Through the Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age Working Group, ARL is focused on practice and training in managing born-digital special collections and archival materials. Recent activities include:
- SPEC Kit 329: Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials (2012)
- ARL is working with the Society of American Archivists (SAA) to bring its Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Program to ARL libraries.
SAA Digital Archives Specialist Program
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) offers a Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) program, which comprises both online and in-person courses. These courses provide “education and training to ensure that archivists adopt appropriate practices for appraising, capturing, preserving, and providing access” to born-digital special collections. ARL is partnering with SAA to package select DAS courses and deliver them as week-long workshops to staff at regional ARL libraries. Currently, ARL is working to negotiate with host institutions and SAA for workshops in 2013-14.
As organizations and roles realign to meet the demands of collecting born-digital resources, ARL believes a week-long immersion that encompasses four core courses of the DAS program, taken alongside other staff at ARL libraries, will benefit the membership.
The DAS program introduces participants to the requisite skill sets for managing born-digital materials and is designed for the working archivist or librarian as continuing education. SAA works with individual institutions and regional archival associations to provide DAS workshops. Its partnership with ARL is intended to deliver a week-long immersion in four core courses of the DAS program for ARL library staff to take alongside their peers.
Goals of the partnership include:
- Re-skilling library staff, including staff unfamiliar with born-digital materials.
- Providing regional professional development opportunities that achieve economies of scale for participants.
- Providing regional networking opportunities that might lead to new collaborations among the membership.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to leverage and tailor a great curriculum to ARL's strategic need to grow expertise in handling born-digital materials.” - Anne Kenney, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, Cornell University, and Past-Chair of the ARL Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age Working Group
"SAA is thrilled to be working with ARL on this joint venture, and we look forward to reaching more academic archivists and others involved in managing born-digital content through this partnership." - Jackie Dooley, SAA President and member of the ARL Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age Working Group.
Course Information
ARL and SAA have selected four courses to offer during one week of training. These courses will be tailored, as appropriate, to an ARL audience. The four courses offered are:
- Digital Archives and Libraries
- Digital Forensics (newly expanded to two days)
- Digital Curation: Creating an Environment for Success
- Preserving Digital Archives: Concepts and Competencies
Prices on the SAA registration page are per course, and individuals are not required to sign up for the whole week—they may pick and choose particular courses.
The courses will run back-to-back in a single week, traveling across eleven different ARL host libraries over the course of a year, starting July 2013 and running through July 2014. SAA is working with the host libraries directly on scheduling.
Registration Information
Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis. As host institutions and dates are finalized, links will be made available (below) to register for the event.
ARL Libraries Hosting SAA Courses in 2013
- University of Massachusetts Amherst: July 15–July 19, 2013 (postponed to 2014)
- University of Illinois at Chicago: September 9–13, 2013
- University of New Mexico: October 21–25, 2013
- Ohio State University: November 4–8, 2013
- UCLA: December 16–20, 2013
ARL Libraries Hosting SAA Courses in 2014 (Dates TBD)
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Emory University Libraries
- National Archives and Records Administration
- New York Public Library
- University of Alberta Libraries
- Syracuse
- University of Minnesota Libraries
