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Library of Congress Labs

Events

Past Events

  • A graphic containing orange dots and text that reads, LC Collections as Data: Closing Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud

    LC Collections as Data: Closing Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud Jun 21, 2024 12:00 PM on Zoom | Recording Will Be Made Available

    The Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud (CCHC) grant, awarded to the Library in 2019 by the Mellon Foundation, centered on developing ways to support researchers using new computational methods to engage with the Library’s collections. CCHC has allowed the Library’s Digital Innovation Division (LC Labs) to take a significant leap forward in facilitating computational research with Library materials and creating a long-lasting foundation for this work to continue.

    This CCHC Closing Event celebrated the conclusion of our grant effort, sharing what we’ve learned over the years, and introduced our next chapter of providing access to Library collections as data. We also showcased a colorful new comic that explores the exciting and complex world of collections as data.

  • Hands holding phone of portal to Chinatown as person with tiger mask poses in front of Library building

    HIDDEN PORTALS May 1 - May 31 2024 | Visit Hidden Portals site

    For this Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Jeffrey Yoo Warren unveils a series of hidden portals to early historic Asian American communities on the blocks where they once existed in various locations around the country and at the Library of Congress campus in Washington, DC.

    On May 11th, the Innovator is hosting a mask-making workshop for families with children ages 6-12 at the Library of Congress for APA Heritage Month Family Day. Visit the Hidden Portals site to register.

  • Asian American man with glasses and red jacket holding paper tiger mask in DC Chinatown

    Seeing Lost Enclaves: A Virtual Visit of Providence’s Historic Chinatown September 19, 2023 4:00 PM ET on Zoom | ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM

    Join the Library’s Innovator in Residence Jeffrey Yoo Warren to experience and learn about his work virtually reconstructing lost neighborhoods with communities of color around the United States.

    Seeing Providence Chinatown is an ongoing project using archival photographs and records to reconstruct an immersive 3D model of historic downtown Providence Chinatown in 1914. The process of reconstructing the neighborhood’s buildings, streets weaves together and interlinks the few images remaining of this once-vibrant enclave, of which almost no trace remains today, though descendants and Chinese American community remain in the area. Beyond spatial reconstruction, the project serves to honor and support deeper understanding of the community which once made its home on Empire Street, and what their story means for us today, especially as Asian Americans. -Jeffrey Yoo Warren

  • Working with this dataset bar chart series

    Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud Data Jam October 25, 2022 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM ET

    The Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud initiative is an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-supported endeavor to pilot ways to combine cutting-edge technology and the collections of the largest library in the world, to support digital research at scale. The Data Jam event, which was recorded and can be accessed on loc.gov, featured presentations from seven experienced cultural heritage data professionals about their experiences accessing and analyzing data in the Library's cloud-based storage environment.

  • graphic of three spiral columns

    Connecting Collections as Data: Transforming Communities, Sharing Knowledge, and Building Networks with International GLAM Labs POSTPONED.

    UPDATE: Unfortunately, the Library of Congress, with our global community, are experiencing a number of closings and restrictions due to COVID-19. Due to these disruptions, continued uncertainty, and the potential impact on normal operations of the Library of Congress, the Connecting Collections as Data events will be postponed and rescheduled. We are very disappointed to not be able to host this event but our community’s health and wellness are the priority. You can read more about the themes intended to be covered at the event here.

  • speculative annotation in speech bubbles

    Annotation as Artistic Act: Virtual Panel Discussion Moderated by 2021 Innovator in Residence Courtney McClellan August 26th, 2021 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET | #AnnotateLOC

    2021 Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Courtney McClellan, creator of the Speculative Annotation art project, will speak with Dr. Remi Kalir, Dr. Antero Garcia, and Amber Esseiva. Dr. Remi Kalir, an assistant professor of learning design and technology at the University of Colorado Denver, and Dr. Antero Garcia, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, are the authors of the book Annotation, released by MIT Media Press. Amber Esseiva is a curator at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Institute of Contemporary Art and their new Public Annotations program. The panel will address annotation as a social, educational, civic, and creative act. Panelists will discuss the overlap between contemporary art and education annotation practices, and use their work in the museum and the classroom to discuss why annotation is relevant today.

  • film reel deck and monitors

    I\V/A\V: Informal Virtual Audio Visual Summit September 15, 2020 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM EST #LOCIVAV

    The Library of Congress convened an informal virtual summit to share ongoing work at the Library to improve access to held sound and moving image material, and to learn from the wider community of A/V practitioners and users. The summit featured over 30 presenters and four thematic sessions: LC Share Out, Accessibility for All, A/V Makerspace, and Notes from the Field. This event was hosted in partnership with the Library's American Folklife Center, Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI), National Audio Visual Conservation Center, and National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. Due to a technical issue with Webex, the posted recordings of sessions 1,2 and 3 have out of sync video. We apologize for the inconvenience. All session slides have been made available below, and full transcripts have been made available along with the recordings.

  • Newspaper Navigator Virtual Data Jam May 7, 2020 2:00-3:30pm ET (UTC-5) ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM External

    Innovator in Residence Ben Lee gave a sneak peek of the images contained in over 16 million pages of historic newspapers. In case you missed it, an archived recording of the event is available.

  • stained glass window with abstract design

    Machine Learning + Libraries Summit September 20, 2019, Library of Congress

    LC Labs hosted this conference to explore the near-term use of machine learning technologies in cultural heritage settings. Public artifacts of the Summit include the Event Summary and a "Look Book" giving an overview of all projects represented at the conference.

  • looking up through towers of a server farm

    LC #webarchiving datasets Twitter chat May 30, 2019 1:30-3:30 pm ET (UTC-5)

    Join the Library of Congress Labs team and Library of Congress Web Archiving team on 30 May for an afternoon of #webarchiving datasets Twitter chat - follow along with @LC_Labs from 1:30 to 3:30 (UTC-5). We'll discuss web archiving at the Library of Congress, collections, and recently released derivative datasets.

  • abstract illustration of two figures

    EYEO Code + Libraries Summit June 3, 2019 9:00AM- 5:00PM CST, Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, MN

    LC Labs is happy to be co-hosting the EYEO Summit this year! Code+Libraries is a day-long open summit in which participants will explore ways that Libraries and the creative coding community can work together to create new forms of collaboration, to empower learners and to strengthen communities in an un-conference format. Code+Libraries is open to coders & non-coders, technologists, librarians, archivists, organizers and those looking to be organized. We're committed to assembling a diverse set of voices and skill sets, and to providing a safe space for conversation. Find out more on the conference page External.

  • letter addressed to Abraham Lincoln

    Letters to Lincoln Challenge November 19th, 2018 10:00AM- 1:00PM EST, Library of Congress Great Hall ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM External

    On Nov. 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Library of Congress marked the 155th anniversary of this historic speech with a one-day celebration, featuring a pop-up exhibit of the earliest known draft of the speech, and a Letters to Lincoln transcribe-a-thon for volunteers on and off site! For more info, check out our challenge guide.

  • Understanding the arts poster

    DARIAH Beyond Europe October 2nd-4th, 2018, Library of Congress

    A series of workshops External organized in 2018 and 2019, as part of the DARIAH-DESIR project External. The conference aimed to initiate collaborations and to exchange knowledge and experience in digital scholarship on an international level. Conference sessions focused on digital newspapers and text analysis, web archives, and public humanities. This is the second of three DARIAH dissemination workshops: the first workshop took place at Stanford University in September 2018, and the third workshop will take place in March 2019 in Adelaide, Australia. Please visit our program page External for further details.

  • DDRF banner

    Text Mining with HathiTrust Workshop: Empowering Librarians to Support Digital Scholars August 9, 2018, Library of Congress

    This workshop introduced attendees to text analysis research and the common methods and tools used in this emerging area of scholarship, with particular attention to the HathiTrust Research Center. It provided a framework for how the library can support text data mining, as well as transferable skills useful for many other areas of digital scholarly inquiry. Topics included: intro to gathering, managing, analyzing, and visualizing textual data; hands-on experience with text analysis tools, including the HTRC's off-the-shelf algorithms, datasets, and using the command line to run basic text analysis processes. Contact htrc_workshop@library.illinois.edu if you have questions, and learn more about the project here External.

  • Inside Baseball Labs Showcase July 13, 2018, Library of Congress ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM External

    JSTOR Labs and the Library of Congress demoed prototypes, tools, visualizations, and other outcomes of our week-long user-centered flash build using items from our digital baseball collections andthose from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The event also featured a panel discussion with ESPN’s Clinton Yates, mathematician Jordan Ellenberg, and baseball historian Rob Ruck on America’s pastime and its relationship to cultural memory and shared history. Check out the tool we built - Mapping an Americna Pastime.

  • IIIF conference photo

    2018 IIIF Conference May 21-25, 2018, Washington DC

    The 2018 International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Conference was held May 21-25 in Washington, DC, co-hosted by the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. The Conference was intended for a wide range of participants and interested parties, including digital image repository managers, content curators, software developers, scholars, and administrators at libraries, museums, cultural heritage institutions, software firms, and other organizations working with digital images and audio/visual materials. The agenda is posted here http://iiif.io/event/2018/washington/External.

  • Artist in the Archive logo

    Artist in the Archive LIVE! March 7, 2018 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST, Library of Congress ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM External

    The data artist Jer Thorp was our Innovator in Residence Innovator-in-Residence. He has demonstrated creative ways of encountering the Library of Congress' collections through color and time, and even produced the podcast Artist in the Archive External, exploring items and processes at the Library through interviews with staff. Jer recorded an episode of his podcast in front of a live audience at the Library of Congress.

  • photograph of US Capitol building

    Code4Lib 2018 February 13-16, 2018, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington DC

    NDI led planning efforts for the 2018 Code4Lib conference, an annual gathering of technologists from around the world, who largely work for and with libraries, archives, and museums and have a commitment to open technologies. For access to the livestream and presentations from this event, see the conference website External.

  • ADE banner

    Designing the Future Landscape: Digital Architecture, Design & Engineering Assets November 16, 2017, Library of Congress

    To advance knowledge sharing, documentation, and promotion of best practices for long-term sustainability and interoperability of digital architecture, design and engineering (ADE) assets for design and the built environment, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art and the Architect of the Capitol will host a day-long symposium offering thematic discussions on these challenging topics. With contributions from various stakeholders in the ADE communities, including content creators and the caretakers, topics could include the development and implementation of open standardized file formats; case study discussions on current projects and practices, and creation of viable project deliverable specifications for new-build ADE assets. The goals of the symposium include community building, identifying common issues and challenges, and information sharing. Outcomes from this meeting will include a report with recommendations for future work. See the website for more information.

  • DC History for All logo

    DC History for All September 23, 2017, Anacostia Community Museum

    Experience Washington, D.C. and history firsthand with DC History for All Day at Anacostia Community Museum. Meet staff and volunteers from cultural heritage and history organizations located in and focusing on the capitol city. DC History for All Day is a free, inclusive event and seeks to bring together those interested in history and Washington, D.C. Join us for a front row view of opportunities to join volunteering initiatives at the U.S. National Archives, the Library of Congress, DC Public Library, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ford’s Theatre, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Smithsonian Institution… then contribute to and make your own history! See the archived event page here. Read a blog post about the event here.

  • Collections as Data banner

    Collections as Data: IMPACT July 25, 2017, Library of Congress ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM External

    More relevant, more accessible, more visual, and more useful--these are some benefits of making digital collections available as data and ready for computational analysis. The Library of Congress hosted a day-long event that featured case-studies and impact stories of applying digital methods to analyzing and sharing collections. Presenters shared how using collections as data reactivates the holdings of libraries and other centers of history and art to make deeper connections to the communities they serve. See the agenda here.

  • Hack to Learn banner

    Hack-to-Learn May 17-18, 2017, Library of Congress and GWU Gelman Library 

    A learning hackathon in partnership with George Mason and George Washington University Libraries. Over the two days, attendees used low or no-cost computational tools to explore four library collection as data sets. 

    You can see the full schedule here. You can read a blog post about the event here.
  • Photograph of Mark Laufersweiler at podium

    Software Carpentry February 15-16, 2017, Library of Congress

    We hosted a Software Carpentry workshop with instructors Mark Laufersweiler and Mark Stacey of the University of Oklahoma, inviting staff from the Library, the DC Public Library and federal libraries for hands-on learning in the programming language Python, the version-control software Git, and the command-line interface Bash. Read a blog post about the workshop.

  • Collections as data banner

    Collections as Data: Stewardship and Use Models to Enhance Access September 27, 2016, Library of Congress

    The rise of accessible digital collections coupled with the development of tools for processing and analyzing data has enabled researchers to create new models of scholarship and inquiry. The National Digital Initiatives team invited leaders and experts from organizations that are collecting, preserving and providing researcher access to digital collections as data to share best practices and lessons learned. This event will also highlight new collaborative initiatives at the Library of Congress that seek to enhance researcher engagement and the use of digital collections as data.

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