The State Library of Ohio will host the ODNFest: Authenticity in the Digital Age on October 8, 2026 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library: Dublin Branch in Dublin, Ohio. ODNFest is an opportunity for library and museum digitization professionals to gather and explore current and relevant digitization topics. This year, the event will focus on authenticity in the rapidly changing digital landscape as library professionals navigate AI, authenticity in digital collections, and so much more.
Dublin Branch – Columbus Metropolitan Library
75 N High St, Dublin, OH 43017
October 8, 2026, 9:30-4:30
Event Cost: $35
Registration includes morning coffee and pastries and a boxed lunch.
Featured Sessions
Authenticity in Heritage Digitization
Presenter: Doug Peterson, Digital Object Authenticity Working Group
Session Description: The Digital Object Authenticity Working Group (DOAWG) focuses on a specific subset of those efforts: creating the tools, workflows, and best practices that lead to a world where heritage digitization consumers are informed as to how much and in what ways digital objects can be trusted as a faithful and authentic representation of the physical object it represents. This presentation will cover the three pillars of authenticity as DOAWG has defined them: Provenance, Visual Accuracy, and Context.
Authentic Assessment: Applying an Ethics of Care Mindset to Assessing a Digital Collections Program
Presenter: Evan Miller, Digital Preservation and Digital Collections Archivist
Session Description: Entering a new position comes with new opportunities. While it can be tempting to jump into evaluating legacy projects and quickly make changes based on our own knowledge and experiences, this approach ignores institutional knowledge and disregards the individuals responsible for building and forming the collections with which we’re working, missing the lessons that they learned over time as well as the growth and changes in the institution. Evan N. Miller will share his experience of authentically and transparently assessing the state of his institution’s digital collections program in his position as the inaugural Digital Preservation and Digital Collections Archivist at Indiana University Indianapolis. Miller will include specific information he aimed to collect and why along with specific tools and workflows he used to gather, document, and share the information. Specific areas of focus in this approach’s application will be cultural heritage digital collections, born-digital assets, documentation, and institutional history.
Practical Workflows for Large Born-Digital Collections
Presenters: Lara Friedman-Shedlov, Digital Records Archivist, University of Minnesota
Andrew McDonnell, Digital Archivist, University of Kentucky
Session Description: This session will present practical workflows for processing and preserving born-digital collections of challenging proportions from ever-evolving sources to make them meaningfully accessible.
The University of Minnesota Libraries Archives and Special Collections and the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center have both confronted the challenge of migrating and preserving collections containing over a thousand CDs and DVDs. While optical media offers a familiar format, the scale of that work required a renewed workflow and different tools. Simultaneously, they face the burgeoning challenge of new accessions arriving as files created and stored in Google Drive, OneDrive, YouTube channels, and other cloud storage, where new complications arise based on file size, format, permissions, and the number of creators or file owners involved.
Presenters will share their solutions and their problem-solving processes. Although both examples are from large academic institutions, they will present lower cost tools, free tools, professional collaborations, and the methods and advocacy that allowed this work to be completed affordably in-house without the expense of outsourcing the work to external vendors.