Journal Article: “What’s Wrong with Digital Stewardship: Evaluating the Organization of Digital Preservation Programs from Practitioners’ Perspectives”

The article linked to below was recently published by the Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies.

Title

What’s Wrong with Digital Stewardship: Evaluating the Organization of Digital Preservation Programs from Practitioners’ Perspectives

Authors

Karl Blumenthal
Internet Archive

Peggy Griesinger
University of Notre Dame

Julia Y. Kim
Library of Congress

Shira Peltzman
University of California, Los Angeles

Vicky Steeves
New York University Data Services and NYU Center for Data Science

Source

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 7, Article 13

Abstract

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance surveyed practitioners in 2012 and again in 2017 to gauge, among other things, how satisfied they were with their organizations’ digital preservation function. This study seeks to understand what causes the high and rising levels of dissatisfaction that practitioners reported. We interviewed 21 digital stewards and asked them to describe the organizational context in which they work; to reflect on what aspects of their organizations’ approach to digital preservation are working well and which are not; and to evaluate necessary areas of improvement. We identified experiences that were common among participants using a qualitative research methodology based on phenomenology. These conversations revealed that practitioners largely consider digital stewardship values and goals to be misunderstood at an organizational level, and demonstrated that the absence of a long-term vision for digital stewardship disempowers practitioners.

Direct to Full Text Article
23 pages; PDF.

Filed under: Data Files, Digital Preservation, Libraries, News, Preservation