Digital preservation of resources and assets is necessary to ensure that data remain intact, accessible, and usable over time. Preservation goes beyond making sure that data is available today; it also considers keeping data available for the future as new technologies make existing hardware and software outmoded. Active digital preservation processes anticipate problems of media deterioration or obsolescence and file format obsolescence and includes strategies to detect and protect against spurious or accidental unwanted changes of preserved materials. Preservation policies ensure adequate description of content, including technical and administrative metadata, and require procedural planning over the long term. Preservation operations may include preserving the software required to interact with the data or mimicking older systems; migrating data to new formats and new media; and ensuring there is sufficient metadata to understand, interpret, manage, and preserve the data.
The Library will work diligently to ensure the University’s intellectual and creative output stored in the institutional repository will be indefinitely archived in the repository unless otherwise instructed. Items deposited in the repository are openly available and discoverable using the Dublin Core metadata schema. Each item is assigned a stable and persistent URL for long-term access.
The URL for the institutional repository is https://digital.library.ncat.edu. The repository platform, Digital Commons, is managed by the F.D. Bluford Library and hosted by bePress. bePress ensures the security and integrity of all hosted files. bePress’ production servers are housed in a highly-secure facility with multiple connections and backup generators or in redundant Amazon Web Services availability zones. Files uploaded to Digital Commons are stored in a redundant storage cluster as well as backed up to Amazon Glacier, an online file storage web service that provides storage for data archiving and backup. bePress’ comprehensive approach ensures the preservation and availability of data for future use.
The data generated from the project will be made publicly available via North Carolina A&T State University’s institutional repository, Digital Commons, an open-access digital archive managed by F.D. Bluford Library and hosted by bePress. The data will be made available in […] file formats with supporting metadata/documentation in the form of […]. There will be no restrictions on data sets, models, and recommendations. Users will be able to freely access and download data sets, models, and recommendations at https://digital.library.ncat.edu. The data will also be indexed by major search engines. Files associated with the data will be managed by F.D. Bluford Library, with technical assistance from bePress.
Final data, associated definitions and documentation, relevant reports and any other project output will be archived in North Carolina A&T State University’s institutional repository. All project output will be hosted indefinitely with a minimum 10-year commitment after the project ends, plus migration support in case of need for transition to a future archiving system. The URL for the institutional repository is https://digital.library.ncat.edu. The repository platform, Digital Commons, is managed by the F.D. Bluford Library and hosted by bePress.
bePress supports long-term data management and ensures the security and integrity of all hosted data. bePress’ production servers are housed in a highly-secure facility with multiple connections and backup generators or in redundant Amazon Web Services availability zones. Files uploaded to Digital Commons are stored in a redundant storage cluster as well as backed up to Amazon Glacier, an online file storage web service that provides storage for data archiving and backup. bePress’ comprehensive approach ensures the preservation and availability of data for future use.
Trustworthy Policies for Distributed Repositories by 
Museum and Archive on the Move by