We are pleased to announce that Clare Lanigan has joined the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) team as Digital Archivist and Coordinator for the ‘Digital Preservation of Reproductive Health Resources: Archiving the 8th’ (Archiving Reproductive Health) project.
We are pleased to announce that Clare Lanigan has joined the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) team as Digital Archivist and Coordinator for the ‘Digital Preservation of Reproductive Health Resources: Archiving the 8th‘ (Archiving Reproductive Health) project. This project will provide long-term preservation and access to the many at-risk archives generated by grassroots women’s reproductive health movements during the campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment.
As Digital Archivist and Coordinator for this project, Clare will be a core member of the DRI team based at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA). She will be responsible for assisting key stakeholders with data from civil society organisations in the preparation and ingest of their data to DRI, in line with key archival practice. Clare will also have responsibility for project management and reporting, developing a specialist vocabulary and a public registry of at-risk content, hands-on digital asset preparation and ingestion, coordinating with external stakeholders, providing training, and organising a range of events.
Clare has worked for many years in the archiving and records management sector, most recently as a founder of Save Your Story, a company providing archiving advice, support, and research to charities and non-profit organisations. Prior to this, Clare was the Education and Outreach Manager of the DRI, helping develop and roll out the DRI’s training programmes for Members and the wider community. In addition to her professional archival knowledge and expertise, Clare brings considerable experience of social activism to the role. She has devoted several years to volunteering in social justice organisations, particularly in the area of reproductive justice. This campaign work includes a central role in the successful Together for Yes referendum campaign in 2018.
Clare said of her appointment to the role:
I’m thrilled to be part of this exciting project, and look forward to bringing my different areas of expertise together in enabling the preservation of this momentous period in Irish recent history. It’s great to be part of such a wonderful team and to have this opportunity to work with stakeholders in identifying and preserving the story of ‘Repeal The Eighth’.
Principal Investigator Dr Kathryn Cassidy welcomed Clare to the project:
I’m delighted to welcome Clare to this role in our Archiving Reproductive Health project. Clare has a wealth of experience in archiving and is already very familiar with DRI and how we work. She also has an in-depth understanding of the campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment which will be invaluable for the project as we begin to work with stakeholder organisations to collect and archive material from the campaign.
We look forward to working with Clare on preserving the social and cultural record of women’s reproductive health movements in Ireland, so that the at-risk digital materials generated from grassroots movements are safeguarded for the future.
