Preserving information in digital form requires a new set of individual as well as organizational capabilities. LARM representatives at the Library of Congress States Workshops recognized this need as they expanded their discussions beyond organizational capabilities to individual capabilities. In general, participants identified a lack of knowledge about and support for the necessary training. A focus on training needs in the survey was agreed upon as the best way to gauge these capabilities. Section 4 of the survey was designed to support these efforts. Respondents were asked to indicate the level of training (i.e., basic or advanced) needed to build the capabilities necessary for a successful digital preservation program in their state (see Table 22). To see the training needs of individual respondents, see the “Training Needs for Digital Preservation Capabilities” tables in Appendix E.

Table 22 shows the level of training reported as necessary for each of the 12 capabilities. (Respondents were asked to select only one level of training needed.) Of note, respondents indicated a Basic level of training was needed in all 12 capabilities. Across the 12 capabilities, a Basic level of training was needed most often for “negotiation with key stakeholders” (33 responses, 55%) and “development of mechanisms to monitor the long-term usability of information” (33, 54%). Advanced training was needed most often for “management of long-term storage of digital information in a repository” (27, 44%) and “management of digital information (metadata, reformatting, etc)” (24, 40%). The capabilities receiving the most training attention across the states are “identification of key stakeholders related to specific digital information” (21, 34%) and “selection and appraisal of digital information” (15, 24%).

However, respondents indicated a general lack of capabilities or skills critical to digital information preservation.

Respondents identified additional digital preservation related capabilities not included in the table for which they either already had training or needed training in, including:

• Public relations and outreach to public records officials and patrons;
• Management of cultural change;
• Digitization of legacy documents and publications; and
• How to secure funding for other training and digital preservation programs in general.

Attending conferences and workshops held by professional associations and academic institutions as well as attending training provided by other external sources such as OCLC were also mentioned as ways individuals were acquiring necessary training.

Of note, several respondents indicated that a lack of training was not their main barrier to undertaking digital preservation related activities; rather, it was the more fundamental lack of personnel and funding.

Finally, and of particular interest, while a Basic level of training was needed most for all of the capabilities, there were at least five (5) respondents for each capability that indicated Training already provided. Moreover, four (4) respondents indicated Training already provided for all 12 capabilities and nine (9) respondents indicated Training already provided for at least seven of the 12 capabilities.

Table 22. Training needs for digital preservation related capabilities
Capability	Training already provided	Basic training needed	Advanced training needed
Identify the type and amount of digital information throughout the state	20% (12)	49% (30)	31% (19)
Select and appraise state government information in digital form	24% (15)	47% (29)	29% (18)
Identify key stakeholders related to specific digital information (other local/state agencies, other states, private sector, etc.)	34% (21)	43% (26)	23% (14)
Negotiate and make agreements with key stakeholders to preserve digital information	22% (13)	55% (33)	23% (14)
Acquire state government information in digital form for holdings	22% (13)	43% (26)	35% (21)
Manage state government information in digital form (metadata, reformatting, etc.)	17% (10)	43% (26)	40% (24)
Manage the ingest of digital information into a repository	21% (13)	48% (30)	31% (19)
Manage the long-term storage of digital information in a repository	8% (5)	48% (30)	44% (27)
Develop mechanisms to monitor the long-term usability of state government information in digital form	11% (7)	54% (33)	34% (21)
Make state government information in digital form accessible to users	23% (14)	46% (28)	31% (19)
Produce a disaster and recovery planning for state government information in digital form	18% (11)	48% (30)	34% (21)
Manage copyright, security, and other legal issues of relevance to state government digital information	16% (10)	48% (30)	35% (22)