HathiTrust’s Strategic Vision includes objectives to expand the HathiTrust collection and ensure the process to submit digitized content meets member needs. To better understand these needs, we’ve launched a research project to explore members’ experiences with the current submission, or contribution, process so we can identify areas for improvement. Our goal is to assess each step of the process, identify bottlenecks, and uncover opportunities for improvement, ensuring a more seamless and efficient experience for all contributors.
Project Background and Vision
Accepting digitized materials contributed by members is a core part of our mission as many libraries rely on HathiTrust for digital preservation. HathiTrust’s investment in long-term preservation infrastructure, workflows, and services ensures items are properly stored, maintained, and accessible over time. While the contribution process was originally designed to support mass digitization workflows, such as those enabled for Google library partners, this project focuses specifically on the local contribution process, which supports content that may be missing from large-scale projects. However, member libraries have reported difficulties meeting certain requirements for digitizing and packaging materials for submission. Addressing these barriers will enable more voices and collections to be represented, aligning with a key objective in HathiTrust’s Strategic Vision.
Our vision is to create a contribution process that meets all member needs and feels intuitive, seamless, and supportive, regardless of an institution’s size, resources, or technical expertise. This would lower barriers for institutions that are interested in contributing but face limitations. Ultimately, improving this process will help the HathiTrust and library community preserve and increase access to materials, as well as strengthen shared infrastructure for the future.
Project Timeline
We are collecting data through qualitative and quantitative research methods, such as interviews and surveys. Earlier this year, we conducted field research, observing workflows and gathering documentation with library staff in a variety of departments, such as digital collections and digital preservation. We are currently conducting one-on-one interviews with member institutions that have previously contributed or considered contributing materials to the HathiTrust collection. From these interviews, we hope to discover motivations, pain points, and suggestions to improve our contribution process. Over the next month, we’ll wrap up our final round of interviews, synthesize findings, and develop recommendations for process improvement and additional member support.
Initial Findings
We’ve had the opportunity to directly connect with staff who have engaged with the contribution process. Our conversations with member institutions have allowed us to understand how diverse member experiences truly are. A mix of obstacles and opportunities have surfaced from interviews and survey responses, from navigating complex requirements to gaps in resources. Members have also expressed a strong commitment to HathiTrust’s mission for digital preservation and are eager to provide feedback and suggestions.
Share Your Pain Points and Ideas
We welcome participation from any HathiTrust member who has experience contributing materials — or has wanted to, but encountered barriers. Members can get involved by completing a brief survey or signing up for a one-on-one interview. If you’d like to participate or learn more, please reach out to member research assistant Rachel Abellera at [email protected] or Collection Services Librarian Natalie Fulkerson at [email protected].
Image Credit: Adobe Stock. Scanning equipment for digitizing heritage books.