On January 13, 2025, Sarah Glover began her new appointment in Archives & Special Collections at the University Libraries as assistant professor and Digital Archivist.
Glover joined the University Libraries in 2022 as an Archives Specialist. In that role, Glover organized and described new and legacy paper records, created finding aids, answered research questions, and connected people with collections and resources.
As Digital Archivist, Glover builds on this previous archival work to include digital formats. In this new role, Glover will take on a leadership role in the area of digital preservation to develop workflows and policies for rare and unique research materials in collaboration with colleagues at the University Libraries.
"Archives & Special Collections are increasingly receiving born digital records, either transferred by university departments or donated as part of special collections. Managing digital records is a challenge due to their scale and complexity, with files at risk of becoming obsolete or corrupt over time. My work as a digital archivist focuses on preserving important digital files to ensure they are accessible to researchers both now and in the future,” said Glover.
In addition, Glover will work closely with donors and the community to promote the importance of digital preservation. “I am excited to have the opportunity to work towards deepening Archives & Special Collections’ engagement with community organizations and taking a leadership role in developing community-centered, non-custodial partnerships with those interested in preserving their own digital archives,” said Glover.
Glover explained digital preservation and the impact on our lives. “Think about the enormous number of digital files you create every day which may include personal photos and videos, emails, social media posts, text documents, health tracking, and much more. If those digital files are not properly preserved, they could be lost forever due to technological failures or accidental deletion. Digital archiving protects important parts of our digital history so that they can be accessed into the future,” explained Glover.
Some of the projects Glover looks forward to working on as Digital Archivist include collaborating on the implementation of a new digital preservation system, LibSafe Go, building and expanding the scope of the department’s web archive using Archive-it, and collaborating on the Malone Center digitization project.
Glover looks forward to working with faculty, staff, students, and the wider community, welcomes questions, and can be contacted at sglover2@unl.edu.
Contributed by Melissa Sinner, Web Content & Design Specialist, University Libraries