Preservation Publication Award: Heather Bowden and Walker Sampson

Heather Bowden, director of special collections, archives, and preservation, and Walker Sampson, digital archivist, both at the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, are the 2019 recipients of the Preservation Publication Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) for their book, The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital Content (Facet Publishing, 2018). The award recognizes the author or editor of an outstanding published work related to archives preservation.

The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital Content investigates preservation issues of current interest and importance to the archives community. The comprehensive and entry-level guide explains step by step processes for developing and implementing born-digital content workflows. With a range of case studies from a number of international institutions, the book covers selection, acquisition, accessioning, and ingest; description preservation, and access; and strategies and philosophies to move forward amid changing technologies.

One of Bowden and Sampson’s supporters wrote that “[the guide] tackles such a complex topic and presents the information in an accessible, easy to navigate format, making it a must-have for every archivist’s toolbox.”