The exact requirements for research material archiving and preservation vary by funding agency, but are heavily influenced by community or domain developed standards and practices. In general, best practices for data preservation and archiving that the WashU Libraries adhere to include:
- creation and storage of PREMIS metadata
- long term storage of a high quality original files of your research
- assignment of a persistent identifier (DOI)
- generation of checksums for original files to protect against bit-rot and ensure file fixity
- migration of file formats to protect against file obsolescence
- robust backups that include the storage of an Archival Information Package in 3 locations (2 copies in different formats (network drive, cloud storage, local/external hard drive), 1 copy geographically dispersed)
