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 community to improve the discovery and impact of distinctive collections by accelerating key stages of collections processing—from description to transcription and analysis—while keeping human expertise at the core through practitioner-centered workflows.

Charter participants engage directly with the JSTOR team—and one another—through monthly discussions, working groups, and prototype testing. Institutions are using JSTOR Seeklight to pilot new workflows, expand access, and take on longstanding processing backlogs, while also sharing their insights with the wider community through conference presentations and panels at events like Charleston and NISO Plus. Feedback from charter participants directly informs new feature releases—such as transcripts for text-based items—and the program’s community-driven design approach ensures practitioner insight remains central to JSTOR Seeklight’s evolution.

JSTOR Seeklight’s development and impact have been recognized with the C.F.W. Coker Award from the Society of American Archivists and a Bronze Anthem Award for best use of AI in education, art, and culture.

“Libraries and archives are seeking tools that meet the needs of a new era of research and discovery, and JSTOR Seeklight aligns deeply with their mission and values, enabling them to further scale their impact,” said Roger Schonfeld, Managing Director of JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services. “The charter program’s growth illustrates the curiosity and commitment of library and archives leaders and practitioners, working collaboratively to reimagine the possibilities for the impact of their collections in a transformative moment.”

The charter program is part of a broader wave of sustained investment in JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services. In addition to AI-assisted processing, JSTOR Stewardship offers support for digital asset management, long-term preservation via Portico, and discovery and access through JSTOR. In 2025 alone, more than 50 institutions have joined the community, bringing total participation to over 320 institutions worldwide.

Learn more about JSTOR Digital Stewardship.