Virginia Commonwealth University becomes the latest APTrust Member
April 18, 2023
APTrust is pleased to announce the admission of its latest sustaining member – Virginia Commonwealth University. The Governing Board of APTrust voted unanimously to approve VCU’s membership application earlier this Spring. Members from APTrust and VCU Libraries have been working closely already for several years and this next collaboration will extend our shared work in digital preservation.
“APTrust will give us access to a new layer of digital preservation to store our items of enduring value, and more importantly access to a community that is interested in systematically addressing the challenges of long-term preservation for digital material,” said Associate Dean for Scholarly Communications and Publishing Jimmy Ghaphery. “Striving to look forward hundreds of years in isolation is a guarantee for shortsightedness. I welcome the ability to be part of an organization that is working collaboratively to test and find solutions to keep our material perpetually available for our communities.”
“I have had the good fortune to work with VCU Libraries staff for many years on other efforts such as the multi-state Archival Resources of the Virginias and the DPLA service hub, Digital Virginias” said Bradley Daigle, Executive Director of APTrust. “This is a new phase of our partnership and I am excited to be part of it.”
There are several Sustaining Members in APTrust that hail from Virginia. This is the product of long term collaborations that have reached into almost every part of libraries and archives work. For example, APTrust has recently spun up a group dedicated to discussing and evaluating digital preservation issues that focuses on archivists and archival practices. This group is sharing specific workflows and content strategies in order to learn and refine current practices. These discussions are not limited to APTrust members, so if you are interested in joining in, simply let us know.
“The membership in the consortium presents new avenues for VCU Libraries Special Collections and Archives. “Digital preservation is one of the most important requirements of a modern archival repository and it is our responsibility as Special Collections and Archives is to ensure successful stewardship of digital content for posterity,” said department head Chrystal Carpenter. “The partnership with APTrust is an exciting opportunity to engage with a robust consortium to address and find meaningful digital preservation solutions.”
Bringing together engaged members who believe that shared solutions make for more durable and effective solutions to the challenges of digital preservation is the hallmark of APTrust. “Having VCU Libraries as our newest member only strengthens that approach” says Daigle.
See VCU’s announcement here.
If you would like to know more, please contact us.