27 Earn Digital Archives Specialist Certificates from Society of American Archivists

CHICAGO — Congratulations to the 26 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 May 2023.

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: 

Alan Munshower, Virginia Tech; Ashley Large, Town of Bedford; Assatu Wisseh; Catherine Masud, University of Connecticut; Christian Kelly; Claire L. Sutton, City of Ottawa Archives; Coquelicot Shirey; Erin Louthen; Harland Harris; Heather Scheele-Clark; Jason Sarmiento, University of California, Davis Library; Jennifer R. Sharp; Oisin John Moran, Library and Archives Canada; Joyce M. Pitts, University of Texas at Tyler; Katherine Conley; Kit Cooley, Worldwide Indigenous Science Network; Laura E. Bell, History Associates, Inc.; Leland Riddlesperger, The Mariners' Museum and Park; Liza Tietjen; Nadia Dixson, City of Somerville; Pamela Handley; Rebecca J. Kuske, UW-Stout Archives and Area Research Center; Sally Blanchard-O'Brien; Sarah Vlasity, Carnegie Library for Local History; Sean Crawford, Harvard University Archives; Tara Maharjan, New Jersey State Archives; Victoria Jones.

A total of 817 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).