The Trustworthy Repository

A trusted digital repository is one whose mission is to provide reliable, long-term access to managed digital resources to its designated community, now and in the future. Trusted digital repositories may take different forms: some institutions may choose to build local repositories while others may choose to manage the logical and intellectual aspects of a repository while contracting with a third-party provider for its storage and maintenance. Whatever the overall infrastructure, however, to meet expectations all trusted digital repositories must:

• accept responsibility for the long-term maintenance of digital resources on behalf of its depositors and for the benefit of current and future users;

• have an organizational system that supports not only long-term viability of the repository, but also the digital information for which it has responsibility;

• demonstrate fiscal responsibility and sustainability;

• design its system(s) in accordance with commonly accepted conventions and standards to ensure the ongoing management, access, and security of materials deposited within it;

• establish methods for system evaluation that meet community expectations of trustworthiness;

• be depended upon to carry out its long-term responsibilities to depositors and users openly and explicitly; and

• have policies, practices, and performance that can be audited and measured.