News

RMIT joins JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter program

JSTOR welcomes the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) to the Tier 3 charter program of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, a values-led initiative focused on collaboratively developing sustainable, scalable tools for digital collections stewardship.

RMIT—the first Australian institution to join the charter program—plans to use JSTOR Seeklight, our AI-assisted processing tool, to test and validate AI-supported workflows. Their initial focus will be an architecture slide… Read more»

JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services charter program surpasses 30 participating institutions

JSTOR announced that more than 30 institutions have joined the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services Tier 3 charter program. These institutions form a values-led community that, together, is shaping the future of scalable, AI-assisted collections processing.

The 33 libraries and archives participating in the charter program represent a diverse, global cohort of academic and cultural institutions, and each has chosen to adopt JSTOR Seeklight—a first-of-its-kind, AI-powered collections processing tool. JSTOR Seeklight is designed by and for the… Read more»

JSTOR Seeklight adds transcript generation for text-based materials

JSTOR has launched transcript generation within JSTOR Seeklight, expanding its AI-assisted collection processing capabilities beyond metadata to include full-text transcription of handwritten, typed, and mixed-media documents. The new feature is now available to all Tier 3 charter participants in JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services.

Developed in collaboration with librarians and archivists, this new functionality enhances discoverability, supports compliance with accessibility requirements, and maximizes the research value of digital collections. Transcripts can be generated during upload or on demand, reviewed… Read more»

In the news: Ten Surprising Things You Can Enjoy Online, Thanks to JSTOR

In 1995, Mellon Foundation president William Bowen had the idea to help libraries save shelf space and money by digitizing journals, using emerging technologies to preserve and make them available for research. Thirty years later, in Ten Surprising Things You Can Enjoy Online, Thanks to JSTOR, Mellon highlights just some of the incredible collections now on JSTOR and available to all types of learners, from artists and botanists to incarcerated learners.… Read more»

In the news: New Tools for Stewardship: Q&A with JSTOR’s Roger Schonfeld

JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services managing director Roger Schonfeld sat down with Library Journal executive editor, Lisa Peet to talk technology, innovation, and what’s next for library archives and special collections. New Tools for Stewardship: Q&A with JSTOR’s Roger Schonfeld reveals an evolving field with improved infrastructure, human-centered use of generative artificial intelligence, and community engagement. Roger reflects how JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services and JSTOR Seeklight are enabling this shift: helping libraries and archives tackle backlogs, preserve collections, and… Read more»

In the news: How an Academic Archive Became a Tech Juggernaut

Featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s leadership section, in How an Academic Archive Became a Tech Juggernaut, writer George Anders traces JSTOR’s development from a grant-funding project in the mid-1990s to an ever-evolving digital resource partnered with thousands of libraries and publishers to serve millions of learners worldwide.

Anders explores JSTOR’s growth and impact, elevating the voices of members of the library and publisher community alongside Kevin Guthrie, JSTOR’s founding president who now leads parent organization ITHAKA. Four operating… Read more»

A new books model: Publisher Collections on JSTOR

Beginning in 2026, JSTOR will offer Publisher Collections, a new model within the Books at JSTOR program. Publisher Collections will enable libraries around the world to acquire significant lists of new books from a growing set of 20+ publishers on the JSTOR platform. The model responds directly to the needs of libraries and publishers for diverse, affordable books acquisition models.

John Sherer, Director of the University of North Carolina Press is among the publisher and library leaders who worked… Read more»

JSTOR Seeklight honored with C.F.W. Coker Award for Description

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has named JSTOR Seeklight, the AI-powered collections processing technology within JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services, the 2025 recipient of the C.F.W. Coker Award for Description.

Established in 1984, the award recognizes projects that advance archival description by setting national standards, modeling best practices, and reshaping how archival materials are made discoverable. Recipients are selected by an SAA-appointed subcommittee, including members of the organization’s Description Section. In its announcement, SAA praised JSTOR Seeklight… Read more»

JSTOR and SCELC Announce Consortium-Wide Agreement to Offer Digital Stewardship Services to All Member Institutions

JSTOR and the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) announced today a consortium-wide agreement to make JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services available to all SCELC Member institutions. Through this partnership, over 100 libraries will have the opportunity to access next-generation digital asset management (DAM) tools, long-term preservation, and AI-powered collections processing support.

JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services is a new initiative designed to help institutions overcome persistent obstacles in digital collection stewardship and describe, preserve, manage, and share their distinctive… Read more»

Roger Schonfeld named managing director, JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services

ITHAKA announced today that Roger Schonfeld will lead JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as its managing director.

Launched in April 2025, JSTOR Digital Stewardship is a new digital collection stewardship solution designed to help libraries and archives describe, preserve, manage, and share their unique collections at scale. This service integrates next generation digital asset management with AI-powered collection processing using JSTOR Seeklight, long-term preservation powered by Portico, and paths for increased discovery through the JSTOR platform.

“JSTOR Digital Stewardship… Read more»