The NDSA Leadership Team is pleased to share a summary of activities that occurred across the organization in August 2026, as well as highlight past and upcoming activities, which can also be found on the calendar. If you are looking to catch up, you can read the July update.

NDSA is working to keep the listserv current with members and as a result, email addresses which bounce back will be removed from the list. You can always sign-up for the updated list at any time with your name and current email address. NDSA also has Slack available to members. Sign-up to view channels devoted to specific interest groups or job announcements.

NDSA Digital Preservation 2026 Conference

Proposal review for the NDSA Digital Preservation conference is now complete with proposal submitters being notified of the status of the submission and the conference schedule now taking shape. The conference will be held virtually on November 4-5, 2026. Registration is now open. Registration is available through Eventbrite as a NISO event. Registration fees are $100 for NDSA members, $125 for non-members, and $54 for students. For those experiencing financial hardship, a coupon code for free registration will be needed; the conference planning committee will handle vetting these requests and provide instructions for registration within Eventbrite. If you would like to request a registration fee waiver, please complete the fee waiver application.

Organizational Transition Updates

In August, the main focus for organizational transition was finalizing a cohesive set of Bylaws that will serve the needs of NDSA as an organization. This has enabled the organization to proceed with other necessary registrations and administrative tasks, such as gaining official nonprofit status with the IRS.

NDSA Publications Repository

All new NDSA publications will be uploaded to Zenodo and past NDSA content will be migrated to Zenodo over the next few months. Bookmark the NDSA Community in Zenodo to find our publications. While it looks sparse now, expect more content to be added in the coming weeks! Read more about the change in the full blog post.

Coordinating Committee Elections

Voting for the NDSA Coordinating Committee members will start September 30, 2026 and run through October 16, 2026. Candidates will be notified in mid-to-late October with an announcement at the 2026 NDSA Digital Preservation conference.

Working Group Updates

  • The Climate Watch Working Group has published their April to June 2026 newsletter.
  • The Events Steering Committee held its kickoff meeting with lots of discussion about the committee charge and potential future events.
  • The Excellence Awards Working Group is actively working to update award categories and the submission and judging process.
  • The Staffing Survey Working Group has officially published the 2025 NDSA Staffing Survey Report.

Upcoming Meetings and Opportunities

Use the NDSA Calendar to look for events of interest and find out when NDSA Leadership meetings are taking place.

  • The Infrastructure Interest Group will be hosting their next meeting on September 14. The meeting topic is a discussion of the Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL) and associated specification editors.
  • The Standing Membership Working Group will be hosting the next NDSA New Member Orientation on October 6 at 2:00 pm Eastern Time to welcome newcomers to the community.

Check out the Get Involved webpage for ways to deepen your engagement with NDSA. Current opportunities include:

  • The Infrastructure Interest Group is currently seeking a second co-chair. If you are interested in co-chairing this group please reach out to Leadership at chair [at] ndsa [dot] com to learn more and talk about group formation.
  • The longstanding Content Interest Group is currently on hiatus. If you are interested in chairing this group please reach out to Leadership at chair [at] ndsa [dot] com to learn more and talk about group formation.