summer Teacher Innovation Institute @Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum for Middle School (grades 5-8) STEAM teachers. Applicants must commit to two full weeks onsite for two consecutive summers. (Museum pays food/lodging/travel costs!)

This is unreal. The 2026 code4lib conference has been cancelled unilaterally by Carnegie Mellon University because the Department of Education raised issues with the diversity scholarships: > An applicant must be a member of a group not well-represented within the code4lib community, including […]

#CFP: Our Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives (CALMA) invites proposals for the inaugural Black Information Futures Symposium, February 21–23, 2026, in Seattle. Please save the date & reshare! Submit a proposal by 12/10: #phdchat calma.ischool.uw.edu/uw-news/call...

This is really important. Both in the fact of IMLS reinstating grants. (Which have been *crucial* for libraries and civic life across the country. Notably in rural areas.) And in the example that the overall stalwartness and rigor of federal district/circuit courts has made a huge difference.

The Smithsonian's Claudine K. Brown Internships in Education. For those interested in the field of education & museum leadership.Dates: 6/1/ - 7/24/2026; 40hrs/wk; Stipend: $650/week+$3,200 towards housing costs. Open to undergraduate U.S. citizens/permanent residents. Applications due 2/15/26.

Job posting: Web Administration & Multimedia Technologist @smithsonian American Women's Museum. Closing date: 12/11/2025; GS12: $101,401 to - $131,826/yr. Onsite, Washington, DC. Responsible for web services/operating support for public website & mobile application of media technologies.

A short blog post on how the Rijksmuseum is using their Operation Night Watch project to implement FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) from the get-go to steward the immense amounts of data used and generated from this project.

📣🎬 Calling all filmmakers & artists! Celebrate Public Domain Day in January 2026 by making a 2–3 min short film using public domain works from 1930 & earlier. 📆 Deadline: January 7, 2026 💰 First prize: $1,500 ℹ️ Details 👉 blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2... #contest #filmmaking #publicdomain

New issue of my newsletter: "The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition" — One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved, and it's a good use of AI newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...

Oh hey, it's me! Very excited to finally launch this project in partnership with @wikimediauk.bsky.social, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. If you produce or work with cultural heritage 3D data in UK I'd love to speak with you! Links in thread 👇

"Court permanently blocks Trump’s executive order to dismantle federal agency for America’s libraries." https://www.ala.org/news/2025/11/court-permanently-blocks-trumps-executive-order-dismantle-federal-agency-americas "Today Nov 21], the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island […]

Science Illustration internships (2) at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. $700/week, relocation funds for travel to and from SERC; and onsite dormitory housing available. Anticipated start date 02/26 but can vary; duration is 11 weeks. Location Edgewater, MD.

CFP: Recovering Voices Community Research Program Supports community researchers travel to the Smithsonian to examine objects, specimens, documents related to their heritage, & engage in a dialogue with Smithsonian. Funding up to $10,000 tor travel, accommodations, research.

Having worked at both the Harvard museums and the Smithsonian, I can say that the glass flowers are to the Harvard museums what the pandas are to the Smithsonian. (FWIW, I love them both!)

For those in DC: The Smithsonian will reopen the National Museum of American History & the National Air & Space Museum (& the Udvar-Hazy Center) on Friday, 11/14. All other museums, research centers & the National Zoo will reopen on a rolling basis by Monday, 11/17. For updates, see: si.edu/visit.

2025 has not been a good year for museums.

Washington Spirit fans again with the “Free DC!” chant at the 51st minute. #NWSL #thatsthespirit #WOSO

"Welcome to show business.." Egads.

This symposium examines how AI is shaping curatorial practice & discourse—from archives & collections to exhibitions Scholars, curators, artists, designers, museum professionals & technologists invited to explore curatorial agency, authorship, & knowledge production in an era of algorithmic systems.