Digital Curator Vocational Education Europe: an overview Kate Fernie MDR Partners This project has been funded with support from the European Commission'

Digital agenda for Europe “In ancient times, the library of Alexandria was said to contain up to 70% of all human knowledge. The challenge for the digital age is to do even better than that – and make the result last longer.” ICT creates ‘unbelievable opportunities’ for access Public sector responsibility for digitisation of cultural heritage Calls for large investment from national governments and the European Commission Digital preservation is seen as a key issue

Context in Europe There are 47 National libraries, 20,500 Public libraries, 10,000 University libraries, 29,000 Special libraries + School libraries 17,600 Museums 25 National archives plus Audiovisual archives NUMERIC report,

People staff many involved in digitisation

New skills for new jobs Professional training for the care of traditional collections is well established Training in long term management of digital assets has been identified as a major issue For employers And for staff DPC training needs report, Zach Klein CC BY-NC 2.0

Professional Development: is a lifetime requirement “Digital curation and preservation are rapidly evolving fields. To perform effectively, personnel working in these fields need to update their knowledge and skills on a continuous basis.”

Current availability of vocational education and training Short courses – in specific topics by competence centres – delivered by projects on specific topics or ‘the project approach to...’ National initiatives Online resources – Mainly guidelines

What is DigCurV?

DigCurV is a Multilateral network funded under the EC’s Leonardo da Vinci programme Aims to support and extend vocational training for digital curators in libraries, archives and museums Started on 1 st January months Some basic facts

Europe Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale (FRD) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Stiftung Öffentlichen Recht, Goettingen State and University Library (UGOE) Humanities Advanced Technology Institute (HATII) at University of Glasgow MDR Partners (Consulting) Ltd (MDR) Trinity College Dublin (TFTCD) Vilniaus Universiteto Biblioteka (VUL) Third countries Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto (uToronto) Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Associates Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) Nestor Consortium

Identify and analyse existing training opportunities and methodologies Survey training needs Identify key skills and competences Establish an initial curriculum and a framework Disseminating the results Promoting the results for use within and between countries – Impact on staff mobility – Impact on educators Main activities

Developing the network – Relationships with learning organisations, educators, employing organisations, individuals – The ripple effect – at both policy and practitioner level Implementation in vocational education and training for the sector An international community of practice – Sustained by a collaborative web-environment – Continuing development of the framework Main activities

Measuring success During the lifetime of the project we aim to reach: centres of competence trainers 150 policy makers 1000 individuals aware of the project’s results by its end A series of dissemination and opinion gathering events are planned: Focus groups and workshops involving stakeholders Final policy conference

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