Aberystwyth joins the Digital Preservation Coalition

Aberystwyth University is an established and highly respected centre of excellence in Information Studies. Their programmes in information skills, librarianship and archive management reaches upwards of 1000 students at any one time given their widely-regarded investment in distance learning. This is a time of real change for library and archive schools. Skills and career prospects are changing rapidly in this sector with tremendous opportunities opening up for those who innovate. ‘It’s is a clear signal that Aberystwyth University is committed to ensuring their students and researchers remain actively involved in the rapidly-growing digital preservation community.

‘We’re delighted to formalise our relationship with the DPC through this new membership’, explained Sarah Higgins of Aberystwyth University. ‘It means we can further support our students in our post-graduate degree schemes, especially those undertaking the new MSc in Digital Curation and the more established MSc in Information Governance and Assurance.’ She continued ‘But it’s not just about the opportunities it affords our teaching and our students, it’s also about the impact we can have through the DPC: we’re really looking forward to further contributing to the work of the DPC, and collaborating with other members to improve understanding of digital preservation more generally.’

Kevin Ashley, acting chair of the DPC also welcomed the latest member. ‘The DPC has committed a lot of effort into workforce development and skills in recent years. Up till now this has primarily been about training for those already in post but we’ve always wanted to be able to help with relevant parts of the university curriculum. This latest membership – our 41st – is a strong signal that library and archive schools are interested in the sorts of opportunities that working with the DPC can bring.’