Presenters

Scott Ziegler, Head of Digital Programs and Services, Louisiana State University Libraries
Jenny Mitchell, Head of Archival Processing, Louisiana State University Libraries

Description

Choices we make about what to digitize and put in digital libraries affect possible research agendas, shape the public’s perception of what our institutions hold, and show what our institutions value. Increasingly, archives and special collections are making these decisions with diversity and inclusion goals in mind. Many of us who write policy are asking: who is being represented in our collections and how; and how can we modify our digitization policies to create a more inclusive digital collection? 

LSU Special Collections is in the process of reviewing its digitization priority policies and practices in light of its strategic goal of increasing and celebrating the diversity of its collections. As part of this, we are acknowledging our own institution’s history of suppressing diversity and promoting exclusion. By examining past restriction policies, we are grounding our digitization policies in our own local context, and exploring how we can use digitization to counteract histories of exclusion.  

Though the specific examples that we’re using are unique to LSU, the attitudes that informed those decisions were widespread throughout the profession. Our project demonstrates the benefits of locally grounded policy for all types of institutions.

This webinar will be of interest to administrators, curators, collection managers, and anyone working to steward, administer, and provide access to archives, and special and distinctive collections.

Works in Progress: An OCLC Research Occasional Webinar Series

These webinars are exclusively for OCLC Research Library Partners, but the recordings are publicly available to all.

Works in Progress: An OCLC Research Occasional Webinar Series to talk about work happening in OCLC Research – we'd like to present our work informally and get feedback from you, our Partners. We'd also like this to be a venue for Partner institutions. What are you working on that everyone should know about? What input would help you move forward? Let us know!