UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Digital stewardship of data impacts everyone in the age of email, smartphones and social media. Penn State University Libraries is hosting three virtual programs for World Digital Preservation Day 2026 on Thursday, Nov. 5, highlighting digital initiatives at a local historical society, supporting a manuscript database for the J.R.R. Tolkien materials and software emulation.
World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD), held annually on the first Thursday of November, celebrates best practices in archiving and storing digitized and born-digital content. Penn State University Libraries is hosting three virtual WDPD programs about digital initiatives at a local historical society, software emulation and a manuscript database for the J.R.R. Tolkien materials.
This year’s programs fall into the categories of Industry, Local Community and Popular Interest. The public is encouraged to attend the Local Community session, which will discuss a local historical society’s digital initiatives, and the Popular Interest session about the database of J.R.R. Tolkien manuscripts. The Industry session will focus on software emulation technology, which may be of more interest to librarians and archivists who work on digital initiatives at their institutions.
Local Community Session:
“Digital Stewardship at the Centre County Historical Society”
10–11 a.m. Nov. 5, Zoom; online registration required
Digital preservation work isn’t just happening at universities, museums and archives, it’s happening in our own backyard. Recent initiatives at the Centre County Historical Society have brought digital stewardship to the forefront of the society’s development. Members of the Centre County Historical Society will present on the challenges of stewarding newly created digital content, including what tools, systems and methods they have adopted to increase access to digital cultural heritage content and ensure its long-term preservation.
Industry Session:
“Software Emulation for Born Digital Collections”
1-2 p.m. Nov. 5 on Zoom; online registration required
Despite its long history in the digital preservation community, the practice of using emulation as a preservation tool can still feel unclear. This tutorial will endeavor to demonstrate emulation in practice by using era-specific software to render born-digital collection materials and also clarify where specific time and expertise are needed during the process. The demonstration from Yale University will feature Software Preservation and Emulation Librarian Claire Fox walking through step-by-step instructions of installing software in an emulated computing environment and will provide opportunities for participants to ask questions and reflect on their observations.
Popular Interest Session:
“A Journey down the Great River of Wilderland: Providing Digital Access to the Manuscripts for ‘The Lord of the Rings’”
3-4 p.m. Nov. 5 on Zoom; online registration required
This session describes efforts at Marquette University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) to digitally preserve and make accessible its vast collection of manuscripts for “The Lord of the Rings,” acquired directly from J.R.R. Tolkien in 1957 and later supplemented by Tolkien’s youngest son, Christopher Tolkien. Many challenges arose, including multiple arrangement schemes, copyright constraints and deciding on the best tool for presenting these cultural treasures. This session will be presented by Manuscripts Archivist William Fliss.
More information about Penn State University Libraries’ holistic preservation of library collections, in digital and physical formats, is available online on the Preservation, Conservation and Digitization department page. More information about World Digital Preservation Day is available on the Digital Preservation Coalition website.
For questions about these events, contact the department at ul-preservation-unit@lists.psu.edu.