DANS – Data Archiving and Networked Services

DANS services include archiving of research data, re-use of research information (including data) and training and consultancy. As an archive, DANS offers services to store and share data during research via DataverseNL; long-term sustainable archiving via a trusted digital repository EASY; and to update research information profiles in NARCIS.

DANS supports re-use via the search facilities of NARCIS (and, more specifically, EASY). NARCIS – the portal into the Dutch research landscape provides access to more than one million publications, and more than 150k datasets and information about 3000 organisations with more than 50000 staff. Additionally, DANS provides training and consultancy for data professionals and researchers, coordinated on a national level and internationally. Via its membership in the Research Data Alliance, and the World Data System, but also its active role in the Data Seal of Approval community DANS acts as information broker concerning guidelines, best practices, and standards for long-term archiving of research data.

DANS participates in digital humanities and social sciences projects in two different, often entwined, roles: (1) providing access to source material and (2) providing infrastructure services. Concerning the first role, our archives and information systems cover more than one knowledge domain, and we provide access to a variety of data types, such as survey data, archaeological reports, and historic censuses.

Concerning the second role, DANS is part of several large-scale infrastructure projects in the humanities and social sciences, both at the European level (e.g., DARIAH, EHRI, ARIADNE, CESSDA, CLIO-Infra) and nationally (e.g., CLARIAH). Through these collaborations, DANS builds on specific expertise when it comes to long-term, valid and generic standards for data representation, access and preservation, operating across domains.