“Digital preservation” and “digital curation” are phrases thrown about as frequently as iPads and Kindles these days, but unlike the latter, there aren’t any apps for “digital preservation.” As challenging as these concepts are to truly understand, the reality is that responsibility for saving our era from being remembered as the “Digital Dark Age” has fallen to libraries and archives. But, do you really understand what it means and what is required to preserve digital objects? Join us for this introductory-level, 3-hour workshop. We’ll take the mystery out of the terms and concepts and provide you with some real methods to begin (or further) your institution’s foray into this important and challenging area. The workshop leaders are graduates of the new Library of Congress Digital Preservation and Outreach Education (DPOE) Train-the-Trainer certificate program. Topics to be covered include six major areas:

1. Identify – What digital content do you have?
2. Select – What portion of that content is your responsibility to preserve?
3. Store – How should digital content be stored for the long term?
4. Protect – What steps need to be taken to protect your digital content?
5. Manage – What provisions should be made for long term management?
6. Provide – How should digital content be made available over time? Bring your questions and be prepared to consider your institution’s holdings and issues through the lens of best practices for digital preservation.