Five-Year Vision for Stewardship of Born-Digital Content at Harvard Library

Abstract

With the proliferation of born-digital content, Harvard Library (HL) is at an inflection point. If the Library does not implement robust stewardship practices for these materials, it will be unable to honor commitments to donors and records creators, researchers, and students. Moreover, the Library could incur significant institutional and reputational risk from its inability to manage, preserve, and provide access over time to Harvard's institutional records and to the research, pedagogic, and cultural heritage assets acquired by Library units.

In 2021, HL charged a Born-Digital Stewardship Working Group (BDSWG) to develop and implement strategy and an initiative for the stewardship of born-digital content managed by Harvard’s libraries. This content includes research and licensed data; digital scholarship output; special collections and archival materials; institutional records; course materials; and student and institute publications.

The BDSWG collaborated across Harvard schools, departments, and library units to develop the Five-Year Vision for Stewardship of Born-Digital Content at Harvard Library. With this roadmap, HL can achieve a state of sustainable, programmatic stewardship of born-digital content by expanding the capabilities of its staff, systems, policies, and strategies for managing, acquiring, preserving, and providing access to born-digital content and records. Through these efforts, HL ensures that the born-digital content it stewards becomes—and remains—available for access and use by the Harvard and global communities.