Research Data Access and Preservation Summit, 2016 Atlanta, GA May 4-7, 2016 Part of Panel 2, Sustainability Presenter: Kristin Eschenfelder, University of Wisconsin-Madison Panel Leads: Kristin Briney, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee & Erica Johns, Cornell University

1. Sustainability of Data Infrastructure
the History of Social Science Data Archives
Kristin Eschenfelder UW-Madison School of Library and Information
Studies; Kalpana Shankar, University College Dublin; Greg Downey,
SLIS & Journalism and Mass Communications
Data archives ensure
long term access to
data.
How can we ensure
that data archives are
around for the long
term?
Sustainability:
What strategies have
archives employed to
remain sustainable?
What does sustainability
mean to different
stakeholders?
Mutual Shaping:
How has data archiving
shaped the research
questions that scholars
ask? How have research
trends shape data
archive activities?
Open Data:
Tension between
maximizing
access/reuse of data
and pressure for cost
recovery and legal
compliance
Data Labor:
What type of work is
low or high status?
How is work organized?
How do professional
associations create and
maintain values?
Globalism:
How have national
science policies influence data
archiving?
How do national borders compel
and complicate cooperative data
activities?
How does the drive for data
create international
organization?

2. What are we talking about when we
are talking about “sustainability?”
Theory Review
• Sustainability Index
• Organizational Resiliency
• Hughes Ordering
Literature Review
• 15 years of “LIS
Literature” 2000-2015
• How does the LIS
literature talk about
sustainability in relation
to digital library/archive
projects or institutions?

3. • Organizational sustainability vs. sustainable development
(Chowdhury)
• organizational sustainability
• “a broad term which refers to many factors…”
• the ability to “maintain” things in a “steady state” and to ensure
future availability (Sustainability, 2014).
• “the continued operation of a collection, service, or organization
related to digital libraries, archives, and repositories over time
given ongoing challenges.” (our definition)
• RQ: How does the digital library lit talk about organizational
sustainability?
• 15 years of “LIS Literature” 2000-2015
• 64 relevant full text articles coded
• Deductively coded with 9 major categories

4. Digital Library Lit: What are we talking about
when we are talking about org sustainability
Topic/Code % Articles
Technology (technologies help/hurt sustainability; comply with models) 65
Management (strategic planning, “business model”, market research) 55
Relationships (pool resources to reduce costs and be more efficient) 47
Revenue (lists of, diversification, start up vs. sustaining funding) 44
Costs (lists of, cost tracking, start up vs. maintenance costs) 29
Valued Product/Service (identify and interact with target users) 24
Disaster Planning (redundant storage, plans for org shut down) 15
Legal/Policy (copyright) 13
Metrics/Measuring (need to demonstrate impact) 11

5. Sustainability Index: Knowledge Exchange Project: www.knowledge-exchange.info

6. Organizational Resiliency
How do organizations maintain functionality over time by detecting threats and adapting
to changing conditions?
Resilience: an organization’s ability “to return to a stable state after a disruption.”
Resilience is a function of:
• Exposure to disruptive events
• Self awareness of weaknesses
• Ability to adapt
Shift in thinking:
To what degree is sustainability a
stable state which one can achieve?
Can disruptive events be
minimized?
Is it better to think of sustainability
in terms of ability to react/adapt?

7. • Actor network approach,
• “how actors and organizations mobilize, juxtapose,
and hold together the bits and pieces out of which
they are composed; how they are sometimes able to
prevent those bits and pieces from following their
own inclinations and making off”
Law, J. (1994). Organizing Modernity. Oxford
UK: Blackwell Publishers.

8. • Social science data archive history & sustainability
project
• https://kreschen.wordpress.com/social-science-data-archives-
history-and-sustainability
Paper; “Designing Sustainable Data Archives: Comparing
Sustainability Frameworks”
• Dillo, I., Hodson, S., & Waard, A. de. (2016). Income
Streams for Data Repositories.
doi:10.5281/zenodo.46693
• https://rd-alliance.org/final-report-income-streams-data-
repositories.html
• Sustainability Index and Reports (2014)
• http://www.knowledge-exchange.info/projects/project/open-
access/sustainability-oa-services