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About UC3

UC3 is a creative partnership bringing together the expertise and resources of the CDL, the ten UC campuses, and the broader international curation community. We foster collaborative analysis, projects, and solutions to ensure the long-term viability and usability of curated digital content. Examples of tools and services include Merritt, EZID, and Data Management Plan Tool (DMP Tool).

Harnessing the collective energy and innovation of its partners, UC3 provides solutions that are out of the reach of any individual partner. UC3 works through this partnership to

  • Provide high quality and cost-effective services and expertise
  • Increase awareness and understanding of research data management, persistent identifiers, and digital preservation issues, through communication and outreach
  • Support a community of experts, researchers, and stakeholders and provide channels of communication

What is digital curation?

Digital curation is the set of policies and practices focused on maintaining and adding value to trusted digital content for use now and into the indefinite future. Curation encompasses preservation and access, and can be applied to the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Given that all aspects of teaching, learning, and research in modern universities depend critically on information technology, digital curation is needed to deal with the ever-increasing number, size, and diversity of information resources, as well as the disruptive effects of rapid technological change. Users who would benefit from comprehensive, easy-to-use solutions for digital curation and preservation include

  • A student interested in keeping an electronic portfolio of course work,
  • An instructor wishing to re-use web-based course materials,
  • A researcher who is required to implement a sustainability and access plan for the results of funded research,
  • An administrator required to maintain departmental records, and
  • A faculty member nearing retirement who wishes to donate her working papers.

Mission

UC3 creates and utilizes a comprehensive range of services and software to ensure that digital information supporting and resulting from UC’s research, teaching, and learning remains available, usable, and authentic. These solutions facilitate curation of valuable digital assets by maintaining and adding value to them for use now and into the future.

UC3 provides expertise through consultation, documentation, workshops, symposia, presentations and partnerships. We promote and cultivate partnerships across the University and beyond, leveraging our expertise and technology to meet systemwide need. We are building a growing community of faculty members, researchers, librarians, archivists, curators, IT professionals, and administrators, by bringing together everyone with a stake in the ongoing viability of digital information. UC3 is built on innovation, creativity, trust, and excellence, and is the hub of digital preservation and research data management activities for the University of California.