National DPC RAM Benchmarking Project Launches Phase 2
March 24, 2026 – CARL’s Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG) is pleased to announce the second phase of the national benchmarking exercise using the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Rapid Assessment Model (DPC RAM).
During the pilot phase of the project in fall 2025, CARL member institutions were invited to complete the assessment as a cohort. This second phase broadens the initiative to the wider Canadian digital preservation community. Libraries, archives, repositories, museums, galleries and other Canadian organizations engaged in digital preservation at any level are invited to complete the assessment, irrespective of CARL membership. CARL’s Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG) will provide bilingual support to organizations completing the assessment by sharing resources and hosting office hours. Participating institutions will be encouraged to submit their completed and anonymized worksheets so that the data can be collected and shared. The DPWG plans to release a public report on the findings in late 2026.
Benchmarking digital preservation capabilities is integral to continuous improvement of digital preservation programs. Whether your institution is just getting started or has been engaged in digital preservation activities for some time, benchmarking is an opportunity to see where you are and where your organization can grow. Designed to enable rapid benchmarking of an organization’s digital preservation capability, DPC RAM is a digital preservation maturity modelling tool which aims to be applicable for organizations of any size in any sector, and for all content of long-term value. It uses existing good practice to offer a model which is easy to understand, quick to apply, and freely available for anyone to use.
This benchmarking exercise fulfills one of the key recommendations from the final report of the @Risk North 3 Summit held in Gatineau in November 2024. The project will provide 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.
The co-chairs of this initiative are Sarah Lake, CARL VPO Digital Preservation and Digital Preservation Librarian at Concordia University, and Amanda Tomé, Preservation Coordinator at Digital Research Alliance of Canada.
To learn more, visit the project web page and register for the upcoming webinar on April 7th, 2026, 1:00 – 2:00pm ET.
