Novice to Know-How: Online Digital Preservation Training

Part of The National Archives’ innovative digital capacity building strategy, ‘Plugged In, Powered Up,’ the Novice to Know-How (N2KH) courses aim to provide learners with the skills required to develop and implement digital preservation workflows within their organisation.

The “Novice to Now-How: Digital Preservation Skills for Beginners'' learning pathway is aimed at those who are new to the topic. It starts with a broad introduction to digital preservation issues and describes the measures we can take to address these. It then delves into potential workflows in more detail, examining the issues to consider, steps to take, and technological solutions that can be deployed. An emphasis is placed on free, easy-to-use options, and includes a number of tool demos. Course content is provided as a mix of video, text, and quizzes. On average learners take two to three days to complete the learning pathway. 
After completing the learning pathway learners will be able to:

1. Explain what digital preservation is

2. Prioritize digital preservation actions at their organization

3. Develop and implement digital preservation workflows

The "Providing Access to Preserved Digital Content" course is included in the main beginner pathway but is also available as a stand-alone for those who completed the learning pathway prior to April 2021, and for those specifically interested in the topic of providing access but do not want to complete the full learning pathway. On average learners take a day to complete the course.

By completing the course learners will gain the skills to allow them to:

1. Implement the beginner’s aspects of the Access Workflow

2. Achieve Level One of the Born-Digital Levels of Access, and understand the steps that will lead to achieving Level Two

3. Achieve a ‘Basic’ maturity level for ‘Discovery and Access’ according to DPC RAM, and understand the steps that will lead to a ‘Managed’ maturity level

As of January 2023 a new course is in development: “Novice to Know-How: Email Preservation”, again conceived of and funded by The National Archives (UK) and delivered by the DPC. This course will be aimed at learners who already have a solid foundational knowledge of digital preservation (e.g. they have completed the original N2KH learning pathway) and wish to gain practical skills in relation to the preservation of email. The new course will be launched in June 2023.

After completing this learning pathway, learners will be able to:

1. Explain what email preservation is and why it is important

2. Plan and implement an email preservation program at their organization

3. Develop and execute email preservation workflows 

How Access Works

• Access to the Novice to Know-How learning pathway will work on monthly 4-week cycles, starting on the 1st of each month.

• On the 1st of the month learners will receive an email from the DPC’s Learning Management System, LITMOS, notifying them that their account has been created.

• Learners will have until the 28th of month to complete the course.

• Learner accounts will be deactivated on the 29th of the month (or late in the day on 28th February), so learners are encouraged to download their certificate of completion and any of the additional resources they wish to keep before this time.

• Extensions will be granted depending on demand. New learners who have registered for the next month will have priority. Extensions will not be automatically granted, learners must submit a request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Please note that if an extension is required, please do get in touch and do not re-register for another month. 

Registration

• Development of the Novice to Know-How learning pathway was funded by The National Archives (UK), therefore learners from the UK Archive Sector will have priority access to the first 175 places on the course, until further notice.

• DPC members will have priority access to an additional 115 places, with 3 spaces per member available in the first instance (additional staff members will be added to a waitlist).

• Those outwith the UK Archive Sector and DPC membership can add their name to a waitlist for any remaining places that are available. These places will be granted on a first come, first served basis each month therefore unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a space for a particular month. 

• The allocation of number of places will be reviewed on a six-monthly basis.

Registration will take place using the DPC’s Ticket Tailor service. To register, please use the correct link below.

Have you completed any Novice to Know-How training modules yet? If not, register for the full course here:

If you have completed Novice to Know-How training before, top up your skills by registering for the "Providing Access to Preserved Digital Content" course here:

Completed the course and want to access copies of the N2KH content to keep?

Download full text surrogates of the N2KH Learning Pathway Modules and Lists of Additional Resources (6.5MB)