Long-lived Digital Data Collections:
Enabling Research and Education
in the 21st Century
The National Science Board
LLDDC Report –Timeline

Feb. 2004: LLDC task force formally approved

Sep. 2004: Draft report completed

Oct. 2004: Report accepted by NSB
Committee on Programs and Plans

Jan. 2005: Comments received from NSF
senior management

March 30 – May 1, 2005: Available for public
comment
Draft LLDDC Report: Goals
•Provide a framework for analysis; serve as a
starting point for discussions with the
community and with other agencies (both
national and international)
•Identify the major policy issues for consideration
by NSF and the community
Framework for Analysis
1. Policy should be informed by a clear vision of the
needs and responsibilities of the participants in
the “data collections universe”
Data
Managers
Supporting
Agencies
Data
Authors
Data
Users
Framework for Analysis
2. The phrase “data collections” refers to a
dynamic, heterogeneous community system
 Research Collections: Project level
 Resource Collections: Community level
 Reference Collections: Global
Informed policy should recognize and build
on the existing structure of the DC universe
Recommendations
1. The NSF should clarify its current investments
in resource and reference digital data
collections and describe the processes that
are, or could be, used to relate investments in
collections across the Foundation to the
corresponding investments in research and
education that utilize the collections.
Recommendations
2. The NSF should develop an agency-wide
umbrella strategy for supporting and
advancing long-lived digital data collections.
The strategy must meet two goals:
Provide
an effective framework for planning
and management
Fully
support the appropriate diversity of
needs and practices
Recommendations
3. The NSF should evaluate how responsibility
for community–proxy functions is acquired
and implemented by data managers and
how these activities are supported.
Recommendations
4. The NSF should require that research
proposals for activities that will generate
digital data, especially long-lived data,
should state such intentions in the proposal
so that peer reviewers can evaluate a
proposed data management plan.
Recommendations
5. The NSF should ensure that education
and training in the use of digital
collections are available and effectively
delivered to broaden participation in
digitally enabled research.
Recommendations
6. The NSF, working in partnership with
collection managers and the community at
large, should act to develop and mature
the career path for data scientists and to
ensure that the research enterprise
includes a sufficient number of highquality data scientists.
The draft report is available online at:
WWW.NSF.GOV/NSB