In an increasingly uncertain world, the question is no longer whether our digital knowledge is at risk, but how we collectively protect it.
In January 2026, a group of international leaders from national libraries, cultural institutions, and digital preservation organisations, including CLOCKSS, came together in the Netherlands to confront a growing challenge: how to safeguard the world’s cultural and knowledge assets in the digital age. The event was conceived and led by colleagues at the National Library of the Netherlands (the KB).
The result was the formation of a collaborative initiative built on the belief that no single institution can ensure the long-term survival and accessibility of knowledge alone.
Why GRIN, and why now?
Access to culture and knowledge underpins democracy, education, and human rights. For generations libraries, archives, and museums have acted as trusted stewards of this shared inheritance.
But today, that role is under increasing pressure.
We are living through a period defined by instability. Armed conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and the spread of disinformation are eroding trust at scale. Climate and environmental changes are disruptors, as are natural disasters. At the same time the digital ecosystem is now central to how knowledge is created, stored, and accessed and has become a focal point of risk.
Cyberattacks can take entire collections offline. Platform dependency and vendor lock-in shape what can be preserved, and how. Rapid technological change risks leaving institutions behind. And increasingly, algorithms determine what information is visible, valued, or forgotten.
The result is a troubling reality: cultural loss is accelerating. Even when data survives, its meaning can be lost, disconnected from context, inaccessible, or effectively invisible.
A shared response to a shared challenge
GRIN was created in response to this moment.
At its core is a simple but powerful idea: “In a complex world, we stand for shared digital stewardship of assets of culture and knowledge across time and space.”
This statement reflects a shift in thinking, from isolated responsibility to collective action.
Shared
No single organisation, sector, or nation can address these challenges alone. True resilience depends on networks—trusted relationships that extend beyond institutional boundaries.
Digital
While knowledge exists in many forms, the digital domain introduces unique risks. Addressing these requires new approaches, new skills, and new models of responsibility.
Stewardship
Preservation is not a one-time act, it is an ongoing commitment. Stewardship means ensuring that knowledge remains authentic, accessible, and meaningful for future generations.
Culture and knowledge
These are not abstract concepts. They are the tangible outputs of human creativity and understanding, data, publications, archives, and more, that shape how we see the world.
Across time and space
Stewardship must operate at every scale, from local to global, and across generations, ensuring continuity not just today, but for decades and centuries to come.
Building resilience through connection
One of GRIN’s key insights is that resilience does not come from centralisation or uniformity.
It comes from connection.
By linking institutions, sharing knowledge, and coordinating efforts, networks like GRIN create redundancy, flexibility, and strength. They enable organisations to respond to disruption, adapt to change, and recover from shocks, while continuing to safeguard critical knowledge.
This approach recognises that:
- Data alone is not enough, access and context matter just as much
- Institutional backup is important, but networks of trust are essential
- Diversity in systems and approaches is not a weakness, but a source of resilience
The role of CLOCKSS
As a long-standing leader in digital preservation, CLOCKSS is privileged to be part of the GRIN conversation.
The CLOCKSS model, built on distributed infrastructure, community governance, and long-term preservation, aligns closely with the GRIN vision of shared stewardship. It demonstrates how collaboration across institutions and borders can create robust, resilient systems for safeguarding knowledge.
An open invitation
GRIN is not a closed initiative, it is an evolving conversation.
If your organisation is grappling with the challenges of digital preservation, resilience, or access…
If you see connections between your work and the ideas behind GRIN…
Or if you simply want to be part of shaping a more secure future for global knowledge…
You are invited to join the dialogue.
The KB National Library of the Netherlands, as convener of GRIN, welcomes engagement and knowledge exchange from institutions around the world.
Find out more here: https://www.kb.nl/grin-global-resilient-information-network
Looking ahead
The challenges facing digital stewardship are complex, interconnected, and accelerating.
But so too is the opportunity.
By working together, across institutions, sectors, and borders, we can build a more resilient, trustworthy, and accessible global knowledge ecosystem.
GRIN represents a really important step in that direction.
And it starts with a shared commitment: to protect not just data, but the meaning, memory, and knowledge that define us.