How to level up with DPC RAM

The following resources are provided to help you to move forward with digital preservation after carrying out a RAM assessment.

The resources are organized using the 11  sections of DPC RAM so you can quickly skip to the relevant resources if you want to focus on making progress in a particular area. 

We are keen that the community learns from the work that others have carried out, so: 

Please contact us if you have suggestions of other resources to add to this list. Perhaps you have found a way to move forward in an area of RAM and have useful information to share that could help others?
If you have a success story of how you used RAM within your organization to make progress in digital preservation - perhaps using it within a business case or sharing the results to advocate for digital preservation to colleagues - please let us know. We would love to be able to share your story with others.

A - Organizational viability
Governance, organizational structure, staffing and resourcing of digital preservation activities.

DPC Executive Guide - generic and specific messages and motivators designed to communicate with senior executives, legislators and budget holders.
Business Case Toolkit - a comprehensive toolkit to help practitioners and middle managers build business cases to fund digital preservation activities.
Novice to Know-How - this online learning pathway aims to provide beginners with the skills required to develop and implement simple digital preservation workflows within their organisation.
Career Development Fund - this funding opportunity (for DPC Members) offers an on-going programme of grants for relevant training and development opportunities.
Staff Training and Development (Digital Preservation Handbook)

B - Policy and strategy
Policies, strategies, and procedures which govern the operation and management of the digital archive.

Digital Preservation Policy Toolkit - a toolkit from the DPC to help you write your own digital preservation policy (DPC Member only resource).
Devising Your Digital Preservation Policy: Learnings from the Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge (DPOC) project - slides from an event that was held in December 2018.
Institutional policies and strategies (Digital Preservation Handbook)

C - Legal basis
Management of legal rights and responsibilities, compliance with relevant regulation and adherence to ethical codes related to acquiring, preserving and providing access to digital content.

Intellectual Property Rights for Digital Preservation - a DPC Technology Watch Report by Andrew Charlesworth.
Legal Compliance (Digital Preservation Handbook)

D - IT capability
Information Technology capabilities for supporting digital preservation activities.

‘How to Talk to IT about Digital Preservation’ - an article by Scott Prater of the University of Wisconsin - Madison
'Digital Preservation and Enterprise Architecture Collaboration at the University of Melbourne: A Meeting of Mindsets' - a paper from iPRES2019 in which Jaye Weatherburn, Lyle Winton and Sean Turner from the University of Melbourne describe how to involve enterprise systems architects in the challenge of digital preservation
'Digital Preservation Procurement Toolkit' - a guide to procuring digital preservation systems and services.

E - Continuous improvement
Processes for the assessment of current digital preservation capabilities, the definition of goals and the monitoring of progress.

DPC members can contact the DPC for DPC RAM benchmarking information to inform goals and help with internal advocacy.
Audit and Certification (Digital Preservation Handbook)

F - Community
Engagement with and contribution to the wider digital preservation community.

There are numerous relevant communities you may wish to engage with or become an active part of, for example the Open Preservation Foundation, the Digital Curation Centre, content specific user groups, software or system specific user groups (and of course the DPC!)
Start your own digital preservation blog, or contact the DPC if you would like to submit a blog post to share your work with the wider community.
There are numerous mailing lists you can join where digital preservation issues are regularly discussed, for example DIGITAL-PRESERVATION, Digital Curation, RESEARCH-DATAMAN, PASIG-discuss, ALA digipres and Australasia Preserves. DPC members can also join the DPC Discussion mailing list - contact us to ask to be added.
Digipres Commons - this site details an array of collaborative approaches and community driven resources for digital preservation.
The DPC hold numerous events to enable the community to come together and learn from each other. Take a look at our events page to see what is coming up.

G - Acquisition, transfer and ingest
Processes to acquire or transfer content and ingest it into a digital archive.

COPTR (Community Owned digital Preservation Tool Registry) - a great source of information about tools that can be used to support all the stages of the digital preservation lifecycle, including tools for functions that typically occur on ingest.
COW (Community Owned Workflows) - information about workflows that institutions have employed to carry out digital preservation activities (note that this resource will be further developed in 2021).
 Acquisition and Appraisal (Digital Preservation Handbook)

H - Bitstream preservation
Processes to ensure the storage and integrity of digital content to be preserved.

Digital Preservation Storage Criteria a list of criteria, or design attributes, for storage that supports the work of digital preservation.
Which checksum algorithm should I use? A Technology Watch Guidance Note from Matthew Addis.
Toward environmentally sustainable preservation an article by Keith L Pendergrass, Walker Sampson, Tessa Walsh, and Laura Alagna which includes helpful suggestions on how to minimise the environmental impact of our digital preservation work. 
Storage (Digital Preservation Handbook)
Fixity and Checksums (Digital Preservation Handbook)
Cloudy Culture (Preserving digital culture in the cloud) - a guide on when and where to make use of cloud storage

I - Content preservation
Processes to preserve the meaning of the digital content and ensure its continued accessibility and usability over time.

PRONOM an online registry of technical information about file formats maintained by The National Archives UK.
COPTR (Community Owned digital Preservation Tool Registry) - information about tools that can be used to support all the stages of the digital preservation lifecycle, including tools for activities such as file identification, validation and quality control.
Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement contains a wealth of useful information about file formats.
Digital Preservation Framework for Risk Assessment and Preservation Planning a framework from NARA to document and share recommended preservation actions.
Preservation Action Registries a technical project to facilitate the sharing of preservation actions between digital preservation systems.
Do (preservation) actions speak louder than words? a DPC briefing day on Preservation Planning and Technology Watch in March 2021. Slides are available for all, recordings of presentations are available to DPC Members.
Toward environmentally sustainable preservation an article by Keith L Pendergrass, Walker Sampson, Tessa Walsh, and Laura Alagna which includes helpful suggestions on how to minimise the environmental impact of our digital preservation work. 
Preservation Planning (Digital Preservation Handbook)
Preservation Action (Digital Preservation Handbook)

J - Metadata management
Processes to create and maintain sufficient metadata to support preservation, discovery and use of preserved digital content.

Preservation Metadata - a DPC Technology Watch Report by Brian Lavoie and Richard Gartner
Metadata and documentation (Digital Preservation Handbook)

K - Discovery and access
Processes to enable discovery of digital content and provide access for users.

 Access (Digital Preservation Handbook)

A - Organizational viability Governance, organizational structure, staffing and resourcing of digital preservation activities.	DPC Executive Guide - generic and specific messages and motivators designed to communicate with senior executives, legislators and budget holders. Business Case Toolkit - a comprehensive toolkit to help practitioners and middle managers build business cases to fund digital preservation activities. Novice to Know-How - this online learning pathway aims to provide beginners with the skills required to develop and implement simple digital preservation workflows within their organisation. Career Development Fund - this funding opportunity (for DPC Members) offers an on-going programme of grants for relevant training and development opportunities. Staff Training and Development (Digital Preservation Handbook)
B - Policy and strategy Policies, strategies, and procedures which govern the operation and management of the digital archive.	Digital Preservation Policy Toolkit - a toolkit from the DPC to help you write your own digital preservation policy (DPC Member only resource). Devising Your Digital Preservation Policy: Learnings from the Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge (DPOC) project - slides from an event that was held in December 2018. Institutional policies and strategies (Digital Preservation Handbook)
C - Legal basis Management of legal rights and responsibilities, compliance with relevant regulation and adherence to ethical codes related to acquiring, preserving and providing access to digital content.	Intellectual Property Rights for Digital Preservation - a DPC Technology Watch Report by Andrew Charlesworth. Legal Compliance (Digital Preservation Handbook)
D - IT capability Information Technology capabilities for supporting digital preservation activities.	‘How to Talk to IT about Digital Preservation’ - an article by Scott Prater of the University of Wisconsin - Madison 'Digital Preservation and Enterprise Architecture Collaboration at the University of Melbourne: A Meeting of Mindsets' - a paper from iPRES2019 in which Jaye Weatherburn, Lyle Winton and Sean Turner from the University of Melbourne describe how to involve enterprise systems architects in the challenge of digital preservation 'Digital Preservation Procurement Toolkit' - a guide to procuring digital preservation systems and services.
E - Continuous improvement Processes for the assessment of current digital preservation capabilities, the definition of goals and the monitoring of progress.	DPC members can contact the DPC for DPC RAM benchmarking information to inform goals and help with internal advocacy. Audit and Certification (Digital Preservation Handbook)
F - Community Engagement with and contribution to the wider digital preservation community.	There are numerous relevant communities you may wish to engage with or become an active part of, for example the Open Preservation Foundation, the Digital Curation Centre, content specific user groups, software or system specific user groups (and of course the DPC!) Start your own digital preservation blog, or contact the DPC if you would like to submit a blog post to share your work with the wider community. There are numerous mailing lists you can join where digital preservation issues are regularly discussed, for example DIGITAL-PRESERVATION, Digital Curation, RESEARCH-DATAMAN, PASIG-discuss, ALA digipres and Australasia Preserves. DPC members can also join the DPC Discussion mailing list - contact us to ask to be added. Digipres Commons - this site details an array of collaborative approaches and community driven resources for digital preservation. The DPC hold numerous events to enable the community to come together and learn from each other. Take a look at our events page to see what is coming up.
G - Acquisition, transfer and ingest Processes to acquire or transfer content and ingest it into a digital archive.	COPTR (Community Owned digital Preservation Tool Registry) - a great source of information about tools that can be used to support all the stages of the digital preservation lifecycle, including tools for functions that typically occur on ingest. COW (Community Owned Workflows) - information about workflows that institutions have employed to carry out digital preservation activities (note that this resource will be further developed in 2021). Acquisition and Appraisal (Digital Preservation Handbook)
H - Bitstream preservation Processes to ensure the storage and integrity of digital content to be preserved.	Digital Preservation Storage Criteria a list of criteria, or design attributes, for storage that supports the work of digital preservation. Which checksum algorithm should I use? A Technology Watch Guidance Note from Matthew Addis. Toward environmentally sustainable preservation an article by Keith L Pendergrass, Walker Sampson, Tessa Walsh, and Laura Alagna which includes helpful suggestions on how to minimise the environmental impact of our digital preservation work. Storage (Digital Preservation Handbook) Fixity and Checksums (Digital Preservation Handbook) Cloudy Culture (Preserving digital culture in the cloud) - a guide on when and where to make use of cloud storage
I - Content preservation Processes to preserve the meaning of the digital content and ensure its continued accessibility and usability over time.	PRONOM an online registry of technical information about file formats maintained by The National Archives UK. COPTR (Community Owned digital Preservation Tool Registry) - information about tools that can be used to support all the stages of the digital preservation lifecycle, including tools for activities such as file identification, validation and quality control. Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement contains a wealth of useful information about file formats. Digital Preservation Framework for Risk Assessment and Preservation Planning a framework from NARA to document and share recommended preservation actions. Preservation Action Registries a technical project to facilitate the sharing of preservation actions between digital preservation systems. Do (preservation) actions speak louder than words? a DPC briefing day on Preservation Planning and Technology Watch in March 2021. Slides are available for all, recordings of presentations are available to DPC Members. Toward environmentally sustainable preservation an article by Keith L Pendergrass, Walker Sampson, Tessa Walsh, and Laura Alagna which includes helpful suggestions on how to minimise the environmental impact of our digital preservation work. Preservation Planning (Digital Preservation Handbook) Preservation Action (Digital Preservation Handbook)
J - Metadata management Processes to create and maintain sufficient metadata to support preservation, discovery and use of preserved digital content.	Preservation Metadata - a DPC Technology Watch Report by Brian Lavoie and Richard Gartner Metadata and documentation (Digital Preservation Handbook)
K - Discovery and access Processes to enable discovery of digital content and provide access for users.	Access (Digital Preservation Handbook)