Coastal Carolina University (CCU) is joining JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 3 charter participant, gaining a modern digital collections platform and becoming part of a collaborative community working to advance digital stewardship.
By joining JSTOR Stewardship, CCU aims to build durable infrastructure for institutional history, local and regional materials, photographs, oral histories, and other distinctive collections. The library team plans to migrate selected cultural and archival materials from current systems, where Stewardship’s integrated digital asset management, Portico-powered preservation, and JSTOR discovery pathways can support long-term care and broader access.
As a Tier 3 charter participant, CCU will gain access to JSTOR Seeklight for AI-assisted processing, including draft metadata, transcription, alt text, and collection-level insights. Early pilots will likely focus on text-based materials such as catalogs, bulletins, agendas, and meeting minutes, establishing repeatable workflows before expanding to more complex formats. CCU will also participate in charter community discussions and feedback opportunities and will be eligible for dedicated Mellon-supported funding for digitization projects processed through Seeklight and published openly on JSTOR.
“At Coastal, we are excited to have a trusted partner in JSTOR to help us launch the next phase of archives and digital collections,” said Melvin Davis, University Librarian at Coastal Carolina University. “We just opened our newly remodeled Kimbel Library with the Henry B. Burroughs Jr. Archives & Special Collections as a centerpiece in the facility. Partnering with JSTOR Stewardship is the next logical step for us in this journey.”
“JSTOR Stewardship gives us a practical and elegant way to organize, preserve, and share collections that are important to CCU and the communities around us,” said Scott Bacon, Interim Head of University Archives and Special Collections at Coastal Carolina University. “For a small team, having Portico preservation built into the workflow is especially valuable because it lets us strengthen long-term access sustainably without building that infrastructure on our own.”
“The CCU team is approaching their adoption of JSTOR Stewardship with an eye towards strategy as they ramp up their digital collections and archives: starting with achievable pilots, building staff capacity, and keeping future cultural heritage projects in view,” said Jess Clemons, Director of Business Development, JSTOR Stewardship. “That combination of pragmatism and ambition makes them exemplary collection stewards and a wonderful addition to the charter community.”
About Coastal Carolina University
Founded in 1954, Coastal Carolina University (CCU) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach. CCU serves more than 12,000 students and offers a broad range of academic programs across the arts, sciences, business, education, health, and coastal and marine systems.
About JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services is a seamless, cloud-hosted platform that unites digital asset management, long-term preservation, and expanded discovery pathways—including sharing on JSTOR—with the AI-assisted collections processing tools of JSTOR Seeklight.