Rowan University has joined the JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services Tier 3 charter program, selecting JSTOR’s integrated Stewardship platform to support a new phase of digital collections development and access.
This decision marks a strategic shift for Rowan, as the university builds a more sustainable and visible approach to managing and sharing its digital collections. Through the Tier 3 charter program, Rowan will adopt JSTOR Seeklight, the AI-powered collections processing tool within JSTOR Stewardship, alongside integrated digital asset management, preservation via Portico, and discovery through JSTOR and beyond.
As a member of the charter community, the university will partner with JSTOR and peer institutions to guide the evolution of Seeklight and co-develop practices for responsible, AI-assisted stewardship. Rowan will also be eligible for dedicated Mellon-supported funding for digitization projects processed through Seeklight and published openly on JSTOR.
Rowan’s initial implementation will begin with a focused pilot project featuring the Color Line Project, a series of Oral Histories on the Civil Rights movement in South Jersey, to establish workflows for ingest, transcription, and public presentation. At the same time, the university is preparing for larger-scale collections, including the Television Critics Association records and student newspaper The Whit. Across both phases, Rowan is prioritizing accessibility, discoverability, and the ability to manage diverse formats—including text, image, audio, and video—within a single, cohesive environment.
“JSTOR Seeklight gives us an opportunity to share our exciting collections with researchers not only in the Rowan community, but the JSTOR community and beyond,” said Caitlin Abadir-Mullally, Digital Archivist at Rowan University. “As Rowan University’s archival collections grow and expand, our goal is to establish sustainable workflows that foster accessibility and discoverability for all of our patrons.”
“Rowan is approaching this work with a clear sense of purpose and a strong plan for implementation,” said Jess Clemons, Director of Business Development, JSTOR Stewardship. “By starting with a focused pilot and building toward larger collections, they’re setting themselves up to create a scalable model for digital stewardship that supports both immediate access and long-term impact.”
About Rowan University
Rowan University is a Carnegie-classified national doctoral research institution in Glassboro, New Jersey. Founded in 1923, the university offers bachelor’s through doctoral degrees and professional certificates in person and online to nearly 25,000 students.
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.