Reuse for Research: Curating Astrophysical Datasets for Future Researchers

Abstract

“Our data are going to be valuable for science for the next 50 years, so please make sure you preserve them and keep them accessible for active research for at least that period.”

These were approximately the words used by the principal investigator of the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC) when he presented our task to us. The data in question consists of data products produced by KASC researchers and working groups as part of their research, as well as underlying data imported from the NASA archives.

The overall requirements for 50 years of preservation while, at the same time, enabling reuse of the data for active research presented a number of specific challenges, closely intertwining data handling and data infrastructure with scientific issues. This paper reports our work to deliver the best possible solution, performed in close cooperation between the research team and library personnel.