Margaret L. Hedstrom, Ph.D., is the Robert M. Warner Collegiate Professor of Information at the

University of Michigan School of Information The University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI or iSchool) is the informatics and information science school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It offers baccalaureate, magisterial, and doc ...

. She has contributed to the field of digital preservation, archives, and electronic records management and holds a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin. Hedstrom has led or participated in many international research projects. Currently, this entails leading the NSF-funded Sustainable Environment through Actionable Data (SEAD) project, which is working closely with sustainability scientists to "develop a system that will allow them to manage and share their data." Additionally, Hedstrom led the CAMiLEON project. This project, which was conducted jointly with the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

and funded by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

in the US and the

Joint Information Systems Committee Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector. History T ...

(JISC) in the UK, investigated the use of emulation tools as part of a strategy for long-term preservation of digital records. Her current research interests include digital preservation strategies and cultural preservation and outreach in developing countries. She has also been a consultant to more than a dozen government archival programs, the

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, the International Council on Archives. She has served on doctoral committees at the

State University of New York at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

, the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, as well as the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Biography

Before joining the faculty at Michigan in 1995, she was Chief of State Records Advisory Services and Director of the Center for Electronic Records at the New York State Archives and Records Administration (1985–95). She earned her master's degrees in Library Science (1977) and History (1979) and a Ph.D in History (1988), all from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

.
Research Issues in Electronic Records: Report of the Working Meeting. St. Paul, Minnesota. Even prior to her academic career, Dr. Hedstrom conducted research on the management and preservation of electronic records for nearly 20 years beginning at the State Historical Society of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

(1979–83). She was a principal planner of a major conference on electronic records research held in 1991, which established national priorities for research and development. She has shaped the research agenda in digital preservation, beginning with her 1991 article "Understanding Electronic Incunabula." The article remains a profound statement of the research challenges posed by the emergence of the digital order. In addressing continuing education needs on electronic records, Hedstrom argued for the importance of ensuring that graduate education emphasized core archival concepts. She was an author of ''It's About Time: Research Challenges in Digital Archiving and Long-Term Preservation'' (2003), sponsored by the Digital Government Research Program and the Digital Libraries Program Directorate for Computing and Information Sciences and Engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) of the United States was an archival program led by the Library of Congress to archive and provide access to digital resources. The program convened several working ...

. In 2002-03 she co-chaired the Working Group on Digital Archiving and Preservation, which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

through DELOS Network of Excellence. She co-authored the report ''Invest to Save: Report and Recommendations of the NSF-DELOS Working Group on Digital Archiving and Preservation'' (2003). These agendas attempt to respond to upcoming challenges predicted for the near future.

Awards and honors

Dr. Hedstrom was named as a fellow of the Society of American Archivists in 1992.Distinguished Fellows of the Society of American Archivists
/ref> She was the first recipient of the annual Award for Excellence in New York State Government Information Services. She received the

's Distinguished Scholarly Achievement Award for her work at the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...

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. In 2008, the

recognized Hedstrom as a ''"pioneer of digital preservation"''.

References

External links

SEAD Project

''New York Times'', April 9, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hedstrom, Margaret 1953 births Living people American archivists Female archivists Grinnell College alumni University of Michigan faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Library and Information Studies alumni Fellows of the Society of American Archivists University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni