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2023 NDSA Storage Survey Report Published

The NDSA is pleased to announce the release of the 2023 Storage Infrastructure Survey Report, available at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/9QP4W

From October 24 to November 22, 2023, the 2023 NDSA Storage Infrastructure Survey Working Group conducted a 51-question survey designed to gather information on the technologies and practices used in preservation storage infrastructure.

This effort builds upon three previous surveys, conducted in 2011, 2013, and 2019. The survey encouraged responses from NDSA and non-DSA members to gain a broader understanding of storage practices within the digital preservation community. The survey received 138 complete responses, with most coming from the United States, but it did have a global reach. The 2023 survey also incorporated two new questions on storage and environmental impact.

Some major takeaways from the report include:

The amount of preservation storage required for all managed copies appeared to stabilize relative to previous surveys. Fewer organizations reported higher allocations of storage, but the anticipated need for storage over the next three years remains elevated.
Only 28% of respondents currently participate in a cooperative system – down from 45% in 2019 – and 63% indicate they are not considering a distributed storage cooperative. The use of commercial cloud storage providers rose from 46% in 2019 to 55% in 2023.
Heavy use of an onsite storage element was reported by academic institutions (91%), archives (88%), and government agencies (71%). It also shows that use of onsite storage is most often combined with use of either independently managed offsite storage or commercial cloud storage managed by the organization.
The leading offsite storage provider used by 56% of the responding academic institutions is Amazon Web Services. For responding archives, Amazon Web Services (36%) and Preservica (21%) are the most prevalent. Non-profits, museums, historical societies and public libraries use Amazon Web Services 45% of the time.
52% of respondents said their organization is considering their environmental impact during storage planning.

The proposed schedule for the Storage Infrastructure Survey to be conducted is every three years, allowing for ongoing tracking and analysis of approaches to preservation storage over time. The next planned Storage Infrastructure goup is scheduled to kick off in 2026. Interested in participating in the next Storage Infrastructure Working group? A call for group members will go out in late 2025 or early 2026.

~ NDSA 2023 Storage Infrastructure Survey Working Group

Results of the 2022 NDSA Web Archiving Survey Report Now Available

The Web Archiving Survey Working Group is excited to announce the publication of the results of the 2022 Web Archiving Survey. The 2022 survey builds upon surveys previously conducted in 2017, 2016, 2013, and 2011 — and though previous surveys were focused on the United States, the 2022 survey was open to international audiences as well. The 26-question survey was completed by 190 respondents over a 10-day period. This report details the outcomes of the web archiving survey that was distributed to various local, national, and international professional organizations and topical groups in October 2022. Topics discussed included archiving policies, tools and services, and access and discovery.

Some major takeaways from the report include:

Most respondents indicated that “staff capacity” was the biggest barrier to web archiving. Few organizations dedicate more than one, full-time employee to web archiving and very rarely is someone’s entire position dedicated to web archiving.
Since the first Web Archiving Survey in 2011, the landscape of web archiving has dramatically changed, and the 2022 survey results show an increase in web archiving practices by grassroots organizations, volunteer groups, and non-academic communities who seek to document their lived experiences.
An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated concerns about their ability to collect social media—in particular, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit. Content housed within social networks has always been difficult to capture for a myriad of reasons and recent changes to numerous social platforms have made this task harder.

Thank you to all NDSA members and others who participated in the survey. We appreciate your time and effort spent in providing the information to us.

Thank you to the members of the Web Archiving Survey Working Group who worked over the last year and half to make the report possible.

2021 NDSA Membership Survey Report

The Task Force on Membership Engagement is excited to announce the publication of the results of the first 2021 NDSA Membership Survey Report. The 22-question survey was completed by 31 respondents over a 2-week period. This report details the outcomes of the inaugural membership survey that was distributed to members in July 2021. Topics discussed below included, membership benefits analysis, mentorship, member engagement, member satisfaction, and alternative membership models/membership dues.

Some major takeaways from the report include:

Community involvement, access to resources, and educational opportunities were important factors in members’ decisions to join and or continue their membership in NDSA.
Learning about and contributing to digital preservation practices, having decision-making power at the Working Group and Interest Group level (e.g., deciding on work plans and work products), and helping develop community-based durable solutions to a dynamically changing preservation landscape as the most valued membership benefits.
When asking members to rate their membership satisfaction on a scale of 1-5, responses showed that 73% of survey participants were satisfied with membership.

Thank you to all NDSA members who participated in the survey. We appreciate your time and effort spent in providing the information to us.

Thank you to the members of the Task Force on Membership Engagement who worked over the last 10 months to make the report possible.

-Task Force on Membership Engagement

NISO Interview on NDSA’s 2019 Storage Infrastructure Report

Jill O’Neill, NISO Director of Content, recently interviewed Laura Alagna, Carol Kussmann, and Nathan Tallman to discuss NDSA’s recent 2019 Storage Infrastructure Report.

The 2019 Storage Infrastructure Report, released by the NDSA in late February, offers a much needed glimpse into how academic librarians are currently handling digital storage for their institutions. In another segment of the NISO Interview series, Jill O’Neill sat down with three of the report authors to discuss the findings and possible next steps.

Listen to the complete interview at NISO I/O.