CARL plays a key role in advancing the preservation of Canada’s scholarly record—both print and digital—by fostering national discussions, supporting collaborative efforts, and developing strategic initiatives.
Digital Preservation
CARL supports the long-term stewardship of Canada’s digital scholarly record through national working groups, coalitions, and summits.
- Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG) (established in 2016) brings together experts from academic libraries, archives, and related organizations to assess digital preservation capacity and develop strategies and training opportunities.
- Canadian Web Archiving Coalition (CWAC), now inactive, an initiative of the DPWG, focuses on preserving Canadian web-based content.
- @Risk North 2 (2018, Montréal) built on the discussions from the first summit, with a stronger focus on digital preservation challenges and strategies.
- @Risk North 3 (2024, Gatineau) continued this national conversation, bringing together stakeholders to address evolving digital preservation needs and collaborative approaches. Read the full report here. A follow up webinar Mobilizing Learnings from @Risk North3: Next Steps for Digital Preservation was also held, with a presentation on high-level outcomes of @RN3 and provide a progress update from the Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG) on these action items. View the webinar recording.
National DPC RAM Benchmarking Project
CARL’s Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG) is facilitating a national benchmarking exercise using the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Rapid Assessment Model (DPC RAM). This project fulfills one of the main recommendations from the final report of the 2024 @Risk North Summit, with the objective to gain insight into the status of digital preservation activities among Canadian organizations, helping us better understand the opportunities and challenges for capacity building and support for improvement.
A list of resources has been compiled for those undertaking the benchmarking project. The project will begin in Fall 2025 and is set to be completed by 2026. For more information or questions about the project, contact us at .
> Access the National DPC RAM Benchmarking Project Resources (EN)
> Accéder aux ressources du projet national d’évaluation comparative DPC RAM (FR)
UPCOMING:
- National DPC RAM Benchmarking Project : Kick Off Webinar (October 6, 2025, 2:00pm – 3:00pm ET – in English)
- Projet d’évaluation comparative DPC RAM au niveau nationale : webinaire de lancement (7 octobre, 2025, 13h00-14h00 ET – en français)
Coordinated Preservation of Print Copies
CARL has been actively involved in shared print preservation efforts to ensure long-term content retention and access, particularly for Canadian materials.
- North: The Canadian Shared Print Network (2022) coordinates regional shared print initiatives and extends participation to libraries not yet in a shared print program. Sponsored by national organizations, North facilitates the consolidation and retention of print collections.
- Canadian Collective Print Strategy Working Group (2018-2020) was formed by CARL and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to develop a national strategy for collective print preservation. View their Final Report (2020).
- @Risk North (2017) Summit brought together stakeholders to discuss the challenges of shared print preservation, laying the groundwork for future initiatives.
- Earlier Initiatives: CARL has a long-standing history in print preservation, including the 2011 publication of a model for permanent conservation and participation in LAC’s Last Copies initiative.
Government Information Preservation
Libraries and archives play a vital role in preserving government information, but challenges such as data scale, digital fragility, and stewardship costs threaten its longevity.
- The Leviathan North meeting (2015), inspired by the Center for Research Libraries‘ (CRL) 2014 Leviathan meeting, co-sponsored by CARL and CRL, gathered stakeholders to discuss challenges and collaboration in preserving government information. View the Final Report on Leviathan North (2015).
Theses and Dissertations Preservation
CARL members work collaboratively to ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of Canadian theses and dissertations:
- Institutional repositories at CARL libraries collect and retain students’ theses and dissertations.
- Theses Canada, a partnership between LAC and nearly 70 universities, aggregates these works into a national collection, available in both microfiche and digital formats.
