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Strategic Partnerships

One Sentence Description:
The Outreach WG members will facilitate stronger connections to other organizations that have an interest in digital preservation by developing a strategic partnership program. is an organization that can help the NDSA move its work forward on a national scale. Partnership involves looking for commonalities across partner's long-term goals.

Statement of the Problem and Goals for Addressing the Problem:
The Outreach WG members will facilitate stronger connections to other organizations that have an interest in digital preservation by developing a strategic partnership program. A Strategic Partner organization is one that can help the NDSA move its work forward on a national scale. Partnership involves looking for commonalities across partner's long-term goals.

This activity will help build the NDSA brand and develop stronger ties in the digital stewardship ecosystem by engaging established organizations that are already exploring digital stewardship activities to a greater or lesser degree. These outreach efforts would be targeted at the leadership level of different organizations of strategic importance to the NDSA. The outreach would bring the two organizations together to discuss shared concerns and potential future shared actions.

Strategic Value of Activity:

Helps build NDSA brand
Puts NDSA in contact with other organizations doing digital stewardship
Offers opportunity to leverage existing resources towards digital stewardship
Offers the possibility of future collaborative action

Required Resources:

Commitment of NDSA members to act as liaisons
Management of Strategic Partner relations (recordkeeping)
Need to establish criteria for S.P.

Roadmap:
What are the steps to take in order to accomplish this activity?

Establish Strategic Partnership criteria (in progress)
Draft document and review
Invite member feedback
Revise document
NDSA vote to amend Membership Agreement (fall 2012 in conjunction w/vote for new Coordinating Committee members)
Identify pilot organizations to target
Establish NDSA member liaisons
Set up a meeting with the organization leadership, either in person or via conference call
Get on the organization's conference program to discuss the NDSA

Dissemination of Knowledge:
How will this activity be shared?

Write a blog post on The Signal
Encourage publication in organs of partnering organizations
Make press announcements in library/archive literature
Send announcements to listservs
Present at conferences that members are attending

Signifiers of Success and Outcomes:

Establishment of a half-dozen Strategic Partnerships in the first year.
Add 2-3 S.P. per year in subsequent years.
Yearly blog post to update activity
2-3 articles in lib/arch press on S.P. activity or increased profile of NDSA
Wide recognition of S.P. activity as useful for supporting digital stewardship activities across the profession

Background

There are the obvious formal connections (through active NDSA membership) and informal (indirectly through NDSA member participation in those groups), but the need for direct outreach was identified.

The organizations to be engaged include traditional library and archive organizations such as the American Library Association (ALA) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA), but could also include industry associations such as NASCIO and NCSL, vendor associations such as AIIM or the Open Geospatial Consortium, or others.

Tasks to be Done

The NDSA Outreach WG has several tasks.

Identify the most important organizations to connect with, and then to find a "hook" into the organization, possibly by identifying a place in their strategic plans that touches on digital preservation and stewardship and then finding a way to make an NDSA connection there.

Identify a short list of things we would ask each organization to do.

Clear and concise list of what the NDSA has to offer each organization.

A carefully crafted "invitation" to the partnering organizations.

Organizations

This is a starter list of organizations and please add more. At this point we're just gathering names, though we want to try and keep the list paired down to the most prominent and strategically important (it doesn't have to be exhaustive, in other words). When we've got a healthy list we'll find a way to rank them and vote on the rankings.

American Library Association (ALA) http://www.ala.org/

(liaison: Vickie Allen)

Society of American Archivists (SAA) http://www2.archivists.org/

(liaison: Helen Tibbo)

Digital Library Federation

Digital Public Library of America

American Association of Law Libraries http://www.aallnet.org/

(liaison: Sarah Rhodes)

Special Libraries Association (SLA)

(potential liaison: Blane Dessy)

HACTAC: Humanities, Arts, Sciences,
Internet Librarian/Computers in Libraries
ARSC Association of Recorded Sound Collections
AES Audio Engineer Society
Music Library Association
Association of Moving Image Archivists
SNIA
Council on Library and Information Resources
NEDCC
OCLC
Lyrasis
Alliance of Digital Humanities
Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes
National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)http://www.nascio.org/
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) http://www.ncsl.org/
Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) http://www.aiim.org
Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE)http://www.alise.org/
Medical Library Association
IS&T
CNI

Others?

The "Ask"

What are the five things we want to ask each organization to do? Add your own! (Side note: what is the NDSA protocol for “endorsing” other organizations?)

Adopt a resolution acknowledging/supporting NDSA
Make a commitment to work with the NDSA
Discuss collaborative research with the NDSA
Create a focus area in their organization dedicated to digital stewardship
Encourage people to do stewardship
Join NDSA and "participate in building a distributed national digital collection for the benefit of people now and in the future"

The "Offer"

What are the five things the NDSA can offer to each organization?

We can offer to bestow the title of "strategic NDSA partner" on an organization that we have a relationship with (what would this entail?)

Prestige of association with LC/PBS/CUA/Duraspace/etc.
Specified display of the NDSA logo
Working with the NDSA is "painless"

Give the organization the NDSA stamp of approval (should be a low barrier)

NDSA can supply volunteers to help organizations get started
NDSA can bring together diverse organizations
"The strength of the NDSA is the network" - Blane Dessy
Provide or recommend speakers for conference sessions - P Greenberg
Provide or recommend speakers for member webinars, training sessions
Profile/highlight digital preservation efforts and initiatives of strategic partners on NDSA website, in LC Digital Preservation newsletter, Signal posts, etc.

One-Page Summary

See one-page ask/offer summary draft here: NDSA:Media:Ndsa_strategicpartner_summary_20120131.pdf and transcribed below:

Join a diverse and nationwide network of organizations devoted to preserving our national digital heritage.

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA), an initiative of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress, is seeking out Strategic Partners who will help us advance the national dialogue on digital preservation.

Becoming a Strategic Partner

Becoming an NDSA Strategic Partner is a free, simple process with significant benefits. As a Strategic Partner, your organization will contribute to the work of the NDSA by:

Adopting a resolution acknowledging your support of the NDSA

Incorporating digital stewardship into strategic planning documents

Establishing or expanding a committee, interest group, or other community dedicated to digital stewardship

Encouraging digital stewardship programs and initiatives among your members

Exploring collaborative research opportunities with the NDSA

Participating in the NDSA’s development of a distributed national digital collection

Benefits of Strategic Partnership

In return for your support, the NDSA will provide your organization with:

Liaisons to help establish new digital stewardship communities

An expert speakers bureau for conferences, workshops, and training sessions

Increased awareness of your organization’s important digital stewardship initiatives through profiles and features published in the popular Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter and The Signal Digital Preservation Blog

NDSA insignia to be used in online and print materials, designating your organization’s status as an NDSA Strategic Partner and affiliation with the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress

Let's tackle the preservation challenges of our digital age together. Take advantage of this opportunity to share ideas, innovation, and information about digital stewardship at a coordinated national level. Become and NDSA Strategic Partner, and join the conversation.