Museums Cohort

History of the Cohort

Begun in 2015 with generous support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, we have fostered a museums cohort within DLF. The cohort is a space for the community to discuss digital collections questions that are particular to museums and museum libraries, and to tackle topics that resonate across museums, archives, and libraries.

DLF’s Museums Cohort originated as an exclusive group of member museums. After an open call for new members was held in 2018, the Cohort expanded its membership with fourteen additional museums. Member institutions of the original cohort and the 2018 expansion included:

• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• New York Art Resources (NYARC) Consortium: The Brooklyn Museum; The Frick Collection; MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries
• Getty Research Institute
• The Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries
• The Andy Warhol Museum
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• The Corning Museum of Glass
• The Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens
• Maryland Institute College of Art
• The Menil Collection
• Museum of Impact
• National Gallery of Art
• New Museum
• The Obama Foundation
• Peabody Essex Museum Phillips Library
• Seattle Art Museum Libraries
• as well as campus museums at our 170+ other member institutions!

Since 2019, participation in DLF’s Museums Cohort has been open to all, regardless of institutional membership or affiliation and our monthly cohort meetings have become a space for practitioners across disciplinary and institutional boundaries to come together to build skills, share ideas, strengthen digital engagement and collections, and advance technological initiatives in service of their common missions.

Get involved!

The #DLFMuseums Cohort, just like our working groups, is open to all. Get to know others working on digital preservation, collections and museum libraries management, rights management, teaching, user engagement and more—across the cultural heritage sector!

Anyone with museum interests or who engages in public or academic museum-based projects is warmly invited participate in meetings and activities.

Monthly Meetings

Join us on the 4th Wednesday of every month at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern via DLF’s Zoom.

Group folder for agendas & resources

What to Expect at Monthly Calls

The #DLFmuseums community is a self-directing group. Meetings are lightly facilitated by DLF staff, who set topics of conversation based on community suggestions and ideas. Need feedback about a project, or have something exciting to share? Want to discuss a local issue or challenge? Get in touch to reserve some time at an upcoming meeting.

Meeting attendees include students and professionals from all over the world. See past agendas or watch selected meeting recordings for more detailed information about who’s here and what we’re up to.

Communication

Subscribe to our listserv to get involved with the Museums Cohort community.