Libraries, archives and museums often face many of the same challenges, but they don’t always approach them in the same way. A new project by the Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives (CALMA) aims to change that and bring the three fields together by developing a research roadmap. The project will identify research priorities, highlight areas of shared value and propose next steps for collaborative research.
CALMA Director Sharon Streams was aware of the separation, but began thinking about how to build bridges among the LAM (Libraries, Archives, Museums) fields after the issue arose at conferences she attended.
“The educational tracks tend to be more separated, and then the professional tracks are more separated, and the research is separated,” she said. “I hear the same issues or many of the same issues being discussed.”
Working with Information School Assistant Professor Ben Lee and Teaching Professor Jessica Luke, Streams’ project, “An Interdisciplinary Research and Action Roadmap for Libraries, Archives, and Museums,” was selected by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in August for a $145,899 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant.
Over 18 months, CALMA will engage researchers, educators and professionals from each LAM sector to identify shared research interests and opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.
“What [CALMA] sees as a center is that there are a lot of shared problems to tackle, grand challenges to tackle, and opportunities to advance as a cultural heritage field,” she said. “But there is no infrastructure for collaboration across libraries, archives and museums, and limited examples of it happening at all.”
CALMA began to build a case for exploring cross-sector “convergence” by sponsoring a 2025 MLIS Capstone project, for which two students partnered to develop a literature review that CALMA used as evidence in its grant proposal.
“It surfaced some specific areas that are overlapping areas of concern or interest across the sectors, but also showed there are few examples of such collaborations,” she said.
One shared concern is how artificial intelligence will affect LAM institutions and how to navigate it. Streams said the rapid acceleration of digital technology raises questions about how it affects information and access. Educational institutions need to assess how to continue to support and educate the public while making ethical decisions regarding these tools.
“The profession is responsible for listening to and responding to the needs of their community,” she said. “They're bringing in their knowledge of the community and the people they serve to those discussions.”
The project also will consult with an advisory board across LAM sectors, with iSchool Affiliate Professor Tracie D. Hall included among the advisors.
To further define the areas of overlap, CALMA will invite up to 30 field participants to engage in focus groups. These focus groups will help researchers identify the highest priority issues to address and questions to explore to help advance the library, archive, and museum fields. Streams and colleagues will synthesize their input into a research agenda and then engage another 25-50 people for a series of co-design workshops to develop a road map and action plan.
“That's when you start looking at potential partnerships or collaboration or the design of what follow-on projects might look like,” Streams said. “The idea is not just to have a conceptual framing of the research, but to give concrete ways that it could be put into action.”