Contact Liaison Librarian for help on storing and preserving your data.
Assistance offered:
Storage of data ensures you will be able to access the data through the research project.
Preservation of data ensures you will be able to access the data once the project is complete.
There are systems for both storage and preservation to prevent lost of data. Preservation will require additional steps to keep the data accessible long term.
Back up plans are important to avoid data loss. They should be documented for researchers to follow, and for new researchers to learn the back up process.
Best Practices
Institutional repositories are hosted by academic institutions. Data is accepted for all disciplines and are designed to ensure long-term preservation. Researchers outside the institution are unaware of their existence, making data less discoverable.
Discipline Specific repositories are curated by domain experts and have domain specific metadata to allow for greater discovery. These repositories may not guarantee long term preservation.
Cross-Disciplinary repositories cover multiple topics allowing for discovery of researchers outside the field. These repositories may not guarantee long term preservation.
1. Is a reputable repository available?
2. Will it take the data you want to deposit?
3. Will it be safe in legal terms?
4. Will the repository sustain the data value?
5. Will it support analysis and track data usage?