Don’t be! There are simple, straightforward steps that you can take to help ensure long-term access to your digital material. And if you want your content to last more than, say, about 5 years, you cannot afford to wait!

I’ve just returned from a Digital Preservation Train-the-Trainer Workshop at the Library of Congress. I have been given the materials and guidelines for providing introductions to digital preservation to folks ranging from librarians and archivists to content creators trying to manage their own personal digital files. Do you need this training? If so, please contact me to set up a training seminar at your institution.

The materials cover 6 broad categories, each intended to be an hour’s presentation (with exercises); and an intro and closing summary will be added. However, I can focus on only one or two, or combine them to provide a broad overview, if you don’t want an entire day’s training. Here’s the 6 segments:

1. Identify: what steps should you take to identify your digital content?
2. Select: what portion of that content do you need to preserve?
3. Store: how should you store it? What exactly do you need?
4. Protect: what steps need to be taken to protect your investment?
5. Provide: how can you keep this content accessible as the world changes?
6. Manage: what provisions should you make for long-term management?

This broad framework offers basic steps for laying the groundwork to enable you to move forward without feeling overwhelmed. The information will be tailored to your needs. Workshops can be set up either in centralized locations at a hosting institution, or at your own institution. There are currently 4 trainers in each of six regions of the United States; my region is the Southeast. If you need a trainer in another region, I’ll be happy to refer you!!

Jody DeRidder