Odum Institute User Study: Exploring the Applicability of the Dataverse Network

This study describes a web-based survey of Odum Institute research customers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The survey was conducted to determine the applicability of digital repository software called the Dataverse Network in social science research workflows. The software allows researchers greater personal control over ingest processes, bridging the gap between researchers and archives and possibly increasing submission rates of valuable data to archives. This archival technology provides tools that manage automated ingest, data cataloging, advanced search, as well as rights management issues. Archival tools also provide proper citation, creation of persistent identifiers, automatic creation of preservation formats, format migration, and statistical analysis of data. Customized branding and citation management can provide investigators collecting these data with a tool that will ensure that they get the credit they deserve. By working together with data producers, archivists can have more control of the digital curation process.