Every digital preservation professional knows the feeling: you understand exactly why this work matters, but translating that urgency into language that resonates with executives, budget committees, or board members is a different challenge altogether.

You're not alone. Across libraries, archives, universities, and research institutions, practitioners regularly face the same uphill conversations: explaining technical risks in plain language, competing for funding against more visible priorities, or making the case that preservation is a long-term institutional responsibility rather than a one-time project.

The expertise is already there. What's often missing are the right tools to communicate it.

That's why APTrust and CLOCKSS are teaming up to build the Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit, a practical collection of resources to help practitioners clearly, confidently, and effectively make the case for digital preservation.

Why This, Why Now

The scholarly and cultural record is increasingly digital. Books, journals, datasets, research outputs, archival collections: the materials that institutions create and steward every day require active, sustained preservation to remain accessible for future generations.

But preservation doesn't advocate for itself. Budget cycles are short. Attention is limited. And "long-term" can be a hard sell when immediate operational needs are competing for the same resources.

Practitioners working in this space need more than technical expertise; they need advocacy skills, institutional language, and ready-to-use materials to reach the people who set priorities and allocate funding.

What We're Building

The Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit will be a shared, adaptable set of resources that practitioners and digital preservation advocates, particularly in academic contexts, can use immediately in presentations, strategic planning conversations, grant narratives, and outreach efforts.

Planned materials include:

• Executive briefing documents — concise overviews designed for academic leadership audiences
• Presentation templates — ready-to-adapt slide frameworks for a range of academic contexts
• Messaging and communication guides — language that translates preservation concepts for non-technical academic stakeholders
• Audience-specific advocacy materials — tailored resources for faculty, administrators, boards, and funders
• Case studies and examples — real-world stories that demonstrate impact and value
• Strategic planning resources — frameworks to connect preservation to institutional mission
• Outreach and engagement tools — materials to build broader academic community awareness and support

All resources are being designed with adaptability in mind; practical enough to use across different institutional contexts, and flexible enough to be made your own.

A Community Effort

This initiative reflects something both APTrust and CLOCKSS believe deeply: digital preservation is stronger when the academic community works together.

Developing shared advocacy resources means less duplicated effort across institutions, more consistent messaging about why this work matters, and a stronger collective voice for preservation across academia, publishing, libraries, and research organizations.

We see this toolkit not just as a set of documents, but as a community asset; built by and for the people doing this work every day.

Stay Informed

We're building something exciting, and we'd love to keep you in the loop. Whether you're a librarian, publisher, archivist, practitioner, or institutional leader, there will be opportunities to contribute ideas, share experiences, pilot materials, and explore collaboration as this effort takes shape.

Sign up to receive updates and hear about ways to get involved!