Automated Validation of Trusted Digital Repository Assessment Criteria

Abstract

The RLG/NARA trusted digital repository (TDR) certification checklist defines a set of assessment criteria for preservation environments. The criteria can be mapped into data management policies that define how a digital preservation environment is operated. We explore how the enforcement of these management policies can be automated through their characterization as rules that control preservation services. By integrating a rule-based data management system with the DSpace digital archive system, we expect to demonstrate automated audits of the TDR checklist for a defined set of local policies. The system is sufficiently general that one can also demonstrate the completeness and self-consistency of preservation environments. This is the concept that all required preservation metadata are controlled by management policies, and that for each management policy the required preservation metadata are preserved.