An optimistic spirit of progressive pluralism accompanied early digital work in the arts and humanities. The singular “universe” of knowledge would be amplified into a “multiverse” through faceted approaches embodying varied cultural—and even individual–viewpoints. Precisely how this utopian ideal was to be realized—through customized search or fluid ontologies or other semantic web technology—was not clear. But the motivations combined creative impulses for decolonizing and diversifying information systems.

What happened after the Art history in digital dimensions report of 2017? To what extent have the recommendations been implemented? Has digital art history itself changed in this period? Are the challenges and recommendations outlined in the report still pertinent? What is the role of or is there a role in digital art history for the art librarian in an academic or museum setting?

For the past four years, the team working on the “Ed Ruscha, Streets of Los Angeles” project at the Getty Research Institute has worked to establish a framework for leveraging the benefits of collaboration and conversation between groups of people who work in different areas of expertise and communities of practice. Facilitating sustained conversations among art historians, art librarians, and technical specialists has proved a successful framework of mutual consultation between Getty staff and external collaborators. These conversations helped external collaborators better understand the kinds of metadata generated through the archival process and how it might be useful for investigating their particular research questions. In turn, Getty staff gained a better understanding of the kinds of metadata helpful to researchers, which helped determine our own priorities for this work. Moreover, new avenues of inquiry emerging from this collaborative project have outlined a path for articulating best practices in digital art history projects to come.

As producers and mediators of digital resources, art librarians frequently interact with the digital humanities in a broad sense. In the following brief overview of recent DH work undertaken in US art libraries, engagement with digital humanities is evidenced by the development of open access projects, the creation of linked data sets and the innovative sharing of art and archive collections to support digital pedagogy. Related activities of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA), its Digital Humanities SIG and the ARLIS/NA in the Humanities Commons are also discussed.

How can European library staff working in digital humanities connect with peers in the library sector, determine where to find relevant information about digital scholarship, provide their collections as data and to be an equal partner in digital humanities research? The LIBER Digital Humanities Working Group was created as a participatory knowledge network in 2017 to address these questions. Through a series of workshops, knowledge sharing activities, and a Europe-wide survey and resulting report, the Working Group engaged with the international LIBER DH community. Useful reflections are provided on organising an open, voluntary DH community and planning for inclusive activities that benefit digital scholarship in European research libraries.