Parallel Session 15 – Human Interfaces with Technology
Date: Friday, 3 July 2026, from 09:00 to 10:30
Moderator: TBC
Location: R9
15.1) Hackathons as Methodology: Advancing Collections as Data Through International Participation
Presenters: Ayla Karaman, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Roman Kuhn, Berlin State Library, Germany
In an era of rapid technological change, evolving research practices, and increasing geopolitical and epistemic uncertainty, research libraries play a critical role in shaping how digital collections can be accessed, interpreted, and reused as data. This paper discusses the findings of the collaborative project “Exploring collections as data: a cross-cultural GLAM labs approach” between the Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries, UK and the Stabi Lab at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Germany. The purpose of this international collaboration is to investigate how and why different user groups interact with digital collections data. Expanding on previous exchanges between both institutions as part of a wider international initiative created in the wake of Brexit, the project sought to identify user needs and use cases to develop best practices and recommendations to advance the publication of collections data and develop responsive data services. Though working in different countries, and in an academic library in Oxford, and a State library in Berlin, we share common questions about the use and impact of our collections as machine-actionable and computationally reusable data, particularly in relation to emerging digital and AI-driven research practices.
The use of collections data has emerged as an established mode of inquiry across academic fields, in artistic works and for citizen science projects. The collections-as-data project has led discussions around creating responsible and participatory data cultures in institutions (Padilla et al., 2023, doi:10.5281/zenodo.8341519). Yet as libraries and other heritage organisations create machine readable collections data and consider developing interfaces to facilitate access, user needs and requirements remain poorly understood. The publication of digital collections data, however, must be informed by an understanding of institutions’ user practices, shared standards and criteria to assess impact.
The project “Exploring collections as data” uses a cross-cultural and participatory approach to address this gap and to contribute to a user-centric development of collections data and data services. Open data hackathons organised at the Stabi Lab in Berlin and the Centre for Digital Scholarship in Oxford attracted participants from a range of backgrounds, including academic research, creative industries and software development. At each event teams experimented with curated datasets from libraries and other cultural heritage organizations at GLAM Oxford and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, producing prototypes that suggested yet unexplored use cases for the wealth and breadth of library and cultural heritage data. In doing so, they made visible practices for accessing and transforming collections data. Moreover, they identified gaps in collections data documentation, technical support and skills development. The findings demonstrate how libraries can exercise their institutional power by acting as enablers of access, mediators between technology and users, and stewards of responsible data cultures. The paper concludes by outlining how insights from this collaborative work can inform strategic service development at both libraries and offer transferable lessons for research libraries seeking to strengthen access to digital collections and knowledge in an uncertain world.
15.2) Mapping Stakeholder Tension in Automatic Text Recognition (ATR) Practice
Presenter: Joseph Nockels, University of Sheffield, Digital Humanities Institute, United Kingdom
This presentation surfaces methodological tensions within Automatic Text Recognition (ATR) practice, the AI-enabled process of converting images-of-text into machine-processable data (Mühlberger et al., 2019), across cultural heritage research and institutions. It focuses on two main user communities – research libraries and digital collection users, while arguing for embracing friction as productive engagement with AI-driven systems: distinguishing access-oriented from research-oriented transcriptions, institutional and user expectations, and the foregrounding of documentation in producing ATR outputs and (re)using transcription models. In doing so, this presentation addresses an urgent need to discuss how individual libraries are integrating AI tools into curatorial, technical and bibliographic protocols (Terras, 2022: 144).
Through consulting National Library of Scotland (NLS) curators and digital staff as to their attitudes, priorities and problem-areas regarding ATR, our approach is grounded in the values and priorities of the sector (Gooding et al., 2025). Six interviews were first conducted with NLS staff in 2024 and re-evaluated with the same participants in 2025, as part of an internally funded project. These interviews followed an action research methodology, defined as ‘a practice changing practice’ (Kemmis et al., 2014: 2) to further understand how participants orientated themselves toward emerging AI tools for collection processing. This was followed by group discussions with the ATR user community, specifically the membership of academic cooperative Transkribus (https://www.transkribus.org/). Transkribus was chosen due to it being the largest consumer-level ATR system and having a clearly defined community of practice (Terras et al., 2025). From this, a finite list of ATR practices was constructed by categorising latent themes and core ideas (Drisko & Maschi, 2015: 405). This followed Unsworth’s (2000) ‘scholarly primitives’ model for digital humanities research and core ATR practices to be mapped as Trading Zones across organisational contexts (Kemman, 2021: 39-58).
This presentation demonstrates, as findings, how tension arising from disparate AI practice can be better negotiated, in turn ensuring that sectoral values of findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability are maintained. Subsequently, it moves beyond external theorisations of curation and research, instead mapping where divergence occurs between infrastructural assumptions of automation, scalability and universality, and libraries’ status as trustworthy sources of data specificity, interpretive labour and situated analysis. By mapping ATR practice, research libraries are provided a visual resource that informs complex decision-making around internal resourcing of digitisation tools, model training and parameter setting, against the constantly evolving and uncertain world of AI development.
Mühlberger, G., et al. (2019). Transforming scholarship in the archives through handwriting text recognition, Transkribus as a case study. Journal of Documentation. 75(50): 965-967. doi: 10.1108/JD-07-2018-0114/full/html
Drisko, J.W., Maschi, T. (2015). Content analysis. London: Oxford University Press.
Gooding, P., et al. 2025. The adoption of handwritten text recognition at the National Library of Scotland. In Navigating AI for Cultural Heritage Organisations, edited by Lise Jaillant, Claire Warwick, Paul Gooding, Katherine Aske, Glen Layne-Worthey and J. Stephen Downie. 187 – 207. UCL Press.
Terras, M. 2022. The role of the library when computers can read: Critically adopting handwritten text recognition (HTR) technologies to support research. In The Rise of AI: Implications and applications of artificial intelligence in academic libraries, edited by S. Hervieux and A. Wheatley, 137–48. American Library Association.
Terras, M. et al. 2025. The artificial intelligence cooperative: READ-COOP, Transkribus, and the benefits of shared community infrastructure for automated text recognition. Open Res Europe, 5:16. doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.18747.1
Kemman, M. 2021. Trading Zones of Digital History. De Gruyter.
Kemmis, S. et al. 2014. The Action Research Planner. Springer.
Unsworth, S. 2020. Scholarly Primitives. Available at: https://people.brandeis.edu/~unsworth/Kings.5-00/primitives.html
15.3) From Local Memory to Research-Ready Knowledge: Community-Driven Urban History in a Research Library Repository
Presenter: Agnes Koreny, Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, Budapest
Research libraries face the challenge of integrating lived, local, and informal knowledge into their collections while maintaining scholarly standards. This presentation demonstrates how community stories and citizen science methodologies can be embedded into research library infrastructures, highlighting both benefits and challenges without compromising research integrity.
The case study is presented through the Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library of Budapest (FSZEK), which represents a hybrid library model particularly relevant in this context. FSZEK functions simultaneously as Budapest’s public municipal library network, a nationwide public library service, and Hungary’s national specialist library for sociology. Its long-established special collections – focused on Budapest, music, and sociology – reinforce its character as a research library. At the same time, through its Central Library and a network of 46 branch libraries operating in every district of Budapest, FSZEK reaches a broad and diverse audience, from everyday city residents to academic researchers, university lecturers, and students. This dual role positions the library at the intersection of civic knowledge and scholarly research.
The project builds on Mihály Ráday’s urban survey conducted in the early 1980s, which documented buildings, functions, and social life in Budapest’s inner districts. Decades later, the initiative continues through a contemporary extension in which residents, students, and volunteers contribute photographs, observations, interviews, and contextual information using a structured citizen science approach. This process captures urban change while preserving everyday memories that would otherwise risk disappearing.
Community contributions are curated, contextualised, and preserved within the Budapest Electronic Archive (BEA), FSZEK’s institutional digital repository based on DSpace. Controlled metadata, editorial review, and ethical guidelines ensure that community-generated materials become discoverable, citable, and reusable research resources, transforming local narratives into structured content suitable for urban studies, heritage research, and social research.
The presentation will showcase:
- how citizen science can be integrated into digital collection development as a core professional activity;
- the workflows that connect community contributors with research-library standards of quality, documentation, and long-term preservation;
- how community stories can enhance—rather than weaken—the analytical value of local history collections;
- the role of institutional repositories in balancing openness, academic freedom, and curatorial responsibility.
Beyond the local case, the project invites reflection on how research libraries—particularly those operating at the boundary between public service and scholarly infrastructure—can actively shape the future of knowledge creation. The session will examine the transferability of this model across diverse research library contexts and discuss its strategic implications for citizen science and digital collection development. By opening this discussion, the presentation aims to contribute to a broader dialogue on how libraries can build resilient, inclusive, and research-ready knowledge infrastructures in times of uncertainty.