BCC Membership Committee Recruitment Philosophy

The BitCurator Consortium values a strong, wide base of member institutions in order to achieve its mission to address the needs of the BCC community, including training, collaboration, research, documentation, and integration. In support of this vision, the Membership Committee aims to recruit new members and retain current members, and has organized this recruitment philosophy around the following areas: fostering community, supporting our community’s work with born-digital cultural heritage materials, and financial stability.

We recognize the strength of intimate partnerships and conversations. We seek to foster a  diverse membership in order to bring more perspectives that enrich the knowledge and experience of the BCC community. A wide membership base teaches us more about the needs and desired directions for the community and toolsets we steward. The BCC seeks to increase partnerships, and through our member base, bring together people with divergent but mutually beneficial skillsets–who might otherwise not interact regularly.

Supporting our users’ work with born-digital objects is central to our thinking as well. A healthy and diverse membership base ensures an accurate reflection of the state of born-digital materials in cultural heritage work. We strive to make the labor of digital practitioners visible; a diverse member base coming together to discuss and learn from one another increases the visibility of this work, situating and emphasizing its importance in the digital preservation landscape.

In all this, we also recognize the need for financial stability, to ensure both that the BCC will weather unforeseen disruptions in the world, and that the BCC can continue branching into new areas of work, including software support and education.