Beyond digitisation: a case study of three contemporary feminist collections

Abstract

Using three contemporary feminist activist collections as case studies, this article challenges assumptions about digital archives and, more generally, digital collections. First, it challenges the widespread perception that so-called digital archives are necessarily democratising. Second, it examines how archivists and special collections librarians may adopt new media platforms, often in surprising ways, even as they avoid the development of large-scale digitisation projects. Finally, and most notably, this article makes a case for recognising how archivists and special collections librarians may use new media platforms to open up access to collections that exceed the narrow scope of digitisation projects. Here, what is foregrounded is not necessarily the limits of digital archives, but rather the limited way in which we continue to think about digital mandates in relation to archives.