title: Fostering Collaboration Between Research Libraries and Community Archives to Preserve the ‘Network of Mutuality’
creators: Nathan Tallman Ruby Martinez
abstract: Despite the potential for mutually beneficial partnerships, collaboration between research libraries and community archives in digital preservation remained limited. This paper explores four key barriers to collaboration: paternalistic attitudes toward community archives, the role of memberships, collection development policies, and incompatible digital preservation workflows. Examining real-world examples, we demonstrate how these barriers hinder joint efforts to secure long-term accessibility of digital materials. The paper concludes by proposing actionable strategies to dismantle these barriers and pave the way for a more inclusive and robust digital preservation ecosystem—one that fosters collaboration between institutions of all sizes and empowers communities to safeguard their digital heritage.
keywords: approaches to preservation start 2 preserve