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Preserve

By Data Management

Preservation involves actions and procedures to keep data for some period of time and/or to set data aside for future use, and includes data archiving and/or data submission to a data repository.

Repositories

Screenshot of the National Water Information System (NWIS) web interface

Data repositories are centralized places to store and maintain data. A repository can consist of one or more databases or files which can be distributed over a network.

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Archiving

Person loading HDDT onto ingest drive

Data archiving is a process that supports long-term storage of scientific data and methods used to read or interpret it.

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Additional Topics to Consider in the Preservation Stage

What the U.S. Geological Survey Manual Requires: 

Effective October 1, 2016 the USGS Survey Manual chapter SM 502.9 Fundamental Science Practices: Preservation Requirements for Digital Scientific Data discusses requirements and procedures to ensure the preservation of all USGS digital scientific data and associated metadata.

SM 502.9 further specifies, all scientific data collected or created as a result of USGS funding must be preserved. Preservation and responsible parties must be addressed in the project’s data management plan. Data must be preserved in accordance with USGS records disposition and the Federal Records Act 36 CFR 1220.14. The USGS will retain an authoritative or original copy of all digital data and associated metadata for which it is responsible in digital repositories approved by the USGS.

 

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