Digital records pose many challenges for archives, libraries, and museums; and behind them all lurks the shadow of trust. How can donors know that your repository will take good care of their digital files? How can people verify that the records they wish to use are authentic? How can they have confidence in being able to access obsolete file formats far into the future?

These are difficult questions, but whatever the size or mission of your archives, you can move it closer to answering them and to being a trusted digital repository. Meeting the gold standard—ISO 16363 Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories—may seem like a far-off goal, but Module 8: Becoming a Trusted Digital Repository demystifies this complex standard.

Module 8 demonstrates specific ways that your archives, library, or museum can identify gaps, improve digital operations, and plan for future enhancements so that you can indeed help it become a trusted digital repository.

Steve Marks is the digital preservation librarian at the University of Toronto. His research interests include digital preservation at scale, information systems design, and the preservation of new media. He has previously worked at the Scholars Portal (a service of the Ontario Council of University Libraries); York University; and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Module 8 Contents

Editor’s Note
Introduction
Trustworthiness: A Concise History
Current and Future Directions
Differences between a TRAC Audit and an ISO 16363 Audit
Test Audits
Dissemination and Adoption
Becoming a Trusted Digital Repository
ISO 16363: Background and Uses
Understanding the Standard
Structure
Terminology
The Significance of ISO 16363 to Archives
ISO 16363 Section 3: Organizational Infrastructure
3.1 Governance and Organizational Viability
3.2 Organizational Structure and Staffing
3.3 Procedural Accountability and Preservation Policy Framework
3.4 Financial Sustainability
3.5 Contracts, Licenses, and Liabilities
ISO 16363 Section 4: Digital Object Management
4.1 Ingest: Acquisition of Content
4.2 Ingest: Creation of the AIP
4.3 Preservation Planning
4.4 AIP Preservation
4.5 Information Management
4.6 Access Management
ISO 16363 Section 5: Infrastructure and Security Risk
Management
5.1 Technical Infrastructure Risk Management
5.2 Security Risk Management
Recommendations
Appendix A: Case Study: University Archives, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
by Bethany Anderson
Appendix B: Additional Resources