Last Updated February 19th, 2025
Guidelines for General Professional Development: for individuals currently employed in the United States or U.S. territories who are partly or wholly responsible for the stewardship of a collection. Applications that meet the following criteria are highly recommended for funding:
- Scholarly Utility: Applicant’s institution has collections that are useful to scholars and the public. Evidence of scholarly use can include the acquisition of new collections, surveys indicating scholarly utility, citations in scholarly works, or statistics reported.
- Digital Preservation Capabilities: Applicant’s institution has limited or no digital preservation programs or workflows, or its digital preservation systems are nascent or underdeveloped.
- Preserving Difference: Applicant’s institution has significant collections that document historically marginalized communities, especially those that represent racial/ethnic diversity, gender, and sexual orientation. The institution has significant ties to historically marginalized communities that could be leveraged to build collections that represent diversity.
- Professional Development Plan: The proposed Professional Development Plan aligns with the applicant’s institutional and individual need statements, and is achievable with a high probability of success.
Guidelines for Emerging Professionals: for current students or recent graduates not yet employed by an institution. Individuals may be students and recent graduates of programs in library and information science, archival studies, museum studies, media art conservation, or related fields, on a certificate or Masters level track who are interested in pursuing digital preservation practice in a professional context. Applications that meet the following criteria are highly recommended for funding:
- Current Student or Recent Graduate: Applicant is a current student or recently graduated (less than two years ago) from a program in a qualifying area of study on a Certificate or Masters level track.
- Employment Status: Applicant is not currently employed full-time in the cultural heritage field.
- Career in Digital Preservation: Applicant’s career goals require professional development in digital preservation.
- Preserving Difference: Applicant has experience working with collections that document historically marginalized communities, especially those that represent racial/ethnic diversity, gender, and sexual orientation.
- Professional Development Plan: The proposed Professional Development Plan aligns with the applicant’s individual need statement, and is achievable with a high probability of success.