From May 23 to 24, Associate Professor Yuan Cheng, a researcher at the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Development and Service of Archives, together with postdoctoral researcher Muyan Li and doctoral student Xinxin Li, paid research visits to the Suda-Suhang Archival Data Preservation Center, the Suzhou Silk Museum and the Suzhou Library.

At the Suda-Suhang Archival Data Preservation Center, Professor Zhaoyu Zhang, Director of the Institute of Archival Data Preservation at Soochow University, presented the background of the archival data evidence preservation project, the center's achievements and its future development plans. The two sides discussed full life-cycle management and evidence preservation of archival data, practical issues in archival data verification and blockchain recording, and the effectiveness of encryption algorithms, and expressed the hope for more exchanges and cooperation between the center and the laboratory in the future.

The delegation then visited the Suzhou Silk Museum, where Yan Zhu, Deputy Director of the museum and Suzhou municipal intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Song brocade, introduced the museum's background and exhibitions. The museum is currently carrying out digital and intelligent development of its collections, including a silk metaverse and virtual exhibition halls. Among these, the Zhangduan satin weaving technique exhibition project applies Baidu's ERNIE large model, learning from digital collection samples to build the "Suzhou Zhangduan AI Creation Model," bringing intangible heritage techniques to life and safeguarding traditional culture.

Finally, the delegation visited the North Branch of the Suzhou Library, where Deputy Director Wei Fei guided them through the Digital Experience Hall, the Suzhou Literature Museum, the Music Library and other facilities. They learned that the library's knowledge and cultural spaces and its intelligent, efficient services are supported by an intelligent automated stack. The stack uses an intelligent storage model with comprehensive system scheduling and employs intelligent AGV robots for automated transfer, improving the efficiency of book sorting and transport, and supports the library's smart services with functions such as inbound and outbound management, document delivery, online borrowing and integration with digital library management.

This research visit aimed to learn about the cutting-edge development of representative libraries, archives and museums in Suzhou, explore intelligent management and service approaches for various data resources in the context of new-generation information technology, and open up new ideas and directions for the laboratory's research and cooperation.

Text | Muyan Li, Kexin Ai

Photography | Aiju Zeng, Jiale Zhao

Layout | Pengxin Xie

Review | Yuan Cheng