The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is delighted to announce that we have signed a participatory agreement with Beyond 2022: Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury. Beyond 2022 is an all-island project which seeks to bring together material from over seventy global repositories to replace the archival material lost in the Four Courts fire of 1922, which destroyed the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI) and, with it, seven centuries of Ireland’s collective memories. The agreement between Beyond 2022 and DRI will facilitate knowledge sharing and future cooperation on events and digital preservation initiatives.
DRI Director Dr Natalie Harrower said of the participatory agreement:
Beyond 2022 has captured the hearts of the archives and history communities through its significant efforts to recreate a lost repository and to harness the imaginative possibilities of Virtual Reality to build a new user experience. We look forward to working with the project in a range of ways, and to advise on ensuring the long-term sustainability of its outputs.
Beyond 2022 Director Dr Peter Crooks said:
We are delighted to be building our connection with the Digital Repository of Ireland with its expertise in digital preservation, and to join the evolving discussion about best practice for the long-term security of digital records.
Deputy Director of Beyond 2022, Dr Ciarán Wallace, will be speaking at DRI’s opening event for the three-part webinar series 'Using Digital Archives for Academic Research'. The first event in the series, 'Using Digital Archives for Historical Research', takes place on 23 February at 3pm and explores the value of digital archives, like the Beyond 2022 project, to early career researchers. Ciarán will also host one of DRI's Virtual Coffee Mornings aimed at DRI Members later in the year.
We look forward to collaborating with Beyond 2022 on this exciting project.
