CLIR’s Digital Library Federation (DLF) invites proposals for the virtual 2026 DLF Forum, to be held online October 14-15, 2026. Learn more about who we are and who attends the DLF Forum.
Please note: This Call for Proposals (CFP) is for the October virtual event. There is no in-person event in 2026. We are committed to making this online conference accessible to all through consistent use of captioning in all sessions and the provision of accessible presentation materials, screen-reader-friendly documents, and clear communication of accommodation options. For accessibility related questions or concerns, please contact forum@diglib.org.
The submission deadline is Monday, May 11, at 11:59 pm ET
We invite proposals for live virtual presentations on all topics related to digital libraries, encompassing case studies, “show and fails,” practical applications, methods, projects, ethics, research, and learning in any area, such as:
- Collections & Stewardship: Digitization, digital preservation, digital asset management systems (DAMS), born-digital materials, and format conversions.
- Community & Advocacy: Partnerships, community archives, outreach, and professional advocacy.
- Digital Research & Pedagogy: Digital humanities, scholarship, music, art, creative expression, and digital pedagogy.
- Ethics, Justice, & Society: Race and technology, accessibility, AI/Machine Learning, copyright, and environmental sustainability.
- Infrastructure: Platforms, workflows, project management, and assessment.
This list of content topics is intended as a starting point and is not exhaustive; we welcome additional ideas and approaches that align with the spirit of the Forum.
Session Formats
All sessions will take place live in a meeting-style or webinar-style Zoom room, and breakout rooms will be available upon request for all formats except lightning talks. Sessions are invited in the following lengths and formats:
-
- 90-minute Workshops: Guided training sessions on a specific tool, technique, workflow, or concept. Up to five (5) facilitators are allowed per submission.
- 50-minute Working Sessions: Open sessions for community organizers, creative problem solvers, and existing or prospective DLF working groups to begin or get feedback on in-progress projects, collaborate on addressing challenges, and discuss thought-provoking questions. Up to five (5) facilitators are allowed per submission.
- 40-minute Panels: Discussions of up to five (5) presenters on a unified topic, with an emphasis on community discussion. Proposals with diverse and inclusive speaker involvement will be favored by the committee. Panels will be slotted into 50-minute sessions, leaving a minimum of 10 minutes for Q&A and discussion at the end of each session.
- 40-minute Presentations: A single topic or project presented by up to three (3) presenters. Presentations will be slotted into 50-minute sessions, leaving a minimum of 10 minutes for Q&A and discussion at the end of each session.
- NEW! 40-minute Digital Storytelling (DS) Presentations: Interactive sessions highlighting digital storytelling projects—such as exhibits, platforms, or collections— developed through collaborative partnerships that offer immersive, experiential engagement. They should feature a minimum of two (2) and no more than three (3) presenters in conversation, such as a digital librarian or archivist paired with a community partner, student, artist, or scholar whose work is represented in, or inspired by, the digital project. Demos are encouraged. DS Presentations will be slotted into 50-minute sessions, leaving a minimum of 10 minutes for Q&A and discussion at the end of each session. Read more about this new format here.
- 5-minute Lightning Talks: High-energy talks on any topic held in succession in a single session, presented by up to two (2) presenters. There is no formal Q&A for lightning talks, but we encourage presenters to share contact information with attendees for follow-up conversations after the session.
Proposal Requirements
- Proposal title and submission format.
- Author information: full names, organizational affiliations, and email addresses for all presenters and authors.
- Brief abstract – limited to 50 words. This abstract will appear in Community Voting and in the conference program.
- Full proposal – limited to 250 words for all formats except for panels and workshops, which are limited to 500 words. This full proposal will only be seen by reviewers and the Program Committee.
- Five keywords for your proposal.
- Breakout room request – there will be an option in the submission form to indicate a request for breakout rooms.
- Workshops Only: Learning objectives (limited to 50 words; brief, clear statements about what attendees will be able to do as a result of taking your proposed workshop); technology needed; participant proficiency level; how your workshop will be interactive.
- Session materials (notes, documents, slides, handouts, etc.) will be shared under a CC BY 4.0 license, which allows for sharing and adaptation of content with appropriate credit and an indication of any changes made. We will continue to invite presenters to deposit these materials in the Zenodo.org open-access repository, where the DLF community archives DLF Forum materials under this license. Presenters must agree in the submission form to share their materials under these terms.
Submissions and Evaluation
Based on community feedback and the work of our Program Committee, we welcome submissions geared toward a practitioner audience that:
- Clearly engage with DLF’s mission;
- Activate and inspire participants to think, make, and do;
- Engage people from different backgrounds, experience levels, and disciplines; and/or
- Include clear takeaways that participants can integrate and implement in their own work.
All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Reviewers will use this rubric to rate each proposal based on the values listed above. They may also recommend the proposal for a different format. Broader DLF community input will also be solicited through an open community voting process, which will help inform the Program Committee’s final decisions.
We especially welcome proposals from individuals who bring diverse professional and life experiences to the conference, including those from underrepresented or historically excluded racial, ethnic, or religious backgrounds, immigrants, veterans, those with disabilities, and people of all sexual orientations or gender identities. As we have done in the past, the Program Committee will prioritize submissions from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), individuals working at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Minority Serving Institutions (MSis) and other libraries, archives, museums, and organizations that center BIPOC to promote inclusivity to the greatest extent possible. Self-identification options will be provided in the proposal submission form, but are not required.
Schedule
- Call for Proposals opens: Tuesday, April 14
- Call for Proposals closes: Monday, May 11
- Notification of final decisions: Week of June 11
- Program released: Week of June 23
Read more about the DLF, who attends the Forum, and find co-presenters.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions: forum@diglib.org.
What is the DLF Forum?
DLF programs stretch year-round, but we are perhaps best known for our signature event, the DLF Forum.
The DLF Forum welcomes digital library, archives, and museum practitioners from member institutions and beyond—for whom it serves as a meeting place, marketplace, and congress. As a meeting place, the DLF Forum provides an opportunity for our working groups and community members to conduct their business and present their work. As a marketplace, the Forum provides an opportunity for community members to share experiences and practices with one another and support a broader level of information sharing among professional staff. As a congress, the Forum provides an opportunity for the DLF to continually review and assess its programs and its progress with input from the community at large.
Here, the DLF community celebrates successes, learns from mistakes, sets grassroots agendas, and organizes for action. The Forum is governed by the DLF’s Code of Conduct. All Forum, in-person and online events, and community participants are expected to uphold a harassment-free, inclusive environment. The Code prohibits bullying, discrimination, and harmful behavior of any kind, requires respectful, constructive engagement and adherence to established safety protocols, and includes options for reporting harassment.
Generally, who attends the DLF Forum?
The DLF Forum attendees are a multi-disciplinary cross-sector community of people who work in the digital library, museum, archives, and cultural heritage fields, from librarians, project managers, curators, technologists, and developers to administrators and service providers. The Forum welcomes practitioners from academic, art and cultural heritage, and non-profit organizations, government agencies, and more. They come from all over the country and world and represent all levels of professional experience. Forum attendees are inquisitive, engaged, and action-oriented with a focus on learning new skills and solving problems together. When offered in a virtual format, the DLF Forum may reach a wider and larger audience than in-person events.
Who should submit a proposal?
We encourage proposals from:
- DLF members and non-members;
- Regulars and newcomers;
- Digital library practitioners from all sectors (higher education, museums and cultural heritage, public libraries, archives, etc.) and those in adjacent fields such as institutional research and educational technology;
- Students, early- and mid-career professionals, and senior staff alike.
Can you help me find a co-presenter?
Looking for co-presenters on a particular topic? Try using our 2026 DLF Forum Unofficial Program Sessions and Connections spreadsheet for connecting with other prospective presenters. Note that the Program Committee and CLIR+DLF Staff do not monitor the document and it is not part of the official submission process.
How is my proposal evaluated?
All submissions will be peer reviewed. Reviewers will use this rubric to rate each proposal. They may also recommend the proposal for a different format. Broader DLF community input will also be solicited through an open community voting process, which will inform the Program Committee’s final decisions.
What makes a successful proposal? Can I see successful proposals from previous years?
Based on community feedback and the work of our Program Committee, we welcome submissions geared toward a practitioner audience that:
- Clearly engage with DLF’s mission;
- Activate and inspire participants to think, make, and do;
- Engage people from different backgrounds, experience levels, and disciplines; and/or
- Include clear takeaways that participants can integrate and implement in their own work.
We strongly encourage prospective presenters to review our rubric and past DLF Forum programs (from 2025 and 2024 in-person & virtual) to understand what makes a successful DLF Forum proposal. Strong proposals will demonstrate how presenters intend to design their proposed sessions to be interactive, inclusive, and action-oriented, and will also outline clear learning objectives. We especially welcome proposals from individuals who bring diverse professional and life experiences to the conference, including those from underrepresented or historically excluded racial, ethnic, or religious backgrounds, immigrants, veterans, those with disabilities, and people of all sexual orientations or gender identities. As we have done in the past, the Program Committee will prioritize submissions from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), individuals working at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other libraries, archives, museums, and organizations that center BIPOC to promote inclusivity to the greatest extent possible. Self-identification options will be provided in the proposal submission form, but are not required.
What is the author limit? What is the presenter limit?
Each session type has a maximum number of presenters per submission:
- 90-minute Workshops: Up to 5 facilitators
- 50-minute Working Sessions: Up to 5 facilitators
- 40-minute Panels: Up to 5 presenters
- 40-minute Presentations: Up to 3 presenters
- 40-minute Digital Storytelling Presentations: Up to 3 presenters
- 5-minute Lightning Talks: Up to 2 presenters
There is no limit to the number of non-presenting authors listed on a proposal.