Tag: NDSA

NDSA Welcomes Six New Members

As of 13 September 2022, the NDSA Leadership unanimously voted to welcome its six most recent applicants into the membership. Each new member brings a host of skills and experience to our group. Keep an eye out for them on your calls and be sure to give them a shout out. Please join me in welcoming our new members.

 ~ Hannah Wang, Vice Chair of the NDSA Coordinating Committee

Africa Media Online

Africa Media Online operates a digital trade route enabling the custodians of African collections to get those collections from the cupboard to the audience they want to reach while maintaining custodianship over those collections. Their vision is to enable Africans to tell Africa’s story. The digital trade route includes: training, consulting, digitization service, digital preservation, and licensing.

Archives of the American Jewish Left in the Digital Age

The Archives of the American Jewish Left in the Digital Age, which will be linked to the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History at New York University, takes as its subject the emerging publications, organizations, and activities initiated by a new generation of young American Jews who on their own responded to the cultural trends, political concerns, and technology of the twenty-first century. Because of the nature of digital technology, this project offers an opportunity to show that what will be history in the future can be captured in the present with historical consciousness. 

Botswana International University of Science and Technology Library 

Botswana International University of Science and Technology is a relatively young university having started operating ten years ago. The university library is therefore still developing and is interested in participating in any endeavor that ensures that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable to its users. As a growing library that has to make do with a shrinking budget, digital preservation is very important to them in ensuring that whatever valuable information they have is preserved for continued access and use. The library has started a project called “Presidential collection @BIUST” that seeks to preserve the legacy of the sitting and former presidents of Botswana through digitization of such content.

El Colegio de México

El Colegio de México is a Mexican institute of higher education, specializing in teaching and research in social sciences and humanities. The library is actively creating a digital preservation unit.

Milwaukee County Historical Society

As one of, if not the, largest repository for Milwaukee County history, the Milwaukee County Historical Society is committed to improving their digital preservation and accessibility efforts. With over a million photos in the collection along with thousands of manuscript collections, documents, and other assorted records, MCHS is embarking on efforts to digitize and make available as much material as possible. As part of this effort, they strive to learn, implement, and collaborate on the best possible practices for a repository of our size and nature. Digitization projects for both preservation and accessibility include photos, naturalization records, manuscripts, and books and ledgers of historical importance.

Tuskegee University

The Tuskegee University Archives includes material documenting the history and growth of Tuskegee University, the Civil Rights movement, and general history of Afro-Americana. Books (including faculty publications), manuscripts, Tuskegee University periodicals and newspapers, ephemera, photographic images, disc and tape recordings, and other archival items are available for research under supervised conditions.

NDSA to Hold Open Conversations on Ithaka S+R Report: The Effectiveness and Durability of Digital Preservation and Curation Systems

In July of this year, Ithaka S+R researchers published a long-awaited IMLS funded report on digital preservation and curation systems. This report has generated much discussion and some controversy within the digital preservation community. NDSA sees and appreciates practitioners’ hard work in preserving our collective cultural heritage, work that is apparent not only in community discussions but was also recently studied in the 2019 Storage Infrastructure Survey and the 2021 Staffing Survey.

NDSA would like to host an open conversation for the community to discuss this report and its impact. This will take two forms: an open Google Doc for asynchronous participation and an online meeting. Both of these venues will be governed by the NDSA Code of Conduct. The Google Doc will be open from the publication time of this blog post until the online meeting, which will use a similar structure. The open session will take place over Zoom on October 26, 12:30-1:30pm Eastern, the passcode is the acronym of our organization.

~Nathan Tallman, NDSA Coordinating Committee Chair

Announcing Incoming NDSA Coordinating Committee Members for 2023-2025

Please join me in welcoming the three newly elected Coordinating Committee members Shira Peltzman, Deon Schutte, and Bethany Scott. Their terms begin January 1, 2023 and run through December 31, 2025. 

Shira Peltzman is the Digital Archivist for UCLA Library Special Collections where she works with stakeholders on an enterprise-wide basis to preserve and make LSC’s born-digital material accessible to the widest possible audience. As a current member of the NDSA Staffing Survey Working Group, she has seen firsthand the importance of undertaking this work collectively and the impact that it has on the field. Shira is interested in serving as a member of the NDSA Coordinating Committee because she would like to help guide and coordinate this work to maximize the quality, relevance, consistency, and overall effectiveness of the publications that come out of all Interest and Working Groups.

Deon Schutte worked as a freelance typesetter in the educational publishing industry in South Africa for many years. In 2018 he completed his B.INF (Bachelor of Information Science) through the University of South Africa and his B.INF Honours in 2019. Deon is a MPhil (Master of Philosophy, specializing in Digital Curation) candidate at the University of Cape Town. His research interests are hermeneutics, heuristics, and sensemaking as cognitive processes that support the curation of archival arrangements. Deon serves as the Chair of the Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers, and he is a Fellow of the South African Chefs Association. He works at Africa Media Online as the project manager of a team that is tasked with the organizing and arrangement, prior to digitisation, of the extensive personal archive of one of the prominent politicians of the anti-Apartheid struggle.

Bethany Scott is the Head of Preservation & Reformatting at the University of Houston Libraries. In this role she provides strategic leadership for the Libraries’ physical and digital preservation programs, and digitization and reformatting services for the Libraries and its patrons. Bethany also serves as Product Owner of the Libraries’ open-source digital access and preservation ecosystem, which incorporates Avalon, Hyrax, Archivematica, and ArchivesSpace. Her areas of expertise include digital preservation, born-digital archives, scanning and imaging, and reuse of archival metadata.

We are also grateful to the very talented, qualified individuals who participated in this election.

We are indebted to our outgoing Coordinating Committee members, Courtney Mumma, Dan Noonan, and Nathan Tallman, for their service and many contributions. To sustain a vibrant, robust community of practice, we rely on and deeply value the contributions of all members, including those who took part in voting.

 

Hannah Wang, Vice Chair

On behalf of the NDSA Coordinating Committee

New NDSA Code of Conduct Website

A Code of Conduct webpage is now available sharing information on NDSA’s Code of Conduct practices.  The website links to the Code of Conduct itself, but also provides information on how to report code of conduct violations.  

In most NDSA online spaces, the quickest way to report any concerns or violations is to complete an anonymous form.  Other options include reaching out to Chairs of groups or someone in the Leadership group.  

In addition to this information being available on the website, it is also available at the top of all the Interest Group meeting notes as well as being a pinned post on all Slack channels. 

 

NDSA Interest Group Meetings Open to All

NDSA Interest Groups meet quarterly on a rotating schedule. Meetings are held via Zoom and are open to all. You are invited to attend to learn more about digital preservation, to meet colleagues in other organizations, and to keep up to date on NDSA. Meeting registration is not used, so you are free to drop in as your schedule permits.  The three Interest groups focus on the following areas: Infrastructure, Standards and Practices, and Content.  Please visit the group webpages to learn more about each interest group, including links to meeting agendas and notes, which includes Zoom meeting information.

Interest group meetings for the remainder of 2022

September 29, 3 pm Eastern time

  • Infrastructure
  • Co-chairs: Robin Ruggaber and Eric Lopatin
  • https://ndsa.org/groups/infrastructure/
  • In September, the Infrastructure Interest Group will shift its meeting format to a reading group approach. With our Infrastructure hats on, we intend to discuss two documents that have recently been introduced through different means to the larger digital preservation community. Between now and the end of September, please take some time to review:
    • The Digital Preservation Declaration of Shared Values (version 3 draft) put forth by the Digital Preservation Services Collaborative, and
    • Preservica’s Charter for Long-term Digital Preservation Sustainability

October 17, 1 pm Eastern time

  • Standards and Practices
  • Co-chairs: Felicity Dykas and Ann Hanlon
  • https://ndsa.org/groups/standards-and-practices/
  • Note that the October meeting date was changed to avoid a conflict with the DLF Forum.
  • Guest speakers Amy Currie and Sharon McMeekin from the Digital Preservation Coalition will give an overview of the newly released DPC Digital Preservation Competency Framework.

November 2, 1 pm Eastern time

December 19, 3 pm Eastern time

There is much happening with digital preservation infrastructure, content, and standards and practices. The more people at the table, the better our digital preservation efforts will be. Please join us!

Now Available: The 2021 NDSA Staffing Survey Report

The NDSA Staffing Survey Working Group is excited to announce the publication of the 2021 Staffing Survey Report, now available in the NDSA OSF.

The NDSA Staffing Survey is designed to gain insight into current staffing realities for digital preservation programs, and was substantially redesigned in 2021 based on feedback from previous surveys and changes in the field over the past decade.  

Completed by 269 individuals, the report documents the survey responses related to the following areas of focus: 1) Background Information, 2) Digital Preservation Activities and Planning, 3) Digital Preservation Organization and Staffing, 4) Staffing Qualifications and Training, and 5) Final Thoughts about Digital Preservation Staffing and Organization.

Several key points emerged from the 2021 survey. The report provides additional analysis and further detail around the following:

  • Perceptions of digital preservation seemed to shift according to respondents’ roles within their organizations. Respondents’ answers to questions relating to a range of questions including digital preservation priority, policy, organization, skill sets, staffing levels, and more often reflected their reported role within digital preservation at their organization.
  • Survey respondents overwhelmingly perceived digital preservation at their organizations as understaffed. A majority of respondents reported that they did not feel like their organization had the staffing in place to manage the content for which they are responsible.
  • Generalized longitudinal trends can be seen over the last ten years. Data comparison across the 2012, 2017, and 2021 surveys allows for the observation of some general trends, including around how well digital preservation is implemented at organizations. Across the last ten years that the survey has been conducted, dissatisfaction rates around the organization and implementation of digital preservation rose from just over one-third of respondents in 2012 to nearly half in 2017 and 2021.

Additional information for review includes the Survey codebook and data files, also available in the NDSA OSF.

If you have questions or concerns about this survey, please contact ndsa.digipres@gmail.com and include “Staffing Survey” in the subject line.

Many thanks to everyone in the community who completed the survey. We appreciate the time and effort you put into your answers, and the resulting report is all the better for it.

Thank you to the members of the 2021 Staffing Survey Working Group for your hard work and dedication: Rachel Appel, Brenna Edwards, Heather Heckman, Déirdre Joyce, Margaret Kidd, Julia Kim, Sharon McMeekin, Krista Oldham, Shira Peltzman, Jessica Venlet, and Hannah Wang.

-The NDSA Staffing Survey Working Group co-chairs, Elizabeth England and Lauren Work

NDSA Announces 2022 Slate of Candidates for Coordinating Committee

NDSA is happy to announce the 2022 slate of Coordinating Committee (CC) candidates. Elections will soon be held for three (3) CC members. The CC is dedicated to ensuring a strategic direction for NDSA, to the advancement of NDSA activities to achieve community goals, and to further communication among digital preservation professionals and NDSA member organizations. The CC is responsible for reviewing and approving NDSA membership applications and publications; updating eligibility standards for membership in the alliance, and other strategic documents; engaging with stakeholders in the community; and working to enroll new members committed to our core mission. The successful candidates will each serve a three year term. Ballots will be sent to membership organization contacts in the coming weeks.

Terrance D’Ambrosio

Terrance D’Ambrosio has worked in the field of digital imaging and visual resources since 2007. Terrance confers with NEDCC’s clients to evaluate their collections and develop digital imaging proposals and specifications, and works closely with the Center’s paper and book conservation laboratories on projects that require both conservation treatment and digital imaging. He sets standards for quality control and workflow in NEDCC’s Digital Imaging department, and maintains best practices for digital capture and preservation. He is a graduate of Vassar College with a degree in Art History and previously managed the Digital Imaging Unit of the New York Public Library.

Shira Peltzman

Shira is the Digital Archivist for UCLA Library Special Collections where she works with stakeholders on an enterprise-wide basis to preserve and make LSC’s born-digital material accessible to the widest possible audience. As a current member of the NDSA Staffing Survey Working Group, she has seen firsthand the importance of undertaking this work collectively and the impact that it has on the field. Shira is interested in serving as a member of the NDSA Coordinating Committee because she would like to help guide and coordinate this work to maximize the quality, relevance, consistency, and overall effectiveness of the publications that come out of all Interest and Working Groups.

Deon Schutte

Deon Schutte (Content Interest Group Co-Chair; 1st term, 2022-2024) worked as a freelance typesetter in the educational publishing industry in South Africa for many years. In 2018 he completed his B.INF (Bachelor of Information Science) through the University of South Africa and his B.INF Honours in 2019. Deon is a MPhil (Master of Philosophy, specialising in Digital Curation) candidate at the University of Cape Town (the first African member of the NDSA). He serves as the Chair of the Association of Southern African Indexers and Bibliographers (ASAIB) and is a Fellow of the South African Chefs Association. He works at Africa Media Online as digital curator and project manager of the production team that is busy arranging and digitising the extensive archive of one of the prominent politicians of the anti-Apartheid struggle. He resides in Pietermaritzburg (Msunduzi), South Africa.

Bethany Scott

Bethany is the Head of Preservation & Reformatting at the University of Houston Libraries. In this role she provides strategic leadership for the Libraries’ physical and digital preservation programs, and digitization and reformatting services for the Libraries and its patrons. Bethany also serves as Product Owner of the Libraries’ open-source digital access and preservation ecosystem, which incorporates Avalon, Hyrax, Archivematica, and ArchivesSpace. Her areas of expertise include digital preservation, born-digital archives, scanning and imaging, and reuse of archival metadata.

Bethany is currently researching how to assess and improve the Libraries’ carbon footprint, particularly for its digital and computing infrastructure; as part of this research, she has presented at the IS&T Archiving and the NDSA Digital Preservation conferences, and anticipates co-facilitating a workshop on “Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Digital Preservation” for the Southeast Asia Regional Branch of the ICA later this year.

Bethany is also a founding member and steering committee chair for the Texas Archivematica Users Group, which has facilitated information sharing and collaboration among Archivematica practitioners in Texas and beyond. She is a dedicated advocate for fostering community engagement and building shared infrastructure for the digital preservation field, and looks forward to bringing this passion to the NDSA Coordinating Committee.

Call for Nominations to the NDSA Coordinating Committee – Extended

NDSA will be electing three members to its Coordinating Committee (CC) this year, with terms starting in January 2023. CC members serve a three year term, participate in a monthly call, and meet at the annual Digital Preservation Conference. The Coordinating Committee provides strategic leadership to the organization in coordination with group co-chairs. NDSA is a diverse community with a critical mission, and we seek candidates to join the CC that bring a variety of cultures and orientations, skills, perspectives and experiences, to bear on leadership initiatives. Working on the CC is an opportunity to contribute your leadership for the community as a whole, while collaborating with a wonderful group of dynamic and motivated professionals. 

If you are interested in joining the NDSA Coordinating Committee (CC) or want to nominate another member, please complete the nomination form by 11:59pm EDT Friday, August 19, 2022 which asks for the name, e-mail address, brief bio/candidate statement (nominee-approved), and NDSA-affiliated institution of the nominee. We particularly encourage and welcome nominations of people from underrepresented groups and sectors. 

As members of the NDSA, we join together to form a consortium of more than 260 partnering organizations, including businesses, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, professional associations and universities, all engaged in the long-term preservation of digital information. Committed to preserving access to our national digital heritage, we each offer our diverse skills, perspectives, experiences, cultures and orientations to achieve what we could not do alone. 

The CC is dedicated to ensuring a strategic direction for NDSA, to the advancement of NDSA activities to achieve community goals, and to further communication among digital preservation professionals and NDSA member organizations. The CC is responsible for reviewing and approving NDSA membership applications and publications; updating eligibility standards for membership in the alliance, and other strategic documents; engaging with stakeholders in the community; and working to enroll new members committed to our core mission. More information about the duties and responsibilities of CC members can be found at the NDSA’s Leadership Page.

We hope you will give this opportunity serious consideration and we value your continued contributions and leadership in our community.

Any questions can be directed to ndsa.digipres@gmail.com. 

Thank you,

Hannah Wang, Vice Chair

Programs are Live for CLIR’s 2022 Events: DLF Forum, Learn@DLF, DigiPres, DHC Symposium

Join us in Baltimore October 9-13, 2022. October 9: Learn@DLF; October 10-12: DLF Forum; October 12-13 NDSA Digital Preservation & Digitizing Hidden Collections Symposium

The Council on Library and Information Resources is delighted to announce the release of the full programs for our in-person conferences happening in Baltimore, MD this October: the Digital Library Federation’s (DLF) Forum and Learn@DLF, NDSA’s Digital Preservation 2022: Preserving Legacy, and CLIR’s Digitizing Hidden Collections Symposium. This year’s programs are remarkable, and you won’t want to miss them.

Explore the Programs

Our events will take place on the following dates:

We are especially grateful to our volunteer Reviewers and Program Committees, without whom these fabulous programs would not have come together. And, thank you to all who submitted proposals. This year’s field was competitive, and it shows in the strong programs we’re sharing today.

Secure the early bird rate, register for our events, book your hotel, browse our new community-written Baltimore local guide, and start planning for yet another memorable week with CLIR. 

DLF member organizations receive one complimentary DLF Forum registration as part of their member benefits. Not sure who received your code? Contact us at forum@diglib.org. 

We will continue updating the Covid-19 Health Protocols information on our website. If you have any questions, please write to us at forum@diglib.org. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Baltimore this fall.

-Team DLF

P.S. Want to stay updated on all things #DLFforum? Subscribe to our Forum newsletter and follow us at @CLIRDLF on Twitter.

NDSA Welcomes Three New Members

As of 14 June 2022, the NDSA Leadership unanimously voted to welcome its three most recent applicants into the membership. Each new member brings a host of skills and experience to our group. Keep an eye out for them on your calls and be sure to give them a shout out. Please join me in welcoming our new members.

Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc.

Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator supports contemporary emerging artists who explore and experiment with new forms and themes that challenge traditional definitions of Caribbean and Latin American art. Diaspora Vibe is an IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) awardee that has worked in partnership with the University of Miami’s Special Collections and Digital Library of the Caribbean at Florida International University to preserve, digitize, and increase access to its archive focusing on artists from the Caribbean and Latin American Diaspora.

Rochester Institute of Technology Libraries

RIT Libraries has been committed to and engaged in digital preservation activities for seven years. They are excited to become active and engaged members of NDSA in order to learn and develop strategies that will enable them to make a stronger case locally for development and implementation of a digital preservation infrastructure. They are most interested in the areas of infrastructure, sustainability, and standards and best practices.

University of Texas at Arlington Libraries

UTA Libraries focuses on web archives using Archive-It, preserving born-digital related to the collecting areas of UTA Special Collections in the UTA Libraries Digital Archive, powered by Preservica, and preserving data in the Mavs Dataverse with the assistance of the Texas Digital Library. They are excited to be a part of the larger international conversation surrounding digital preservation, staying up-to-date with technological change, and monitoring new developments in the digital preservation field.

Posted by Hannah Wang, Vice Chair of the NDSA Coordinating Committee on behalf of the Coordinating Committee

 

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