POST: Accelerating Standards for 3D Data to Improve Long-Term Usability

Writing for the Association of Research Libraries, Cynthia Hudson-Vitale (Penn State) shared details of the Community Standards for 3D Preservation (CS3DP) Initiative. Developed in response to the growth of 3D technologies, including 3D modeling and virtual reality, CS3DP “aims to be an open, radically inclusive, and collaborative community invested in creating standards. Composed of working groups from national and international participants, the CS3DP community has increased awareness and accelerated the creation and adoption of best practices, metadata standards, and policies for the stewardship of 3D data.” Launched in 2018 with an IMLS grant, CS3DP aims to “ensure enduring access to 3D data … [and] articulate and address the shared challenges of documentation, access, and preservation.”

Co-principal investigators/organizers, Jennifer Moore, (Washington University in St. Louis University Libraries), Adam Rountrey (University of Michigan), and Hannah Scates Kettler (Iowa State University), have been building a community of practitioners. They started by surveying “experts in institutions who work with 3D data, both as creators in a variety of disciplines and stewards. Survey results overwhelmingly demonstrated that there were no shared standards or best practices to ensure the data type could persist. The other main takeaway was that people wanted this guidance and were willing to work together to create it.”

The Association of College and Research Libraries will be publishing 3D Data Creation to Curation: Building Community Standards for 3D Data Preservation in 2021. The book will “help inform practices and policies for 3D data creation and preservation,” according to Scates Kettler. This book and the broader community will help DH library folks who support 3D data projects, whether created in the library or by researchers and faculty.