Danielle Spalenka.

Danielle Spalenka

(She/her/hers)
Digital Preservation Librarian
Assistant Librarian

Herman B Wells Library W501

As IU's Digital Preservation Librarian, Danielle Spalenka is responsible for assessing and meeting the digital preservation needs of various library departments. She plays a lead role in establishing a cohesive digital preservation program, and is manager of the Born-Digital Preservation Lab in Wells Library. 

Danielle's areas of interest are digital preservation assessments, as well as the impact that digital preservation has on the environment. She is part of several regional and national organizations, and has had several leadership roles. She recently served on the planning committee for the National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA)'s DigiPres 2023 conference, and is currently serving on the NDSA Storage Survey working group. She served as the co-chair for the Midwest Archives Conference 2023 Fall Symposium, which focused on hands-on disaster planning and training for archivists in the Midwest. She also leads the Communications Subcommittee for the Society of American Archivists Preservation Section. 

Danielle is also involved in several grant-funded projects. She is currently on the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)-funded project "Maintenance Culture," which explores and provides training for cultural heritage organizations looking to preserve born-digital creative works. She is an instructor for the Digital POWRR Institutes, and is a Lead Facilitator of the POWRR Peer Assessment Program.

Danielle joined IU Libraries in April 2023 and brings over ten years experience of providing vision, leadership, training, and assessments pertaining to preservation for both digital and physical library and archival collections. Prior to joining IU Libraries in the Digital Collections Services department, she was the Digital Initiatives & Preservation Archivist at the Filson Historical Society (Louisville, KY), Preservation Specialist with the Northeast Document Conservation Center, Project Director for the Digital POWRR Project, and Curator of Manuscripts at the Regional History Center & University Archives at Northern Illinois University. 

Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Danielle received her Bachelor's in History from Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame, IN) and her Master's in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Danielle is honored to be a part of IU Libraries. Digital Preservation has been identified as an integral part of the IU Libraries Strategic Plan, and she looks forward to working with her colleagues to make choices around preserving their material.

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