Talking Metadata Challenges and Surprising Discoveries in ECCO Part III

Sponsored by Gale, part of Cengage Group

Recorded on 01/28/2026
Posted in The Authority File

Episode 457

In the final episode of this four-part series, Eleanor Leese, Acquisitions Editor for Gale Primary Sources, discusses metadata challenges and solutions for Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) Part III. Noting the difficulty of digitizing objects with uneven records, Eleanor highlights the thoughtful choices Gale and its partners made for ECCO Part III when it came to standardizing the data. In addition, she chats about metadata updates to Part III requested from longtime users, such as adding an author gender filter and a material’s place of publication. Finally, Eleanor shares one of her most surprising discoveries in the archive while using its digital humanities tools—the 1782 caterpillar plague, anyone?

Learn more about ECCO Part III and request trial access for your library.

About the guest:

Eleanor Leese headshot

Eleanor Leese
Acquisitions Editor
Gale Primary Sources

Eleanor Leese is an Acquisitions Editor for Gale Primary Sources, where she develops new archival projects that expand research access to rare and understudied historical materials. Before joining Gale, she worked as a freelance editor supporting trade and academic authors, particularly in history and narrative non-fiction. She brings a background in historical research and editorial development to her work, with a focus on identifying collections that illuminate everyday lived experience and lesser-heard voices in the historical record.

Enjoy the conversation? Listen to the rest of the series:

Check out our previous series with Gale:
– How Librarians Are Helping to Build the Connected, Global Scholarly Community

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