Congratulations to the 26 new Digital Archives Specialists (DAS)! These archivists, who represent a variety of repositories around the country, earned their DAS Certificate from the Society of American Archivists (SAA) after completing the required coursework within twenty-four months and passing a comprehensive examination in September 2025.
The innovative DAS curriculum, developed by experts in the field of digital archives, is structured around seven core competencies: understanding the nature of records in electronic form; defining for a variety of audiences the requirements, roles, and responsibilities related to digital archives; formulating strategies and tactics for appraisal, description, management, organization, and preservation; integrating technology to provide access to digital collections; planning for the integration of new tools for successive generations of technology; curating, storing, and retrieving original masters and access copies of digital archives; and providing dependable organization and service to designated communities across networks. Participants complete ten required courses from four tiers addressing these competencies.
The new Digital Archives Specialists are:
Allison O'Keeffe; Amanda Matava; Amanda Barrett; Andrew Lippert; Brenna Wheeler; Brian P. Dunbar; Brittany Heye; Garrett S. Fritz; Gianna Brassil; Hing LAM; JaeHee Jeong; Jennifer Wochner; Joann Cooler; Julia Teran; Ken Chung Tsz-fung; Kestrel S. Ward; Mackenzie Ryan; Megan Dirickson; Michelle Wong Yuet-king; Rivi Feinsilber; Robert Richardson; Sam Bogner; Sherry Cortes; Tasia Williams; Theresa Rea; Vanessa Hock
A total of 1,023 people have earned Digital Archives Specialist certificates since the program began in 2011. For more information, visit www2.archivists.org/prof-education/das or contact SAA Education (education@archivists.org).
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SAA Headquarters
Society of American Archivists
Chicago IL
saahq@archivists.org------------------------------