Capacity Assessment of Latin American and Caribbean Partners: Report of Symposium and Recommendations

In April 2020, the authors, CLIR fellows in the second cohort of Data Curation for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, virtually convened Capacity Assessment of Latin American and Caribbean Partners: A Symposium about Open Access, Technological Needs, and Institutional Sustainability. The symposium provided a forum for stakeholders from institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean to share strategies for digital archiving and cultural preservation and to identify common areas of need.

The goal of the symposium was for the stakeholders to formulate a set of questions for funders, libraries, archives, and others based in the United States, Canada, and European nations to consider when evaluating grant proposals for digital projects, or when considering post-custodial archival work with institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors sought to develop recommendations and equitable practices to enhance cultural engagement through collection development that fully acknowledges Latin American and Caribbean organizations as equal partners with a voice in decision making for projects and grant funding.