Merrilee Proffitt

Democracy's Library @ the Internet Archive | Library and archives leader | People at the center of all I do; DEI advocate and practitioner.

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Check out my latest article: Information Stewardship Forum: News from the Government Information Space, May 11, 2026 https://t.co/Jl9y8dORIl via @LinkedIn

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Democracy's Library in the works! Thanks to our hardworking scanners.

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

It's microfiche in the digital era 📄💻

Want to see how microfiche is preserved digitally? You can!

Check out the Democracy’s Library #livestream, 7:30 AM–Midnight PT, scanning & preserving public records in real time — all to mellow #lofi vibes.

📡 https://t.co/ZtbXXhHcx2

#LiveNow

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

RIP Ask Jeeves. The natural-language search engine founded in 1996 was rebranded as Ask in 2006, and officially shut down on May 1.

Here are the Wayback Machine’s first and last captures of the site.

When websites disappear, the historical record can disappear with them. The @WaybackMachine preserves that history – capturing the web so its past remains accessible.

Explore 30 years of web history: https://t.co/26v2OOgRbq

#90s #90sNostalgia #WebHistory #WebDesign

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

On 1 May, it is my pleasure to join James Jacobs (US Government Information Librarian, Stanford University) for a discussion about the Preservation of Government Information Call to Action https://t.co/kq3rNGWjA8
All welcome! Registration & more https://t.co/sCLTgxUSKH
#govinfo

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

The arguments behind every landmark Supreme Court ruling have never been freely available to the public… until now.

Thanks to a gift from the Wolf Law Library at William & Mary Law School, more than 125,000 #SCOTUS records & briefs are now freely freely available on the Internet Archive, spanning 1830 through 2019. The arguments that shaped America, including Brown v. Board of Education. Loving v. Virginia.

Read the full announcement ⤵️
https://t.co/yhjqSBVDOa

@WMLawSchool #SupremeCourt #DemocracysLibrary

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Thank you Wolf Law Library for bringing this collection to us and to Leslie Street for generous coaching and to @FreeLawProject for excellent metadata!

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Excited to share that we've made a collection of Supreme Court Records and Briefs available via @internetarchive . I've written a blog post where I go into more detail about the importance of this collection.

https://t.co/oRyfrx3who

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Government information should be freely available to all, but that is not always the case. I'm proud that we are doing our part to change this, especially for a body of materials that is of such high interest in the US context & beyond. This is what is behind Democracy's Library.

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

Destroying the @InternetArchive's @WayBackMachine would be the equivalent of the burning of the Library of Alexandria - one of the worst losses of knowledge in history.

Media giants are now threatening to do this.

We can't let this happen.

Pass it on.

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

I am proud to be one of the 100 journalists who signed the letter defending the @InternetArchive's essential @WayBackMachine.

Corporate news outlets now trying to block archival preservation of the news is a betrayal of the ideals of journalism.
https://t.co/UxWHe3aSPd

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

#worldartday! A mosaic bench from Aruba to lift your spirits.

https://t.co/UfcQVEFcm9

#democracyslibrary

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Thought you guys might be interested in this Apollo 17 sizzle reel from 1973 - the last moon mission prior to Artemis! Captured by @NASA, preserved and made available by @internetarchive

https://t.co/fFl1Gl9Rk2

#NASA #artemis #artemisii #democracyslibrary

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

🇨🇦 Canada’s Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL) has joined a global movement to protect digital rights for libraries, archives & museums—supporting access, preservation, and shared cultural heritage online. 🌍📚

Learn more ⤵️ https://t.co/sEi0WC4ddl

@InternetArcCA @CARL_ABRC @LibraryArchives @CdnHeritage

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

🐥 Peeps marshmallow chicks have been around for 73 years! 🤯

Starting all yellow, they expanded into a rainbow of Easter egg-like hues.

Their official website has been online for decades, but tracing its changing domains is like an Easter egg hunt through web history.

Take a "peep" into the colorful past of your favorite sites with the #WaybackMachine ➡️ https://t.co/26v2OOgRbq

#Easter #Peeps #InternetHistory

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

DLARC: The Radio Geek’s Doomscrolling Antidote 📻🌀

The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC) gathers 225,000+ items: magazines, QSL cards, audio, video, and more, free through the Internet Archive. 📚💿

It’s a deep, searchable rabbit hole of radio history, research & culture. 🔎📡

Tune in ⤵️🔗
https://t.co/DWSmvaYgbz

#AmateurRadio #HamRadio #RadioHistory @InternetArchive

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

How did Mickey Mouse go from borrowing hit songs to making Disney’s own musical legacy? 🎶

1930 Mickey Mouse comic strips referenced popular songs, like "Singin’ in the Rain," placing the character inside a shared musical culture. But that all changed with the original tune, "Minnie’s Yoo Hoo," marking the shift from borrowing culture to creating it.

Learn more on our blog 👇
https://t.co/89Owc7GWGv

#MickeyMouse #DisneyHistory #AnimationHistory

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

🧵 🎶 The 2026 Public Song Project is here! And this year, we’re turning up the volume on the public domain.

For the first time, WNYC’s Public Song Project is partnering with the Internet Archive!

Here’s what you need to know ⬇️

🎤 Anyone can participate.
You don’t need to be a professional musician. Voice memos welcome. Bedroom producers, shower singers, full bands — the public domain is for everyone.

🤝 What’s new this year?
This year’s playlist will live not only with WNYC, but also on the Internet Archive, where millions can stream and share it.

Some ideas:
🎼 Rewrite a public domain poem in your own language
🎙 Highlight a historically marginalized artist
📜 Remix a government work (they’re all public domain!)
🎵 Reimagine the national anthem
🏡 Tell your family’s story through inherited songs

There’s no right or wrong way to do this. The public domain belongs to you. It’s a tool to celebrate, question, remix, critique, and create.

📅 Submit your song by May 10.

📝 Submission form, contest rules & more info ⤵️
https://t.co/2epWnQSCC7

📩 Questions? Email [email protected]

@wnyc @InternetArchive #PublicSongProject #PublicRadio

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

Volunteer #librarians from around the world joined forces to build the Nancy Drew collection on Open Library—volunteering their time to organize series, verify editions, untangle authorship, and clean up metadata so anyone can discover these books.

Learn more about the collection ➡️ https://t.co/tqt3RaUld8

#empoweringlibraries

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

🎤 When songs enter the public domain, they don’t just get older—they get new lives. 🎶

For Public Domain Day 2026, musician Stephanie Woodford gave three newly public-domain classics a fresh voice by writing new lyrics, reimagined for today. It's a striking example of how timeless songs continue to evolve and find new audiences.

Learn more ⤵️
https://t.co/96JX6j3jiL

#PublicDomainDay

[Merrilee Proffitt @MerrileeIAm]

Department of Justice memo - use AI instead of human translation to support non-English audiences.

https://t.co/tjr17yBCtW