Imagining a Shared Future for Archival Discovery: research findings and paths forward from the Building a National Archival Finding Aid Network project

Abstract

Building a National Finding Aid Network (NAFAN) is a collaborative project rooted in the goal of providing inclusive, comprehensive, and persistent access to descriptions of archival collections by building the vision and roadmap for a national finding aid network available to a broad and diverse set of contributors and researchers. OCLC Research has conducted extensive research with archivists and archival users, in service of shaping the NAFAN vision. The project team will give an overview of NAFAN, share research findings, and discuss how these will inform the vision for a national archival discovery platform that is community-driven, -sustained, and -governed.