About Digital Preservation at ICPSR
The primary objective of the digital preservation function is to ensure long-term access to the more than 500,000 files in the ICPSR collections. ICPSR is a data archive with a 45-year track record for preserving and making data available. Within that context, digital preservation is carried out as a distributed function that is integrated into ICPSR operations.
The Digital Preservation Officer (DPO) at ICPSR is responsible for developing and promulgating policies and practice that align ICPSR with prevailing standards and practices in the digital preservation community. As the scope of digital content for social science research expands into Web sites, audio, video, and geospatial information systems, the DPO investigates and devises appropriate preservation strategies. Processors in the General Archive and in the topical archives at ICPSR ensure that core preservation activities are completed and documented, as data and associated files are acquired, processed, and prepared for release.
The Computing and Network Services (CNS) unit at ICPSR supports digital preservation by ensuring and enforcing data security, overseeing the development of automated tools and workflows for processing and preserving data and its associated content, and coordinating the creation and secure management of copies of files over time.
In addition, the Director of ICPSR, the Collection Development unit, the topical archive managers, and the Collection Delivery unit all participate in the digital preservation function and the lifecycle management of digital content at ICPSR. The ICPSR Council, an elected advisory board, evaluates high-level policy documents and reviews programmatic plans and progress.
