This post was written by John Powell, Exhibit Developer/Writer with Smithsonian Exhibits. It first appeared on the Smithsonian Exhibits blog.    Last year, Smithsonian Libraries celebrated its 50th anniversary as a unified library system by opening not one, but two exhibits: Game Change: Elephants from Prey to Preservation and Magnificent Obsessions: Why We Collect. Smithsonian Exhibits (SIE) was thrilled to be asked to design, edit, and produce the exhibits. Here’s our tale more »

Keala Richard arrived In November at the Smithsonian Libraries Preservation Department as its newest member. She applied for the position of Conservation Technician assigned to work on the Libraries’ general collections. When we met with Keala through a video interview scheduled for her at 4:00 a.m. to accommodate the time difference in Hilo, Hawai’i, we could see she was serious about her willingness to take on the job. Keala, who then worked more »

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Library has a Small Journals collection located in the center of our reading room. We are currently working to catalog this collection and add records to our online public access catalog. These journals are incomplete runs of short lived, hometown newspapers and newsletters, written by everyday people who lived in the neighborhood. What makes these journals special is that many times they are not found anywhere else more »

This post was written by Mara Wessel, a 2018 intern in our Smithsonian Libraries Research Annex (SLRA). Throughout my six-month internship at the Smithsonian Libraries Research Annex (SLRA), I worked on processing materials from the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH). This project involved examining and researching books to determine the bibliographic details as well as the holdings in the Smithsonian Libraries. Much of the collection consisted of books on world more »

Anyone interested in knowing more about the African diaspora, American slavery, or the twentieth century African American migration to northern U.S. cities will find insights at the National Museum of African American History and Culture Library. The library is devoted to providing access to resources that support the scholarship of researchers from around the world who study African American history and culture.     Located on the second floor of the National more »

Help us enhance information in Wikipedia about women in natural history during our Wikipedia Editing Workshop on 13 March in celebration of Women’s History Month! In collaboration with the Biodiversity Heritage Library and with support from Wikimedia DC, we’ll be hosting a Wikipedia Editing Workshop from 10am-2pm ET on 13 March 2019 to improve and create Wikipedia articles related to women in natural history. The workshop will be hosted in the National Museum of more »

Our Resource Description department is busy throughout the year cataloging books and other materials for our 21 branch libraries. This holiday season our catalogers shared a few delightful items that were recently cataloged, using the hashtag #12DaysofCataloging. Below is a round-up of all the titles we featured on social media.  Get ready for lots of pop-up books, castles and winter themes!  These fabulous books were compiled by staff members Heidy Berthoud, Lesley Parilla and Julia Blakely.