How do you preserve and provide access to millions of previously internal corporate documents released through public interest lawsuits? Staff from the Industry Documents Library (IDL) at the University of California San Francisco will share an overview of the IDL repository, and how a box of documents from a tobacco company whistleblower launched a digital archive that now includes over 26 million freely available documents obtained from industries which impact public health. The team will discuss the challenges of navigating the legal landscape of document disclosure, managing large volumes of digitized and born-digital records which may contain sensitive information, and facilitating open access for a wide audience of academic researchers, students, policymakers, public health experts, educators, legal professionals, journalists, and community advocates. The presentation will offer tips and lessons learned for accessioning very large digital collections, sustaining staffing and funding, establishing policies and workflows for safeguarding sensitive data, and centering user needs in repository design and decision-making.
Tasker et al. (Thu,) studied this question.