About DPOE-N

DPOE-N was founded in 2010 by the Library of Congress (LOC) to promote digital preservation education and training on a global scale. The organization aimed to support an international network of trainers and organizations who provided training on core digital preservation practices to current and future professionals. Initially starting its operations in the United States and eventually expanded into Australia, DPOE hosted a series of in-person workshops where they provided training on how to preserve digital assets, and developed recommendations for digital preservation curriculum. 

In 2018, the Library of Congress transferred management of DPOE to Pratt Institute in collaboration with New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program. This move was made to develop DPOE into a community-driven initiative with an emphasis on education and outreach. In this partnership, Pratt and NYU were able to expand how digital preservationists are educated, enhance outreach efforts, and broaden the training curriculum. With this transition, the organization was renamed DPOE-N to highlight its goal of strengthening and promoting existing networks of digital preservation education for cultural heritage professionals.

DPOE-N received its first Andrew W. Mellon Grant in 2020. This $600,000 grant helped restore this resource to GLAM institutions and launched DPOE-N’s microfunding program to help cultural heritage professionals receive microgrants to further develop their digital preservation professional development. By the end of 2022, DPOE-N awarded over $134,000 in microgrants to 91 individuals in 23 different states. This grant also allocated funds to small institutions in need of emergency hardware support to replace aging digital storage devices. In April 2021, DPOE-N began hosting virtual workshops through Pratt and NYU. These workshops received great traction and popularity among the field and have become the premier program of the organization.

In 2023, DPOE-N collaborated with University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Caribe Digital to host its first in-person workshop in Puerto Rico. UPR’s library functions as a repository of various paper materials and strives to preserve all intellectual property pertaining to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico’s tropical climate and propensity for hurricanes poses a unique challenge for digital preservation. For example, many cultural heritage institutions are still recovering from damages caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 which has impeded institutions from providing physical access to their collections. These factors have contributed to Puerto Rican LAM institutions’ increasing need to provide digital access to their collections. Therefore, this collaboration signifies DPOE-N’s commitment to serving Spanish speaking communities in the US and its territories. As well as ensuring that Spanish speaking communities have proper digital preservation training to properly preserve their collections and cultural history. 

In 2025, the Mellon Foundation awarded DPOE-N its third and final grant for a total of $1.28 million. This grant is for the expansion of current programs for four more years and will continue DPOE-N’s initiatives until 2028. This grant will fund online and in-person digital preservation workshops and the distribution of 177 additional microgrants to cultural heritage professionals, current graduate students, and recent graduates. Currently, the organization is developing a sustainability plan with consultants in order to sustain DPOE-N once Mellon funding is exhausted.

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