Digitization is not just preservation; it is access. Digitized records enable institutions to highlight underserved collections, weave connections between disparate curatorial areas, and approach archives through a non-hierarchical, rhizomatic lens. How we accomplish this mission changes rapidly with new technological innovations and new standards. These changes are reflected in the work we produce now, but what about the work we’ve completed in the past? Over the past five years, Georgia State University's Digital Projects has critically reexamined our existing workflows and the state of digital collections to rework several key aspects of our program to increase archival accessibility. As part of this process, GSU has established new standards, completed extensive structural changes to digital collections, started revising existing metadata, optimized our digitization workflows, and utilized new AI-empowered processes to increase the productivity and searchability of our digital content.
This presentation will highlight key takeaways from our accessibility projects: what worked, what did not, what we wished we did differently and the surprising benefits that emerged as part of this process. We will discuss simple ways to increase scanning productivity, what we learned from our metadata revision process, and our AI-empowered transcription workflow.
Speakers Rachel Senese Meyers, Georgia State University (Session Chair) Abigail Martin, Georgia State University
