Published: September 9, 2025 by Joshua Insel

In August, I attended the 2025 Society of American Archivists (SAA) Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, with a travel grant from the iSchool. I am currently in my last semester in the MLIS program and pursuing a career as an archivist. I went to the SAA conference to network with archivists and learn more about the latest trends and advances in archival work. I live close by, in Los Angeles, so it was very convenient for me to attend.  

Before the main conference began, I went on two tours organized by SAA in the nearby town of Orange, which has the largest historic district in California. The first was at Chapman University’s Special Collections and Archives. My group was shown items from the Center for American War Letters, a collection of letters sent by American soldiers from the Revolutionary War to the present (unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos), and the exhibit at the Huell Howser Archives, about the beloved host of the PBS public interest shows California’s Gold and Visiting… with Huell Howser. The second tour was of Chapman’s Hilbert Museum of California Art, which displays an excellent collection of 20th century art depicting California. 

Most of the sessions I attended at the conference were about one of the most significant current concerns for information professionals, artificial intelligence (AI). In the first one, titled “Avoiding the Abyss: Archives, Audiences, and Artificial Intelligence,” staff from Library and Archives Canada, the UK National Archives, and the US National Archives discussed how they have integrated AI into archival activities. I think the UK National Archives had the most interesting initiative, which was to create an AI program to teach students how to utilize primary sources for historical research, by providing summaries and analyses of selected records. 

Another session I attended was “Crowdsourcing, CustomGPT, and Inclusivity: How AI is Changing Archives.” There were three separate presentations, and the presenters expressed mixed feelings about AI. Sara Brumfield of FromThePage optimistically presented “10 Ways AI Will Change Archives.” On the other hand, Dominique Luster of the Luster Company, who used a GPT model to generate inclusive metadata about collections, stressed the need for quality control and giving careful, detailed instructions to the AI. 

At a session titled “Accounting for AI: Surveying the Archival Adoption of Artificial Intelligence for Access,” the AI is for Access project team presented the results of their research into the state of AI adoption, funded by an SAA grant. They did a national survey of archival workers, and found that over 50% of respondents do not use AI applications in their work. Only 33% of archivists said they use them. When non-users were asked why they do not use AI, most cited ethical concerns. In written responses, archivists expressed concerns about use of AI negatively impacting the public image of the profession. However, interestingly, experienced archivists were more likely to adopt or desire to use AI in their work than early-career archivists. 

One of the last sessions I attended was something different, “Indigenous Archival Sovereignty: The Protocols at Twenty, and Global Perspectives.” A group of speakers commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, and discussed similar international initiatives. They emphasized that the work of decolonizing archives is unfinished, and while progress has been made, many archives have only adopted surface-level, tokenistic policies in response to the protocols. They called on archivists to work towards fully adopting them, giving Indigenous peoples control over archival materials originating from their communities. Attendees were given a zine summarizing these points.

Editor’s Note: The SJSU iSchool highly encourages students to attend professional conferences but also realizes that it can be cost prohibitive. Travel grants are available to eligible students to help lessen the financial burden and increase conference participation. iSchool student Joshua Insel​ received one of these travel grants.