Since APTrust’s founding, our vision has been to provide sustainable, community-led digital preservation services for institutions of all sizes. But not every organization has the capacity—financially or administratively—to join as a Sustaining Member. That’s why we introduced Associate Memberships in 2018: a flexible, collaborative model that enables broader access to APTrust services.
Today, we’re excited to share a new resource that helps make it even easier to get started: the APTrust Associate Member Toolkit.
What Is an Associate Member?
Associate Members are organizations that participate in APTrust through a sponsoring Sustaining Member. They have their own accounts, credentials, and access to preservation storage, but they don’t pay APTrust directly or engage in governance. This model is designed to bring in partners who need preservation support but may not have the budget or staffing to join independently.
We’ve seen Associate Memberships used in a range of creative and impactful ways:
- University libraries extending services to research centers, presses, or other departments
- Collaborative partnerships between peer institutions or consortia
- Support for community archives, museums, and other mission-aligned organizations
- Faculty-led initiatives focused on research data or digital scholarship
Why Sustaining Members Should Consider Sponsoring
Sponsoring an Associate Member is an opportunity to extend your reach and impact. It allows you to:
- Support underresourced organizations in your community or network
- Strengthen your library’s role as a hub for digital preservation services
- Build strategic partnerships across departments, institutions, or sectors
- Maximize the value of your APTrust membership by bringing others along
We know time and resources are always limited, and starting something new can feel daunting. But sponsoring doesn’t have to mean doing everything yourself. That’s where the new toolkit comes in.
Introducing the Associate Member Toolkit
To support Sustaining Members in forming and managing Associate Memberships, we’ve published a new Associate Member Toolkit. It includes:
- An overview of the model and its benefits
- Common use cases and real-world examples
- Financial models and operational workflows
- A step-by-step checklist for getting started
- A customizable MOU template
- Tips for training, support, and managing the relationship over time
Whether you’re just exploring the idea or ready to bring on your first Associate, the toolkit is designed to be practical, adaptable, and easy to use.
👉 Download the Associate Member Toolkit
A More Inclusive Preservation Community
Associate Memberships are one way we can lower barriers and extend the benefits of digital preservation to more organizations. They reflect a core belief of the APTrust community: that collaboration and shared infrastructure make us stronger.
We hope you’ll take a look at the new toolkit, share it with your colleagues, and consider how Associate Memberships might fit into your own institution’s strategy.
Have questions or want to talk through ideas? Reach out anytime at help@aptrust.org. We’d love to hear from you.