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Interviews Highlight the Critical Role of Digital Preservation in Scholarly Communications

Interviews Highlight the Critical Role of Digital Preservation in Scholarly Communications

June 2026

The Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact has released a new video celebrating its second honoree: Digital Preservation of the Scholarly Record.

The short documentary film "Digital Preservation of the Scholarly Record: Community Perspectives - The Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact 2026" brings together leading figures from across the global research and publishing ecosystem to reflect on how digital preservation safeguards the scholarly record and the collaborative spirit that continues to make it possible.

A Community Built on Shared Infrastructure

Contributors to the film include leading figures from across digital preservation, scholarly infrastructure, libraries and publishing. Together, they offer an important, multi-perspective reflection on how digital preservation protects the scholarly record today and how it is expected to continue protecting research for generations to come.

Those interviewed represent just a small fraction of the people who made and continue to make digital preservation of the scholarly record possible. The Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact Committees recognize and thanks all of them for their contributions, from the earliest work through to where the field stands now and where it will go next.

Contributors featured in the video, in order of appearance, include:

  • Craig Van Dyck, Former Executive Director, CLOCKSS 
  • John Wilkin, CEO, Lyrasis
  • Vicky Reich, Program Emeritus Executive Director, LOCKSS 
  • Eileen Fenton, Founding Director, Portico 
  • Gaëlle Béquet, Executive Director, ISSN International Centre 
  • Alicia Wise, Executive Director, CLOCKSS 
  • Joy Owango, Founding Director, Training Centre in Communication 
  • Lance Stuchell, Director, Preservation Services (Digital Collections), University of Michigan Library 
  • William Kilbride, Executive Director, Digital Preservation Coalition 
  • Kate Wittenberg, Managing Director, Portico 

They offer a compelling, multifaceted account of digital preservation's history and its role in keeping research reliable, accessible and connected across disciplines and generations. 

Digital Preservation of The Scholarly Record: Safeguarding Research For The Long Term

This second Rosenblum Award video traces digital preservation from a response to the print-to-digital transition of the late 1990s to the invisible infrastructure that now underpins scholarly communication. It shows how digital preservation: 

  • safeguards reliable access to the full breadth of scholarly literature for researchers now and in the future 
  • protects against the loss of information from technological obsolescence, infrastructure failure, publisher cessation or other catastrophic events 
  • provides redundancy and resilience across a robust and diverse ecosystem of preservation services and technical solutions 
  • preserves millions of scholarly articles, books, supplementary content and datasets 
  • supports the integrity and progress of scholarship as research builds on the work that came before 
  • extends to new forms of scholarship such as dynamic web-based content, research data, software and gray literature 

Honoring Bruce Rosenblum’s Legacy

Established collaboratively by five leading scholarly publishing organizations in memory of Bruce Rosenblum, a pioneer in publishing standards and workflow innovation, The Rosenblum Award for Scholarly Publishing Impact celebrates transformative infrastructure and initiatives that underpin global scholarly communication.

The Governance Committee, consisting of the leadership of ALPSP, AUPresses, NISO, SSP, and STM, selected Digital Preservation of the Scholarly Record for Scholarly Publishing Impact as the second recipient. It recognizes the collaborative achievement of the libraries, publishers, technologists and preservationists whose work keeps the scholarly record accessible and secure. Rather than representing a single innovation or organization, digital preservation is a diverse ecosystem of services and practices that provides the redundancy and resilience the global research community depends on, now and for generations to come. 

Discover and Share

The video is now available on the Rosenblum Award website and is hosted on YouTube. People are encouraged to discover, share, and use it as a resource in presentations, teaching, training, and community discussions about the importance of digital preservation in scholarly communication.