Sustainability of Data Infrastructurethe History of Social Science Data ArchivesKristin 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?

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?

What does the word “sustainability” mean?

• 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

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

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

Organizational ResiliencyHow 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?

John Law: Ordering• 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.

Recommended sources• 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-acc

ess/sustainability-oa-services