A simplemodel for the self-assessment of digital preservationstrategies in institutional repositories

Abstract

Institutional repositories (IR) are essential infrastructures for the open science ecosystem. They hold an increasing amount of digital assets that must be preserved for future use. There is a lack of evidence, in the published literature, of the extentto which they are fulfilling such a crucial function. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new self-assessment tool to allow a diagnosis of the degree of application of digital preservation strategies by repository managers. We have identified the available international standards in the area of digital preservation. Secondly, we have selected which one of them is the most appropriate choice to be applied to IR taking into account their particular characteristics and current situation. Finally,we describe the steps followed to develop a self-assessment questionnaire, founded on the chosen standards. The main result of this paper is a self-assessment questionnaire to be used by repository managers to asset their level of implementation of digital preservation strategies. It is made up of 46 indicators to evaluate five areas of action in the repository. The questionnaire includes the application notes required to work out the results. Repositories must guarantee the long-term availability of the digital contents they hold. This paper provides a model for the self-assessment of digital preservation activities. It is intended to be a simple and useful tool for repository managers in identifying best practices, strengths and improvement areas.