The Library's Digital Preservation Program has only existed since 2000. The relatively new field of digital-information management is thus reliant on individuals and organizations that have embarked on pioneering, cutting-edge programs that lead by example. This section profiles digital preservation pioneers and describes how their work enriches the collective knowledge that helps us collect and preserve our digital heritage.
Stephen Abrams
Stephen Abrams talks about the importance of format identification and discusses his work with JHOVE, the Global Digital Format Registry and PDF/A.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
As the motion picture industry converts to all-digital technology, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is confronting digital-preservation challenges to ensure the preservation of digital movies.
Martha Anderson
Martha Anderson helped create the Library of Congress's American Memory project, the National Digital Infrastructure and Information Preservation Program and the National Digital Stewardship Alliance.
Caroline Arms
Caroline Arms came to the Library of Congress in 1995 to work on the American Memory project, but the looming challenge of preserving digital content caught her attention.
Fran Berman
Computer scientist Fran Berman muses about the intersection of libraries, science and technology.
Howard Besser
Although he may have a collection of more than 2,000 T-shirts, Howard Besser is best known as an often-quoted visionary. Learn what he has to say about digital preservation.
Laura Campbell
Laura Campbell, formerly Library of Congress's Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives, had a knack for selecting and surrounding herself with talented people and allowing them to develop innovative ideas
Larry Carver
Larry Carver talks about creating a home for geospatial data in the library world and his vision for finding information related to any spot on the Earth through online maps.
Patricia Cruse
Patricia (Trisha) Cruse's public-information activism has led the California Digital Library to the digital curation forefront.
Eileen Fenton
What happens when an electronic journal from a publisher suddenly becomes unavailable? Eileen Fenton and the folks at Portico are working to build an archive of electronic journals as an insurance policy to be used in just such an emergency.
Andrea Goethals
From formats to repositories, Andrea Goethals, Digital Preservation and Repository Services Manager at the Harvard University Library, specializes in creating access and utility.
Rebecca Guenther
Rebecca Guenther, Senior Networking and Standards Specialist at the Library of Congress, has almost single-handedly made it easier for the world to find things online.
Myron Gutmann
What's the oldest digital media in the world? Social science data, and Myron Gutmann has decades-long experience in the field.
Martin Halbert
Martin Halbert, dean of libraries at the University of North Texas, has first-hand knowledge that institutional collaboration is essential for digital preservation.
Jerry Handfield
Washington State Archivist Jerry Handfield traces his work on the innovative Washington State Digital Archives back to a history project he did in high school in Norwich, Connecticut.
Cathy Hartman
The CyberCemetery of the University of North Texas Libraries is archiving expired federal Web sites and making them permanently accessible to the public.
Margaret Hedstrom
Margaret Hedstrom has some concerns about how the current state of digital preservation might bias history in favor of certain cultures. The associate professor at the University of Michigan has decades of preservation expertise to back her up.
Robert Horton
Minnesota State Archivist Robert Horton has been creating public access to electronic records for almost two decades and he now helps other state archives and libraries explore access to legislative digital records.
Anne R. Kenney
In 2001, Anne R. Kenney co-developed the world's first digital preservation management workshop series.
Michele Kimpton
Michele Kimpton has played a pivotal role in some of the most significant advances in Internet-related digital preservation. Her contributions have also had an international impact on saved content and the tools used for preservation.
David Kirsch
The boom and bust years of the early days of the so-called dot-com era tell a fascinating story. The trouble is, much of that information is not being saved. David Kirsch of the University of Maryland is doing something about it.
Bill Lefurgy
Bill Lefurgy spent thirty years making historic records available to the general public.
The LOCKSS Team: Vicky Reich and David Rosenthal
The idea that "lots of copies keep stuff safe" is at the heart of Stanford University's LOCKSS program, an ingenious and economical approach to preserving electronic journals.
Clifford Lynch
For more than 30 years, Clifford Lynch has had a profound influence on every aspect of networked information worldwide.
Margaret Maes
Legal information presents unique digital preservation challenges because it is constantly changing. Margaret Maes, executive director of the Legal Information Preservation Alliance, is helping law librarians address those challenges.
Gary Marchionini
Gary Marchionini is a recognized leader in the field of human-computer interaction, graphic-interface development and video as an educational tool..
Jerry McDonough
Preserving virtual worlds and games involves several elements, including software, media (sounds and images), metadata and sometimes hardware. Jerry McDonough talks about the range of digital preservation tasks and how to capture the user experience.
Nancy McGovern
Nancy McGovern has been involved with digital preservation since the mid-80s. She uses her perspective and experience to help digital preservation managers make decisions as technology evolves and to develop sustainable programs that works for their organization.
Steve Morris
Web-based maps are increasingly being used by individuals as well as local, state and federal governments. Steve Morris of North Carolina State University heads an NDIIPP project to determine how best to save and preserve this important digital information.
Michael Nelson
In Michael L. Nelson's view of digital preservation's future, data will be well behaved but promiscuous. Dead Web sites will be brought back to life, digital data will be born archivable, files will describe themselves, and data will spread freely among the masses for safekeeping.
Ed Papenfuse
Maryland has long been at the forefront in providing online access to land and other permanently valuable archival records, thanks in a large part to State Archivist Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse.
Richard Pearce-Moses
Archivist Richard Pearce-Moses has the daunting challenge of building a system to curate all the state digital records and data from the state of Arizona. By his example he is leading the way for 21st century archivists and librarians, and their future work with digital content.
Steve Puglia
Steve Puglia was a leader in the preservation of digital photography and a man of great character, respected and revered by his collagues.
David Riecks
Photographer David Riecks talks about how easy it is to add metadata to your digital images and why you should care.
Nan Rubin
Nan Rubin is proving to her public-television colleagues that archiving and accessing their digital content can be easy and affordable.
Section 108 Co-Chairs Lolly Gasaway and Richard Ruddick
Co-chairs of the Section 108 Study Group Laura Gasaway and Richard Rudick talk about the group's recently released report and its future implications for copyright and cultural heritage institutions.
Julie Sweetkind-Singer
Julie Sweetkind-Singer says that the growth of geospatial technology in our daily lives is just beginning and it presents unique challenges for librarians and digital preservationists.
John Spencer
The recorded music industry faces a staggering digital media storage problem, one that will ultimately result in loss of revenue and assets. John Spencer has some ideas on what needs to be done about it.
Helen Tibbo
Helen Tibbo is making sure that practical and thorough digital curation training prepares students for 21st-century digital archival needs.
Anne Van Camp
Anne Van Camp is helping to make the Smithsonian Institution Archives publicly available online through increased use of social media and crowdsourcing.
Mike Wash
Mike Wash is an engineer, technologist, inventor and visionary who holds 18 patents, helped create a new data infrastructure for the GPO and is the CIO of NARA. Read about his plans to whip NARA into an efficient 21st century federal institution.
Lisa Weber
NARA's Lisa Weber Weber built her career on simply helping people — through several rapidly changing eras of technology – to find information.
