Keynote address by Dr. Natalie Harrower, Director of the Digital Repository of Ireland, to the Forum des Archivistes Nationaux (FAN) meeting in Abu Dhabi, May 2019.

1. Diving into Digital
small steps and big returns in digital archiving
Forum des Archivistes Nationaux, Abu Dhabi, 1 May 2019
Dr. Natalie Harrower
Director, Digital Repository of Ireland
@natalieharrower

2. The Digital Repository of Ireland is…
• A certified trustworthy digital repository: preservation, access, discovery
• A core-funded national data infrastructure
• A community hub for best practices, exchange, networking
• Advocacy & Contributions to Policy
• Ireland’s social and cultural data (records, digital collections)
• Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts (research data)
• Curated collections; cross-searchable metadata
• Open Access, Open Research

3. images
music
business records
drawings
diaries
photographs
film & video
letters
documents
posters
oral histories
electoral lists
radio
paintings
objects
podcastsflyers

4. ….and the DRI is not:
• A ‘National Archive’ with a legislative mandate
• A legal entity
• Very big at all
• Exactly what it started as…
(6/13/16)

5. Story Time! A series of journeys
From NAVR to DRI
From time-limited research grant to Exchequer-Funded national
infrastructure (in a time of government austerity)
From very little digital capacity system-wide to steadily building
collections, knowledge & capacity

6. All driven by an intelligently designed,
planned path of intended causality
(Or at least we can pretend)

7. Not going to talk directly about these transitions
But instead, about some small steps along the way
Decisions
Collaborations
Learning
Pleasant side effects

8. First steps Stakeholder Advisory Group
International Advisory Group
Survey
Two Goals
1. Let’s be absolutely completely perfectly state-
of-the-art and on top of international
worldwide global amazing best practice!!
2. Let’s support actual practice

10. Metadata Guidelines
www.dri.ie/publications

11. Other Publications

12. Consultation
Free & Open online publication
Build community

13. Another step
Digital Exhibitions

15. Pilot: Single online portal for digital cultural heritage
Brings together content from 8 institutions
Demonstrate long term preservation through DRI
Important service for Irish residents and the Diaspora
More visibility for DRI in the cultural sector
What we hoped for
www.inspiring-ireland.ie

16. Inspiring Ireland(https://vimeo.com/89125000)

17. What we hoped for
Pilot: Single online portal for digital cultural heritage
Brings together content from 8 institutions
Demonstrate long term preservation through DRI
Important service for Irish residents and the Diaspora
More visibility for DRI in the cultural sector

18. What we really gained
Abbey Theatre
Chester Beatty Library
Crawford Gallery Cork
Irish Museum of Modern Art
National Archives of Ireland
National Gallery of Ireland
National Library of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
Community Collaboration
Testing our Guidelines & Workflows
A functioning API

19. Focus on centenary commemorations (Birth of Irish Free State 1916)
Worked with fewer partners, but with more focus
‘Weaving Public and Private Narratives’
Added a public element with ‘collection days’
Added an international element with embassies
Opening up the idea of what constitutes a significant object for cultural
heritage & complicating the narrative
Citizen engagement/democratisation of archives
Which led to: Inspiring Ireland 1916

21. Inspiring Ireland 1916 (https://vimeo.com/146429259)

22. Make archives more visible / add human stories
Had seen Inspiring Ireland; collection days
Collaboration with Cornell University Library
Test ideas around shared metadata and PIDs
‘Enriched Archives’: records & oral histories & expert commentary
Learn about business records  Local Authorities’ event  new
members
Which led to: Atlantic Philanthropies

23. Dublin City Library and Archives

24. New Membership Model (2017-2018)
wwww.dri.ie/membership

25. What we really thought it was about
Digital Preservation
What it turned out to actually be about
Community, training, networking, shared expertise
(and the latter builds capacity for the former)

28. The Moral of the Story…
It’s all about the people, the partnerships,
the collaborations

29. Keywords
Consultation
Open Sharing
Collaborations
Pilot Projects
Community Engagement
Also…Stay current

30. One last example while we’re talking about
staying current…

31. Strategic and Authentic Opportunism
What is your core offering?
How does that relate to emerging areas?
What is happening that you can join?

32. Seize learning opportunities
Take small steps. Do bits & pieces. Try pilot initiatives.
Avoid pressure of ‘must-do-it-all-now’
Outcomes are often greater than or different to what you expect
(When it comes to digital, we are all behind, so take a small step)
Key takeaways

33. 17 – 20 February 2020
Dublin, Ireland
Organised by
www.dcc.ac.uk www.dri.ie
15th International Digital Curation Conference
Collective Curation:
the many hands that make data work
IDCC 2020