Combing through the metadata: Looking back at 5 years of research data deposits at Arizona State University

Over the past decade, the need for responsible data management, access, and preservation has spurred institutions to create and implement data repositories for their research communities. Following this trend, our institution launched their own research data repository in 2020 moving from an in-house general repository to using the Dataverse platform specifically for research data. Since 2020, there has been an evolution of repository and curation support services going from minimal curation and self-deposit to consultation requirements and curation review before publishing. Additionally, there have been notable changes in the types and sizes of data, along with changes in the areas of data standards, curation, and preservation that have prompted repository personnel to change our policies and workflows. Prompted by these changes, our repository team has set out on a project to review existing repository datasets and curation workflows to assess the quality of metadata and preservation practices. Using existing metadata standards and tools, repository personnel have combed through the data repository datasets, internal ticket systems, and curation logs to get a better sense of the pain points and trends in our repository’s metadata, uploading, and submission processes. Using analysis of the information gathered through this retrospection, coupled with custom AI, we were able to find that while increased curation review has led to decrease in metadata ambiguity, depositors are still needing extensive file uploading assistance and curation review to meet expected standards. Looking toward the future, we are working towards integrating different automations, along with collaborations with different units throughout the university to navigate more complicated data deposits that include not only large data needs, but sensitivity and ethical data access requirements. In this presentation, we hope to give an overview of our repository review project and provide the current status on remediation and policy improvements. Leaving room for discussion, we look forward to exchanging ideas on what has worked for other institutions in the areas of curation workflows, metadata, responsible repository policies, and protection for ethical and sensitive data.