ICA/EGRSO Webinar – AI and Archives: Advancing Archival Engagement

Learn how the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), in partnership with FamilySearch, are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transcribe and make more than 2 million Revolutionary War Pension Files discoverable in advance of the 250th Anniversary of America’s Independence.

Carol Lagundo started her career at the National Archives and Records Administration in 1993 and currently serves as the Director of Digitization Partnerships and Outreach within the Office of Innovation. She has spent most of her NARA career managing IT software development projects to describe and provide online access to NARA’s holdings. She currently manages NARA’s digitization partnerships and NARA’s digital reference platform, History Hub. She holds a FAC-PPM Level 3 certification.

Around half of teachers in high schools and universities have expressed concern about the impact of AI on the development of students’ thinking, understanding and writing, particularly in languages, humanities and social sciences. However, could AI provide a valuable tool for teachers looking to engage students with scholarly work and original archival collections? Far from de-skilling students, could AI help them develop a deeper understanding of archives, how to interrogate collections of documents for evidence, and how to contextualise historical understanding?

Andrew Payne is Head of Education and Outreach at The National Archives of the UK, where he leads the development and delivery of services for schools, teachers, communities, families and young people. He is a qualified teacher of History and IT and has over three decades of experience in using technology to engage students with their study of the past.

Ben Walsh is Trust Lead for History at the David Ross Education Trust, a federation of primary and secondary schools in England. He has been involved in History education for over 35 years and has worked as an examiner, textbook author, trainer, and has collaborated on many projects with the UK National Archives.

In late 2022, new generative AI tools have become more widely available and captivated the public. Organizations across Canada were investigating ways to use them to support their operations. The Library of Parliament was no exception. Business units at the library were interested in exploring the possibilities offered by AI in research and reference, data visualization and analysis, graphic and video design, metadata and cataloguing, human resources and automated translation. However, no in-depth analysis had been conducted at the library to review the challenges, risks and considerations associated with the adoption of this technology.

In May 2023, senior management created a cross-sector AI Working Group to address the issue. As part of its objectives, they were mandated to assess the considerations with the use of generative AI at the Library and to recommend best practices for its responsible and effective use as a knowledge-based and client-facing organization. In March 2024, the “Guidelines on the Use of Generative AI” were implemented across the organization. This presentation will discuss the development process of these Guidelines, their content and best practices endorsed, the results of their implementation and the next steps for the AI Working Group.

Johanna Smith, Director General Information and Collection. Johanna Smith joined the Library of Parliament in September 2023. She was previously at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) for 17 years, including 13 years of executive responsibilities that varied from the transfer of digital records to reference service, Access to Information and Privacy, reconciliation, partnerships and major digitization initiatives. Prior to LAC she worked in the Information Services Division at the International Monetary Fund and began her career Archives Advisor for the Council of Nova Scotia Archives. Johanna holds a Master of Information Studies from the University of Toronto and a B.A. from McGill University.

Anne-Marie Genin-Charette, General Counsel. Anne-Marie is an experienced in-house counsel. She practices in the area of copyright, labour and employment law, contracts and procurement and administrative law. Since March 2020, she has been working as General Counsel at the Library of Parliament in Ottawa. As a Library executive, Anne-Marie provides legal advice and strategic direction to the Library of Parliament to all its sectors of operations. Since May 2023, Anne-Marie has provided leadership on AI-related issues as the chair of the Library’s AI Working Group. Anne-Marie is a graduate from the Faculty of Law at the Université de Montréal and holds a LL.B and a LL.M from the institution. She is also a member in good standing of both the Barreau du Québec and Law Society of Ontario.

As the National Archives’ Chief Innovation Officer, Pamela Wright has focused on projects that combine the Open Government principles of transparency, participation and collaboration with the exploration and use of emerging technologies. She launched NARA's first social media program, and Citizen Archivist program. She developed the agency’s digitization program, which has resulted in making more than 280 million records available through NARA's online Catalog. She launched the Catalog newsletter, which reaches more than 350,000 subscribers. She launched NARA’s 1950 Census website in April 2022, which included the Agency’s first public use of AI. She opened the Innovation Hub at NARA’s flagship location in Washington, D.C., as a place for the public and staff to collaborate on digital projects. She established the agency’s first digital reference platform, History Hub, which allows the public to ask a question and receive answers not just from NARA staff, but also from expert researchers and staff from other agencies. Her focus on making the records shareable has resulted in substantial numbers of digital copies of NARA's records on platforms across the internet, including Wikipedia, Giphy, and more. In 2022, Ms. Wright was selected for the Presidential Rank Award, and was the Agency’s first recipient of the Distinguished Rank honor. She’s currently leading the redesign of the Agency’s flagship website, archives.gov.

She has been a member of advisory boards to the Digital Public Library of America and the Library and Archives of Canada. Ms. Wright chaired the description subgroup of the Archivist’s Task Force on Racism and currently chairs NARA’s Reparative Description and Digitization Working Group. She is active in the International Council on Archives and serves on their Expert Group for Research Services and Outreach.