A field report on archives and special collections
Bridging Capacity and Care explores how archivists and librarians balance care, ethics, and capacity in an evolving field shaped by digital transformation and shifting resources.
Understanding stewardship in a time of transformation
What does it mean to be a good steward of archives when faced with constrained resources, digital transformation, and increased ethical complexity?
Bridging Capacity and Care: A Field Report on Archives and Special Collections is grounded in the lived experiences of archivists and librarians faced with that question everyday.
Drawing on over a year of research—including site visits, interviews, and observational sessions with more than 280 library and archival experts across 24 institutions on two continents—the report captures evolving pressures, aspirations, and resilience, from enduring backlogs, to the promise of post-custodial models.
Special collections and archives have a rare capacity to bridge the past and present. They are not merely custodians of the past; they are active participants in shaping the future of scholarship.
Shared realities and long-term responsibilities
Archivist and special collections professionals across institutions share common challenges and a deep commitment to care. Key takeaways from the report include:
- Stewardship today is a balancing act: Navigating ethical responsibilities, institutional pressures, and limited resources, often all at once.
- Backlogs are more than a processing issue: They shape scholarship by determining what can be discovered, taught, and researched.
- Metadata is the foundation and the bottleneck: Description work is essential to access but constrained by time, staffing, and outdated systems.
- Labor is both visible and invisible: The intellectual, emotional, and technical work of stewardship is often undervalued or unrecognized.
- Community-centered work is reshaping the field: From reparative description to post-custodial models that redefine ethical practice.
- The archival community is redefining success: Moving from traditional metrics to values like collaboration, equity, and long-term impact.
Turning insights into solutions
Bridging Capacity and Care directly informed the creation of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, an initiative designed to address the real systemic challenges surfaced by practitioners across the field.
From metadata bottlenecks and digital fragmentation to the need for scalable, community-driven tools, the service was shaped in partnership with archivists and librarians, and grounded in care, collaboration, and sustainability.
A community shaping the future
Join the growing network of archivists, librarians, and researchers who are redefining digital stewardship with JSTOR. Together, we’re building the tools, insights, and shared practices that make collections more discoverable, accessible, and enduring for everyone who relies on them.
The latest from JSTOR Digital Stewardship
The purpose of stewarding distinctive collections: discovery and impact
Preserving distinctive collections is essential—but preservation alone doesn’t guarantee impact. In today’s digital research environment, discovery determines whether primary sources are found, used, and meaningfully integrated into scholarship and teaching. This post explores why platform choice now plays a central role in turning stewardship into impact.
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services training: Advanced features
Webinar time is based in EST. Training for Stewardship participants (Tiers 2-3): use Collection Builder, organize related content, and use lists. One of three sessions in a monthly Stewardship training series.
North Shore Community College joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community
North Shore Community College has joined the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community as a Tier 3 participant, becoming the first community college to help shape JSTOR Seeklight and future stewardship practices.
The American Library in Paris adopts JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services to manage, preserve, and share its institutional archives
The American Library in Paris has joined JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 2 participant, using JSTOR’s integrated platform to manage, preserve, and share its institutional archives, beginning with historic photographs from its early history.
Northwestern University joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community
Northwestern University has joined the Tier 3 charter program of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, becoming part of a cohort of institutions working together to advance responsible, sustainable approaches to digital collections stewardship.
Creighton University joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community
Creighton University has joined the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter community as a Tier 3 participant, gaining access to JSTOR Seeklight and contributing to the development of responsible, scalable tools for digital collections stewardship.
What’s new in JSTOR Stewardship: January 2026
The JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services community continues to grow, bringing together libraries, archives, and cultural heritage organizations committed to responsible, mission-aligned digital collections. This month’s update highlights new community members, recently shared collections, and conversations shaping the future of scalable digital stewardship.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville expands its involvement in JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a charter participant
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) will join JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 3 charter program participant, expanding its partnership with JSTOR and helping shape the future of responsible, scalable digital collections stewardship.
DePauw University adopts JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services for integrated digital asset management, preservation, and access
DePauw University has joined JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 2 participant, adopting an integrated platform to manage, preserve, and expand access to its digital collections.
Interested in connecting the report’s insights to your work?
Our team can help you apply insights from Bridging Capacity and Care to strengthen discovery, preservation, and access through JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services.
Connect with our team
Looking to solve common collections management challenges?
Connect with our team to learn more about JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services.