Posts by Amanda Breeden

You might have seen it mentioned throughout the website and other Sourcery channels that we offer “reference quality” scans and not “digitization quality” scans. But what does that mean, in practice?  Digitizing materials is a long process that can get costly, time consuming, and require large amounts of staff effort. Digitization projects generally require specialized…

It’s the beginning of the year and we’re raring to go! We’re expanding quickly, with more cities available each month. And we have some major Sourcery developments coming in 2026. Here’s what’s in store for the next six months:  This Winter we will be revising the payment and pricing structure. More on this soon 👀.  We’ll also…

Sourcerers are the backbone of Sourcery. They do the critical work of retrieving requested materials from all the different archives and creating reference scans. In contrast to research assistants who review and select documents while in the reading room, Sourcerers scan entire folders or volumes so the Researcher can review and evaluate the materials as if…

⚠️ CAUTION: this blog post might contain outdated information regarding Sourcery request costs or payouts. For more recent updates, visit https://sourceryapp.org/2026/03/02/new-sourcery-updates-march-2026/ ⚠️ Greetings AHA attendees! Hear about Sourcery during your conferencing and curious about what it is and what it can do for you?   Sourcery is an archival document delivery app based out of the…

Let’s shine the spotlight on the key members of our Sourcery community — our Sourcerers! These archive users put their skills to work scanning materials for Researchers unable to visit the reading room in person. At the same time, they ease the burden on archivists and librarians who can help Researchers learn about collections but…

Sourcery is a great way for early career archivists and librarians to advance their archival skills and knowledge in a hands-on, structured environment. Because Sourcery is a job-based commitment, creating an account or even completing one job does not obligate you to complete more jobs. You can use this flexibility in your favor by only…

Sourcery is a great way to consult collections in archives and libraries that are too far away to visit, or are otherwise too difficult to retrieve scans from. Consider consulting the finding aids at the New York Public Library or Boston Public Library – they may have something for you!   Teaching in snowy Colorado and…

We have big plans for 2026, and not just for the app itself. We’ll be traveling around the country to introduce Sourcery to even more Researchers and archive aficionados!  Catch us at any of the below conferences for swag and chats:  8-10 January: American Historical Association; Chicago, Illinois  19-21 March: New England Archivists; Portland, Maine …

Great news: Sourcery is expanding and now covers more than 20 cities across the country! Joining Boston and New York are 23 new cities and regions, including Washington, DC, Chicago, Cleveland, and Atlanta.   The Baltimore-Washington, DC area is especially rich in archives, museums, and special collections located in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, including…

For most archival researchers, it’s a familiar picture. You’ve placed requests for document scans to multiple institutions, and they all require different payments and methods of communication. Did you place that request via email? Or yet another online portal? I guess you could ask your colleague to scan the documents for you, but they’re not…