Archival holdings in libraries and university collections

The digitization project “Sammlung Zeitgeschichte – Online”

Abstract

This project report outlines the implementation of the digitization initiative “Sammlung Zeitgeschichte – Online” at the Department for Contemporary History at the University Vienna. The project aimed to make archival holdings from the Institute of Contemporary History and the Special Library Contemporary History at the University of Vienna digitally accessible. Central objectives included the online availability of the archive’s finding aids and the migration and enhancement of the “Gaupresse”-Archive already published online. The technical workflow involved OCR-based text recognition using Transkribus, metadata standardization according to RNAB guidelines, and the integration of the open-source platform Goobi. Collaboration with the PHAIDRA-Services of the Vienna University Library enabled a sustainable, institution-wide supported solution for online presentation and long-term archiving. Strong cooperation between various academic units was crucial to the project’s success, which now serves as a reference model for similar digitization efforts in academic libraries, archives, and university collections.