Library to Launch 2015 Class of NDSR

The Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, has recently announced the 2015 National Digital Stewardship Residency program, which will be held in the Washington, DC area starting in June 2015.

As you may know (NDSR was well represented on the blog last year), this program is designed for recent graduates with an advanced degree who are interested in the field of digital stewardship.  This will be the fourth class of residents for this program overall – the first in 2013, was held in Washington, DC and the second and third classes, starting in September 2014, are being held concurrently in New York and Boston.

The five 2015 residents will each be paired with an affiliated host institution for a 12-month program that will provide them with an opportunity to develop, apply and advance their digital stewardship knowledge and skills in real-world settings. The participating hosts and projects for the 2015 cohort will be announced in early December and the applications will be available  shortly after.  News and updates will be posted to the NDSR webpage, and here on The Signal.

In addition to providing great career benefits for the residents, the successful NDSR program also provides benefits to the institutions involved as well as the library and archives field in general. For an example of what the residents have accomplished in the past, see this previous blog post about a symposium held last spring, organized entirely by last year’s residents.

Another recent success for the program – all of the former residents now have substantive jobs or fellowships in a related field.  Erica Titkemeyer, a former resident who worked at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, now has a position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the Project Director and AV Conservator for the Southern Folklife Collection. Erica said the Residency provided the opportunity to utilize skills gained through her graduate education and put them to practical use in an on-the-job setting.  In this case, she was involved in research and planning for preservation of time-based media art at the Smithsonian.

Erica notes some other associated benefits. “I had a number of chances to network within the D.C. area through the Library of Congress, external digital heritage groups and professional conferences as well,” she said. “I have to say, I am most extremely grateful for having had a supportive group of fellow residents. The cohort was, and still remains, a valuable resource for knowledge and guidance.”

This residency experience no doubt helped Erica land her new job, one that includes a lot of responsibility for digital library projects. “Currently we are researching options and planning for mass-digitization of the collection, which contains thousands of recordings on legacy formats pertaining to the music and culture of the American South,” she said.

George Coulbourne, Executive Program Officer at the Library of Congress, remarked on the early success of this program: “We are excited with the success of our first class of residents, and look forward to continuing this success with our upcoming program in Washington, DC. The experience gained by the residents along with the tangible benefits for the host institution will help set the stage for a national residency model in digital preservation that can be replicated in various public and private sector environments.”

So, this is a heads-up to graduate students and all interested institutions – start thinking about how you might want to participate in the 2015 NDSR.  Keep checking our website and blog for updated information, applications, dates, etc. We will post this information as it becomes available.

(See the Library’s official press release.)