Digitisation of Archival Material in the Brandenburg State Archives (BLHA)

The research subjects of the cooperation between the Brandenburg State Archives (BLHA) and the Department of Information Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam are the processes and workflows for the gentle digitisation and sustainable use of the digitised files.

Within the framework of workshop and project seminars, students of the Department of Information Sciences deal with the implementation of strategic digitisation under the requirements of original-preserving scanning, starting from different archival genres. This follows the overarching focus of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam "Research-based learning – teaching research". The cooperation enables very practical research-based studies: through cooperation with the BLHA in the project-related seminars as well as during excursions to the Landeshauptarchiv. The solution proposals developed can thus be directly incorporated into the further development of the processes at the BLHA.

In addition to the PC pools and seminar rooms, the archiving workshop and the digitisation laboratory of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam are available to the students as research infrastructures.

In terms of content, the research is oriented towards a DFG project of the Landeshauptarchiv on microfilm digitisation. The students worked on the sub-file Rep. 2A Hb (building construction matters). This contains extensive source material, including large-format maps and plans, on building and monument research. Of cultural-historical importance are the files on the execution of buildings and the structural maintenance of mainly state-owned buildings, as well as the preservation of architectural monuments, including the palaces and gardens in Potsdam and Berlin, churches and monasteries, city walls and gates and other historical buildings.

A cooperation between the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and the Brandenburg State Archives has existed since 2017.