NISO Plus Baltimore 2025

This two-session event will examine the intersection of cultural heritage, digital preservation, and metadata. Across the globe, archives hold ephemeral treasures—images, recordings, manuscripts, oral histories, and similar—that define our shared humanity and connect us across times and places. UNESCO has advanced standardized metadata and outlined a program on cultural and digital technologies to strengthen action around heritage. From digital mapping of diverse practices to 3D modelling of World Heritage sites, projects embody and harness the potential of technologies for the new chapter of culture for all. Building on this, the panel discussion adds metadata as an important layer for digital safeguarding and preservation processes. Laying the groundwork, the first session will focus on ethical practices in metadata creation, preserving and amplifying underrepresented voices, and addressing the challenges of safeguarding metadata. Building on this, the second session will feature distinct case studies on approaches to metadata from community practitioners. Together the Humanities Roundtable will offer an in-depth exploration of the critical role metadata and digital preservation play in protecting the legacies of cultural heritage, and the transformative potential of digital preservation of cultural heritage with emerging technologies.