The APTrust community convened virtually on May 29-30, 2025, for its Spring Member Meeting. The event centered on vital information exchange covering the consortium's status, technical advancements, fiscal stewardship, and the evolving digital preservation landscape.
Day 1: Foundations and Future Financials
The meeting began with a welcome and an update on future meeting plans, including the Fall 2025 Member Meeting in Chicago on October 16-17, for which a small number of travel scholarships will be available.
Executive Director Nathan Tallman provided an update on the State of APTrust, highlighting continued growth and programmatic achievements. Membership expanded with the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve University joining, and a pilot project with WiLS and Recollection Wisconsin is exploring services for public libraries and other cultural institutions. APTrust now preserves over 620 TB of unique content. Staffing updates included Flavia Ruffner’s 10th UVA anniversary and welcoming Dina Sokolova as the new part-time TDR Editor. Programmatically, APTrust launched a new onboarding program, a new Associate Member Toolkit, and its first research agenda.
The Technical Update, delivered by Flavia Ruffner and Andrew Diamond, covered various topics. Key developments include the DART 3 (Alpha-02) release for improved performance, the resolution of a registry bug, and plans to establish requirements for future storage backends. A significant portion of the update addressed Wasabi integration.
A critical discussion on Fiscal Stewardship, led by Nathan Tallman and Flavia Ruffner, was commended for its transparency. APTrust has undertaken detailed cost modeling, revealing that current storage fees, especially for Deep Archive (25.88% recovery rate), do not fully cover costs. A reduction in UVA's FY26 subvention accelerates the need for better cost recovery. A proposed new fee schedule was discussed, and the conversation will continue at Advisory Committee and Governing Board meetings.
Day 2: Community, Data Challenges, and Landscape Shifts
Day two began with Kevin Hébert facilitating a session on the vital role of Advisory Representatives in advocating for APTrust within their institutions. This was followed by a discussion led by Kara McClurken on managing sensitive data deposits to APTrust. The group explored definitions beyond PII/FERPA, the complexities of encryption, and varied institutional approaches. There was strong support for APTrust developing guidance for members implementing encryption.
Stacey Erdman’s presentation on the uncertain future of federal funding highlighted risks to digital preservation infrastructure, from potential cuts to IMLS and NEH, a session described as "rather cathartic." NDSA is hosting an open conversation on this topic on June 24, 2025, at 2 pm Eastern.
Alex Kinnaman provided an insightful overview of the Community Digital Preservation Landscape, discussing the sunsetting of services like WestVault and MetaArchive due to financial, governance, or technical challenges. In contrast, APTrust's strengths in transparency, stable governance, responsiveness, and technical capabilities were emphasized.
Conclusion
The Spring 2025 Member Meeting served as a crucial checkpoint for APTrust, fostering candid discussions that will shape its path forward. The insights gained and decisions made regarding technical infrastructure, financial sustainability, and community engagement will be instrumental as APTrust navigates the dynamic digital preservation landscape. APTrust is grateful for the active participation and engagement of its members.