Hello all – As many in our community are aware, an area that lies at the intersection of digital preservation and research data management is the formulation and application of research data retention policy. Often, there is no clear guidance for how long researchers, institutions or repositories should hold said data.

 

As a result of attempting to help clarify this for researchers, a team at the University of California has developed a brief questionnaire (linked below). The collection of responses will assist these efforts and be made available in a public post as a resource.

 

Please see below for added context and consider filling out this questionnaire for your organization.

 

Many thanks,

Eric

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Eric Lopatin | Digital Preservation Services Manager

California Digital Library | University of California Curation Center (UC3)

 

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Institutional and Organizational Research Data Retention Policies Questionnaire

Dear Colleagues:

To develop a compendium of research data retention requirements, the University of California is gathering information on institutional and organizational research data retention policies. Once developed, we intend to provide it to the research community for its ongoing use.

 

Background

In August 2022, the University of California issued its UC Research Data Policy clarifying ownership of and responsibilities for research data. The Policy does not establish a minimum retention period for research data. As a resource to our investigators and the larger research community, the University endeavors to develop a compendium of research data retention requirements.

 

The Ask

To develop the compendium, we need your help. We have developed a brief questionnaire to capture institutional and organizational research data retention policies. This questionnaire is being sent to national associations for institutions of higher education, libraries, university administrators and policy groups. It contains eight questions, and the estimated time to complete is two-three minutes. We anticipate multiple individuals across multiple departments and units to participate. Again, once we have the aggregated information, we will make it available to the community.

 

If you are interested in completing the questionnaire, please use this link.

 

Questionnaire submissions should be completed through the survey link by February 24, 2023.

If you have any questions, please contact Agnes Balla, Director, Research Policy Analysis and Coordination, University of California Office of the President, at [log in to unmask].