From Digitised Collections to Datasets: KU Leuven Libraries' first implementation of the Collections as Data principle

KU Leuven Libraries, both a research and a heritage library, has been working on high-quality digitisation of its rich holdings since 2010. The extensive digitised collection is a true asset for research and its full potential can be further unlocked through the preparation of datasets for reuse in the context of, amongst others, digital scholarship. This poster shows how a number of large-scale and all-encompassing datasets amenable for computational use were prepared for the library’s 2023 BiblioTech Hackathon. It also presents the GLAM Labs Community checklist to publish collections as data in GLAM institutions’, which was created as an instrument to stimulate and guide GLAM institutions in applying the ‘collections as data’ principles and used as a guideline for the dataset creation. The process included, amongst others, data and metadata preparation, dataset structuring, and documentation.