Data Preservation

Definition

Data preservation consists of a series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to data for as long as necessary. Data preservation requires ongoing active management of data from as early in the lifecycle as possible. As the volumes, heterogeneity, and complexity of data grows, this requirement for active management becomes a very important component. Librarians who work closely with the research community can play a major role in the ongoing active management and preservation of data by ensuring that research data is arranged and described with appropriate metadata, stored in a location where it can be monitored and made available for future use, and prepared for migration or transformation if the data format is damaged or in an obsolete format.

Further Resources

Beagrie N. (2006). Digital Curation for Science, Digital Libraries, and Individuals(link is external). International Journal of Digital Curation, 1(1):3–16.

Bicarregui J, Gray N, Henderson R, Jones R, Lambert S, & Matthews B. (2013). Data Management and Preservation Planning for Big Science(link is external). International Journal of Digital Curation, 8(1), 29–41. doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v8i1.247

Conway E, Pepler S, Garland W, Hoope D, Marelli F, Liberti L, … Badiali L. (2013). Ensuring the Long Term Impact of Earth Science Data through Data Curation and Preservation(link is external). Information Standards Quarterly, 25(3), 28–36.

Dearborn CC, Barto AJ, & Harmeyer NA. (2014). The Purdue University Research Repository: HUBzero Customization for Dataset Publication and Digital Preservation(link is external). OCLC Systems & Services: International Digita Llibrary Perspectives, 30(1), 15–27.

Dyke KR, Mattke R, Kne L, & Rounds S. (2016). Placing Data in the Land of 10,000 Lakes: Navigating the History and Future of Geospatial Data Production, Stewardship, and Archiving in Minnesota(link is external). Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 12(1), 52–72.

Greenberg J. (2012). The Dryad Repository. Long-term Stewardship of Scientific Data(link is external). American Library Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA.

Heidorn PB. (2011). The Emerging Role of Libraries in Data Curation and E-science(link is external). Journal of Library Administration, 51(7-8):662–72. dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2011.601269

Hey T, Trefethen A. (2003). The Data Deluge: An e-Science Perspective(link is external). In: Berman F, Fox G, Hey AJG, editors. Grid Computing: Making the Global Infrastructure a Reality. Chichester: Wiley.. p. 1–17.

JISC. Keeping Research Data Safe. Factsheet: Cost issues in digital preservation of research data(link is external). p. 5–6.

Khayat M, Kempler SJ. (2015). Life Cycle Management Considerations of Remotely Sensed Geospatial Data and Documentation for Long Term Preservation(link is external). Journal of Map & Geography Libraries: Advances in Geospatial Information, Collections & Archives2, 11(3), 271–288. doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1072122 

Laure E, Vitlacil D. (2013). Data Storage and Management for Global Research Data Infrastructures—Status and Perspectives(link is external). Data Science Journal, 12.

LeFurgy B. (2012). Data-Intensive Librarians for Data-Intensive Research(link is external). The Signal: Digital Preservation.

Lord P, Macdonald A. (2003).  e-Science Curation Report Data curation for e-Science in the UK : an audit to establish requirements for future curation and provision(link is external).

Lougee W, Choudhury S, Gold A, Humphrey C, Humphreys B, Luce R, et al. (2007). Agenda for Developing E-Science in Research Libraries: Final Report and Recommendations to the Scholarly Communication Steering Committee, the Public Policies Affecting Research Libraries Steering Committee, and the Research, Teaching, and Learning Steering(link is external). Washington, D.C.

Mannheimer AY, Greenberg J, Feinstein E, & Scherle R. (2014). A Balancing Act: The Ideal and the Realistic in Developing Dryad’s Preservation Policy(link is external). First Monday, 19(8). dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i8.5415

Marshall B, O’Bryan K, Qin N, & Vernon R. (2013). Organizing, Contextualizing, and Storing Legacy Research Data: A Case Study of Data Management for Librarians(link is external). Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 74. doi.org/10.5062/F4K07270

Matthews B, Crompton, S, Jones C, & Lambert S. (2015). Towards the Preservation of the Scientific Memory(link is external). International Journal of Digital Curation, 10(1). doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v10i1.361.

Meghini C. (2013). Data Preservation(link is external). Data Science Journal, 12, GRDI51-GRDI57.

Murillo AP. (2014). Data at Risk Initiative: Examining and Facilitating the Scientific Process in Relation to Endangered Data(link is external). Data Science Journal, 12, 207–219.

Rimkus K, Padilla T, Popp T, & Martin G. (2014). Digital Preservation File Format Policies of ARL Member Libraries: An Analysis(link is external). D-Lib Magazine, 20(3/4). doi.org/10.1045/march2014-rimkus

Soehner C, Steeves C, Ward J. (2010). E-Science and Data Support Services(link is external).

Stewart C. (2012). Preservation and Access in an Age of E-Science and Electronic Records: Sharing the Problem and Discovering Common Solutions(link is external). Journal of Library Administration, 52(3-4):265–78.

Vines TH, Albert AYK, Andrew RL, Débarre F, Bock DG, Franklin MT, … Rennison DJ. (2013). The Availability of Research Data Declines Rapidly with Article Age(link is external). Current Biology : CB, 20, 94–97. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.11.014

Wheeler J, Benedict K. (2015). Functional Requirements Specification for Archival Asset Management: Identification and Integration of Essential Properties of Services-Oriented Architecture Products(link is external). Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 11(2), 155–179. dx.doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1035474.

Search for a Term

Send us your feedback or suggestions for new terms

Contact information
CAPTCHA This question is to prevent spam submissions. Contact nwso@hshsl.umaryland.edu for any accessibility issues.
4 + 5 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
https://dev.nnlm.gov/guides/data-thesaurus/data-preservation
dev.nnlm.gov
CC-MAIN-2023-06
132450
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:FGBVNTZXUZCPQCN4VD7AUU5JIIFJPW74
<urn:uuid:0dea79d9-ba6b-45fe-9f57-3423f615f8a1>
2023-02-08T06:55:23Z
34.238.12.11
text/html
sha1:WV36VMGZFIQWRE7I4FDSAMCEGWLENH7A
<urn:uuid:6a93ae5a-e1a6-4243-b7cc-149c397b0359>
https://dev.nnlm.gov/guides/data-thesaurus/data-preservation
response
<urn:uuid:f79b88d7-434b-400c-a997-e7fcaf0c73e6>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2023-06
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for January/February 2023
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-254
software: Apache Nutch 1.19 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.4-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/