Eligibility

Maximum funding per person is $2,500 USD.

Microgrants: 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.

Microgrants: Emerging Professionals: 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.

Employees of Pratt Institute are not eligible to apply.

Only U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply.

Please see the Institution and Individual Selection Rubric (PDF) for details on how funding is prioritized.

More details

DPOE-N, hosted at Pratt Institute and New York University and generously supported by The Mellon Foundation, is motivated by the pressing need for libraries, archives, and museums to collect, preserve and provide access to born-digital materials to fully reflect today’s world. Born-digital materials are those that originated in a digital form. The digital files created today will form the archival record of the future that scholars will use to create understanding and historical narrative around all aspects of arts, science, society and culture.

Professional development funds are available to support library, archive and museum professionals in the area of digital preservation from a wide variety of providers, such as the Society of American Archivists and Northeast Document Conservation Center, as well as with workshops hosted by Pratt Institute and New York University. Conferences which include digital preservation content, online workshops, and face-to-face trainings (when travelling is safe) are supported. 

Please see our Digital Preservation Training Opportunities page for an ever-growing list of available training which could be funded with DPOE-N Professional Development Support.

Requirements are listed in the links above, under each individual field. In summary, we require general information about you and/or your institution, including a statement of need, information about your institution’s current status as a scholarly resource, how your institution’s collection or your individual intention speaks to diversity and inclusion, a letter from your supervisor (if employed) or contact information for a reference if not employed, and a list of courses, date(s) of courses, associated cost and total amount requested. 

Financial Considerations

• Note that the maximum funding per person is $2,500.
• Upon approval of your proposal, you will be required to fill-out an IRS W-9 form and a check will be issued which may take from 4-6 weeks to arrive. 
• Note that for awards over $600, you will be issued an IRS 1099-MISC form from Pratt Institute in February/March of the subsequent year as these awards are considered taxable income.
• During the pandemic, online courses/workshops are strongly recommended. 
• For calculating travel expenses, you should use Federal Per Diem rates for lodging and meals.  
• For example, if you are staying in New York City in September 2021, you should request $286 per night for a hotel, and $76 a day for meals and incidentals.  For airfare, you should request dollar amounts for a coach-class ticket at a reasonable price.  Automobile travel should be at the federal mileage rate (56¢ per mile in 2021). We ask that you keep copies of receipts, but receipts are not required to be submitted.