Evidence to support your 'Ask'

Tool tip: Use these examples to support your ‘ask’ where useful, but you may have other organization-specific examples you can use too. Capture these in the Vignette Template and combine with the Message‑Building Template.

Other linked resources:

To demonstrate your capability and skills, and to identify what else is required to support effective digital preservation in your organization, use:

To evidence the risk profile of your digital materials and make the case for urgent action, use:

To showcase what can happen in the absence of digital preservation by referencing high-profile cases reported in the media.

DPC icons myths Providing evidence to support your advocacy ask strengthens credibility, reduces uncertainty, and helps decision‑makers understand why action is necessary now.

Evidence moves the conversation beyond opinion or technical preference and shows that your request is grounded in real organizational needs, risks, and opportunities. It can also help stakeholders visualize the scale of the problem, the consequences of inaction and the benefits your proposal can deliver. Strong evidence can also reassure colleagues who may be risk‑averse or unfamiliar with digital preservation by showing that similar organizations face the same challenges and that practical solutions exist. Evidence can help turn digital preservation advocacy from ‘a good idea’ into a compelling, defensible, and actionable case for investment, support, or change.

Internal evidence

You can use much of the preparatory work you did before you embarked on your advocacy activities as evidence to support your ‘ask.’ The results of a DPC RAM Assessment will show where you are, where you want/need to be and, if you are a DPC Member, how you compare with other organizations.

You can also use the Global Bit List of Endangered Digital Materials to highlight the risk classification of some of the digital materials in your collection and the Digital Archiving: Risk Prioritization Tool to make the case for urgent action.

A method of using real-life scenarios or ‘Vignettes’ as evidence was developed by the digital preservation team at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) in the Netherlands. They observed that in digital preservation, we often focus on future proofing, planning ahead, anticipating risks, and building resilient systems. But sometimes the most powerful lessons come not from looking forward, but from looking back.

A single real-life example of something that went wrong (or almost went wrong) can illuminate the importance of digital preservation far more clearly than abstract arguments ever could and situates the message in a highly relatable context that is immediately understood by an organizational audience.

Internal evidence

Digital preservation in the media