I made this for you: A year of libraries

A desktop calendar and guide as a thank-you gift for the warmest welcome.

Dec 25, 2025

When I launched Card Catalog, I didn’t know what to expect. I had this vision of helping people navigate information and the AI landscape with the same care and rigor we bring to library work, but I didn’t know if anyone would actually want that.

But you showed up. You subscribed. You replied to my emails. You told me these ideas mattered to you.

That kind of welcome? It means everything.

So I made you something. 😊

What This Is

This is a 2026 desktop calendar featuring twelve iconic libraries from around the world, sized perfectly for your computer screen. Each month brings a different library: from a 16th-century Chinese library to the steps of the New York Public Library, from an Austrian imperial palace to a Colonial Revival building on the Maine coast.

The images have a soft, timeless quality - more like film stills than digital photography.

The calendar gives you the beauty. The companion guide gives you the stories.

For each library, the guide walks through its history, what makes it architecturally or historically significant, what its collection holds, and how to visit. These buildings aren’t just beautiful. They reflect specific ideas about who deserves access to knowledge, what’s worth preserving, and how architecture itself can communicate values.

Why I Made This

I care about information literacy and how people navigate complex information systems. But I also truly love libraries - their history, their aesthetics, the choices people made about preservation and access, what these buildings represent about how different cultures valued knowledge. I wanted to share that enthusiasm with people who see these spaces the same way I do, who appreciate both the beauty and the ideas behind it.

This is my thank you for the warmest welcome I could have imagined. I wanted to give you something beautiful you can enjoy all year long.

How to Use Your Calendar

The desktop wallpapers come in two resolutions: 2560×1440 and 1920×1080. If you’re not sure which you need, right-click on your desktop, select “Display settings” (Windows) or “System Preferences > Displays” (Mac), and look for your screen resolution. Download whichever matches.

Each wallpaper has the month printed on it. Keep the guide handy for when you want to know more about what you’re looking at.