Social Science Data Archive Business Models: A Historical Analysis of Change over Time

The sustainability of data archives is of growing concern, and recent reports have raised questions about possible alternative business models for data archives.nbsp; This study will provide a clearer understanding of how and why data archives made changes in business models from the 1970s to the early 2000s in the past in response to evolving conditions. Business models encompass financial structures such as revenue streams and costs, but also relationships (contractual, partnerships etc.), mission decisions about who to serve, and collections decisions about what to maintain.nbsp;This poster is part of a larger project about how social science data archives have adapted over long periods of time and to variety of challenges.nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;We will include data on changes in business models at four prominent and long-lived social science data archives, ICPSR at University of Michigan, the UKDA, part of the UK Data Service at University of Essex, the LIS Cross National Data Center in Luxembourg, and EDINA at the University of Edinburgh. Our data include historical institutional documents and interviews with current and past staff