Archival users and AI tools for reference and access: a study within the InterPARES Trust AI project

Abstract

Evaluating the effectiveness of search tools, the ease of use of the selection and display interfaces of archival descriptions and documents, and the satisfaction of end users are not everyday activities among archive service managers. A culture of quality should instead consider actual effectiveness, adopting a user-centred design and a systematic comparison with final users. Within the international project InterPARES Trust AI, focused on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on archival functions, specific studies have been activated on user access to archives and documents from the AI perspective. This contribution presents this project, its assumptions, objectives, and results and the first results of the study in Italy on users.