“Who’s Driving the Bus?” or How Digitization Is Influencing Archival Collections

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
David Gwynn, Digital Projects Coordinator (Creator)
Beth Ann Koelsch, Associate Professor and Curator of The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project (Creator)
Kathelene McCarty Smith, Associate Professor and Department Head, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Archivists who work directly with unique collections, as well as librarians and other professionals who coordinate digitization, generally agree that access should be prioritized. However, each group has its own goals, standards, and timelines that may conflict with those of their colleagues. The push to maximize access to collections may, in some cases, go so far as to influence collecting policies. Is the lure of rapid digitization affecting best practices of arrangement and description? If online access to the collections is the ultimate goal, and if each stakeholder has a different perspective on how best to accomplish this, who decides how to proceed? These questions led the archivists and digitization librarian at a midsize state university library to ask, “Who is driving the bus with respect to digitizing archival collections?” This question will be explored through the experiences of three digitization initiatives at the library, each of which involved a different aspect of collaboration between archivists and a digitization librarian.

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies
Language: English
Date: 2019
Keywords
libraries, archives, special collections, digitization

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