Emily Higgs Kopin

Head of Digital Collections Strategy · Swarthmore College Libraries

prof_pic.jpg

Emily Higgs Kopin is a GLAM professional and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in archives, digital preservation, and library systems. As Head of Digital Collections Strategy at Swarthmore College Libraries, she leads the libraries’ digital asset management ecosystem, overseeing policies and workflows for discoverability and preservation of digital collections. Her broader work sits at the intersection of technical infrastructure and cultural stewardship, covering how digital systems interrelate, what they cost to maintain, and what it actually means to build something that lasts. She is a vocal advocate for the visibility of digital infrastructure labor and for sustainable, community-owned approaches to digital collections. Emily has presented at national and regional conferences including SAA, Code4Lib, and MARAC, and her published work includes contributions to several edited volumes and The American Archivist. She holds an MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA from Rice University.

selected publications

  1. Digital Preservation Expertise and Labour Throughout the Project Lifecycle
    Emily Higgs Kopin and Mikala Narlock
    In The Routledge Companion to Libraries, Archives, and the Digital Humanities, 2025
  2. Building Capacity for Born-Digital Archives Through Accessioning Workflows at the Friends Historical Library
    Emily Higgs Kopin, Jessica Hutchison, and James Truitt
    The American Archivist, 2025
  3. Individualism is obsolete: collective work in the digital library landscape
    Simon Elichko, Emily Higgs Kopin, and Roberto Vargas
    In Digital Transformation in Academic Libraries for Research and Learning, 2026