A Focus Issue of the journal Collections exploring change as well as issues in methods and practices

Guest Edited by Dr. Angela Fritz Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Iowa

During this period of rapid AI development, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) are facing a generational challenge that calls on practitioners to re-think their roles, re-evaluate policies and practices, and re-envision the ethical contours of their work. As AI-enabled technologies continue to surface, GLAM practitioners will confront a host of challenges relating to how AI can be leveraged to gain the much needed efficiencies necessary to steward digital collections at scale, while upholding their professional codes of ethics to ensure equitable access, mitigate harm, and safeguard the integrity of the historical record.

In the context of GLAM stewardship, the purview of “ethical AI” is expansive. For special collections librarians, archivists, and museum curators, ethical AI encompasses the responsible use of AI in collection stewardship practices as well as the development of new AI literacy frameworks for research, teaching, exhibition and training initiatives. Ethical AI also relates to re-framing the value of human-centered curation as well as the associated concerns relating to digital labor within and outside of GLAM institutions. In addition, GLAM practitioners will confront the complexities of a host of new ethical challenges relating to stewarding AI-generated content in cultural heritage collections. To address these ethical challenges, practitioners will need to balance the transformative power of AI with their professional accountabilities and restorative curatorial commitments to the diverse communities that GLAM institutions serve.

As GLAM practitioners navigate challenges in AI-integrated workspaces, archivists, museum curators, and special collections librarians will need to translate their professional codes of ethics in new contexts and apply this ethical awareness on a case-by-case basis. Recognizing the context-specific nature of these ethical dilemmas, practitioners will need to carefully balance AI innovations with an understanding of both the professional and social implications of its use. At the same time, GLAM practitioners will increasingly be expected to address the ways in which the principles of ethical curation and AI tools can work in tandem to reinforce mindful practices and transformational stewardship initiatives.

Scope of the Focus Issue

For this focus issue of the journal, we seek contributions from practitioners, scholars, and researchers who can further our understanding of the meaning of “ethical AI” in the context of GLAM collection stewardship. Our intentions are sparked by a sense of urgency in sharing experiences, understanding common challenges and concerns, contemplating possibilities and paths forward, and inspiring new ways of thinking about AI-enhanced stewardship practices. Because the meaning of ethical AI is multifaceted, complex, and ever-evolving, we see this issue as an opportunity to engage in proactive dialogue, foster interdisciplinary connections as well as advocate for an ethics of collection care—all of which will be essential for the successful implementation of enhanced AI technologies in GLAM stewardship settings.

We are interested in, but not restricted to, case studies, research projects, or scholarly reflections concerned with the intersection between ethical AI and:

• Collection management policies, principles, guidelines, and best practices
• Description methods and practices, including reparative description initiatives
• Accessioning, registration, and processing integrations and strategies
• Collections development, acquisition strategies, and donor engagement
• Implementation or enhancement of cultural protocols in digital stewardship practices
• GLAM digital convergence, digital collection building, digitization initiatives
• Digital repatriation
• Exhibition development and visitor/user experience
• Instructional frameworks and AI literacy initiatives
• Collections or technology assessment
• Governance and community of practice initiatives
• Equitable access initiatives
• Privacy guidelines and access restrictions
• Human/AI alignment in stewardship workflows and team development
• Digital provenance and paradata
• Digital labor, precarity, and value of human-centered stewardship
• Efforts to prioritize environmental sustainability
• Digital preservation strategies, practices and challenges
• Computational methods in appraisal and enhanced acquisition models
• Literacy frameworks relating to “upskilling” or “reskilling” GLAM faculty and staff
• Community building, outreach and engagement
• Stakeholder responses to AI implementation and use
• AI detection tools and authentication methodologies relating to GLAM collection stewardship
• Advocacy plans, strategies or networks that extend across national and cultural boundaries
• Other projects that address the dimensions of ethical AI in GLAM stewardship

For this issue, we are seeking case studies and research articles not to exceed 5,000 words as well as scholarly reflection essays not to exceed 2500 words. Topics should address ethical AI in the context of the topics above or a related area in GLAM digital stewardship.

Submission Process

Authors should express their interest by submitting completed articles, case studies, and scholarly reflections to the Guest Editor, Angela Fritz aifritz465@gmail.com and the Journal Editor, Juilee Decker, jdgsh@rit.edu by October 20, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be made by November 24, 2025.

Author submission guidelines can be found here: https://journals.sagepub.com/authorinstructions/CJX.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else while under review for this special focus issue.

Anticipated Timeline

• October 20, 2025-Paper submission deadline
• November 24, 2025-Notification of manuscript decision
• January 9, 2026-Revise and resubmit articles
• March 15, 2026-Enter production

April 15, 2026 on-Articles begin appearing online in the “Online First” portal of the Collections journal. Metrics are keyed to the appearance of the article.

Following the publication of papers online first, all of them will be gathered up into the Focus Issue of the journal in 2026 (anticipated publication date of June 2026).

Guest Editor Biography

Dr. Angela Fritz is assistant professor at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa. Her research explores digital stewardship in GLAM institutions through the lens of digital convergence, artificial intelligence, and an archival ethics of care. Prior to her time at the University of Iowa, she held leadership positions at the Wisconsin Historical Society, the University of Notre Dame, and the Office of Presidential Libraries and Museums at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Currently, she serves in several national service roles relating to GLAM digital stewardship advocacy and outreach. She is the author of Sustainable Enterprise Strategies for Optimizing Digital Stewardship: A Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021). Her forthcoming book, entitled Digital Leadership and AI: Transforming Libraries, Archives, and Museums for the Future (Bloomsbury, 2025), explores the intersection between AI, leadership studies, organizational development, and digital convergence within the GLAM field.

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Established in 2004 and published by SAGE, Collections is an international, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal addressing all aspects of handling, preserving, researching, interpreting, and organizing collections. Scholars, archivists, curators, librarians, collection managers, preparators, registrars, educators, emerging professionals, and others encouraged to submit their work for this focused issue. See https://journals.sagepub.com/home/cjxa for more information about the journal.

Any questions about the Focus Issue may be directed to the guest editor, Angela Fritz aifritz465@gmail.com and journal editor, Juilee Decker, jdgsh@rit.edu. Questions about the journal only may be directed to the journal editor.