Events Calendar

DPC Members Forum and Networking Event - Europe

4 Jun 2025 at 9:30am - 5 Jun 2025 at 1:00pm

The Hague

General

We are delighted to invite DPC Members and members of the digital preservation community to attend our DPC Members Forum and Networking Event in The Hague, The Netherlands!

This event - formerly known as our DPC Members "Unconference" - will take place face-to-face* over two days as part of a worldwide program of Member networking activities. The first day is exclusively for DPC Members and features an exciting program of fast-paced member-led talks and discussions. Members will have the opportunity to take the floor, exchange ideas, showcase work, discuss key themes, and network with fellow Coalition members.

Day two offers a morning program, welcoming both DPC Members and the wider digital preservation community. This is an excellent opportunity to connect with the DPC, meet Coalition members, and discuss digital preservation challenges with peers in a collaborative environment. From 9:00 to 13:00, participants will engage in insightful presentations, hands-on workshops with DPC staff and networking opportunities.

*Given the nature of the activities, we do not plan to offer online attendance at this event but aim to provide written highlights.

Who is the event for?

This DPC Members Forum is designed to privilege operational staff working directly on digital preservation. We are particularly keen to hear from:

Junior staff recently appointed and looking for opportunities to build their professional networks;
New entrants to digital preservation seeking to apply professional know-how to this new field;
Experienced practitioners who have clear insights into the challenges of digital preservation in their own institutions.
Senior staff, researchers and students are also welcome, though it is practical knowledge exchange that will be most prominent.

Gen Schmitt from The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign attended last year’s event in Dublin. She says:

"I am truly appreciative for the opportunity to attend the DPC Unconference in Dublin 2024. I was able to share The University of Illinois Library’s initiatives in verifying file integrity in the cloud in a cost-effective manner while also learning about the endeavors and priorities of my peers. After attending this gathering, I have gained a greater appreciation for the importance of collaboration in digital preservation and the sharing of both successes and challenges."

Program*

Day 1
Wednesday 4 June, 09:30 – 16:30 CET
DPC Members have an opportunity today to lead the program and suggest sessions

*Timings (local)*	*Activity*
09:30 – 10:00	Registration open, refreshments served
10:00 – 10:30	Welcome from our host Jeffrey van der Hoeven, KB National Library of the Netherlands
10:30 – 10:50	Introduction to the Forum
10:50 - 11:00	Move into groups
11:00 – 11:45	Plenary room 1 Topic A	Room 2 Topic B
11:45 – 11:55	Break & change groups
11:55 – 12:40	Plenary room 1 Topic C	Room 2 Topic D
12:40 – 13:00	Regroup and reflect
13:00 – 14:00	Break for Lunch
14:00 – 14:15	Plenary session
14:15 – 14:20	Move into groups
14:20 – 15:00 (40 minutes)	Plenary room 1 Discussion with DPC team Topic 1/2	Room 2 Discussion with DPC team Topic 3/4
15:00 – 15:10	Break & change groups
15:10 – 15:55	Plenary room 1 Topic E	Room 2 Topic F
15:55 – 16:30	Feedback, wrap-up and close
16:30 – 17:30	Professional Visit
19:00+	Option to attend a social dinner and continue networking

*Program subject to change

Day 2*
Thursday 5 June, 09:15 – 13:00 CET
Open to all

*Timings (local)*	*Activity*
09:15 – 09:45	Registration open, refreshments served
09:45 – 10:00	A welcome from the DPC
10:00 – 10:45	Keynote session Speaker TBD
10:45 – 10:55	Break & change into groups
10:55 – 12:30	Continuous Improvement Workshop: DPC Rapid Assessment Model (RAM) The DPC’s Rapid Assessment Model (DPC RAM) is a digital preservation maturity modelling tool that has been designed to enable rapid benchmarking of an organization’s digital preservation capability and facilitate continuous improvement over time. This workshop explains the key concepts which make up the DPC RAM and helps users get started in establishing their base line for digital preservation. OR Continuous Improvement Workshop: the Competency Audit Toolkit (CAT) Applying a carefully considered approach to continuous improvement of digital preservation capabilities can greatly benefit practitioners when looking to set and achieve objectives, sharing and embedding this responsibility across whole organizations. The DPC has created the DPC Competency Framework with accompanying audit toolkit (DPC CAT) and example role descriptions, to help facilitate this process. This workshop aims to provide attendees with the skills and tools to develop and implement a methodology for continuous improvement in digital preservation skills at their organization.
12:30 – 13:00	Reflections Wrap-up, thanks and close

*Program subject to change

How does the DPC Members Forum work?

1. Offer to lead a session

Whether you have a task you want to work on with others, a fresh idea or solution you want to demo, or topics you want to discuss to learn from others’ experience, this part of the program provides a space for DPC Members to achieve all of this. Please share your suggestions for member-led sessions and, from these, we will create an event program for you to make the most of the Coalition’s collective digital preservation expertise.

Each session will offer approximately 45 minutes for you to either:

Discuss: Pick the collective digital preservation hive mind and start a discussion about a topic
Learn: Demonstrate and share solutions or workflows so that others can learn from your experiences.
Share: Show and tell presentations of recent work, new ideas and achievements (or failures)
Play: Share and lead a digital preservation games session

Share your suggestions for a Member-led session by Friday 25 April via this form

2. Register to attend

This event is open to DPC Members and non-members alike, with programming designed to optimise opportunities for networking and information exchange. DPC Members receive priority registration, which is now open.

Full Members may register up to 3 delegates, while Associate Members may register 1 delegate. Additional places may become available based on capacity. Registration for non-members will open in the coming weeks.
If you have any queries about this event, please contact angela.puggioni@dpconline.org

DPC Members log-in to register

DPC Inclusion & Diversity Policy

The DPC Community is guided by the values set out in our Strategic Plan and aims to be respectful, welcoming, inclusive and transparent. We encourage diversity in all its forms and are committed to being accessible to everyone who wishes to engage with the topic of digital preservation, whilst remaining technology and vendor neutral. We ask all those who are part of this community to be positive, accepting, and sensitive to the needs and feelings of others in alignment with our DPC Inclusion & Diversity Policy.

Venue address:
KB, National Library of the Netherlands
Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5
2595 BE Den Haag

Event Location: The Hague

Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5
The Hague
2595 BE
The Netherlands