This course WILL count towards the synchronous-course requirement for the certificate programs. A minimum of two courses must be synchronous (in person or virtual).
What does digital curation involve, and how do practitioners and organizations achieve good practice for curating their digital content and collections? There is a growing and evolving set of standards-based Good Practice for digital curation that enable practitioners, managers, and organizations to engage in sustainable digital curation to effectively manage digital content across generations of technologies and through organizational change. This course covers core digital curation concepts, principles, standards, and current trends and highlights potential implications and recommendations for archives and archivists. Since 2021, the course has been offered as a six-session seminar is offered online over six weeks and covers content for both the Foundational and Transformational DAS Tiers.
It will be held via Zoom from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (each day) U.S. central time on Wednesdays. The six (6) live sessions are scheduled for the following dates.
- March 04, 2026
- March 11, 2026
- March 18, 2026
- March 25, 2026
- April 01, 2026 and
- April 15, 2026
Instructors include Nancy McGovern, Kari Smith and Helen Tibbo.
Upon completion of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the components of digital curation and possible implications for archives
- Complete a gap analysis to leverage your strengths and address weaknesses to develop your digital curation capacity
- Find and use community resources, frameworks, models, standards, and examples of good practice relevant to your digital curation requirements and priorities
- Foster relationships within and beyond your organization to achieve digital curation objectives
- Evaluate current technological options that meet your digital curation needs
- Develop strategies for sustaining digital curation at your organization
Who should attend?
Practicing archivists, librarians, museum professionals, as well as managers and administrators from these organizations, who will be asked to develop and curate digital archives or need to improve the operation of such archives, should attend. This course will also be useful to a wide range of information professionals whose institutions are beginning to discuss management (curation) of digital business records, publications, archival content, research data, and other digital content.
What should you know already?
Appraisal of records, providing access to records, some knowledge of digital preservation and electronic records, and at least intermediate knowledge of digital archives. This course builds on others, such as Basics of Managing Digital Records, Standards for Digital Archives, Thinking Digital, Building Advocacy and Support for Digital Archives, Digital Records: The Next Steps, and Digital Repositories.
DAS Tier: 1 Foundational and 1 Transformational
DAS Core Competency:
1. Understand the nature of records in their electronic form.
2. Communicate and define requirements, roles, and responsibilities related to digital archives to a variety of partners and audiences.
3. Formulate strategies and tactics for appraising, acquiring, describing, managing, organizing, and preserving digital archives.
7. Provide dependable organization and service to designated communities across networks.
If you intend to pursue the DAS Certificate, you will need to pass the examination for this course.
Registration Fee: Early-Bird / Regular
SAA Member: $599 / $689
Employee of SAA Member Institution: $699 / $819
Nonmember: $829 / $949
Testimonials:
- "This course provided a wealth of information on digital curation through discussions of how to build, maintain, and evaluate a digital archive. The backgrounds of the instructors is impressive, and their ability to communicate the needs of this community clarified aspects of building and maintaining a digital archive, and also exploring the difficult decisions one must make due to limits of space, time, and personnel."
- "This course was invaluable for providing me the knowledge to make informed decisions for the digital repository I am helping build and the confidence to speak with that knowledge as I advocate for it."