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| Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences and Humanities | |
|---|---|
| Name | Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences and Humanities |
| Formation | 2000s |
| Type | Consortium |
| Headquarters | International |
Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences and Humanities is an international consortium focused on long-term archiving and preservation of social science and humanities research data. Founded amid growing digital scholarship concerns, the consortium links libraries, archives, research centers, and funding bodies to coordinate preservation strategies across institutions such as Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, Library of Congress, and European Commission. Its work intersects with standards and infrastructures associated with UNESCO, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, International Council on Archives, and repositories like ICPSR and UK Data Service.
The alliance emerged in response to early-21st-century advocacy by organizations including Association of Research Libraries, Council on Library and Information Resources, Digital Preservation Coalition, British Library, and Wellcome Trust that identified risks to datasets similar to crises faced by Smithsonian Institution collections and British Museum archives. Initial meetings involved stakeholders from Max Planck Society, Australian National University, Yale University, Columbia University, and German Research Foundation to adapt practices from initiatives like LOCKSS, Portico, and Open Archival Information System. Over subsequent years collaborations with World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Research Council, and national archives catalyzed formal agreements and pilot programs.
The alliance's stated mission emphasizes sustainable stewardship and access modeled after principles advanced by UNESCO conventions and guidance from International Council on Archives. Governance typically comprises boards and advisory committees drawing representatives from institutions such as Princeton University, University of Toronto, Stanford University, National Institutes of Health, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Funding and oversight have involved grantors like Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and national agencies including UK Research and Innovation and German Research Foundation. Policy coordination references legal frameworks influenced by General Data Protection Regulation, Freedom of Information Act, and intellectual property regimes associated with World Intellectual Property Organization.
Members span academic libraries, data archives, and cultural institutions including Harvard Library, Bodleian Libraries, Bibliothèque nationale de France, National Diet Library (Japan), National Library of Australia, and research data centers like DANS and GESIS. Partnerships extend to disciplinary repositories such as ICPSR, Dataverse, Figshare, Zenodo, and infrastructure projects like European Open Science Cloud and CLARIN. Collaborating funders and policy partners include Horizon Europe, National Endowment for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The alliance provides certification guidance influenced by ISO 16363, preservation planning modeled on OAIS, and audit practices referencing TRAC and DRAMBORA. It organizes training and workshops with partners like Society of American Archivists, Digital Curation Centre, Research Data Alliance, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and European University Institute. Outreach activities include conferences alongside American Historical Association, seminars with Association for Computational Linguistics, and webinars co-hosted with American Political Science Association and Modern Language Association.
Preservation practices promoted by the alliance align with metadata standards and formats used by institutions such as Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Getty Research Institute, and repositories like ICPSR and UK Data Service. Recommended schemas reference Dublin Core, Data Documentation Initiative, PREMIS, and persistent identifier systems such as Digital Object Identifier and ORCID. The alliance engages with technical communities behind Linked Data, RDF, OAI-PMH, and interoperability efforts led by W3C and FAIR principles advocates.
Notable initiatives include pilot ingests and migration trials with partners like ICPSR, UK Data Service, DANS, GESIS, Zenodo, and collaborations on cross-institutional discovery services akin to projects by Europeana and HathiTrust. The alliance has participated in capacity-building programs in coordination with UNESCO regional offices, national efforts supported by National Science Foundation, and multidisciplinary data rescue campaigns reminiscent of Endangered Data initiatives undertaken by Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution. Technical development efforts reference tools and communities around GitHub, Apache Software Foundation, and CKAN.
Scholars and institutions including American Historical Association, Modern Language Association, International Sociological Association, and funders such as Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Wellcome Trust have cited the alliance's role in shaping preservation norms, influencing policy dialogues at European Commission and National Science Foundation panels, and informing repository certification like that of DANS and ICPSR. Reviews by commentators associated with Digital Preservation Coalition and Research Data Alliance note contributions to interoperability and training, while critiques from stakeholders in open access debates and privacy advocates referencing General Data Protection Regulation have prompted refinements in access and consent workflows. Overall, the alliance is recognized alongside entities like Portico, LOCKSS, ICPSR, and UK Data Service as part of a global preservation ecosystem.
Category:Digital preservation