Nathan Tallman
Nathan Tallman, digital content strategist and assistant librarian for digital collections and repositories at the University of Cincinnati Libraries, has been selected as one of 13 future library leaders to participate in ILEAD USA – Ohio 2015.
Sponsored by The State Library of Ohio, ILEAD USA is a multi-state program designed to help library staff understand and respond to user needs through the application of participatory technology tools. Ohio participants will join others from Wisconsin, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Dakota, New York, Maine, Illinois and Utah in this national initiative. Participants are organized into teams, mentors and instructors for the year-long program. Tallman and his team members, Jillian Carney (Ohio History Connection), Shannon Kupfer (State Library of Ohio) and Elizabeth Allen (Bexley Public Library), successfully submitted a proposal for a team focused on digital preservation of Ohio cultural heritage materials.
ILEAD USA – Ohio 2015 sessions kick off in March and reconvene in June and October. Sessions will be held simultaneously in each of the 10 states, with plenary sessions on streaming video. In-person sessions, virtual meetings and activities will allow participants to hone their skills, experiment with participatory technology tools and continue communications with their ILEAD USA cohorts.
“Participating in ILEAD USA – Ohio 2015 is an excellent opportunity to work with colleagues from across the state and from diverse institutions on the common issue of digital preservation,” said Tallman. “It’s an opportunity to contribute to the global library community by offering a tool or model to assist in local strategic digital preservation policy decision making.”
Each team will work on a single group project that will address at least one identified need within their communities of users. The Preserve Digital Ohio Team will focus on the problem of data loss and ways to prevent it. The team hopes to empower practitioners to gather the skills required to keep their digital materials safe and accessible today, tomorrow and into the future.
“The long-term stability of and access to digital resources, which in many ways are more at-risk than physical objects like books, is one of the most critical challenges today facing libraries and our culture at large,” said Stephen Marine, UC Libraries associate dean of digital initiatives, special collections, preservation and grants. “Nathan’s involvement in ILEAD USA –Ohio 2015 will put UC Libraries and the university in a leadership role in the area of digital preservation, and practically speaking will result in a tool that will assist libraries everywhere in making decisions about what, when and how to preserve digital resources.”
The ILEAD USA – Ohio 2015 program is made possible by a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant to the State Library of Illinois from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Additional support is provided by the State Library of Ohio and the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science.