The NDSA is pleased to announce the release of the 2023 Storage Infrastructure Survey Report, available at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/9QP4W 

From October 24 to November 22, 2023, the 2023 NDSA Storage Infrastructure Survey Working Group conducted a 51-question survey designed to gather information on the technologies and practices used in preservation storage infrastructure. 

This effort builds upon three previous surveys, conducted in 2011, 2013, and 2019. The survey encouraged responses from NDSA and non-DSA members to gain a broader understanding of storage practices within the digital preservation community. The survey received 138 complete responses, with most coming from the United States, but it did have a global reach. The 2023 survey also incorporated two new questions on storage and environmental impact. 

Some major takeaways from the report include:

  • The amount of preservation storage required for all managed copies appeared to stabilize relative to previous surveys. Fewer organizations reported higher allocations of storage, but the anticipated need for storage over the next three years remains elevated. 
  • Only 28% of respondents currently participate in a cooperative system – down from 45% in 2019 – and 63% indicate they are not considering a distributed storage cooperative. The use of commercial cloud storage providers rose from 46% in 2019 to 55% in 2023. 
  • Heavy use of an onsite storage element was reported by academic institutions (91%), archives (88%), and government agencies (71%). It also shows that use of onsite storage is most often combined with use of either independently managed offsite storage or commercial cloud storage managed by the organization. 
  • The leading offsite storage provider used by 56% of the responding academic institutions is Amazon Web Services. For responding archives, Amazon Web Services (36%) and Preservica (21%) are the most prevalent. Non-profits, museums, historical societies and public libraries use Amazon Web Services 45% of the time.
  • 52% of respondents said their organization is considering their environmental impact during storage planning. 

The proposed schedule for the Storage Infrastructure Survey to be conducted is every three years, allowing for ongoing tracking and analysis of approaches to preservation storage over time.  The next planned Storage Infrastructure goup is scheduled to kick off in 2026. Interested in participating in the next Storage Infrastructure Working group? A call for group members will go out in late 2025 or early 2026.  

~ NDSA 2023 Storage Infrastructure Survey Working Group

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