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Articles
Further resources and case studies
Case studies Here are some examples of how DPC RAM has been used by members of the community to help track their progress in digital preservation. If you have a example of DPC RAM in action that you would like to share please contact us: Assessing where we are with digital preservation (2021) - a blog post from Fabiana Barticioti, Digital Assets Manager at LSE Library. From 'starting digital preservation' to 'business as usual' (2021) - a blog post from Anna McNally, Senior...
How was DPC RAM developed?
How was it developed? The model is primarily based on Adrian Brown's Digital Preservation Maturity Model (published in Practical Digital Preservation: a how-to guide for organizations of any size, 2013). This model was developed with the following guiding principles in mind. It aimed to be: Applicable for organizations of any size and in any sector Applicable for all content of long-term value Preservation strategy and solution agnostic Based on existing good practice Simple to...
DPC and NDSA announce cooperation on awards programs
The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) are delighted to announce an agreement for close coordination and cooperation on their respective Awards programs. While both organizations will continue with their own awards programs, the NDSA Excellence Awards will move from an annual to a biennial basis, interleaved with the DPC Digital Preservation Awards. Thus, each year the international digital preservation community can look forward to the...
Reflections Following an Online Training Conference: 2022 NEDCC Digital Directions
Mzodidi Tutuka is Principal Library Assistant at University at Cape Town Library. He recently attended the NEDCC Digital Directions Conference 2022 with support from the DPC’s Career Development Fund, which is funded by DPC Supporters. I am Mzodidi Tutuka from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. I work at the Digital Library Services (DLS) department which falls under the Information and Resources division within the UCT Libraries. Our department consists of 9...
Digital Preservation Awards 2024
The search for the very best work in digital preservation will begin again this year with the Digital Preservation Awards 2024! Organized by the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) every two years, the prestigious Digital Preservation Awards is the most prominent celebration of achievement for those people and organisations who have made significant contributions towards a sustainable future for our digital assets. The exciting process will culminate in a...
Digital Directions: Insights from a Virtual Conference
Ruth Schieferstein is a Digital Archive Officer at Historic Environment Scotland. She recently attended the NEDCC Digital Directions Conference 2022 with support from the DPC’s Career Development Fund, which is funded by DPC Supporters. I had the great opportunity to attend the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) Digital Directions conference thanks to the generous DPC Career Development Fund. The conference was held virtually over three days and was packed full with...
Digital Preservation Awards 2026: Sponsorship
We are very grateful to our sponsors and DPC Supporters for their generous contributions. Their support helps us recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions to digital preservation. A small number of sponsorship opportunities are still available, and we would be pleased to hear from organizations interested in supporting the Awards. Headline SponsorThe Digital Preservation Awards 2026 are proudly supported by Artefactual Systems as Headline Sponsor. Their support helps...
Digital Preservation Awards 2026: Judges
The Digital Preservation Coalition is pleased to announce its international panel of expert judges for 2026: Hamad Abdulla Al Mutairi International Council on Archives Dr Hamad Abdulla Al Mutairi is the Executive Director of the UAE National Library and Archives, where he oversees six directorates spanning archival services, library operations, research, community engagement, strategic planning, and institutional services. With more than two decades of leadership in cultural heritage...
DPC Rapid Assessment Model: Italian translation now available!
[segue la versione italiana] The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is delighted to share an Italian translation of its Rapid Assessment Model (RAM), with thanks to Giulia Brecciaroli at the British Library and Elena Nepoti at Imperial War Museums in the UK who generously donated their time to make the resource accessible.
Preserving Born-Digital Design and Construction Records: Member preview of new DPC Technology Watch Report
The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has released a Member Preview of a new Technology Watch Report on Preserving Born-Digital Design and Construction Records by Aliza Leventhal and Jody Thompson, today. Preserving Born-Digital Design and Construction Records aims to support archival professionals, as well as active designers and facilities managers, considering acquisition, preservation, and access approaches that account for both the technical and cultural components of the broad range...
Unprecedented times
Hania Smerecka is Archivist at Lloyds Banking Group I sat down to write this during a violent flurry of Whatsapp pings - friends discussing fresh instructions to work from home. I’m not sure how the latest announcements make me feel. Nervous probably, but lucky too, as we got through the last two years safely, adapted, and are in pretty good shape to face whatever is coming. Our Preservica cloud instance had not yet gone live when Covid first hit the news. We were still finding our...
Web Archiving & Preservation Working Group - General Meeting - December 2021
Description The DPC Web Archiving and Preservation Working Group (WAPWG) is pleased to announce details of our next General Meeting – which will be free and open to everyone. Web archiving provides the means for collecting organisations to capture, preserve and make available time-stamped archival copies of information published on the Web, before this content changes and is lost forever. Rather wonderfully, a strong and active global community of practice exists around web...
Web Archiving & Preservation Working Group - General Meeting - December 2021
Description The DPC Web Archiving and Preservation Working Group (WAPWG) is pleased to announce details of our next General Meeting – which will be free and open to everyone. Web archiving provides the means for collecting organisations to capture, preserve and make available time-stamped archival copies of information published on the Web, before this content changes and is lost forever. Rather wonderfully, a strong and active global community of practice exists around web...
Digital Preservation and Environmental Sustainability: Five Themes for the Future
[sigue la versión en español] In November I was invited to speak to the members of RIPDASA in Latin America on the theme of environmental sustainability and digital preservation. This presentation gave me scope to expand a short provocation given on the same theme on the fringes of COP26 which we have also published. It is not exactly a deep dive, but more than a toe in the water. You can also watch the video of the presentation which includes Spanish subtitles. Thank you...
Environmental Impact and Digital Preservation
Digital preservation good practice is not solely about how successfully we preserve the bits and enable access to them, it must also take into account the broader context in which our work sits, and the wider responsibilities we have to society and the environment. Simply put, there is no point in preserving the bits if there is no one left to read and understand them. As a community we must therefore balance risks to the digital content that we hold not only against the financial cost but...
Environmental Impact and Digital Preservation
Digital preservation good practice is not solely about how successfully we preserve the bits and enable access to them, it must also take into account the broader context in which our work sits, and the wider responsibilities we have to society and the environment. Simply put, there is no point in preserving the bits if there is no one left to read and understand them. As a community we must therefore balance risks to the digital content that we hold not only against the financial cost but...
A Hybrid Model for Web Archive Capture
Claire Newing is Web Archivist at The National Archives in the UK 2021 is the year the UK Government Web Archive came of age. On 4 November we celebrated the 25th birthday of our oldest resource - this archived version of the Environment Agency website. Of course it shared its birthday with World Digital Preservation Day 2021 so a double excuse to celebrate.
DPC Rapid Assessment Model: Japanese translation now available!
日本語版が続きます The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is delighted to share a Japanese translation of its Rapid Assessment Model (RAM), with thanks to volunteer contributors. Now available as a PDF download in Japanese, the second edition of the DPC RAM is a digital preservation maturity modelling tool that has been designed to enable rapid benchmarking of an organization’s digital preservation capability. “When we first released DPC RAM just over 2 years ago we had no idea it would be...
Environmentally sustainable digital preservation - moving from theory to practice
In April 2020 we held a webinar on ‘Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation’ (DPC Members login to access the recording). In a follow up blog post, we mentioned we’d be keen to see how ideas raised in this webinar were incorporated into future digital preservation projects and initiatives going forward. Revisiting this topic we intend to explore how a range of digital preservation practitioners are addressing the issue, in particular how considerations around environmental...
Environmentally sustainable digital preservation - moving from theory to practice
In April 2020 we held a webinar on ‘Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation’ (DPC Members login to access the recording). In a follow up blog post, we mentioned we’d be keen to see how ideas raised in this webinar were incorporated into future digital preservation projects and initiatives going forward. Revisiting this topic we intend to explore how a range of digital preservation practitioners are addressing the issue, in particular how considerations around environmental...