Assessing Nineteenth-Century Library Collections with the “Living with Machines” Project at the British Library, United Kingdom

Abstract

As part of its commitment to innovation and to improve the accessibility of the library’s collection of resources from the long nineteenth century, the British Library ran the “Living with Machines” project between 2018 and 2023. The Library’s project uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to improve access to historical collections. The library faced the challenge of making the extensive collections easier to interact and more accessible to users. The project was initiated to explore how AI and machine learning (ML) would impact historical research, with a particular focus on the impact of mechanisation in the nineteenth century. The project team was gathered from 2018 to July 2019. The project involved over 5500 volunteers and engaged the public through crowdsourcing tasks. The collaboration spanned various disciplines, including data scientists, historians and research software developers. The British Library also reached out to the public to ask for their help in commenting on the artefacts. Collaboration challenges arose when staff did not spend enough time understanding each other’s disciplines. According to the interviewees, librarians will need a solid grounding in “information organisation” when it comes to working with AI solutions and outputs.