Digitization in the archive: Stendal discusses new challenges!

Digitization in the archive: Stendal discusses new challenges!

The 92nd German Archive Day, which took place in Fulda at the beginning of October 2025, attracted around 700 experts from all over Germany and abroad. The focus of the congress was digitization and access to information in the digital age. Interested parties, archivists and students exchanged ideas about important topics relating to the future of archives. Simone Habendorf, the head of the Stendal city archives, was also there and contributed her experiences. Loud az online The German Archive Day is held annually in different cities and has a long tradition that goes back to 1899.

A central topic of the conference was the role of digitization in the archives. The title of the event, "Digitized copies in the archive. Positions - Processes - Perspectives", made it clear that new questions about digitization were also on the agenda this year. In particular, the security of the stored data and the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in research processes were discussed intensively. Simone Habendorf highlighted that expert review of AI results is essential to ensure the quality of the information.

The challenge of digitalization

Despite the undeniable progress that digitization brings, many archives face major challenges. The Stendal city archive has limited resources to fully digitize all holdings. According to Habendorf, complete digitalization is unfortunately not feasible with the current workforce until retirement. Digitizations in the city archives mainly take place in response to specific requests, and the digitally provided materials are not stored permanently.

However, a look beyond the horizon shows that there are also positive developments. Habendorf mentioned the Leipzig City Archives as an outstanding example of modern working conditions and comprehensive digitalization. These experiences are important because numerous archives in Germany are committed to the principle of openness and are trying to shape the digital future in a participatory manner. The “Open Archives” conference series, founded in 2012, aims to do exactly this and promotes exchange about the digital design of archives in Germany, confirms a report from Federal Archives.

A look into the future

An anthology that emerged from the technical and practical contributions to this conference series deals with current topics: How can the use of social media and blogs be implemented in archiving? What technical possibilities do online tools open up for classic archiving tasks? The editors, including Antje Diener-Staeckling and Joachim Kemper, invite you to shed light on the participatory contacts of users and archives.

The digital future of archives is in full swing and the exchange between experts is more important than ever. The successful combination of traditional archive structures and modern technologies will have a decisive influence on access to information in society. It remains to be seen what the next steps in implementing these ideas will be.