LoadingLoadingLoadingLoadingHeritage digitisation is often a public-relations project. This book chapter describes an ALU humanities methods course in which students in Baghdad, Tunis and Beirut produced metadata, rights notes and short critical essays on a defined collection, working online with a faculty editor. The academic gain was citation discipline and an understanding of what is lost when a manuscript becomes a JPEG. Students in conflict-affected cities could contribute without shipping objects. Arab Leadership University should treat Arabic heritage as a research training ground for a digital university: slow, cited, and honest about gaps. It should not claim custody of collections it does not hold.