BECOMING A CERTIFIED TRUSTWORTHY DIGITAL REPOSITORY:  THE PORTICO EXPERIENCE
The scholarly community’s dependence on electronic
resources is rapidly increasing and those electronic
resources are increasingly preserved in digital
repositories or other preservation services. Whether
locally hosted at libraries, collaboratively hosted
between institutions, or externally hosted by a third
party, one method for these digital repositories to take to
assure themselves and their communities of their
soundness is to be audited and certified by impartial
organizations. Such independent organizations with
staff experienced in executing audits and certifications
can represent the interests of the academic community.
Such staff will have the time and skills required to
perform a thorough review of the methodologies and
policies of each digital repository.
Over the course of 2009, the Center for Research
Libraries (CRL) audited Portico, a third party
preservation service. At the conclusion of the audit,
CRL certified Portico as a trustworthy digital repository.
The audit was a lengthy, productive experience for
Portico. We share the experience here both to impart the
depth of the audit and to inform other organizations of
what steps might be involved should they choose to be
audited and certified.
["Kirchhoff, Amy", "Morrissey, Sheila", "Fenton, Eileen", "Orphan, Stephanie"]
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