On June 10th, 2024, I started as the Head of DPC Americas. My first six months or so have mostly been about getting a firm foundation in this role and meeting people where they are. Thanks, again, to the stakeholders who spoke with me over the summer via Zoom in informational interviews (in total 18 people at 15 member institutions).
During this time, I also traveled a lot to meet colleagues, members and potential members in person. I went to the UK in July to meet the DPC staff; SAA in Chicago in August; iPres in Ghent in September; New York and Washington in October for events at ITHAKA and the World Bank Group; Ottawa in November for @Risk North 3; and Washington, DC, in December for the CNI Fall Membership Meeting. My co-workers and I have been consistently delighted by and grateful for the warm welcome we’ve received in the Americas.
Now in 2025, we’re establishing a new Stakeholder Group for DPC Americas. This will be open to all our members in the Americas, and we will meet regularly to help guide our work. The group will have a formal role in the DPC governance, reporting to the DPC’s Executive Board and overseeing our workplan. Participating in this group provides a valuable professional networking opportunity since it is also a venue for members to share information about challenges, successes and future plans. We’re planning a kick-off meeting in February 2025 and for the group to meet every 3 months or so thereafter. This will help us work out priorities and stay focused on members’ needs. We have a terms of reference document as well as a chair, Leslie Johnston, and Vice-Chair, Kate Murray, for the group.
This week, we are thrilled to be opening registration for the first ever DPC Members Forum and Networking event in the Americas. Due to take place April 24th - 25th at Vanderbilt University in Nashville TN, this two-day event offers programming for the entire digital preservation community. Starting with a full day event which is open to all, we will explore practical ways to get started and make progress with digital preservation from making the case for investment, through to maturity modelling and identifying the skills and activities required to carry out effective digital preservation in your organizations.
Day two is exclusively for DPC Members and in addition to meeting and networking with other members of the Coalition, we will have an exciting program of fast-paced member led talks and discussions, providing the opportunity to take the floor and exchange ideas, showcase work and discuss key themes.
In addition, we’re looking at the possibility of a thematic meeting about museums and digital preservation; and we hope also to participate in some professional conferences throughout 2025.
That’s all as well as a core program of virtual events and special interest group meetings, which are being increasingly offered at times that are more convenient for participants throughout the Americas. We have found a nice overlap of time zones between Pacific Time and normal business hours across Australasia/Asia-Pacific, which provides an opportunity for more international collaboration and conversations among members.
Wide promotion of the free to all Novice to Know How (N2KH) curriculum will be a high priority in 2025 as DPC becomes more established as a leader in digital preservation in the Americas. We are also excited to widely publicize the excellent guidelines for digital preservation for community archives published in November 2024.
And amidst all of this activity, since we established our presence in the Americas, the DPC is delighted to have welcomed the following members from our region:
Indiana University Libraries, University of Pittsburgh Library System, Western University Libraries, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, the World Bank Group Archives, New York University Division of Libraries, University of Alberta Library, University of Minnesota and the United States Government Publishing Office.