As we wrap up 2025, DPC staff are getting ready to close our laptops and take a break. It has been an incredible year, and we are grateful to everyone across our global membership and wider digital preservation community who has shared their time, ideas, and enthusiasm with us!
This year has truly been all about the people. We were thrilled to welcome new colleagues to the DPC team: Garth Stewart as Head of Good Practice, and Dorothy Waugh as Head of Workforce Development. We’ve also been excited to see the Coalition continue to grow, with 14 new DPC Members and 3 new Supporters joining us, extending our reach to 24 countries.
As we’ve grown, we’ve strengthened our connections with members and partners, meeting face-to-face at Members Fora in Wellington, Sydney, Nashville, and The Hague. And, of course, we celebrated World Digital Preservation Day in a new way - for the first time during iPRES 2025, the digital preservation conference we were so proud to sponsor and take part in.
Together with the community, we launched and refreshed a range of resources in 2025. From the new Research & Development Fund and an updated Bit List, to the second edition of the Digital Preservation Competency Framework and its companion resources, including the Competency Audit Toolkit (DPC CAT) and Example Role Descriptions.
We also expanded our Technology Watch publications, including guidance on interdepartmental digital preservation assessments, and made more DPC resources accessible through new translations in French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Learning and support continued to be a strong thread throughout the year. We expanded pathways through the Learning Resources Portal , supported professional development with Career Development Fund grants (made possible by our Supporters), and introduced new ways to connect and learn together through #DPConnect Americas and iPRES Radio, spanning three time zones.
We absolutely loved the varied and lively conversations in all of our Special Interest Groups (SIG) and Task Forces, including several new ones launched this year, such as the Carbon Footprint Task Force and the Managing Indigenous Cultural Material SIG, alongside ongoing project work such as the Registries of Good Practice and Future Nostalgia.
Most of all, we’ve been inspired by the generosity, expertise, and good humour that you bring to digital preservation every single day. As a small gesture of thanks, and to continue this DPC tradition, we are planting 180 trees this December, one for every DPC Member organization, around the world, just as our community spans the globe.
The DPC offices will close on Friday 19 December 2025 and reopen on Monday 5 January 2026. During this time, the team will be taking a proper break. We hope you all have a good break too.
Thank you for being part of another wonderful year with the DPC. We wish you a lovely holiday season – whether you’ll be throwing snowballs or sitting by the beach - and we look forward to reconnecting with you all in 2026.
On the wall: Anna and Robin
Standing, from left to right: Garth, Sarah, William, Amy, Karyn, Ellie, Jen, Dorothy and John
Sitting, from left to right: Michael, Angela and Andy