IPUMS Digital Preservation Policy Framework
May 2022

1. Purpose
IPUMS democratizes access to the world’s social and economic data for current and futuregenerations. We enable transformative scholarship, teaching and policy making by integrating
data and documentation across time and space and by streamlining data access throughinnovative dissemination technology.
The original IPUMS project began disseminating U.S. census data in 1993, with the goal ofmaking existing U.S. census microdata interoperable across time. IPUMS is currently the homeof several data collections, described on the IPUMS website. This framework draws upon
relevant IPUMS documentation.
The Digital Preservation Policy Framework is the highest level digital preservation policy
document for IPUMS. The audience for the framework includes IPUMS data users, primarily
academic researchers, policy analysts, and students, as well as IPUMS staff and partners, data
producers, and funders.

2. Standards ComplianceThis framework aligns with the de facto digital preservation community standard, Trusted
Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities. The following sections correspond to theattributes of a trusted digital repository. The Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
Reference Model (ISO 14721: 2012) is the second core digital preservation standard. IPUMSaligns its digital preservation program with the OAIS Reference Model, providing a soundtechnological foundation for the program. IPUMS Workflows documents our conformance tothese standards.

3. Administrative Responsibility
IPUMS is part of the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation (ISRDI), aUniversity‐wide research center that reports to the Office of the Vice President for Research(OVPR) at the University of Minnesota. This framework makes explicit IPUMS' commitment
to preserve its digital assets through a sustainable digital preservation program that isconformant with the prevailing standards and practice of the digital preservation community.
3.1. Mandate
IPUMS is responsible to our funders and to current and future scholars to preserve access to thedata and metadata associated with these data collections.

● Grants and contractual obligation: As part of the grants and contracts that fund theseprojects, we have committed to retaining access, usually for 5 to 10 years past the life of
the grant. In some cases, we also commit to longer-term preservation of both the IPUMS
data and the source materials.
● Scholarly commitment: Our commitment goes beyond our grant promises. We understandthat the resources IPUMS has created need to be accessible long into the future. We haveestablished this framework to support preservation and to allow ongoing access to thedata for new research, for scholarly replication, and for unanticipated uses of the data.
3.2 Objectives
Our goal is to preserve the data and metadata from each IPUMS collection, encompassing
the following objectives:● Meet the needs of the user community by providing access to IPUMS collections,including previous versions of the data.
● Serve IPUMS internal needs by retaining data and metadata for the purpose ofprovenance and quality assurance.
● Meet archival requirements of funding agencies.
● Demonstrate compliance with data, metadata, and archival standards, including
disciplinary standards of data users and the digital preservation community.
● Maintain a digital preservation program that is responsive to the changing
technological environment.

4. Organizational Viability
IPUMS has an established track record for responsible and sustained data management. The
first IPUMS data (now known as IPUMS USA) were released in 1993. IPUMS data, now morethan ten data collections, have been available continuously since that time.
4.1 Scope
IPUMS builds its collection by securing funding for projects to integrate and expand existingdata that can contribute to the IPUMS mission. Each project identifies data appropriate forinclusion in the infrastructure. IPUMS is committed to building, managing, preserving, andmaking available its data collections.
4.2 Operating Principles
IPUMS has adopted and addressed the Ten Principles for Digital Preservation Repositories. We
are committed to complying with OAIS and other digital preservation standards and practice,and to developing a sustainable and auditable digital preservation repository. See also 8.1 Auditand Transparency.

4.3 Roles and Responsibilities
IPUMS manages digital preservation as a shared responsibility, including contributions fromIPUMS staff throughout the life cycle of the data, from identification through acquisition,
preservation, and long‐term discovery and access. IPUMS Organization outlines how
IPUMS projects coordinate with each other and with related organizations.
4.4 Selection and Acquisition
All IPUMS data collection and infrastructure development is initiated by grants and contracts.
The grant proposal and any subsequent negotiations with the funding agency outline thespecifics of each project to develop or enhance an IPUMS data collection. Many of theseprojects have an advisory board to provide advice on priorities, including data selection andacquisition. The IPUMS website describes the data collections for existing IPUMS
infrastructure.
4.5 Access and Use
IPUMS provides usable, integrated, and comprehensive documentation for all data collections.
IPUMS investigates and documents comparability issues and provides guides on the use ofcomplex variables and advice for avoiding analytic pitfalls. Most users download data directly inthe format of their statistical software or in a format that is easily converted by their software.
Online tabulation software is opening IPUMS resources to researchers and students who do nothave access to or training in statistical software, broadening the potential for IPUMS resources
for users with a diverse range of backgrounds and circumstances. IPUMS provides
dissemination and outreach services for all data collections, offering tutorials, workshops,forums, and email support to help users download, analyze and understand the data.
IPUMS resources are most frequently used by researchers in economics, sociology,demography, epidemiology, and geography, but also we also have users in a diverse range offields, including anthropology, computer science, nursing, political science, psychology, andneuroscience.
4.6 Challenges and Risks
IPUMS actively manages its data collections and programs to identify challenges and toanticipate, detect, and mitigate risks. As an organization that is engaged in digital preservation,
IPUMS is responsive to continually changing technology, resulting in the emergence of new
digital content types, the need for new skills, and potential preservation risks to new andexisting digital content. Therefore, IPUMS is committed to providing appropriate training forstaff who manage data and to supporting the requirements of data users, as needs andrequirements evolve.

5. Financial Sustainability
IPUMS is supported by externally sponsored research grants and contracts and by University ofMinnesota funds provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR). Universityfunds are governed by University of Minnesota policies and all sponsored funds must adhere toagency guidelines. Most IPUMS grants are from the federal government and therefore follow
regulations stipulated by OMB Uniform Guidance, which replaced requirements of OMB
Circular A‐21, A‐133 and A‐110.
5.1 Institutional Commitment
Sponsored revenue has been consistently growing since IPUMS was established in 2000. As partof the institutional commitment to IPUMS, the Vice President for Research and ISRDI
established a $1 million endowment fund. In the unlikely event that funding for IPUMS ends
without any additional revenue sources, the University of Minnesota is ultimately responsible forthe orderly dissolution of the center and appropriate archiving of the data collections andassociated materials.
5.2 Cooperation and Collaboration
IPUMS has two types of collaborating partners: data producers that provide data for IPUMS
infrastructure and organizations who collaborate with IPUMS on other aspects of data
infrastructure development. Data producers include national statistical agencies, genealogicalcompanies, data archives, and academic researchers (see more at IPUMS Data Producers). Some
data producers prefer to restrict usage to scholarly research and educational purposes only, butother producers have no restrictions. Several IPUMS collections are the result of collaborations
with other organizations, such as IPUMS Time Use (University of Maryland), IPUMS DHS (theDemographic and Health Surveys Program), IPUMS MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys,UNICEF), and IPUMS PMA (Performance Monitoring for Action, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and Johns Hopkins University).

6. Technological and Procedural Suitability
The ISRDI Information Technology (IT) Team provides cutting‐edge software development andcomputing support for IPUMS data projects, including for the digital preservation program. Thelarge scale of IPUMS data collections requires sophisticated infrastructure for softwaredevelopment and data processing. IPUMS software has well‐documented code, supplemental
documentation on a dedicated wiki, and intentionally pervasive institutional knowledge about
how the systems work. Information about servers is captured and accessible. The Operations
Team partners with other IT organizations on campus to maintain the hardware and software to
support IPUMS members and staff, and to enable the digital preservation program. IPUMS has

effective disaster planning in place, including data archiving protocols and copies in multiple
geographic locations to ensure that archived data are kept permanently.
IPUMS infrastructure projects share many common workflows and processes that are welldefined and well-documented. Processes for validation of incoming data and cleaning,transformation, and creation of the final data product are managed by each project. Metadata
are explicitly and intentionally managed in accordance with a full range of standards andpractices for data management and for digital preservation. See IPUMS Workflows.

7. System Security
The technical environment maintained by IPUMS ensures controlled and appropriate access toits data collections and services (see IPUMS IT Security Plan). IPUMS data are freely available
to registered users (see Terms of Use). IPUMS policy is to keep data access as open as possible,
and all data collections are available with the least restrictions possible. Some datasets haverestrictions that are imposed by data providers or partner organizations. User registration is
unique to each dataset. Unrestricted data are distributed free of charge with the conditions thatusers cite the data appropriately and that any redistribution of the data is limited tonon‐commercial applications and is approved by IPUMS staff. Permission for commercial
redistribution is required. User registration for unrestricted data is automatic, and users gain
access to restricted data files once their application is approved. Metadata for all data collections
are open to all users.

8. Procedural Accountability
IPUMS is committed to building and maintaining the documentation that is required todemonstrate good digital preservation practice. This documentation will serve as abaseline against which future evaluation is measured.
8.1 Audit and Transparency
IPUMS commits to periodic self‐assessments and audits to evaluate, measure, and adjust theprocedures, preservation approaches, and practices of the digital curation and preservation
program. The self‐assessment and audit program for IPUMS is undertaken in accordance withthe CoreTrustSeal and the Ten Principles, which build on the Attributes of a Trusted Digital
Repository: Roles and Responsibilities and the Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
Reference Model.
8.2 Framework Administration
This document, Version 1 of the IPUMS Digital Preservation Framework, was developed byCatherine Fitch, Tracy Kugler and Wendy Thomas. Preliminary versions were developed inconsultation with Nancy McGovern. IPUMS will maintain the document, reviewing it every
three years as part of the CoreTrustSeal review, and adjusting it as needed.
8.3 Definitions
DDI Glossary: IPUMS adopted the terminology used by the DDI Alliance available at:https://ddialliance.org/resources/ddi-glossary
OAIS Reference Model definitions: IPUMS adopted the June 2012 version of OAIS definitions,pages 1‐8‐1‐16. http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0m2.pdf.
8.4 References
Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories, September 2011 version available
at: http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/652x0m1.pdf.
CoreTrustSeal, information on requirements and certification process available at:https://www.coretrustseal.org/.
Data Documentation Alliance (DDI), current versions of codebook and specifications available
at: https://ddialliance.org/ (see Products).
Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model, the June 2012 version is available
at: http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0m2.pdf.
Ten Principles, 2007 version of core criteria for digital preservation repositories available
at:https://www.crl.edu/archiving-preservation/digital-archives/metrics-assessing-and-certifying/core-re
Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities, May 2002, available at:https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/activities/trustedrep/repositories.pdf.