Pilgrim Trust Conservation Awards

Digital Preservation Coalition and Pilgrim Trust announce new
Digital Preservation Award

The preservation of digital information is a source of great concern
and has been the focus of much discussion and research, particularly
in recent years. A telling illustration of the fragility of digital
media is the BBC Domesday project.  Launched to coincide with the
900th anniversary of the original Domesday project in 1986, the BBC
Domesday project fell prey to the inevitable technological
obsolescence which affects all digital resources.  Researchers were
able to retrieve the information but only at the 11th hour and this
rich resource could easily have been lost less than twenty years
after it was created while, ironically, the original document still
survives.

To help address these issues, the Pilgrim Trust Conservation Awards
will, for the first time,  include a new Award sponsored by the
Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) this year. The Digital
Preservation Award, worth UKP5,000, will recognise leadership and
achievement in the developing field of digital preservation. It is
aimed at highlighting the issues posed by preserving electronic
information in the long term.

More and more material is being converted to digital format and
increasing quantities of information are available only in digital
form.  Whether they are used for the day-to-day business of
government departments, to support academic research, or for the
general public seeking information and entertainment, these
resources represent a significant investment and there is a
increasing dependence on them.

It is critically important that the varied and complex challenges to
preserving digital information are overcome and the DPC Award aims
to encourage and highlight creative approaches to furthering the
digital preservation agenda. The award is aimed at projects that
focus on "born-digital" resources rather than those using technology
for preservation or conservation purposes and will be awarded to a
project which demonstrates leadership and advancement in the digital
preservation arena.  Individuals or teams working in the public or
private sector are eligible to apply providing the application is
supported by the individual(s) or organisation(s) commissioning the
work.

Entrants for the Digital Preservation Award should submit an
application by September 30, 2003.  Details of how to apply are
available from the Conservation Awards web site
<URL:http://www.consawards.ukic.org.uk>.

Applications will be sifted and considered for shortlisting by a
screening panel of digital preservation experts in October. All
shortlisted candidates for the Award will be informed by early
November and asked to submit full details by mid-January 2004. The
Award will be presented at a high-profile event to be held at the
British Library in June 2004.

For further information about the Award contact

    Maggie Jones
    Co-ordinator, Digital Preservation Coalition
    +44 1904 488 969
    maggiejonesdpc [at] aol__com

All press enquiries to

    Tom Coupe
    Anna Arthur PR
    +44 20 7637 2994
    tom [at] aapr__co__uk

The DPC is a consortium of 25 major UK organisations which aims to
ensure that digital archiving is kept on the policy agenda.
Information about its work can be found at
<URL:http://www.dpconline.org>.

The DPC was launched in February 2002. Full DPC members include the
British Library, Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL),
the e-Science Core Programme, Joint Information Systems Committee of
the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils (JISC), National
Archives of Scotland, Online Computer Library Centre(OCLC),, Public
Record Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI), Resource: the Council
for Museums, Archives and Libraries, The National Archives, and the
University of London Computer Centre. Associate members of the DPC
include: the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS), Association of
Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), Central
Information Technology Unit for Northern Ireland (CITUNI), Council
for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils(CLRC), National
Electronic Library for Health(NELH), National Library of Scotland,
National Library of Wales , the Natural History Museum, Open
University, Publishers Association, Research Libraries Group,
Trinity College Library Dublin, UK Data Archive, and the Wellcome
Trust Library. Allied organisations include the National Library of
Australia and the National Preservation Office (UK and Ireland).

The Pilgrim Trust was founded in 1930 by Edward Stephen Harkness of
New York to award grants for some of Great Britain's more urgent
needs and promote the country's future well-being. In 2000, the
Trustees made 137 grant commitments totalling #2.9 million, to
projects involved in social welfare, art and learning, preservation,
cataloguing and conservation of records and the repair of historic
churches.  Further information on the Trust is available at:
<URL:http://www.thepilgrimtrust.org.uk>

Maggie Jones
DPC Co-ordinator
Digital Preservation Coalition
Strand Bridge House
3rd Floor
138-142 Strand
London WC2R 1HH
+44 1904 488 969


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:22
                 Distributed: Thursday, August 21, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-22-003
                                  ***