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Erin Geier, cloud innovation lead and manager of the Vanderbilt Cloud Innovation Lab at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, represented Vanderbilt University at the 2026 International Image Interoperability Framework Annual Conference and Showcase, held June 1–4 across Amsterdam, Leiden, and The Hague in the Netherlands.
The annual event brought together software developers, digital repository managers, curators, scholars and administrators from libraries, museums, cultural heritage institutions and other organizations working with digital images and audiovisual materials. Conference sessions highlighted IIIF implementations from around the world, emerging tools, and new approaches to presenting and connecting digital collections.
IIIF provides a shared set of standards that allows institutions to deliver digital images and audiovisual resources in interoperable ways. For libraries and museums, this means that digital materials held by one institution can be more easily displayed, studied and incorporated into tools developed by another.
“Participation in the IIIF community supports the Heard Libraries’ continuing efforts to make our digital collections more accessible, reusable and connected with the broader scholarly infrastructure,” said Jon Shaw, dean of libraries and letters and Connie Vinita Dowell University Librarian. “My thanks to Erin for representing Vanderbilt and the significant work our libraries are doing in this area at the international IIIF gathering.”
Vanderbilt is a member of the IIIF Consortium, and library staff have contributed to and followed the framework’s development over time. Geier was Vanderbilt’s sole representative at the 2026 conference, where she connected with colleagues from museums, libraries and technology organizations developing tools that may be adaptable to Vanderbilt’s digital collections and research needs.
Participation in international communities such as IIIF helps the libraries evaluate emerging technologies, exchange implementation practices, and identify opportunities for future collaboration. It also ensures that Vanderbilt remains connected to the standards and infrastructure shaping access to digital cultural heritage collections worldwide.