Kirk Mudle and Natalie Baur 2023-01-20 05:56:46
The Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network (DPOE-N), based at the Pratt Institute in New York City, is committed to enriching America’s digital preservation community by connecting librarians, archivists, and museum professionals with training opportunities in digital preservation. The program also provides educational and financial support to smaller intuitions caring for historically overlooked collections. The DPOE-N aims to help cultural heritage institutions throughout the United States successfully steward digital materials, placing a greater emphasis on collecting, preserving, and providing access to born-digital artifacts. DPOE-N recently received funding to continue its operations for another two years and is accepting microgrant requests on a rolling basis until mid-2024. (1)
One of the most significant offerings from DPOE-N is its Professional Development microgrant program. Grants of up to $2,500 are available for current employees in libraries, archives, and museums “partly or wholly responsible for the stewardship of a collection” who are interested in expanding their digital preservation practices, as well as information workers furloughed or laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since fall 2021, we’ve also provided microgrants to emerging professionals—current students and recent graduates of programs in library and information science, archival studies, or related fields.
All professional development funding can be used to cover the cost of training, travel, and registration for conferences and workshops hosted by providers within our network. Applying for a grant takes less than an hour, and all requests receive responses within two weeks. If you are unsure what type of digital preservation training is right for you, our staff is available to help design a professional development program that addresses your needs.
Our Emergency Hardware Support program provides relief to libraries, archives, and museums in the United States that are experiencing financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many museums, public libraries, and higher education institutions depend on sources of revenue that were stymied by COVID-19 health measures, resulting in budgetary shortfalls and layoffs in many smaller institutions. DPOE-N accepts funding requests of up to $600 for emergency hardware purchases supporting digital preservation, such as refreshing aging storage devices or backing up digital collections.
As of August 2022, DPOE-N has awarded more than $130,000 to 91 individuals. Microgrant recipients benefited from a variety of training opportunities, including through the Society of American Archivists (SAA), Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), and various other online workshops through organizations like the Digital Library Forum, Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), and the Library Juice Academy. In September 2022, three individuals successfully completed their SAA Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certificates thanks to DPOE-N microgrants.
DPOE-N also regularly runs free workshops on topics related to digital preservation. In partnership with current practitioners, DPOE-N has facilitated workshops on topics such as sustainable web archiving, Python programming, and software tools for audiovisual preservation, timed-text, and digital preservation for moving images and sound. DPOE-N will continue to expand its workshops offerings, making them accessible to wider and more diverse audiences. In March 2023, DPOE-N will be hosting both its first Spanish-language and its first in-person workshop at Universidad de Puerto Rico in Río Piedras.
If you want to stay informed about DPOE-N’s activities, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram through our official accounts (@dpoe-network). Our website hosts a collection of useful resources, including a regularly updated database of training opportunities eligible for funding and a list of free educational and informational resources about digital preservation and related topics. In 2022, DPOE-N also launched a monthly newsletter, which provides a roundup of upcoming training opportunities, events, conferences, testimonials from grant recipients, and news related to DPOE-N and digital preservation in general.
We welcome microgrant applications from both SAA members and nonmembers. Whether you are an experienced professional wanting to hone a particular skill, a recent graduate hoping to expand your own professional network, or a steward of critically endangered materials, DPOE-N is here to help.
Notes
(1) Natalie Baur and Anthony Cocciolo, Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network, 2020-2022 and Beyond, DPOE-N, 2022.
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