A Recently Released Report by the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA): “Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation”

Recently Released by the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA).
From a Report Summary (via The Signal (LC Blog)):

The NDSA found that there was no dedicated digital preservation department in most organizations surveyed to take the lead in this area. In most cases, preservation tasks fell to a library, archive or other department. Close to half of respondents thought that the digital preservation function in their organizations was well organized, but a third were not satisfied and many were unsure.
Another key finding is that almost all institutions believe that digital preservation is understaffed. Organizations wanted almost twice the number of full‐time equivalents that they currently had. Most organizations are retraining existing staff to manage digital preservation functions rather than hiring new staff.
The survey also asked specifically about the desired qualifications for new digital preservation managers. Respondents believe that passion for digital preservation and a knowledge of digital preservation standards, best practices, and tools are the most important characteristics of a good digital preservation manager, not a particular educational background or past work experience.

Read the Complete Blog Post

Report Authors

• Winston Atkins, Duke University Libraries
• Andrea Goethals, Harvard Library
• Carol Kussmann, Minnesota State Archives
• Meg Phillips, National Archives and Records Administration
• Mary Vardigan, Inter‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

Direct to Full Text Report  (also embedded below).

Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation: An NDSA Report

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Associations and Organizations, Digital Preservation, Libraries, News, Preservation