Howard Besser
Professor & Senior Scientist for Digital Initiatives
New York University
Meridith Mink
Consultant
Council on Library & Information Resources
Michelle Gallinger
President
Gallinger Consulting
There is much that digital stewardship practitioners can learn from the formal residency programs aimed at recent graduates of i-schools and related masters programs. Speakers will summarize results from the four assessments conducted on the various National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) programs, and will present a tool for examining competencies in the various components of digital stewardship. Michelle Gallinger interviewed both residents and working professionals who acted as their mentors in both the Boston and New York City programs. Howard Besser examined residents and mentors in the Washington, DC programs, and developed a tool to assess over 100 digital stewardship components (from soft skills like project management to hard skills like familiarity with Bag-It and JHOVE) at both the beginning and end of the residency. Meridith Mink (on behalf of the Council on Library & Information Resources) led a comparative assessment of four NDSR programs designed to identify practices that have contributed to hosts’ and residents’ success and satisfaction, describing these practices for the benefit of others wishing to plan future programs. Since 2013 the Institute of Museum and Library Services has funded 10 sets of 9-12 month fellowships, embedding early career professionals within organizations trying to manage their digital collections. The goal of NDSR is to train a new generation of digital stewards.
Presentation (Besser)
