The municipal archive of Mühlhausen keeps the historical tradition of the former free imperial city of Mühlhausen. The archive is also responsible for the preservation of all documents with historical value from the municipal administration and its predecessors. With piqlConnect and piqlFilm this information is now safeguarded forever.

CHALLENGE

The archive holds an extensive collection of four independent libraries, with 23,000 volumes on urban and regional history, the history of the Reformation and the Peasants’ War, and the legal and medical history of the 17th and 18th centuries. The archive wanted to ensure the future of their collections and has begun digitization, starting with the most valuable pieces.
As digitization was in the beginning of the process, the archive needed a digital preservation solution that would safeguard its data for the future, at an affordable cost.

SOLUTION

Piql offers the only future-proof digital preservation solution for items with significant historical value.

With much of the collection stored in analogue form on microfilm, Piql offered a tailored solution that provided greater longevity, greater affordability, and guaranteed future access for the growing digital collection.

Following the digitization process, the archive data has been stored on piqlFilm on multiple occasions over several years. Once a new collection has been digitized the data is prepared and transferred to Piql. In 2023 the organization started using piqlConnect for this transfer of data.

By utilizing the benefits of piqlConnect with a simple interface the archive can upload the digitized files at their own speed to better incorporate it into their daily archiving processes. Having the opportunity to get an overview of all their data with relevant metadata stored on piqlFilm accessible through piqlConnect while the files are only kept offline on piqlFilm, provides a simplified and sophisticated preservation process for the archive. The piqlFilms are being securely stored onsite at the municipality.

The archive now has the ultimate insurance for their stored data—with guaranteed future access.

Future

The archive is continuing to digitize their collection and will preserve more of their data in the future.
This project has been such a success for the municipality that this model of safeguarding valuable data for city archives provides a strong example for how other archives can achieve the same results with minimal resources.