The Open Preservation Foundation (OPF) has introduced a new membership model to make participation more accessible to all organisations with a commitment to ensuring long term access to digital content. Alongside the new membership model, we have also established a software supporter model to ensure the sustainability and future development of open source software tools in its stewardship.
Over the last year the OPF has established a solid foundation for ensuring the sustainability of digital preservation technology and knowledge’ explains Dr. Ross King, Chair of the OPF Board. ‘Our new strategic plan was introduced in November 2014 along with community surveys to establish the current state of the art. We developed our annual plan in consultation with our members and added JHOVE to our growing software portfolio. The new membership and software supporter models are the next steps towards realising our vision and mission.’
We are an international not-for-profit organisation’ adds Ed Fay, Executive Director of OPF. ‘We carry out a range of activities to meet our members’ priorities but we also support a number of digital preservation services and tools which are open to the whole community. These all require time and resources to sustain. It is only through commitment and contributions from our members and supporters that we are able to continue our work to sustain digital preservation technology and knowledge. We look forward to welcoming new collaborators who share this commitment to advancing digital preservation.’
The new membership model opens participation to organisations of all sizes. The membership tiers are based on the annual operating budget of your organisation. Membership is available in two categories: Charter and Affiliate. Charter members steer our strategy and annual planning. They also benefit from exclusive or priority access to our interest groups, training and events, and support in adopting and maintaining our open source software products. Affiliate members have access to the outputs of our activities and may choose to contribute effort in lieu of subscription fees to further digital preservation for the benefit of the community.
The software supporter model allows organisations to support individual digital preservation software products and ensure their ongoing sustainability and maintenance. We are launching support for JHOVE based on its broad adoption and need for active stewardship. It is also a component in several leading commercial digital preservation solutions. While it remains fully open source, supporters can steer our stewardship and maintenance activities and receive varying levels of technical support and training.
For more information about becoming an OPF member or software supporter visit: https://openpreservation.org/about/join/
