Levels of Digital Preservation Working Group

The Levels of Digital Preservation Working Group is managed by the Levels of Digital Preservation Steering Group. This Steering Group manages all activities related to the Levels of Digital Preservation created by the NDSA. The Steering Group was originally formed to guide and steer the work of the sub-groups that were created for Levels reboot activities in 2018.

Once these activities were complete in 2019, the Steering Group continued to meet. Its purpose is to:

  • Promote and encourage use of the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation
  • Respond to community feedback on the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation
  • Carry out further revisions and create supporting resources as appropriate
  • Report to the NDSA Coordinating Committee on its activities

New members will be added to a larger Working Group once additional work is identified.

Current Work

The Levels Steering group meets monthly to discuss the future needs around the Levels of Digital Preservation. The group also holds quarterly open sessions to engage the community and to hear feedback on the Levels in preparation for updates to the exisitng Levels - anyone is welcome to attend these sessions. The group continues to discuss the Levels with the community at conferences to solicit feedback and to better understand how the Levels are being used.

As part of the review cycle, the Levels Working Group was re-formed in mid-2024 in order to carry out a targeted revision to the Levels on the topic of environmental sustainability. The focus of this work is a result of community feedback gathered by the Steering Group in 2023 and earlier. The group is currently doing background work and will formally get started in September 2024. Work is expected to continue throughout 2024 and into 2025.

Steering Group Members

  • Angela Beking (co-chair), Manager, Information and Data Management Policy / Gestionnaire, Politique de gestion de l’information et des données, Privy Council Office; Government of Canada
  • Jenny Mitcham (co-chair), Head of Good Practice and Standards, Digital Preservation Coalition
  • Ann Hanlon, Head of Digital Collections and Initiatives, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Libraries
  • Carol Kussmann, Digital Preservation Analyst, University of Minnesota Libraries
  • Elizabeth La Beaud, Head of Library Technology at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Director of the Mississippi Digital Library
  • Nancy McGovern, Associate for Digital Preservation Instruction and Practice, Global Archivist
  • Nathan Tallman, Executive Director, APTrust

2024 Working Group Members

  • Elizabeth la Beaud, Head of Library Technology, The University of Southern Mississippi (co chair)
  • Keith Pendergrass, Digital Archivist, Harvard Business School (co chair)
  • Edith Halvarsson, Digital Preservation Specialist, The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
  • Sophia van Hoek, Senior advisor Acquisition, National Archives of the Netherlands
  • Sibyl Schaefer, Digital Preservation Librarian at the University of California, San Diego
  • Dina Sokolova, Digital Preservation Librarian, Digital Library and Scholarly Technologies, Columbia University

The Levels of Digital Preservation

Version 2.0 of the Levels of Digital Preservation Matrix and all associated materials can be found on both the NDSA website and the NDSA OSF site.

Get Involved

  • Keep your eye out and join us for bi-monthly Open Discussion Sessions about the Levels. (Information about Open Sessions are sent via NDSA-All listserv.)
  • For more information about the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation products, visit our web page.
  • If you have any comments or feedback about the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation contact the Steering Group using our feedback form.