Digital Curation Services of the ETH Library

ETH Zurich Library (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich) provides digital curation services to support research data management activities, including publication and deposit workflows, software registration, format selection, and other practical guidance. ETH also provides its own research data repository (Research Collection), which includes long-term preservation measures for deposited data.

The initiative is led by the ETH Library (Research Data Management and Digital Curation service) as institutional support for the ETH Zurich research community. It is delivered through the Research Collection (ETH Zurich’s institutional repository for publications and data), with long-term archiving in the ETH Data Archive. In addition, the ETH Library works with ID Scientific IT Services to provide advice and training (e.g., in data stewardship).

ETH Zurich Library provides infrastructure, services, and supporting documentation for the preparation, publication, deposit, and long-term preservation of research data.

Among other resources, it maintains a research data management and digital curation wiki with instructions and recommendations for creating data management plans, guides to relevant tools and infrastructures, checklists for verification, file preparation guidance, step-by-step workflows, best-practice recommendations, standards and formats, and guidance on publishing and preserving research data.

In addition to the wiki and documentation, the Library offers support and advisory services for research data management, as well as workshops and training courses, including services to review data management plans submitted with project funding applications.

Finally, the University provides dedicated infrastructure for publishing research data in an open-access repository, as well as the ETH Data Archive for long-term preservation, where copies of all documents from the Research Collection repository are stored.

Researchers are the main beneficiaries, as well as the University itself, and indirectly the wider research community. Libraries and information services are key stakeholders insofar as their work is closely linked to training, research support, and repository services.

The potential impact of both the documentation provided and the services offered by the ETH Library and ETH Zurich is clear: publications can receive more citations, datasets can be made available to other researchers and even published in specialised journals such as Scientific Data, many of which are peer reviewed. These services also help researchers meet funder requirements and make research outputs more reliable.

Researchers can find not only information but also, through the wide range of support services, a key resource to improve several processes and stages of research—from project development (data management plans) to later stages such as data publication and depositing data in repositories.

No se han identificado desafíos, retos o dificultades explícitas en la información proporcionada por la ETH Library.

This initiative stands out for compiling and making available extensive information covering the entire research data lifecycle, from creating a data management plan to the final stages of publication, deposit, and preservation.

It is complemented by the University’s work on infrastructure and tools that enable these guidelines and recommendations to be implemented in practice within the institution itself.

It is an inspiring initiative that can serve as a model for other universities seeking to develop their own policies, guidance, and practical solutions for research data management.

• Publishing and Archiving information: https://library.ethz.ch/en/publishing-and-archiving.html
• Data management and policies: https://library.ethz.ch/en/publishing-and-archiving/data-management-and-policies.html
• Digital curation services: https://library.ethz.ch/en/collections-and-archives/archiving/digital-long-term-preservation/digital-curation-services.htm