From a University of California Curation Center (UC3) Blog Post by John Chodacki:
Scholars at the University of California need effective solutions to preserve their research data. This is essential for complying with funder mandates, publication requirements, policies, and evolving norms of scholarly best practice. However, several cost barriers have impeded consistent, comprehensive preservation of UC research data. In an attempt to tackle some of these challenges, California Digital Library (CDL) brought together campus Vice Chancellors of Research (VCRs), Chief Information Officers (CIOs)/Research IT, and University Librarians (ULs) from across the UC system to explore the creation of a UC Data Network (UCDN) as a distributed storage solution.
For the past 18 months, CDL has led an exploratory pilot preservation project to establish UCDN with three campuses. We have now decided to conclude this pilot and want to take this opportunity to reflect on our successes and challenges in tackling such an ambitious scope of work. There are many lessons learned. We offer this post as a way of capturing some of the main findings and takeaways of the UCDN activities.
What was learned? What’s next? Read the complete blog post.