Partner Event | Digital Possibilities Series: Meet the Chicago Collections Consortium and Revs Institute

The Chicago Collections Consortium (CCC) is a membership organization of 60+ institutions composed of public and private universities, public libraries, special libraries, museums, and other repositories with collections that chronicle the rich history of Chicago. Its portal, EXPLORE Chicago Collections, is its flagship initiative, providing "one stop shopping": a site for researchers, teachers, students, and the public to find digital images and locate archival holdings on Chicago topics without searching individual institutions' online catalogs one at a time. Founded in 2012 with twelve governing members, CCC has since grown to 60+ members. Ellen Keith, Executive Director, will discuss the portal, the organization's other outreach activities, and the organization's next steps in its second decade.

Revs Institute will share how they are embracing emerging technologies and digital dissemination to expand access, enhance discovery, and preserve specialized knowledge.  Arthur Carlson, Director of Archives and Research Center - Revs Institute, will highlight current projects at Revs Institute, including a machine-learning metadata generation project, the development of a specialized large language learning model to support research, and efforts to document and share specialized at-risk knowledge, and share that with the world.

This is the fifth webinar of the summer Digital Possibilities series, a joint collaboration between Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) and Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC).

Presenters:

Ellen Keith is the Executive Director of the Chicago Collections Consortium. Keith joined Chicago Collections in January 2026 after over 13 years at the Chicago History Museum as the Director of Research and Access and Chief Librarian.  While at the Museum, she was engaged in CCC through serving on the Cooperative Reference Committee, the Strategic Planning Task Force, as Board Secretary and finally as Board Chair from 2020-2025.  Previous library positions include Saint Xavier University, Columbia College Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Johns Hopkins University. She received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College, her Master of Library and Information Science from Dominican University, and her Master of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University.

Arthur Carlson, Director of Archives and Research Center – Revs Institute, is an archivist and historian who oversees the Revs Institute Archives and Research Center (ARC) in Fort Myers, Florida.  His work focuses on applying emerging technologies and best practices to enhance access and discovery of the rich archival resources held at Revs to create the most useful automotive research resource available in the world.  He has published and presented on a wide range of archival topics, including digital preservation, sports history, and documenting popular culture.
 

More information:

Partner Event | Digital Possibilities Series: Meet the Chicago Collections Consortium and Revs Institute is made available to you via Minitex's membership in the Professional Development Alliance of Consortia.

This webinar will be hosted by the Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). You will receive further details regarding your attendance from CARLI. If you require assistance or further information, please contact support@carli.illinois.edu.