LDCX is an annual unconference that brings together leading technologists in the libraries, archives and museums (LAM) spaces, to work collaboratively on common needs.

At the dawn of the American Revolution, Ben Franklin quipped that "we must hang together, or surely we will hang apart." At Stanford, we have consciously chosen to adopt community-based solutions rather than rolling our own whenever possible, and we believe our adoption of Fedora, solr, Blacklight and Hydra (amongst other community based products and projects) have put us ahead of where we would otherwise be.

That said, we recognize the need for more: more shared components, more solutions from other sources, more contributors and contributions to the pieces we have already adopted. To help galvanize this suite of community-based solutions, we have created the LDCX series of technology conferences to come to community consensus on development, best-of-breed products, requirements and future directions.

The objective of the gathering is to bring together institutions and developers with shared needs, and assemble around a shared set of solutions and technical components.  With technology contributions from peer institutions, shared products for digital cultural heritage offer the critical building blocks for a complete suite of solutions -- from digitization workflow to digital asset management, from preservation to discovery and delivery. 

In 2015, LDCX attendees crowdsourced a guide on "How to Hack LDCX", designed to give first time attendees a taste of how the event runs, what to expect, and how to get the most out of it. 

The next LDCX will be March 21-23, 2016. 

Generally, LDCX is held the Mon-Weds of Stanford’s spring break week. To plan ahead, Stanford’s academic calendar lists spring break dates well into the future.

LDCX stood for LibDevConX (Library Developer Conference fill-in-your-own-X) but as of the 2014 event we have expanded the definition from the previous Library focus to include other Cultural Heritage institutions such as Archives, Museums and Galleries, and thus the L now stands for LAM - Libraries, Archives, Museums.

LDCX has been run every year at Stanford since 2010.  Information about previous and upcoming events can be found in the conference specific pages in the sidebar, including topics discussed, participants and logistics of attending.