If you are interested in depositing commercially produced data, please contact the History Data Service for further details. The maintenance of comprehensive documentation detailing the data creation process and the steps taken involves a significant but profitable investment of time and resources. It is more effective if documentation is generated during rather than after a data creation project. Such an approach will result in a better-quality data collection as well as better quality documentation, because the maintenance of proper documentation demands consistency and attention to detail. The process of documenting a data creation project can also have the benefit of helping to refine research questions and it can be a vital aid to communication in larger-scale projects.
Proper documentation contributes substantially to a data collection's scholarly value.
The elements essential to good documentation are described in the Guidelines for Documenting Data . At a minimum, documentation should provide information about a data collection's contents, provenance and structure, and the terms and conditions that apply to its use. It needs to be sufficiently detailed to allow the data creator to use the resource in the future, when the data creation process has started to fade from memory. Except in exceptional cases the documentation that accompanies a data collection deposited with the History Data Service must meet the standards set out in the Guidelines for Documenting Data . In exceptional cases data collections which are not accompanied by comprehensive documentation may be considered for deposit after negotiation and agreement.