18 Earn Digital Archives Specialist Certificates from Society of American Archivists

CHICAGO — Congratulations to the 18 new Digital Archives Specialists (DAS)!  These archivists, who represent a variety of repositories around the country, earned a DAS Certificate from the Society of American Archivists (SAA) after completing required coursework within twenty-four months and passing a comprehensive examination in September 2019.

The innovative DAS curriculum, developed by experts in the field of digital archives, is structured around seven core competencies: understanding the nature of records in electronic form; defining for a variety of audiences the requirements, roles, and responsibilities related to digital archives; formulating strategies and tactics for appraisal, description, management, organization, and preservation; integrating technology to provide access to digital collections; planning for the integration of new tools for successive generations of technology; curating, storing, and retrieving original masters and access copies of digital archives; and providing dependable organization and service to designated communities across networks. Participants complete nine required courses from four tiers addressing these competencies.

The new Digital Archives Specialists are: Marcus C. Anderson; Kelly Burton; Erica Donnis; Steven Gentry; Anne M. Hall, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Alissa Matheny Helms; Natalie Johnson, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Karen Kalnins; Debra Kimok, The State University of New York College at Plattsburgh; Larissa Krayer; Jessica Achberger Martin; Taylor McNeilly; Martha Napolillo, Travis County Clerk; Rose C. Oliveira, Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives, Connecticut College; Adina Riggins, William Madison Randall Library at the University of North Carolina Wilmington; Marie-Nathalie Wheaton; Rebecca Wiederhold; Kelly Zacovic, City of Savannah Municipal Archives.

A total of 470 people have earned Digital Archives Specialist certificates since the program began in 2011. For more information, visit www2.archivists.org/prof-education/das or contact SAA Education (education@archivists.org).