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.
Panels
DPLA Network Primary Source Grant
Presenters: Morgan McQueen, Ohio History Connection & Aimee Mendelsohn, Educational Service Center of Lake Eire West
Session Description: The Ohio Digital Network, in collaboration with Minnesota Digital Library and Recollection Wisconsin received a $10,000 grant from the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) to review and revitalize the DPLA Primary Source Sets. The DPLA Primary Source sets have not had any new sets added since 2018. The Grant Team contracted with content specialists to create new Primary Source Sets from the resources aggregated in DPLA. Two of the contractors- Morgan McQueen and Aimee Mendolsohn- are from Ohio and will present on the experience of creating primary source sets for the grant and lessons learned.
Morgan McQueen is an Education Coordinator with the Ohio History Connection. She has worked in both formal and informal education spaces for many years, including in the classroom, as a museum educator, and beyond. She has a passion for connecting educators with resources to help them bring history to life for their students. McQueen created the set “Lake Erie and the Modern Environmental Movement.”
Aimee Mendelsohn is an educator, speaker, and community leader with extensive experience in literacy, school improvement, higher education, and local history. She serves as a School Improvement Specialist with the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West, teaches first-year nursing students at Chamberlain University, and is President of the Maumee Valley Historical Society. Through her work, Aimee is passionate about helping educators strengthen instructional practices while connecting communities to the stories that shape their history. Mendelsohn create the set “The Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greenville: Conflict, Land, and the Shaping of Northwest Ohio.”
Library Juice Academy Digital Curation Cohort Panel
Presenters: Amy Beam, Aurora Charlow, Christian Davell, Mary McKinley
The State Library of Ohio has supported four cohorts of Library Staff to complete the Library Juice Academy Digital Curation Certificate program. Each cohort supported 15 Ohio library staff members or cultural heritage professionals in completing the six required classes for the Digital Curation Certificate from Library Juice Academy. Federal funding awarded to the State Library from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) covered the enrollment costs for each participant.
The award-winning Digital Curation Certificate from Library Juice Academy is crafted to develop skills in areas such as digitization, digital preservation, metadata creation, and beyond. This program is ideal for individuals interested in this field, regardless of their previous experience.
Four participants from the 2026 cohort-Amy Beam, Aurora Charlow, Christian Davell, and Mary McKinley-will share their experiences with the program, and how they plan to use the skills they learned in the courses.
Full Schedule
9:15-9:45 Coffee and Networking
9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Welcome and Announcements
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Authenticity in Heritage Digitization, Doug Peterson
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. Authentic Assessment: Applying an Ethics of Care Mindset to Assessing a Digital Collections Program, Evan Miller
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Library Juice Academy Digital Curation Cohort Panel
Amy Beam, Aurora Charlow, Christian Davell, Mary McKinley
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Practical Workflows for Large Born-Digital Collections
3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
3:15-4:00 p.m. – DPLA Primary Source Grants
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ODN & DPLA Updates