*Read this announcement online:
https://library.stanford.edu/blogs/stanford-libraries-blog/2021/11/just-published-final-report-lighting-way-project
<https://library.stanford.edu/blogs/stanford-libraries-blog/2021/11/just-published-final-report-lighting-way-project>
*



The Lighting the Way <https://lightingtheway.stanford.edu/> project team is
pleased to announce the publication of *Facilitating and Illuminating
Emergent Futures for Archival Discovery and Delivery: The Final Report of
the Lighting the Way Project <https://doi.org/10.25740/jm302fq5311>*.
Lighting the Way focused on exploring how networks of people and technology
impact archival discovery and delivery (how people find, access, and use
material from archives and special collections) and focused on engaging
directly with practitioners – archives, library, and technology workers –
involved in this work, across roles, job functions, areas of expertise, and
levels of positional power.



Through a series of participatory events, the project applied
participatory, generative facilitation methods to allow participants to
develop future-oriented visions of how to transform archival delivery while
also bringing their own experience to bear. The final report is available
through the Stanford Digital Repository at its DOI (doi:10.25740/jm302fq5311
<https://doi.org/10.25740/jm302fq5311>) and is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>.



The final report, written by Dinah Handel and Mark A. Matienzo towards the
project's conclusion, summarizes the project's goals, objectives, and
activities across its two-year term, and synthesizes lessons learned about
undertaking strategic work around archival discovery and delivery. These
insights resonate with larger professional trends in archives and special
collections, and include the following:



   1. Viewing archival discovery as an ecosystem of systems and people;
   2. The interconnection between collaboration, power, and organizational
   positioning of this work;
   3. The value of care-focused, generative facilitation methods to
   strategic planning for archival programs; and
   4. The importance of early-stage collaboration and communities of
   practice to support similar efforts.



With these insights in mind, the project team provides a set of four
recommendations to sustain the work undertaken by the Lighting the Way
project and to inform the evolution of archival discovery and delivery that
require investment and practitioners to step into leadership roles:



   1. Develop new communities of practice that work in alignment with
   existing ones;
   2. Prioritize collaborative opportunities for strategy that explore new
   working relationships;
   3. Adopt and apply generative and care-focused facilitation methods to
   inform strategic planning; and
   4. Understand the resourcing required and value the labor necessary to
   undertake strategic opportunities.



The project team plans to support these areas through potential areas of
future work
<https://exhibits.stanford.edu/lightingtheway/feature/future-work>,
including reading groups for *The Lighting the Way Handbook*
<https://doi.org/10.25740/gg453cv6438>, creation of new communities of
practice to support technology strategy and archives and facilitation, and
additional publication and workshops on generative facilitation methods. We
welcome hearing about your interest in potentially participating or
contributing to these activities, so please contact us if you are
interested.



More information on Lighting the Way can be found on the newly updated project
website <https://lightingtheway.stanford.edu/>. If you have any questions
or feedback about the final report or the project, please contact the
project team at [log in to unmask], or Mark A.
Matienzo, Project Director, at [log in to unmask]



*This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and
Library Services, through grant **LG-35-19-0012-19*
<https://imls.gov/grants/awarded/lg-35-19-0012-19-0>*. The IMLS is the
primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums.
To learn more, visit **www.imls.gov* <http://www.imls.gov/>*.*



--

*Mark A. MATIENZO <https://library.stanford.edu/people/matienzo> *(they/them)
| *✉* [log in to unmask]

Assistant Director for Digital Strategy and Access, Stanford Libraries

*I work from the unceded ancestral lands of the Duwamish people in Seattle,
WA*

Schedule a meeting or appointment with me
<https://appointments.library.stanford.edu/appointments/matienzo>