RBS Seminar: Digital Sustainability for Cultural Collections (12–14 December 2018)

Date: 12 December 2018 – 14 December 2018
Time: 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesday & Thursday; 8:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Friday
Location: MIT Libraries, Building NE36, Room 6002 at 105 Broadway (Cambridge, MA)
Presented by: Nancy Y. McGovern & Kari R. Smith

Rare Book School is sponsoring a two-and-a-half-day seminar at the MIT Libraries in Cambridge, MA (map) on Wednesday-Friday, 12–14 December 2018.

This seminar has been designed to be of interest to curators and librarians of all kinds who are or may become responsible for the long-term management of digital content, but signup is open to anyone with an interest in the topics covered. The cost to attend is $500.

As space is limited, signup for the seminar will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. The registration deadline will be 28 November, but early registration is strongly encouraged.

Seminar Description

Good practice for digital sustainability involves the application and adaptation of an array of skills that accumulate through exposure and experience, and that evolve in response to technological change. Digital sustainability is grounded in standards that inform and reflect good practice. Students in this seminar will explore core concepts and capabilities of digital practice as illustrated by scenarios, examples, and demonstrations with hands-on components in small groups. This seminar assures familiarity with digital content (personal or organizational) and curiosity about the opportunities and implications of digital sustainability.

Students with varying levels of experience and expertise are welcome. In their personal statements, students should provide a brief description of their interest in digital content and digital sustainability, to help inform the seminar examples and exercises.

Seminar Schedule

Wednesday, 12 December

  • 8:30–8:50 a.m. Registration & light breakfast
  • 8:50 a.m. Welcome
  • 9–10 a.m. Session I – Digital Sustainability: Scope and Concepts
  • 10–10:30 a.m. Break with refreshments
  • 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Session II – Scenarios and Considerations
  • 12­–1 p.m. Box lunches
  • 1–3 p.m. Session III – Stewardship and Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges
  • 3–3:30 p.m. Break with refreshments
  • 3:30–5 p.m. Small group discussions & working session
  • 5:30–7:30 p.m. Optional group dinner at Meadhall (4 Cambridge Center at 90 Broadway)

Thursday, 13 December

  • 8:30–9 a.m. Light breakfast
  • 9–10 a.m. Session IV – Digital Sustainability: Human Skills
  • 10–10:30 a.m. Break with refreshments
  • 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. Session V – Digital Sustainability: Tools and Workflows
  • 12–1 p.m. Box lunches
  • 1–3 p.m. Session VI – Sustainability Factors and Options
  • 3–3:30 p.m. Break with refreshments
  • 3:30–5 p.m. Small group discussions & working session

Friday, 14 December

  • 8:30–9 a.m. Light breakfast
  • 9–10:30 a.m. Session VII – Building Blocks for Digital Sustainability for Your Collections
  • 10:30–11 a.m. Break with refreshments
  • 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Group Discussion: “What’s next when we get home?”
  • 12–12:20 p.m. Seminar Evaluations
  • 12:20–2 p.m. Optional group lunch at Area Four (500 Technology Square)

Seminar Instructors

Nancy Y. McGovern is the Director for Digital Preservation at MIT Libraries. She also directs the Digital Preservation Management (DPM) workshops, an award-winning program offered more than fifty times in a dozen countries since 2003. She has thirty years of experience with preserving digital content, including senior positions at ICPSR; Cornell University Library; the Open Society Archives; and the Center for Electronic Records of the U.S. National Archives. She chairs the Research Forum of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), which she co-founded in 2007. She is a Fellow of SAA and a past president. She completed her Ph.D. on digital preservation at University College London in 2009.

Kari R. Smith is the Institute Archivist and Program Head for Digital Archives at the MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections. In her most recent role at MIT as Digital Archivist, Kari established the capacity to accession born-digital archives, implemented tools and techniques for processing digital archival and special collection material, and provided donor services related to digital content. She engages with colleagues around the Institute and at peer institutions as well as through professional associations. Prior to joining MIT Libraries in late 2011, she was Head of the Visual Resource Collections and Media Services at the University of Michigan Department of the History of Art for five years. Kari’s research interests include intellectual and long-term access to cultural material especially through the interoperable metadata of digital objects. She is a member of the SAA, the founder of the NEA Roundtable on Digital Archives, and is a program committee member for both the SAA Research Forum and for the IS&T Archiving conference. She is immediate past President of the digital forensics community BitCurator Consortium. Kari earned her B.A. in International Relations from George Mason University and her M.S. in Information from the University of Michigan School of Information.

Signup Process

  • Fill out the signup form below. If you have any trouble with the signup form, please email seminars@virginia.edu or call Laura Perrings at 434-924-9176.
  • You will receive an email confirming your seminar registration and containing a link through which to submit payment. Your payment will serve to reserve your seat in the seminar.
  • Final details will arrive via email prior to the event.