Kari May is the Digital Archives & Preservation Librarian for the University of Pittsburgh Library System and heads the design, development, and management of their digital preservation program. She has worked in digital preservation for 12 years and is currently a Co-Chair of the Best Practices Exchange Program Committee. Kari is also a member of the NDSA Coordinating Committee, the bloggERS Editorial Team, and SAA’s Collection Management Section Steering Committee.
I’ve been a part of the digital preservation community for nearly 13 years, and the Best Practices Exchange (BPE) was one of the first conferences I was able to attend. I quickly understood why BPE is an unconference, and I adored the benefits of this perspective. Unconference doesn’t mean unprofessional, and unconference definitely doesn’t mean uninformative. In fact, this unconference has offered a safe space that allows professionals to be unselfconscious in discussing a wide range of aspects related to managing and preserving digital content. This safe space has even made it possible for peers to discuss failures and collaborate on strategies to turn them around and sometimes into keystones for new innovations. Over the years, my experience with BPE has moved from attendee, to presenter, to Co-Chair of the 2025 Program Committee. Every step has been a pleasure and has offered new opportunities to grow.
Formally, the BPE describes itself as a community of practitioners in the area of the management and preservation of digital information who gather annually to share experiences and have honest conversations about our work. It is an unconference in the sense that we prioritize providing a safe space for active participation and peer-to-peer learning, both in the sessions and outside of them. Speakers and attendees come from a variety of backgrounds, including government and university archivists, library and information science educators, technologists, special collections librarians, records managers, and product developers. The 2025 BPE Program Committee recently sent out their call for proposals for the next unconference, which will be held June 9-11, 2025 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, USA. The deadline for proposals is Friday, February 28, 2025. Acceptance notifications will be sent in April of 2025.
As part of the Program Committee, it is exciting to find that peers want the 2025 event to take a look at work with digital content from a less technical perspective. Our initial chats reminded us how easy it can be to forget that it takes more than technology to manage and preserve digital content. We recognized that for this work to be effective human intervention is essential, but all too frequently that intervention is invisible. We brought up topics and ideas such as staffing and management, invisible labor, creating and implementing policies and strategies, advocacy, sustainability and investment, and people-forward concepts like community archiving, outreach, and engagement. This led us to selecting Behind the Scenes: People and Practice as our theme. We hope this theme inspires practitioners to submit proposals covering a wide range of topics that take a look at the non-digital side of digital stewardship and celebrate these indispensable contributions. For those with an idea on a particular topic and are interested in collaborating with others to create a session, BPE offers a Proposals Brainstorming Spreadsheet to help them connect with peers.
Should you have an idea and wish to submit a proposal, you can do this via this short form. BPE includes some standard session formats including: a full 45-minute presentation or panel discussion, a 20-minute presentation that may be combined with a complementary presentation to create a full session, a 10-minute lightning talk, and a workshop offering hands-on experience. However, we welcome new session format ideas and will do our best to accommodate them. Another session possibility BPE offers is the birds of a feather session format. This provides space for ad hoc, peer-to-peer learning based on a specific topic. These sessions lean toward being less structured. Some examples of past topics can be found here. If you are interested in leading a birds of a feather session, topics and general goals for discussions should be submitted via the short form as they will receive a light review.
No matter the format, BPE feels that strong proposals will be those that:
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Are based on real-world examples and experiences
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Are open and honest
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Examine successes and key factors to that success
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Examine failures and discusses steps taken to rework ideas or lessons learned
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Include practical takeaways
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Encourage active participation from attendees
In 2025, as in years past, we will stand by the adage, “What happens at BPE, stays at BPE.” So, sessions will not be recorded, but we will request presentation slides from presenters for us to share through our website after the event.
Since my first opportunity to attend, I have held the Best Practices Exchange as an important piece of my professional development. Whether reconnecting with colleagues or creating new connections, BPE has never missed the mark as a chance to have open discussions in an environment based on acceptance and respect. We hope that you can join us and share in the exchange.