38 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 296 — 2018 etc.) beyond what any single institution might offer alone. The Data Curation Network project brings together the perspectives of research data librarians, academic library administrators, and domain subject experts from academic libraries and general-purpose or disciplinary data repositories. Our project began in 2016 with six partners and funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and has since grown to include eight partner institutions including the University of Minnesota (lead), Cornell University, Dryad Data Repository, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Penn State University, the University of Illinois, and the University of Michigan. Curation staff are the “human layer” in the repository technology stack who bring the knowledge and software expertise necessary for reviewing incoming submissions to ensure that the data stand up to the test of time and are optimized for reuse. We do this several ways. First, the DCN creates a platform for partner institutions to share our curation staff using a coordinated workflow that connects data sets to the appropriate expert for that particular data type (for example, GIS data, 3-D images, simulation data, etc.). Second, the DCN provides a community for professional data curators. By sharing tools, providing a pipeline for training data curators, and promoting data curation practices across the profession, the Data Curation Network aims to enrich capacities for data curation writ large. Third, the goal for the DCN will be to offer sustainable services and access to data curation expertise to end-users (researchers, libraries, journals, etc.) when none exist locally, for rare or infrequent data types, or in times of staff transition. Curation staff are the 'human layer' in the repository technology stack who bring the knowledge and software expertise necessary for reviewing incoming submissions to ensure that the data stand up to the test of time and are optimized for reuse.